'Any Given Sunday'

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 are going to crumble.
Inch by inch
play by play till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and 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 and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money
believe it or not.
I chased off anyone who has 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.
That's, that's part of life.
But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean, one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch.
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our fingernails for that inch.
Cause 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.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing 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, whattaya gonna do?


1. How does Al Pacino's character talk about himself in his speech? 
2. What effect does this have on the speech? (Use Quotes in your answer).


1. He talks about the mistakes and wrongdoing in his life and says that he has made bad decisions. He says he has pissed away all his money and chased away anyone who has ever loved him, I think that he is trying to get the players to relate to him and say how they are alike. He then comes on the verge of saying how they are different after this, the one difference is that they can get everything back. He says that he is too old to do it for the football players.  


2.He is secretly saying that these gentlemen have the power, the determination and the skill to be able to win. They have made wrong decisions, but the difference between them and him is that they now have the opportunity to turn things around and gain back all they have lost. His honesty gains his teams trust and he is being very humble, this is very effective to getting people interested and psyched up. He uses repetition on the word 'inch'. This gives an emphasis, when the players go on the field they will be thinking about that inch and not giving up that 'inch'. He makes an illusion about the climbing out of 'hell' part of the speech. He talks about being in 'hell' and grasping and climbing up out of 'hell' one 'inch' at a time. This is a biblical illusion because people trust god and want to be up with him. Hell is where they are now!