“I don’t need you to love me. I don’t want you to hate me, but just don’t judge a book by its cover.”
― Christian Laettner
“I enjoy being mysterious. I enjoy the notoriety it brings.”
― Christian Laettner
“My problem is being brutally honest. People don’t like that.”
― Christian Laettner
“As a thrill in my career, the Olympics rank right up there with my two NCAA championships at Duke.”
― Christian Laettner
“There’s gotta be a villain; there’s gotta be a good guy.”
― Christian Laettner
“You pay attention to detail. You try to win every time. You play tough. And when you play the right way and be accountable to each other, you’re going to have success and enjoy the game that much more.”
― Christian Laettner
“I always believed him. If Coach K said the sky will be purple when you get outside, I would have believed him.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m sure I was insensitive. I’m probably still a jerk at times. But my priority as a freshman was to be good in basketball and play a lot. Not to be the nicest person in the world. I was one-track-minded. I still am.”
― Christian Laettner
“My whole freshman year at Duke, it was drilled into me that nothing was given to you, and you have to earn it, and this is a dog-eat-dog world, and blah blah blah, and blah blah blah. And you buy into it, 100 percent. You end up loving it. That’s the way it should be, right?”
― Christian Laettner
“I’ve got a beautiful wife and a beautiful family.”
― Christian Laettner
“For me, personally, on the inside, the best moment was winning my first championship.”
― Christian Laettner
“I think every basketball player I know loves ping pong. Everyone played in on the Dream Team. I played Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin and even David Stern once. David Stern saw I was pretty good.”
― Christian Laettner
“I know I used to play basketball every day, whether it was for fun with my older brother or if it was organized basketball on teams.”
― Christian Laettner
“You can’t cry yourself to sleep every night because people from a distance hate you. So you gotta do with it what you can, and if that means using it as motivation, then that’s what you do.”
― Christian Laettner
“This is something people don’t realize about me, but I can laugh – and laugh at myself.”
― Christian Laettner
“No one thinks more highly of me than probably myself. I think that’s fine.”
― Christian Laettner
“Everyone says I was real cute as a kid, but from 8 to 19, I was horrible-looking, freaky.”
― Christian Laettner
“My freshman year, the hate was all directed toward Danny Ferry. And every year, there’s some new poor sucker at Duke who draws the ire of everybody.”
― Christian Laettner
“I don’t think it’s a good M.O. to disrespect your opponents, and maybe that’s why the teams that disrespected me and my team lost to us.”
― Christian Laettner
“Given the way Duke plays its offense and defense, in high school I was very interested in playing for Coach K. Then when you get there and see how good he is, you buy into it a hundred percent. He has a recipe for how to be successful on the court.”
― Christian Laettner
“Every Olympics, when I was growing up and playing basketball, my parents and I made it a point to sit down and watch the U.S.A. compete. To join that team later, and play and practice one-on-one with David Robinson, Larry Bird, Chris Mullens and all these guys I looked up to, was a dream come true.”
― Christian Laettner
“When I went to work with Garinger, they were good kids and a very good team. But they had a nine-game losing streak, and you can see that they were getting down and depressed and not feeling rewards for their efforts. But when I came in there, I didn’t need to teach them much about X’s and O’s.”
― Christian Laettner
“I did pursue to be a good basketball player.”
― Christian Laettner
“I pursued to have my team win as much as we could, and it doesn’t happen without great teammates.”
― Christian Laettner
“Every basketball thing I do now through my academy is always in a muskie state so I can work both those passions at the same time.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m a little embarrassed to say I’m a little bit of a soccer dad.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m very close with Brian Davis, Thomas Hill, and Marty Clark.”
― Christian Laettner
“I played some ping pong with the guys on the T’Wolves team. I might have been the champ on that team, too. But ping pong is a big part of my life. I grew up playing it against my brother and my father when I was young. They used to kick my behind for a long time, so I got very good at it.”
― Christian Laettner
“For whatever reason, the people that don’t appreciate Duke basketball or don’t pull for Duke basketball, they have a tendency to vilify one of the players. And a lot of times, it might be a white guy. And has it happened over and over in the past? Yes.”
― Christian Laettner
“You can’t do something stupid at any time. If you do, you’re going to get technicals or flagrant fouls, or you’re going to get kicked out of the game or whatever.”
