Below are some great quotes by a great football coach, Vince Lombardi

INTENSITY

"There's only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do."

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you'll be fired with enthusiasm."

"Mental toughness is essential to success."

"You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn't mean a thing. That's for the fans. You've got to win the war with the man in front of you. You've got to get your man."



SACRIFICE

"To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price."

"Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there."

"Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."

"Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure, and the temporary failures."



BELIEF

"Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both."

"If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."

"Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it-his mind, his body and his heart-what is life worth to him? If I were a salesman, I would make this commitment to my company, to the product and most of all, to myself."



COMMITMENT

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."

"Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It's something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success."

"Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it-his mind, his body, his heart-what's life worth to him.



CHARACTER

"It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men."

"In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail."

"They may not love you at the time, but they will later."



LEADERSHIP

" Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character."

"Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow."

"Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it."

"A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the company."

"Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."



PREPARATION

"They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons."

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."



DESIRE

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

"The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel-these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them."

"It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere."

"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."

"If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."



DISCIPLINE

"I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something good in men that really yearns for discipline."

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action."

"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."



TEAMWORK

"Individual commitment to a group effort-that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

"Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale."

"Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another…"

"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."

"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual."



WINNING

"Success demands singleness of purpose."

"Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result."

"Winning is not a sometime thing: it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do the right thing once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."

"Winning isn't everything--but wanting to win is."

"It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner."

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious."



QUOTES ON LOMBARDI

"When Lombardi said 'sit down' we didn't look for a chair."-Forrest Gregg

"It was a helluva performance to listen to when he'd go out there and get his troops around him. He laughed. He cried. He motivated. I think he could motivate almost anybody to do almost anything. He communicated with human emotions."-Chuck Lane

"He made us realize that if the mind was willing, the body can go." Forrest Gregg

"He made you a believer. He told you what the other team was going to do, and he told you what you had to do to beat them, and invariably he was right."-Willie Davis

"He made us all better than we thought we could be."-Jerry Kramer

"He pushed you to the end of your endurance and then beyond it. And if there was reserve there, well he found that too."-Henry Jordan

"All he wanted from you was perfection."-Jim Taylor

"Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point where I could be one of the best."-Bart Starr

"He prepared us so well, and he motivated us so well, I felt he was a part of me on the field."-Fuzzy Thurston

"His enthusiasm, his spirit, was infectious."-Frank Gifford

"Respect wasn't a one way street with him. He demanded it of others but he also gave it."-Pete Rozelle

"The fear in my mind was not him but that for some reason I would not be a part of this team and be with this man."-Forrest Gregg

"He was very much interested in the total man as far as his players were concerned. I know that he was very interested in the fact that guys be total citizens. In other words, that we may be the type of people, citizens the town would be proud of."-Carrol Duke

"You might reduce Lombardi's coaching philosophy to a single sentence: In any game, you do the things you do best and you do them over and over and over."-George Halas


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© 1998 Vince Lombardi c/o CMG

THE EARLY BEGINNINGS OF OLIVE OIL

The olive tree has played a prominent role in the history of man; from the Pharaohs of Egypt to present day, where the olive tree branch is a universal symbol for peace. At the beginning of civilization, 4000 years before Christ, olive trees where brought to Palestine from Armenia and were planted throughout the land. Thanks to the Phoenicians, the great oil traders of ancient times, the precious liquid was then brought to Greece, where it was revered for all its splendor. In addition to being a food, the Greeks used olive oil as fuel for lamps, in sacred initiations and as a massage oil to prepare the skin before fighting in the arena.

The importance of Olive oil continued to increase during the Roman Empire to the point where the Empire's Southern regions were organized around oil provinces. However, the collapse of the Roman Empire signaled the end of the cultivation of the olive tree, The ancient plant survived only around convents and in the fortified regions high in the hills of Tuscany.

In 1100 AD, olive groves again begin to propagate in Italy with Tuscany becoming the primary center for the cultivation of the olive tree. Strict laws were issued during that time, regulating the cultivation of the olives and the commerce of oil and, in fact, many of those same laws are still followed today. Venice and Genoa also began to trade oil and each year more and more oil was produced from the countries of the Mediterranean river basin. At the beginning of 1300 AD, Apuglia became an enormous olive grove and olive trees were planted in other regions of Italy, making it the center of olive oil production throughout the world.

The wars of 1400 AD marked a critical time for oil production but it was only a short time before olive oil, especially Italian olive oil, rebounded and again became the lead player on the sumptuous renaissance tables of Europe.

Olive Oil production leveled-off during the 1600's due to high taxes and did not begin to grow up until the early 1700's with the development of the free market and the exemption of taxes on olive groves. In the 1800's olive groves continued to flourish thanks to the monetary incentives guaranteed by the Papal State.

