"Says Sullivan, "Those guys used to get together in the van and put their hands all together and then Paul would say, 'Where are we going?' And the band would go, 'To the middle!' And he'd go, 'Which middle?' And they'd go, 'The very middle!' " But it was all false modesty. The Replacements, it seemed, secretly believed in themselves and yet adopted a loser persona to insulate themselves against failure."