― Christian Laettner
“I think if you are a player going to Duke, you have to expect a little bit to be not liked when you go and play in opposing team’s gyms. Like, when I signed with Duke out of high school, I knew it would be playing in hell where they hate you. That’s what I loved about it.”
― Christian Laettner
“I love muskie fishing in the summer time.”
― Christian Laettner
“People don’t know how awesome Minnesota is… I love it up here. And when I was playing up here, I loved every second of it, even if it was minus 20 degrees.”
― Christian Laettner
“It’s easier to work hard when you’re passionate about what you’re doing.”
― Christian Laettner
“I loved my time in Minnesota. I loved it so much that I lived up there until 1999.”
― Christian Laettner
“It’s very important to know how to dribble and pass and catch and cut at a very high level if you want to be a good basketball player.”
― Christian Laettner
“Well, my last year was 04-05 with the Heat, and I relaxed for a few years, and I said, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ I’ve got to do my passion, and my passion is basketball.”
― Christian Laettner
“A layup or two early will help your confidence.”
― Christian Laettner
“I had an older brother that would beat me in everything, and then he would rub my nose in it, and that made me work even harder.”
― Christian Laettner
“When I’m older and my children have grown up, I would like to coach in the NBA.”
― Christian Laettner
“The Olympics in ’92, I didn’t contribute that much. I had more to do with winning the National Championships than I did the gold medal.”
― Christian Laettner
“If you want the whole college basketball experience, you have to go to a game at Cameroon Indoor!”
― Christian Laettner
“My second choice would’ve been Carolina. And when I told my mother I was going to Duke and not Carolina, she just cried, and that made my decision process a little harder. But I still went with what felt right, and it ended up working out well for me.”
― Christian Laettner
“You earn playing time on the practice floor.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m up in Minneapolis all the time. I love being up there.”
― Christian Laettner
“I was unique and still am unique.”
― Christian Laettner
“I want to see kids go to college more.”
― Christian Laettner
“Sometimes you’ve just got to will it into the hoop.”
― Christian Laettner
“You cannot just allow your team to stink.”
― Christian Laettner
“The only thing I can control is winning on the basketball court.”
― Christian Laettner
“People can think what they want about me.”
― Christian Laettner
“At Duke, the coaches would cover up for you. But with the Wolves, something happen,s and it’s in the papers, and I’m blamed. Things are run differently here – the wrong way, if you ask me. One man wants to blame another.”
― Christian Laettner
“Part of me would like for not all the Kentucky, Carolina, and Connecticut fans to despise me, but another part of me realizes that’s not important.”
― Christian Laettner
“It’s not good to be a hater.”
― Christian Laettner
“All I wanted to do was win. People have to remember that when I came to Duke, they’d started to get a reputation that they can’t win the big game. We were aware of that, and we hated it.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m not gonna say I’m the greatest guy, but the reason I don’t hate is I know what it feels like to be hated. So I always pull for Tom Brady.”
― Christian Laettner
“I root for John Calipari.”
― Christian Laettner
“I always pull for the best of the best.”
― Christian Laettner
“Larry Johnson was fun to watch.”
― Christian Laettner
“I went to Duke, and I stayed at Duke all four years because I wanted as many years under Coach K’s tutelage as I could get. I think every year you get with him, the more it’s going help you for basketball and life. So I wanted to play for him as long as I could.”
― Christian Laettner
“When you’re the king of someplace, you don’t voluntarily leave.”
― Christian Laettner
“I pursued to have my team win as much as we could.”
― Christian Laettner
“I can’t say I go through life liking it and that I pursue to be hated, but I did pursue to be a good basketball player.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’ve been on teams in the NBA where we don’t play the right way.”
― Christian Laettner
“Anytime the premiere sports channel calls you and says they want to do a movie about you, you’re going to say, ‘Yes.’”
― Christian Laettner
“It’s hard to live up to the expectations. Besides that, I think I had a very good NBA career, and I’m proud of it. I might not have been an absolute monster, but I thought I did pretty good.”
― Christian Laettner
“I don’t watch any NBA games today, because it makes me sad: I want to be back out there.”
― Christian Laettner
“I really looked forward to the opportunity to play for the Timberwolves. I went up there and gave it my all. I fell in love with the city and the people up there, even to the extreme where I met my wife up there.”
