Being A Team Player

Criticizing Teammates. It's a practice that happens all to much these days. Players lose and/or don't preform the way they should and instead of sucking it up and saying "my bad" they lash out at others. One person and one person only is responsible for the performance an athlete puts out on the field, that athlete. Terrell Owens said several times last year that he wasn't getting the ball enough. But then there were a few occasions when he got the ball, (sometimes wide open) and he dropped it. He still complained. Athletes need to realize that even though they are viewed as being different they are still responsible for everything that they do. You don't go out in public and criticize a family member because they lost their job. You huddle together, do everything to make ends meet and pull your weight and then some. There are some athletes that don't do that. When they are in a slump, they blame an injury, when they miss a key shot they say it was a bad pass. Athletes need to take responsibility.

Don't get it wrong there are some athletes out there that don't exhibit any of these behaviors at all, LaDainian Tomlinson is one example. Last year when he broke the NFL single season touchdown record he never once said "I did it," he always said "We did it." LT is one of those rare superstar athletes who realizes takes a team effort to win, and a team effort to lose. Derek Jeter, Captain of the New York Yankees is another team player. Last year he was having his best individual statistics year of his career and he kept being asked, "Derek is this your best year ever?" He always replied "if we win." A team player is needed more in sports today, but there are too many egos, shoe contracts, overzealous agents and movie careers that push team players aside. Who are other team players? What makes a team player? How come more superstar athletes aren't team players?