THEY SAID IT – From each month in 2022, The Daily Gazette sports department is compiling 10 quotes from our interview subjects that stuck out the most for us, based on how they either made us think or laugh — or some combination of both.
Selected quotes come both from reporting for stories that appeared in The Daily Gazette and interviews associated with episodes of “The Parting Schotts Podcast.” Not all quotes used were previously published.
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“I think my horse [Life Is Good] is a monster, too. They’re two monsters. You don’t find those kind of horses every day. So I’m happy to be on top of one of them. The other horse was very impressive last Saturday in the Pacific Classic. They have a similar style. Hopefully they make it sound and 100%, then they can give the public a great race, because that’s what everybody wants to see right now.”
— Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., on Sept. 5, about a potential Breeders’ Cup Classic matchup between Life Is Good and Flightline
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“There’s days I have to remind myself that, ‘Hey, you’re living your dreams. This is your life now. Everything’s OK.’ It’s powerful, and it’s overwhelming at times, but I thank God multiple times a day, every day, for what my life is today.”
— All Elite Wrestling TNT champion Wardlow, on Sept. 9, discussing his life as a professional wrestler in advance of AEW making its Albany debut on Sept. 14.
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“Oh, my God. I didn’t know that. That’s big for the team.”
— Union football wide receiver Andre Ross Jr., on Sept. 10, after the Dutchmen scored 76 points — the program’s most in a game in 128 years — in a 69-point win against Worcester State
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“As a jockey, I can see the irony of certain things. Like I was always trying to keep my horse happy, where he was comfortable. But when it was time to run, I was basically convincing him that, hey, you still have more to give, let’s go. Now, I have to be the horse, and when my mind is telling me, ‘You’re done’ … no, you’re not done. You need to keep going.”
— Retired Hall of Fame jockey Ramon Dominguez on Sept. 14, on how he has embraced becoming a highly competitive runner himself
More: All Sports
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“Honestly, this is probably the most I’ve looked forward to anything in the history of Western civilization, how’s that? That was almost for the sportspeople. That was almost my Bill Walton in the history of Western civilization, how can I have any other ideas of where I want to be what I want to do as the Earth rotates on its axis, orbiting around the sun 365 days a year getting us to the point where well, we’ll get to the point, if I continue with this voice.”
— Comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo, on coming to do a show in Schenectady, on the Sept. 15 edition of “The Parting Schotts Podcast.”
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“I haven’t been back in Schenectady. It hasn’t changed very much. It really feels like home. It’s great to be here.”
— La Salle Institute football coach John Audino, on Sept. 16, after his Cadets beat Niskayuna in a Section II Class A game at Schenectady High School. It was Audino’s first time coaching in Schenectady since the end of his 24-season tenure as the head football coach at Union College in 2015.
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“I think it’ll be nice to get out. I’m just happy to be playing. I think that some people are a little worried about less time in the classroom, and that might be a little bit of added stress. But I think that once we get there, and we’re dialed [in], we’ll just push through. We’re really good in the classroom and on the ice, so I think that if we can just find a way to balance it out, we can come up with some wins.”
— Union College women’s hockey senior forward Emily King, on Sept. 19, on the Dutchwomen opening the season with eight straight road games.
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“I liked the media a lot more, I’ll tell you that much.”
— Union College men’s hockey Josh Hauge, on Sept. 21, after learning the ECAC Hockey media picked the Dutchmen to finish sixth this season, while the coaches poll picked them eighth.
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“That radio station means so much to me, as does all of Syracuse University. But that radio station was basically my fraternity. That’s where I called games and met some of my great friends who I still have today,”
— CBS Sports broadcast and former WNYT NewsChannel 13 sports reporter Andrew Catalon, on being named to the Syracuse University radio station WAER Hall of Fame, on the Sept. 21 edition of “The Parting Schotts Podcast.”
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“Being a Buffalo Bill, being a football player in Buffalo, is almost like princehood. You walk down the street, people will say hello. Complete strangers. ‘Hi, Butch.’ ‘What are we going to do this weekend?’ Almost constant, and when you had a bad game, it was never a negative response. ‘We’ll get ‘em the next time.’ So I love Buffalo.”
— Butch Byrd, who starred for the AFL Buffalo Bills in the 1960s, upon celebrating “Butch Byrd Day” in his hometown of Watervliet on Sept. 22
