It’s A Team Sport

I was watching a WNBA game one afternoon.  I like the women’s game better than the men because they play more as a team and they play defense.  While I was watching the game, the star player on the team was not playing very well and the commentary was getting down on her and blaming her for the team’s poor play.  I asked myself, does she score all the points, does she get her own rebounds, and they wouldn’t have to track assists because she has no one to pass it to.  Last time I checked, basketball, baseball and football are all team sports.  The star of the team may not play well during the game, but that is why their teammates step up and try to achieve the ultimate goal.  Win the game.  Tom Brady has many records, many victories, and many championships.  I don’t recall Tom Brady ever having to make a game saving tackle at the end of the game or knocking away the game winning pass in the end zone.  When he didn’t play well his teammates stepped up to pick up the slack.  Team sport.

Aaron Judge does not go four for four in every game that he plays and he doesn’t hit a home run every time he comes to the play.  There are days when he goes hitless, but he may find other ways to help his team win on with his defensive skills, or his teammates may help out with the bats.  Sportswriters and broadcasters forget that important word.  Team.

I remember hearing about an interview that former baseball great Kirk Gibson did years ago that if he did well and if the team lost, he would be upset, but if he didn’t play well and the team won that he would be happy.  This is a guy that you want to play on your team.

I remember the movie Hoosiers about a high school basketball team that against all odds won a state championship.  In the movie during the first practice, the coach played by Gene Hackman stopped a drill that was going bad to correct the players mindset.  “Let’s be real clear on what we are after, … five players on the floor functioning as one unit team, team, team no more important that the other.”  Sportscasters and journalists put all their focus on one player other than the other four, eight, or twenty-one players that are on the field or on the floor.  They want to think that Lebron James, Mike Trout, Josh Allen or Nathan MacKinnon are on the floor, field or ice by themselves, and the press makes it sound like they can win the game on their own, but they need those other players in order to succeed.

I’m reminded of an anacronym for team.  Together Everyone Achieves More. By in the world of broadcasters and writers, sports is all about the individualism.