Win One for the Gipper

"The last thing George said to me, 'Rock,' he said, 'sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper.'"

It's the big game. Your team is down. The final minutes are on the clock. The coach calls for a time out and brings the whole team in. Maybe he goes over strategy first, or maybe he skips that. Either way just before the team goes back out on to the field of battle, the coach gives a Rousing Speech to inspire his team to victory!


 * Knute Rockne, All American is the Trope Namer, and probably the most famous example. The "Win one for the Gipper!" speech is repeatedly lampshaded and parodied.
 * And when Knute Rockne said this to the team, they said, "Why should we? He's dead."
 * - Dave Barry

"Milhouse: (in hospital) I hope they win, or Mr Burns said he's coming back!"
 * Parodied in an episode The Simpsons where Mr Burns tells the team "There's a little crippled boy in hospital who wants you to win. I know because I crippled him myself to inspire you."

"Dr. Rumack: I want to tell you something I've kept to myself through these years. I was in the war. Medical corps. One night, they brought in a badly wounded pilot from one raid. He could barely talk. He looked up at me, he said, "The odds were against us there, but we went in anyway. I'm glad. Captain made the right decision." The pilot's name was George Zip. Ted Striker: George Zip said that? Dr. Rumack: The last thing he said to me, "Doc," he said, "Sometime, when the crew is up against it, the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to give it all they've got and win just one for the Zipper!" [cue Notre Dame's fight song]"
 * Parodied in Airplane!. Ted Striker feels guilty about causing the death of seven men under his command during the war, including George Zip.


 * Major League 2 has this. First, the manager of the Indians is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack, but tries to avert this trope by telling his successor not to give the team "one of those 'Let's win this one for Lou' speeches... I couldn't stand that." He's promised that won't happen, but later it is played straighter than straight... with a little lie about the severity of Lou's state.
 * Parodied in SpongeBob SquarePants, where Spongebob implores everyone to do well for Squidward, pretending that he was the one who did something nice for them.