Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football’s Annual Bowl Season

College football’s annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American’s most popular sport, and here are some of them by legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, who many consider to be the best of the best.

Knute Rockne’s head coaching record in college football was second to none, and his won-loss percentage is better than any other college or pro coach ever.

In 13 years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Rockne’s regular season won-loss percentage was 90% (105-12-5), his winning percentage among all games was 86%, and he led Notre Dame to 6 national championships, winning titles in 1919 (9-0), 1920 (9-0), 1924 (10-0), 1927 (7-1-1), 1929 (9-0) and 1930 (10-0). Five of his 6 national championships came from undefeated teams. Along the way he coached the immortal George “Gipper” Gipp, whose multiple skills lifted Notre Dame to national fame, and the “Four Horsemen” backfield of Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley and Elmer Layden that led the Fighting Irish to a 28-2 record.

While covering a Notre Dame football game, sportswriter Grantland Rice penned the famous opening story line-”Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again”-that has become legend in sports history.

Rockne’s influence on the game of football was immense. He is credited with helping popularize the forward pass, initiating intersectional rivalries, building a national schedule, and instituting the “Rockne Shift”, a backfield T formation that quickly shifted into a box formation to the right or left as the ball was snapped. Hewas also the first coach to realize the market potential of football as an entertainment medium and openly promoted Notre Dame football by courting the media for free advertising so Notre Dame’s football program would be financially successful.

Knute Rockne was a Norwegian immigrant who graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame in 1914, played end for the Fighting Irish that defeated the highly-ranked Army team for the first time in 1913, and was a graduate assistant in chemistry before eventually becoming Notre Dame’s head coach in 1918. A Protestant, he converted to Catholicism later in life.

Following his undefeated, 6th national championship team in 1930, Rockne died at age 43 as a passenger in a tragic Fokker airplane accident that would help revolutionize the transportation business and lead to the all-metal Boeing 247 aircraft. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a charter member.

Here are some of Knute Rockne’s best known quotes:

“Four years of football are calculated to breed in the average man more of the ingredients of success in life than almost any academic course he takes.”

“At home we’re the hosts, and I never liked the idea of being embarrassed in front of our friends.”

“On the road we’re somebody else’s guests – and we play in a way that they’re not going to forget we visited them.”

“We count on winning. And if we lose, don’t beef. And the best way to prevent beefing is – don’t lose.”

“Let’s win one for the Gipper.”

“I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players.”

“It isn’t necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it.”

“One loss is good for the soul, too many losses is not good for the coach.”

“Show me a good and gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.”

“Yes, I know that you feel you are not strong enough. That’s what the enemy thinks too. But we’re gonna fool them.”

“The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.”

“One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it.”

“Most men, when they think they are thinking, are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Famous Quotes by Lou Holtz During Football’s Annual Bowl Season

College football’s annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American’s most popular sport, and here are some of them by Lou Holtz, who some consider to be the best of the best college coaches and for good reason.

It is true that Knute Rockne won 5 more national championships at Norte Dame than Lou Holtz did at Notre Dame (Holtz led the Fighting Irish to 1 national title in 1988).

It is also true that Knute Rockne has a regular season won-loss percentage of 90% (105-12-5) at Notre Dame, and that Lou Holtz has a regular season won-loss percentage of 77% (100-30-2) at Notre Dame.

However, Lou Holtz is the only coach in NCAA history to lead 6 different programs to bowl games (William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina), and the only coach to guide 4 different programs to final top 20 rankings (North Carolina State, South Carolina twice, Arkansas 5 times and Notre Dame 7 times).

Lou Holtz became known for his quick wit and ability to inspire players. Both Knute Rockne and Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi became legendary for their ability to inspire players.

In addition to his coaching career, Holtz has gone on to author 5 books and become both a motivational speaker and television commentator.

Here are some of Lou Holtz’s best known quotes:

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.”

“Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.”

“When all is said and done, more is said than done.”

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”

“No one has ever drowned in sweat.”

“On this team, we’re all united in a common goal: to keep my job.”

“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”

“The problem with having a sense of humor is often (the) people you use it on aren’t in a very good mood.”

“In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.”

“It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.”

“If you’re bored with life-you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things-you don’t have enough goals.”

“If you burn your neighbor’s house down, it doesn’t make your house look any better.”

“You’ll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.”

“I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.”

“I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.”

“If he’s got golf clubs in his truck or a camper in his driveway, I don’t hire him.”

“How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.”

“Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired.”

“A lifetime contract for a coach means if you’re ahead in the third quarter and moving the ball, they can’t fire you.”

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

“You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Motivational Quotes- The Hidden Secrets

They may seem cliché, but motivational quotes really can inspire you to become the best person that you can be.  

Why Quotes Work

Motivational quotes work because of the person who spoke or wrote the quote. You are awe-inspired by baseball players, celebrities and even business leaders. It is only natural to take notice when they give a quote. Usually, it is a well thought out comment about a specific topic or incident. Sometimes, their quotes have been written by professional speech writers. It is a statement that resounds with the public that makes it famous.  

