Some highlights from this year's commencement speeches

	It feels good to say, "Yankees suck." Just ask Shonda Schilling. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

We canvassed the nation for some of the best remarks from commencement speeches. Why you may have fallen asleep during your speech, these sports figures offered plenty pearls of wisdom to their audiences.

"This morning at this ceremony of warm memory and high expectation, I summon you in the name of this school and all who have passed through it, to embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by your energy, every problem solved by your wisdom, every soul stirred by your passion, and every barrier to justice brought down by your determination will ennoble your life, inspire others, serve your country, and explode outward the boundaries what is achievable on this earth.

"God, how I wish I had written that, because then I would be off to a good start and I could justify my being here. But, in fact, those were the words of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright speaking at Berkeley a few years ago. And I'm thinking 'Now that's what a commencement address is supposed to sound like'."
-- Bob Costas, Loyola College

"We lost one of our major players last night [Hideki Matsui to a broken wrist] and lost another player last week [Gary Sheffield to a wrist injury]. That doesn't mean we're going to throw up our hands and say, 'How can we do this?' We have to find a way to do it, and that's the only message I can give you. The world is loaded with potholes and setbacks, and whatever it takes to get through that will make you a better person and a better leader."
-- Joe Torre, Rider College

"But I am sure we can all come together and agree on one thing: We have all yelled "Yankees Suck." And if you haven't, you really should, it feels good."
-- Shonda Schilling, Merrimack College

"A survey revealed that 99.7 of college graduates can't remember any pearls of wisdom from the speeches at their graduations. That breaks down to only 23 out of roughly 10,000 people graduating from the nation's colleges this May."
-- Frank Deford, Daniel Webster College

"As a kid, I was called stupid and lazy, not living up to my potential ... There is no nutritional value in negative thinking."
-- Henry Winkler, New England Institute of Technology

"You know, for a guy who barely made it out of high school, I find it incredibly ironic that I am standing up here as a doctor. I would just ask that somebody send the photos to the principal at Plano East Senior High and let him know that I, in fact, graduated from Tufts and that he has to call me Dr. Armstrong now."
-- Lance Armstrong, Tufts University [after receiving an honorary degree]

"Success without a personal satisfaction or sacrifice isn't success at all. It's posturing. Money is a means of power, but seldom a measure of success ... I had a God-given gift, but that alone was not enough. I needed character, determination and resolve. I never took myself very seriously, but I took what I did very seriously."
-- Jerry West, West Virginia

"I was educated right here in West Virginia and it has been good for me. It is going to be good for you, also."
-- Terry Bowden, Ohio Valley University

"I hope somebody got that introduction on tape. If I ever want another job, I'll send them that instead of a resume. I don't want to get anyone in here too worried about my speech, but the only one I shared my notes with before hand was Archbishop Favalora and you can see that he walked out of the room already, so I don't want you to take that as a bad sign."
-- Stan Van Gundy, St. Thomas University

"As I was preparing my remarks a few days before the ceremonies, an official of the college accidentally let it slip -- rather cruelly, I thought -- that I was their third choice for a speaker. I was devastated. 'Who were the other two?', I asked, swallowing hard. 'Woody Allen and Roger Clemens,' the man said. I thought about this for some time and then later assured my undoubtedly despairing audience that they had nothing to worry about -- that, in fact, I possessed the blinding fastball of Woody Allen and the existential angst of Roger Clemens.
--Ken Burns, Lehigh University

"It's more important to be significant than successful...do what's right, do everything to the best of your ability; help people know that you care."
--Lou Holtz, Wingate College

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