Column: Football has no room for egos on the field
Published March 12, 2010
If baseball is America's pastime, football would be America's presentime. Even with the NFL season having just finished, the sport seems to remain pertinent and ever present in today's sports media. Recent updates concerning the NFL Draft, the NFL Combine and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's alleged sexual assault of a woman controlled the sports headlines this past week, reminding us for the umpteenth time that we are one nation under football.
The topic I found particularly interesting was the off-season moves by a number of NFL teams. There were numerous franchise tags, free agent moves and trades. The Chicago Bears added three players recently and the Washington Redskins cut 10.
What caught my eye the most was not who went where, but rather who didn't go anywhere — namely Terrell Owens. After it was decided Owens would not continue to play for the Buffalo Bills, he was forced to look for his fourth team in six seasons. As of Thursday, he still does not have a home, a scenario that I (and I'm sure he) did not foresee.
What this tells me is the days of the egotistical phenom largely tolerated because of sheer talent are over. Reserved confidence is the new extroverted confidence in an increasingly popular team-centered sports world. Gone are the days when numerous teams scrambled to sign the most electrifying player, regardless of character. Winning is still the objective, of course, but the strategy seems to focus more on the team aspect rather than the "get our star the ball now at whatever cost" idea.
It makes sense, too. Although there are obviously individual flairs in every sport, no athletic event is purely a one-man show. Even in the most individual of sports, the elite athlete would not be in the position he or she is in without some kind of supporting crew, no matter how individual its nature.
Now, part of the reason Owens hasn't been signed yet might be that his numbers on the field last season dropped significantly, and a different number, his age, isn't getting any lower (he turns 37 this year). Although this is true, there also isn't room for a player who seems to put the team second. It is interesting he has never won a Super Bowl. In fact, if the Bills improve from their 6-10 season last year, three out of the four teams Owens has been on will have improved their records the season after he left.
That said, confidence is a must in sports. It is essential you have supreme assurance that your training and preparation are superior to your opponent's come game day, even if they're actually not. Whether you carry this message for all to hear or bear it tacitly, some sort of confidence must be present before you prepare to do some damage on the other team. Although cockiness and pride can be a dangerous weapon to a certain degree, they can just as easily be detrimental to the team and a distraction.
Owens will still get signed eventually. He is an exceptionally talented athlete with the ability to do some special things on the football field, but many teams will opt for the slightly less talented player who won't destroy a locker room or attack a quarterback. Forgive me, but there is no T.O. in "team."