Quotes also are useful because they promote key messages. Some of the topics can include winning at sports, success in the business world, love and so on. Especially in the work place, quotes seem to unite the departments with a strong sense of purpose. Team leaders employ the use of quote to motivate the staff to perform at a level of excellence.  

Famous Sports Quotes

Vince Lombardi, legendary head coach of the Green Bay Packers, won five league championships during his nine year stint.  He has been credit with many motivation quotes including the following: “Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”

The comparison of sports and work has many parallels. Strategies and execution are planned with the leader (or coach) and the players (business associates). Both want to win, whether it is a game or to be the prominent leader in an industry.

Quotes from Famous Business Executives  

The business community has also recorded famous quotes. Among them, Lee Iacocca stands out for many reasons. He is the American businessman known for the turnaround of the declining Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s. He said: “Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people.  Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people. This is true. A workforce that is motivated and committed to bringing the best service and/or products to its customers will achieve great results.  

Founder and co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, Mark Victor Hansen frequently has his motivation quotes published. He stresses the importance of just going for your goals: “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.  So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” Too many times, you wait at work to ask to lead a project or be given additional responsibilities.  Be proactive and create your own success.

Usages of Quotes

Motivation quotes are used in speeches, in high school and college papers and on plaques that adorn the walls of your office.

Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football’s Annual Bowl Season

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

College football’s annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American’s most popular sport, and here are some of them by legendary Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi, who many consider to be the best of the best.

Lombardi’s head coaching record in the National Football League was second to none. In 9 years with the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi’s regular season won-loss percentage was 73% (96-34-6), his postseason was 90% (9-1) and his total was 75% (105-35-6).

He took a 1-10-1 team in 1958 to an NFL title in 3 years, and went on to win 5 NFL titles in 9 years (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967) and three titles consecutively. He led the Packers to the first two Super Bowl titles in 1966 and 1967.

Lombardi’s discipline was legendary. A lifelong Catholic, he spent 4 years in Cathedral Preparatory Seminary to become a Catholic priest before becoming a standout football player at St. Francis Preparatory High School.

An undersized guard at 5 foot 8 and 185 pounds, he was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Fordham University in the Bronx to play for “Sleepy” Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in the 1920s. He would become part of the “Seven Blocks of Granite” that held Fordham’s opponents scoreless several times during a 25-game winning streak.

After coaching at Fordham, Lombardi became the offensive line coach for West Point under another legendary head coach, Colonel Red Blaik. Lombardi then became the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, working with defensive coordinator Tom Landry and head coach Jim Lee Howell, before becoming Green Bay’s head coach in 1959.

Lombardi was 59 years old when he died of cancer in 1970. Grown men and Hall of Fame football players openly wept at his funeral.

Here are some of Vince Lombardi’s best known quotes:

“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”

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

“There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay and I never want to finish second again.”

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”

“Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”

“If you can accept losing, you can’t win.”

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

“Success demands singleness of purpose.”

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.”

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”

“We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.”

“Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers are all about. They didn’t do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.”

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

“Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.”

Here are some quotes by Lombardi’s players:

“When Lombardi said ‘sit down,’ we didn’t look for a chair.” – Forrest Gregg, Hall of Fame tackle.

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

“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, Hall of Fame defensive tackle.

“He made us better than we thought we could be.” Jerry Kramer.

“Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point that I could be one of the best.” Bart Starr, Hall of Fame quarterback.

“The fear in my mind was not him but that for some reason I would not be a part of the team and be with this man.” 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, Hall of Fame defensive back.

(Editor’s Note: I have read and studied one of the best biographies on Lombardi: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, I highly recommend his book as a great read.)

Fun Holiday Quotes

It’s fascinating how simple quotations can convey insightful, fun and complex ideas.

Here are some fun quotes for the Holiday season. Over 50 fun holiday quotes from people ranging from Phyllis Diller and Andy Rooney to Charles Dickens and John Lennon. Humorous and insightful thoughts on Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and atheism to traditions, spirituality and family. For more quotes on subjects ranging from love, happiness and wisdom and information on the inspiring public art project Dialogue, please see: http://www.DialogueProject.net. Enjoy!

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HOLIDAY QUOTATIONS 2007

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Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.

(Phyllis Diller)

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.

(Francis C. Farley)

The three stages of a man’s life:

1. He believes in Santa Claus

2. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.

3. He is Santa Claus.

(Unattributed)

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

(Charles Dickens)

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!

(Charles Dickens)

When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,

We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,

And etched on vacant places

Are half-forgotten faces

Of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.

(Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Christmas Fancies from Poems of Power)

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

(Agnes M. Pharo)

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

(Calvin Coolidge)

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.

(Garrison Keillor)

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

(Hamilton Wright Mabie)

May this Festival of Lights bring blessings upon you and All Your Loved Ones.

May the Lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all humankind.

May Love & Light fill your home and heart at Hanukkah.

May happiness fill your home as you celebrate the Festival of Lights.

(Unattributed)

New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.

(Charles Lamb)

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring-not even a mouse:

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

(Clement C. Moore)

If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

(Moshe Dayan)

How many families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual goodwill, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight; and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilized nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first joys of a future condition of existence, provided for the blessed and happy!

