Al Pacino 'Any Given Sunday' Speech Transcript

Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (00:01) I don't know what to say really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives, all comes down to today. Either we heal as a team, or we're going to crumble, inch by inch, play by play, til we're finished. Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (00:29) We're in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell, one inch at a time. Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (01:14) I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me and lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that's part of life. But you only learn that, when you start losing stuff. Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (01:47) You find out life's this game of inches. So is football because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second, too slow, too fast, you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (02:22) On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch because we know when we add up all those inches, that's going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing, between living and dying. Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (02:53) I'll tell you this, in any fight, it's the guy who's willing to die, who's going to win that inch. And I know if I'm going to have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Al Pacino / Coach D'Amato: (03:23) Now I think you're going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you're going to do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen. And either we heal now as a team or we will die as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now, what are you going to do?