--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is no academic virtue in playing…" description: "\"There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose...There has indeed bee..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png" --- # There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football… ![“There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose...There has indeed been a surrender at Notre Dame, but it is a surrender to excellence on all fronts, and in this we hope to rise above ourselves with the help of God.” quote by Theodore Hesburgh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png) > “There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose...There has indeed been a surrender at Notre Dame, but it is a surrender to excellence on all fronts, and in this we hope to rise above ourselves with the help of God.” [Theodore Hesburgh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-hesburgh/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Winning a game against expectations can be a surrender to excellence, inspiring collective improvement with divine help. **In simple terms:** Excellence can arise from unexpected victories. Key Takeaway Strive for excellence together. Themes sports excellence faith Mood inspirational reflective Type sports spiritual When to use this quote - athletics - leadership Key Concepts teamwork spiritual motivation Questions to Reflect On - What does surrendering to excellence mean to you? - How can faith influence performance? A Different Perspective The notion of “surrender to excellence” may be vague. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Academic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academic/) [Excellence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excellence/) [Football](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/football/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Notre dame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notre-dame/) [Odds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/odds/) [Rise above](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rise-above/) [Surrender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surrender/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Winning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/winning/) ## Related quotes > [I went to Notre Dame. 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Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) [Browse all 958 Academic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose...There has indeed been a surrender at Notre Dame, but it is a surrender to excellence on all fronts, and in this we hope to rise above ourselves with the help of God.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Theodore Hesburgh" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-hesburgh/there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-mediocre-football-and-no/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Academic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-hesburgh/there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-mediocre-football-and-no/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cee/theodore-hesburgh-27606_academic_there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-m_2602552.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all…” — Theodore Hesburgh", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Theodore Hesburgh", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-hesburgh/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is no academic virtue in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-hesburgh/there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-mediocre-football-and-no/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-hesburgh/there-is-no-academic-virtue-in-playing-mediocre-football-and-no/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```