Do you speak for the entire planet or just the Blashill apologists here? I am sure that many people who "dabble" in the english language would see the quote as pretentious. Unless they perceive merely landing the job as the achievement of greatness then there is no other way to interpret it. You are correct though. My opinion is that pretentious people suck.
The quote is a little cringeworthy. But then all motivational quotes sound like an insult to ones intelligence if encountered too frequently and one is a person with any literary appreciation because by default they are invariably simplistic to ensure they can be understood by those dull enough to need them. This however doesn't make them untrue.
Perhaps quoting Socrates' " we are what we repeatedly do" may have sounded more elegant, but a lot of professional athletes are not known for intellectual or academic intelligence, and of course there are many on the team for whom Engliah is a second language at best.
I agree it works better for younger players without deeply ingrained professional habits, but I can't imagine the senior players find any problem with it being on a team increasingly full of young players.
In my opinion Babcock's quote, when taken in that context it was utilised is just as trite despite its greater elegance. And it's quasi-religious tone would make as many feel uncomfortable as it would inspire others.
As for that wider issue, bar our new PP guy being worse than our previous one, a very similar roster is yielding very similar results. Larkin is a massive plus. Green has been a plus, Smith's comparative play is turning into a plus, and a Mrazek is a plus. Kronwall is a minus, Dats until recently has been a minus. Quincey's absence has been a minus, as has the LTIR of Franzen and his 0.65 ppg in the first half of last year.
Blashill seems less polished in some areas, and less able to force certain forwards into hard areas, but equally seems more proactive when things aren't working and less prone to pigheaded favouritism.
But with a similar record after 41 games means concrete conclusions cannot be made at this time
