The whole "bulletin-board material" concept is ridiculous to me. It's just a silly cliche, up there with nonsense like "trap game".
I'm supposed to believe that professional athletes -- guys that do this for a living, make giant sacrifices, go through extreme displays of discipline and regimented training -- magically find extra motivation because of a flippant, off-hand comment that someone makes before a game?
Give me a ****ing break. If stuff like this actually makes a difference in motivation, then I'd be concerned about my coaching staff, because my players shouldn't need outside sources to draw from.
(And yeah, I get it. Players claim this is fuel. Players also believe in silly superstitions, and think that praying to God is going to influence games .)