(Charles Dickens)

I wish you a merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year;

A pocket full of money

And a cellar full of beer,

And a great fat pig

To last you all the year.

(Old English Song)

At Christmas I no more desire a rose

Than wish a snow in May’s newfangled mirth;

But like of each thing that in seasons grows.

(William Shakespeare)

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more.”

(Theodor Seuss Geisel, “The Grinch”)

The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature.

(Andy Rooney)

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

(Oren Arnold)

Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.

(Ralph Sockman)

Which Christmas is the most vivid to me? It’s always the next Christmas.

(Joanne Woodward)

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.

(Bob Hope)

The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.

(Louisa May Alcott)

Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.

(Hugh Downs)

Christmas is more than a time of festivities, family and friends;

it is a season of generosity, gladness and gratitude.

(William Arthur Ward)

There was the little boy who approached Santa in a department store with a long list of requests. He wanted a bicycle and a sled, a chemical set, a cowboy suit, a set of trains, a baseball glove and roller skates.

“That’s a pretty long list,” Santa said sternly. “I’ll have to check in my book and see if you were a good boy.”

“No, no,” the youngster said quickly. “Never Mind checking. I’ll just take the roller skates.”

(Unattributed)

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures.

(Sir Winston Churchill)

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.

(Edna Ferber)

Calvin: Well. I’ve decided I do believe in Santa Claus,

no matter how preposterous he sounds.

Hobbes: What convinced you?

Calvin: A simple risk analysis. I want presents. Lots of presents.

Why risk not getting them over a matter of belief?

Heck, I’ll believe anything they want.

(Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes)

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the Holidays.

(W. C. Jones)

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.

(Francis Pharcellus Church, responding to a letter to the New York Sun

in 1897 from 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asking, “is there a Santa Claus”)

The holiest of holidays are those

Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;

The secret anniversaries of the heart.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we’ll be seeing six or seven.

(W. C. Fields)

A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.

(Unattributed)

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

(T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding)

Christmas- that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance- a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.

(Augusta E. Rundel)

The merry family gatherings- The old, the very young; The strangely lovely way they Harmonize in carols sung. For Christmas is tradition time- Traditions that recall The precious memories down the years, The sameness of them all.

(Helen Lowrie Marshall)

No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. But important lessons and a sweet tale that makes glad the heart of childhood live on, at least until our imagination creates something even better.

Your eagerness to know is wonderful! Have you ever scooped up a lost nickel, only to discover that it is a quarter? Santa is like that, a thousand times over. No, there is no Santa outside imagination. But why you were told about him is much better than if he were really real.

Santa is a playful fantasy full of hope and happiness, inviting you down the challenging path to true adulthood. Yes, he embodies good will and generosity and inspires children everywhere to appreciate the difference between Naughty and Nice. But there is so much more that you and your friends are just now glimpsing, hidden behind the tale’s knowing wink.

(Greg Perkins, The Objectivist Center)

Most Texans think Hanukkah is some sort of duck call.

(Richard Lewis)

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’

(Dave Barry)

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,

I made it out of clay;

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,

Now dreidel I shall play.

(Unattributed)

When I realized that we [Jews] have something better [than Christmas traditions]. We have fire. Think about it. The whole spiel of Hanukkah is lighting the menorah to commemorate the miracle of the lamp oil that lasted for eight days. Little kids like myself were handed matches and told to light the candles. I remember standing mesmerized in front of the flames as my mother and father gave us our nightly presents. It felt so dangerous. And in my book, just like rock beats scissors, danger beats tinsel.

(Barbara Rushkoff)

A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Holiday dinner: “I don’t like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate.”

(Unattributed)

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.

(Donald E. Westlake)

One good thing about Christmas shopping it toughens you for the January sales.

(Grace Kriley)

A Holiday candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small.

(Eva K. Logue)

Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive.

(Robert Lynd)

Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence.

(Joan Mills)

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.

(Andy Rooney)

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.

(Unattributed)

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

(Agnes M. Pahro)

The [Kwanzaa] holiday, then will of necessity, be engaged as an ancient and living cultural tradition which reflects the best of African thought and practice in its reaffirmation of the dignity of the human person in community and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it, and the rich resource and meaning of a people’s culture.

(Dr. Maulana Karenga)

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.

(Shirley Temple)

Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again.

(Grace Noll Crowell)

The one thing women don’t want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.

(Joan Rivers)

I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas

with a note on it saying, toys not included.

(Bernard Manning)

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

(Calvin Coolidge)

And in our world of plenty

We can spread a smile of joy

Throw your arms around the world

At Christmastime.

(Bob Geldof & Midge Ure)

And So This Is Christmas;

And What Have We Done?

Another Year Over;

A New One Just Begun;

And So Happy Christmas;

I Hope You Have Fun;

The Near And The Dear Ones;

The Old And The Young.

(John Lennon)

So stick up ivy and the bays, and then restore the heathen ways, green will remind you of the Spring, though this great day denies the thing, and mortifies the earth, and all, but your wild revels, and loose hall.

(Henry Vaughan)

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More quotes at:

http://www.DialogueProject.net

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