There's No "I" In Team... But There Is a "Me"

I get that our sports scene these days emphasizes the individual at the expense of the team. We care more about the exploits of "me first" athletes over the great team efforts in sports. But it doesn't mean I have to like it. Frankly, I don't. In the past week, we've been subjected to "me-first" overload, and it's just plain getting ridiculous.

Let's start with the guy that Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News called the new face of the New York Yankees... Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod. Or for the purposes of this column, "Team Cancer #1". He's the highest paid player in baseball with the worst possible postseason statistics over the past two years. Of course, he won't have to worry about that being held over his head this year as the Yankees have ZERO shot of making the playoffs. Now I've been told by the resident Yankee fanatic at work that were it not for A-Rod, the Yankees wouldn't even be as "good" as they are now... they would resemble the Kansas City Royals without A-Rod. Okay, let's break down the numbers. When A-Rod had his monster April, tying the record for most home runs hit in that particular month, the Yankees were stumbling to an 8-14 start. Since then, A-Rod has struggled, hit only 5 more homers... and the Yanks have played .500 ball over that span (16-16). In other words, they play BETTER when A-Rod is struggling. Maybe that's because the other Yankees start to put more of the weight on their shoulders, like a good team should.

I agree with Lupica, though; A-Rod is the face of the new losing New York Yankees, and they deserve each other. For the previous several years, the face of the New York Yankees was Derek Jeter. Let me just say this right now... I don't like Derek Jeter. I don't like the fact that he walks around with that permanent smirk on his face that says, "I'm all that and I don't care who knows." I don't like how he comes up in game situations and delivers over and over again. Why? Well, it's because I don't like the New York Yankees. Why don't I like the New York Yankees? Because they win all the time... or at least they used to. However, that being said, Derek Jeter is the type of guy you want on your team, the guy with a winner attitude, the team leader, the captain. If he was a Met, I'd probably like him. But he's a Yankee, so I don't like him.

Now the Yankees are all about A-Rod, and never was that more evident than Wednesday in Toronto. I'm not even gonna get into the whole story about A-Rod going to strip clubs and being spotted with a "mystery blonde" which wasn't his wife that was running in the paper that day. In the 9th inning of that night's game at the Rogers Centre (nee Skydome), the Yankees were winning, 7-5, with A-Rod on 2nd and 2 out. Jorge Posada popped one up between the Toronto shortstop and 3rd baseman. As A-Rod ran by on his way to 3rd, he either yelled "Hah!" or "Mine!", depending on whose side you're on. Whatever he yelled, it caused Blue Jays 3rd baseman Howie Clark to back off and let the ball drop. As you can imagine, the Blue Jays were STEAMED, and rightly so. That is just a bush-league move, not necessarily illegal, but below the ethical standards of baseball, much like stealing a base when your team is up by 10 runs. Unfortunately, Toronto did not deal with this before that night's game ended, so we're going to have to hear about retaliation in late July when they next face each other.

Since then, everyone has weighed in, major leaguers, minor leaguers, Charlie Sheen... A-Rod himself said it was something he did often: "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." His teammates all distanced themselves from him. His manager, Joe Torre, said later that A-Rod shouldn't have done it. Most major and minor leaguers agreed that this was something you just don't do... with one notable exception:

Barry Bonds. A.K.A. "Team Cancer #2."

Fitting that another "me-first" guy would take up for A-Rod. After all, the Barry Bonds Steroids Sideshow in San Francisco has probably had as much to do with the Giants' mediocrity the past few years as anything. Barry came to New York for his one and only time this season last week, and the Shea Stadium crowd gave him the appropriate response: boos, chants of "You did steroids" and "Barry sucks". Barry handled this in typical Barry fashion... by first promising the New York media an audience with him on Tuesday (like he was the friggin' pope or something), then blowing them all off, then letting them ask away on Wednesday, but not answering many questions and giving friendly answers to fewer. Oh by the way, Barry didn't homer and the Giants lost 2 of 3 to the Mets. He also didn't homer in Philly... but I'm sure all will be right with the world when he returns to Frisco to be surrounded by his adoring (and obviously braindead) home fans. Next thing you know, he'll probably ask to play home games only. You already know how I feel about Steroid Boy (and if you don't, click here), and I really wonder if Giants GM Brian Sabean actually thinks his team will ever rise above 4th place with this permanent distraction in place for the entire season, before and after Barry passes Hank Aaron to put an asterisk on the most well-known record in sports.

Turning to pro basketball, a sport I don't even watch anymore because of how "me-first" the sport has gotten. Kobe Bryant (A.K.A. "Team Cancer #3"), whose team has been out of the playoffs for a month now (bringing up another reason why I don't like the NBA: the endless postseason), demanded a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers because they wouldn't talk Jerry West out of retirement to come take over the basketball operations. Then, a few hours later, he changed his mind. I wonder if in those few hours, Kobe's Laker teammates weren't pinching themselves to check if they were dreaming. Since Kobe drove Shaq out of Hollywood and made the Lakers a team that revolves around him, the Big Aristotle has won one more NBA title than Solo Kobe, and the Lakers have yet to win a playoff series... but of course, Kobe's had a ton of 50-point games and I'm sure that's all that matters to him. Every time I hear that Kobe scored 50-plus points in a game, my first question is, "Did the Lakers win?" Because it's not necessarily a sure thing. Thank goodness LeBron James, a superstar yes but more in the Derek Jeter mold, managed to not get overshadowed with his playoff exploits that brought Cleveland within reach of an elusive major sports championship. Yes, LeBron scored all of his team's points when they needed him, but that's the point. They needed him; it wasn't a situation where someone else could have stepped up and scored but LeBron wouldn't give up the ball.

What do all these "me-first" players' teams have in common? Mediocrity or worse. Yet that's what we give the most attention to in sports these days. Pardon me while I go watch my Mets play winning baseball without a team cancer...