― Christian Laettner
“I don’t believe many teams can do it just with one really, really good player. You have to be surrounded with a good cast.”
― Christian Laettner
“I used to tell my mother, ‘Mom, when they write really flattering things about your son, don’t believe it all. And when they write really negative things about your son, don’t believe it all.’”
― Christian Laettner
“I realize everyone has the image and perception that I was the worst person.”
― Christian Laettner
“You can only be that confident if you know you’ve done the work.”
― Christian Laettner
“My biggest regret in life – well, one of them – is that I wasn’t muskie fishing from ’92 to ’96 when I was not married.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m different now than I was when I was 20 years old.”
― Christian Laettner
“When you’re being interviewed every day, and you’re tired, you can make mistakes and say the wrong things, especially when you’re young. When you’re young, you don’t realize everything, and you’re a little naive.”
― Christian Laettner
“People mature. They learn. They get better at things. You’re different when you’re 45 than when you’re 25.”
― Christian Laettner
“If you are not a Dukie, and Duke is having a lot of success year after year, you might get tired of it. They might not like your competing personality or competing persona, and if you are not a Dukie, or you don’t love Duke or Christian Laettner, then I can understand the hating on me.”
― Christian Laettner
“How many people get to say a ’30 for 30′ is being made about them?”
― Christian Laettner
“I always played my best when I respected my opponent and was a little scared of them because they could beat me. Every game I played in college, that was the case.”
― Christian Laettner
“For my entire Duke career, people were gunning for us and hating us and wanting us to lose, so I got used to that right away. Every team is going to give you their best shot. Everyone wants to beat you.”
― Christian Laettner
“I made three visits during my senior year of high school to Duke, UNC, and Virginia. If I hadn’t gone to Duke, I would have went to Carolina, just like a lot of Carolina players who, had they not gone there, would have went to Duke.”
― Christian Laettner
“It amuses me that just because I’m white and always looked skinny, I’m supposed to be unphysical, soft, not tough.”
― Christian Laettner
“Being a physical specimen doesn’t mean you’re any good at playing inside. Positioning, using your head, the mental stuff – that’s my game. That’s what makes a good inside player.”
― Christian Laettner
“When I was 15 years old, the Duke-UNC game looked like the funnest game in the world to be a part of. So I chose to make sure I was a part of it for four years, and when I was at Duke, it exceeded all my expectations.”
― Christian Laettner
“Honestly, the Carolina games I played in every year were more intense than the national championship games I played in – they had a better environment.”
― Christian Laettner
“When you’re at home for Duke-Carolina, you have a crowd of close to 10,000 around you, loving you. That’s awesome. But it’s also a lot of fun in Chapel Hill, where it’s you, your teammates and your coaches, and no one else. I enjoyed the games at Chapel Hill a little more because of that.”
― Christian Laettner
“I don’t think the world hated Duke basketball before me.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’d love to do movies.”
― Christian Laettner
“I like Minnesota. I’d be very happy playing there.”
― Christian Laettner
“Shaq is such a load. He’s so big and strong, but it’s possible to play well against him.”
― Christian Laettner
“Basketball is more than just strength and power.”
― Christian Laettner
“I was how I was in college because I had to be. I played angry. I played hard. I stepped on guys’ chests, I hit a game-winner against UConn.”
― Christian Laettner
“My senior year was crazy. We were defending champions, we were on national TV just about every weekend, and we were winning. Teams always brought their best when they went up against us, and we always matched it.”
― Christian Laettner
“I bought into everything Coach K preached to us. His whole philosophy.”
― Christian Laettner
“I’m versatile in every part of my game – except being nice, which I am only at home.”
― Christian Laettner
“If you’re not a Duke fan, you’re not going to like me.”
― Christian Laettner
“Any opposing gym we go into, I want them to hate me. At the end of the game, I want to be beating their team so bad that they should hate me.”
― Christian Laettner
“I got a beautiful wife and beautiful, healthy children, and that’s really all you can ask for.”
― Christian Laettner
“People say I’m selfish. There might be some truth to that.”
― Christian Laettner
“Basketball is a non-aggressive game. So when emotions are high, there’s a very low chance to get angry or yell. So that’s why it never happens out there.”
― Christian Laettner
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