Willie Beamen quotes from Any Given Sunday (1999)

Willie Beamen

I look at those pictures on the wall, it just makes me sad. Its like a room full of ghosts. When I'm done with the game, or the game is done with me, I don't wanna be some ghost up on the wall, I wanna be more than that.

Willie Beamen

Maybe it's not racism, maybe it's placism. A brother has to know his place, right, coach?

Willie Beamen

If I play my way, I just might win. Then what the **** was your life about, anyway?

Willie Beamen

I'm trying to win coach. I ain't trying to disrespect nobody, but winning is the only thing I respect.

Tony D'Amato: If the playbook is too complicated, we simplify it.

Willie Beamen

Playbook's too slow. When I'm on the field, I just gotta feel it. I gotta let it out-
Tony D'Amato: That why you've been changing the plays?

Willie Beamen

No, I'm just trying to read the defense.
Tony D'Amato: I'm not talking about audibles, I'm talking about in the huddle. Look, when you change plays, you're showing disrespect to a lot of people...

Willie Beamen

I don't mean disrespect, man.
Tony D'Amato: ...to people whom have worked over years. In this club, around this League, people sacrifice more than you'll ever know to be in here-

Willie Beamen

I'm trying to win, Coach! I ain't trying to disrespect nobody, but winnin' is the only thing I respect.
Tony D'Amato: Okay, son. I want you to listen very carefully, 'cause one day you'll realize this is the truest thing you've ever heard: This game... this game has got to be about more than winning. You're part of something here. Lombardi, Tittle, Sammy Baugh, Unitas, hundreds of great players! Those men on the wall? You're part of that, now. And on the way, I want you to cherish it, because when it's gone, it's gone, forever.

Willie Beamen

Y'know, when I look at them pictures, and the trophies and stuff, it just makes me sad. It's like a room full of ghosts. And when I'm done with this game, or this game is done with me, I don't wanna be no ghost on the wall, I wanna be more than that.
Tony D'Amato: [beat] Looks like, uh, Cap is gonna make it back in time for the playoffs.

Willie Beamen

What?
Tony D'Amato: I'm gonna start him.

Willie Beamen

I knew, that's, that's the only reason you got here, I knew you was gonna sell me out.
Tony D'Amato: Cap's the leader. He's a team player.

Willie Beamen

That's bullshit.
Tony D'Amato: He needed to-

Willie Beamen

That's such bullshit, he ain't half the athlete that I am! You look me in the eye and tell me that Cap is a better player.
Tony D'Amato: [nonchalantly] Cap's a better player.

Willie Beamen

Well, I guess it was somebody else out there that won the last two games, huh? I put the points on the board, he lost four in a row, I lead by doin' it!
Tony D'Amato: Yeah, you kicked ass, kid!

Willie Beamen

Yeah, I did.
Tony D'Amato: But I'll tell you something, Cap Rooney has been doing it for years.

Willie Beamen

And his time is over! And yours is too, unless you start taking some risk, and start playing this game the way it's played today, it's not about the pictures-
Tony D'Amato: Hey!

Willie Beamen

And trophies on the wall-
Tony D'Amato: I've been in this game for three decades, kid! I know football! And those men on the wall-

Willie Beamen

They wanted to win. Just like you do. You can feed the press and the fans the same old sacrifice and glory-of-the-game crap, you do it well. But I've been there. I've seen a long line of coaches just like you, all the way from college with that same old bullshit half-time speech.
Tony D'Amato: Bullshit?

Willie Beamen

Yes. Yes, it's bullshit, and you know all of it is bullshit, because it's about the money. Breaking in the TV contracts, fat cat boosting the signal on the sky boxes, the coaches trying to up their salaries, and the whole time, what you're lookin' for? You're looking for the next black stud to take you to the top ten. Get you in the ball game. It's the same way in the Pros. Except in the Pros, the field hands get paid.
Tony D'Amato: Come on, don't play that race card on me, kid. Twenty-five years I work with men of your colour.

Willie Beamen

Maybe it's not racism, maybe it's placism. Brother has to know his place, right boss?

Tony D'Amato: I don't understand what you're talking about, what are you talking about? You don't trust anybody because of what happened to you in college? Come on, Willie! You knew the rules, you were the one whom broke'em!

Willie Beamen

Broke'em? How did I break'em?
Tony D'Amato: How'd you break them? You broke'em, that's why you-

Willie Beamen

I lost- I lost a million dollar signing bonus 'cause I took a $300 suit from a booster to go to this kid's wedding, and I didn't even know the guy. "What is a brother supposed to do when he in college, huh? He ain't got no money! He only wanna go out on a date, wanna be gettin' some nice clothes...". Everybody had their hands out, but it was me they suspended. I dropped six rounds in a draft because of that, and then the coach is at me like: "Oh, y'know what, he's a troublemaker, he arrogant, he don't wanna play no ball!". You talk about sacrifice, I sacrificed almost ten million dollars because dumb rednecks like a coach in Ferdinand and San Diego made me a cornerback 'cause he said I got quick feet. He's the one whom separated my shoulder having me to tackle at 250-pound mother****ers, I don't do that kind of shit! I was a great football player. But nobody gave me a time or a day or a season to let my shoulder heal, and then they traded me out of it.
Tony D'Amato: That's right, you go ahead, blame everybody but yourself, Willie.

Willie Beamen

Whatever...
Tony D'Amato: You see, 'cause that's what a leader is about: sacrifice. The times he's gotta sacrifice, because he's gotta lead! By example! Not by fear, and not by self-pity.

Willie Beamen

Who do you think you're talking to!? Half of my football career is over! And you want me to go back to the bench, to sacrifice for the greater glory of Cap Rooney? Well, **** you, coach! I ain't buying your brand! Just 'cause you're some scared old man. You feel like if I play my way, I just might win. And then what the **** was your life about, anyway?
[Willie turns to leave the house. Tony gets up and goes after him.] Tony D'Amato: You're not some flash-in-a-pan, corner, or receiver, or- or even Julian Washington, YOU'RE A GODDAMN QUARTERBACK! You know what that means!? It's the top spot, kid! It's the guy who takes the fall. It's the guy everybody's looking at first, the leader of a team. Who will support you, when they understand you. Who will break their ribs, and their noses, and their necks for you, because they believe! 'Cause you make them believe. That's a quarterback.

Willie Beamen

Yeah. I'm the leader of your team... 'til Cap's back up. Then I'm back on the bench. Shit, you ain't said two words at me 'til Cherubini went down. And then it was (imitating Tony) "Oh, go out there and, and play like you're in the hood, and you're throwing the ball and mama's ringing the dinner bell". All you do is talk at me, man. So Im'ma stay who I am, Steamin' Willie Beamen. And with the time I got left, I'm gonna play my way. Get my dollars up. So when you go to waive me, trade me, injure-reserve me or whatever the **** you all do, I'll be worth ten times what I was worth before I got here.
[Willie turns and leaves.] Tony D'Amato: You're very, very young. And you're very, very stupid.