Now, at the end of the 20th century olive oil continues to grow in popularity. One of the main reasons for the increased consumption of olive oil is the growing awareness of the Mediterranean diet and its positive effects on health. In the 1970's American scientists published several nutritional diets citing the correlation between the Mediterranean diet and lower incidences of health problems. Based on fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits, grains, fish, meats and olive oil, the studies confirmed that foods of the Mediterranean region are not only delicious but can be good for people as well.

from olive to oil
Olives are harvested from November until March, six to eight months after their spring blossoms appear. They require very warm average temperatures, and cannot tolerate cold below 10° F (-12° C). They do well in very dry climates, and can tolerate droughts and high winds. Not surprisingly, they grow beautifully in the Mediterranean, with its mild winters and long, hot summers, where 98% of world's olive oil is harvested. Spain is the largest producer of olive oil, followed by Italy and then Greece. Other major producers include France, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco.

In many regions of the Mediterranean, olives are still picked by hand, using wooden tools, or beaten from the trees with poles and caught in large nets. Other olive farmers now use machine harvesting, including trunk and branch shakers. Still others collect olives that fall naturally to the ground, or are nudged by wind and rain. To obtain the best oil, some growers harvest olives just as they change color, indicating that almost all the oil has formed and that they are at peak flavor.

Once collected, olives are rushed to mills for same day or, at most, next day pressing -olives not pressed immediately begin to oxidize and ferment.

The entire olive is used to make the oil; pulp, skin and even husk. Thousands of years ago, crushing was done by hand in spherical stone basins. Today, in a similar method, olives are crushed by mechanical stainless steel grindstones, and result in an olive paste. The paste is mixed with water, placed on circular hemp mats, stacked, and pressed. This "cold pressing" yields an olive liquid of oil and water which is later separated. It is the cold press method that enables olive oil to maintain its flavor, color and nutritional value. In fact, olive is the only oil which can be consumed as it is removed from the fruit.

A gentle filtration process is used to remove sediment and produce extra virgin olive oil with an acidity level of less than 1%. Any oil with acidity above this level receives an additional refining step to remove almost all traces of color, aroma, taste and acidity, resulting in extra light tasting olive oil. In order to produce the grade of oil simply known as pure olive oil, extra virgin is added back to extra light to achieve the desired level of flavor and aroma. Like a fine wine, each variety of olive oil is evaluated by tasting and measuring acidity before bottling.

Also like wine, no two olive oils are alike. Each is a unique product of soil, climate, olive variety and age, and processing method. Oils can be fruity or flowery, nutty or spicy, delicate or mild, and can range from clear, to pale green, to golden, to deep olive green in color. When properly processed, olive oil can fully maintain the flavor, aroma and vitamins of the eloquent olive from which it came.

olive oil classes
The taste and color of every single olive oil can widely vary depending on many different factors including: soil type, climatic conditions, age of olives at cultivation, variety of cultivated olives and even the degree to which the olive tree is exposed to winds and other conditions. In fact, the oil obtained from the same variety of olive tree cultivated in the same growing region can vary significantly.

Four basic types of olive oil are available and categorized by their quality characteristics which are:

Extra Virgin
Virgin
Pure
Lampante olive oil
The criteria used to classify olive oils include the natural acidity of the oil at the time of packaging, as well as a taste evaluation of the product from the average grading of at least 8 tasters.
The senses used in the evaluation of olive oil are: smell, sight and taste. The 'smell test' evaluates the intensity of the oils' scent, whilst the visual analysis looks at the oils' clarity, density and color. The final, and most important test determines the oils taste, it makes sure that the oil has a good, balanced flavor, and will establish whether or not the oil will have an unpleasant after taste.

slippery facts


Botanists claim that the normal life span of an olive tree is 300 to 600 years; some claim there are even trees alive in the Mediterranean Basin that are over 1000 years old.
The Olive tree is an evergreen
There are currently about 800 million olive trees in world
Olive trees do not bear fruit until 5 to 8 years old and don't reach full development until 20
They mature and at full production from 35 to 150 years of age, after which they will bear irregular crops almost indefinitely
The average tree produces 33 to 44 pounds of olives per year, or the equivalent of 3 to 4 liters of oil per year (It takes about 11 pounds of olives to make 1 liter of oil)
More than 70 varieties of olives are grown throughout world
Green olives are actually unripe black olives. Black olives are green olives that have been left to ripen on the tree.
Revered for its fragrance, the golden oil of the olive was used in ancient civilizations as a body ointment and to heal wounds.
The early Egyptians used olive oil to ease the movement of the great stones used to build the pyramids.
Throughout the Mediterranean Basin the luster and beauty of wood from the olive tree was prized by cabinet makers.
The ancient Greeks burned olive oil in lamps as a source of light.
olive oil tasting
Like fine wine, olive oil flavors are unique and can be appreciated with a little practice. (before starting slice plain crusted bread into pieces large enough for dipping.)

Pour generous amount of each olive oil into individual glass bowls; notice variety of hues by holding bowl against a white background.
Cleanse palate with glass of water and piece of bread before each tasting.
Before tasting, swirl oil around in bowl to release more aroma; hold bowl under nose and inhale, allowing self to be enveloped in bouquet; take notice of intensity of each variety.
Begin with generously dipping piece of bread in mildest olive oil to avoid distorting flavors of oils to follow; before swallowing, take some air into mouth to help release flavors; notice smoothness of oil, and enjoy intensity of aftertaste.