Team — a four-letter word that carries the power to overcome any obstacle. A team is a band of brothers. As the movie above said, “a team is plural, its arms, its legs, blood, sweat, and soul.” A team is a group of individuals you never underestimate because together they can do the impossible. The word team stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. In the dictionary team is defined as, ”A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project.”
If a team is so special how come we pay so much attention to single players? It is because those single players are so good at what they do. They inspire us in a way that makes us want to become better, they become a role model for us to follow, and they are powerful leaders. But we have become so caught up in individual players that the concept of a team has all but disappeared. In today’s sports it has become a, “me over them,” and an, “I instead of we" attitude. Mike Sorensen, a sport writer for the Deseret News explained, “These days, there's little loyalty in the world of sports, whether its colleges changing leagues, professional athletes switching teams or professional franchises moving. The fact is, pretty much everybody is selfish” (Sorensen).
Today we have plenty of examples of selfishness. One example was LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavilers to play for the Miami Heat. He made this move to give himself a better chance of winning an NBA Championship. Another example is Bret Favre. As Mike Sorensen wrote later in his article, “Brett Favre decided to leave the Green Bay Packers and play for the New York Jets, retire, unretire, join the Minnesota Vikings, retire, unretire, etc., etc., he was being selfish because he wants to play football and do what's best for himself” (Sorensen). Tiger Woods and the deadly path he went down, was selfish in that he didn’t know the pain and problem it would cause his family.
The question is, do these selfish moves that destroy teams give these players what they want? In a lot of cases the answer is no. For example the world watched three NBA superstars, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh, team up to win a championship. When that very opportunity came the Miami Heat fell short to the Dallas Mavericks. Brett Favre’s retire and unretire gig got him to the NFC Championship game where the Minnesota Vikings came up short to the New Orland Saints. Tiger Woods, the man that was going down in history as one of the greatest golfers to play the game, has lost his touch in that very sport. His choices destroyed his family, his greatest team. As we view these examples we start to appreciate the true meaning of team.
On the other hand there are many examples of teams achieving their goals through teamwork. The Chicago Bulls, with the great Michael Jordan leading the way, is one. The Chicago bulls won 6 NBA championships under the leadership of Michael Jordan. People argue that Michael Jordan was one of those selfish players listed above. But Michael Jordan was not only loyal to the city of Chicago for his whole career, he also had a team around him that made the difference when Michael couldn’t. Some of those players were Scotty Pippen, Steve Kerr, and Dennis Rodman. The Bulls followed another definition of a team, “every night a new hero”. Michael Jordan wasn’t the hero every night. Neither was Dirk Nowitzki who played for the Dallas Mavericks when they beat the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. Jason Tarry saved the Mavericks in one of the games in the NBA Finals by hitting a tremendous three pointer. This heroic event, and many like it, not only saved the game but the series as well. A team doesn’t have to be on a professional level to work. When I played basketball for my high school we always closed practice by getting together in a huddle and saying, “FAMILY!” This reminded us that we were a team and that we were united in everything we did. We ended up going with a record of 16 wins and 4 loses that season, which is a huge accomplishment.
A team is not just some principle that some old wise guy came up with. A team is so much more than that. A team is a family. A family of friends united to achieve something great that they couldn’t do alone. A team is a group of united individuals that can achieve the impossible. A team has the potential to make its mark on history forever.
Works Cited
Sorensen, Mike. "Sports Defined By Selfish Acts." Desert News 22 Aug. 2010. n. pag. Web. 3 Nov. 2011. <http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700059367/Sports-defined-by-selfish-acts.html>.
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