Motivation Quote by Mike Quade

"We're going to play better, and we're going to play harder" is classic coach-speak that works because it’s both a promise and a hedge. "Better" is the aspirational metric, the thing fans want on the scoreboard and in the standings. "Harder" is the moral metric, the one that can be claimed even when the numbers don’t move. Put together, the line gives a team two ways to win the narrative: improved execution if results follow, righteous effort if they don’t.

The syntax matters. It’s future tense, collective, and absolute: "we’re going to". Not "we hope", not "we need to". That’s leadership as certainty, meant to quiet panic and impose a shared script on a locker room where doubt spreads faster than strategy. And the pairing is revealing: "better" suggests craft - cleaner fundamentals, smarter decisions, discipline. "Harder" signals identity - toughness, buy-in, the willingness to suffer for each other. Coaches reach for that second word when confidence is shaky or when the team’s problem isn’t talent so much as attention.

Quade, a long-time baseball coach, is speaking into a sport where "playing harder" is famously slippery - you can’t hustle your way into making contact. That’s the subtext: effort becomes the controllable currency when luck, slumps, and small sample sizes make "better" feel abstract. It’s also a subtle message up the chain: to fans, "we care"; to players, "no excuses"; to management, "the room hasn’t quit". The line doesn’t offer tactics. It offers a vow, because sometimes that’s the only thing a coach can credibly sell in public.