There is no I in team?

The speaker discusses the importance of individuality and identity in sports. They argue that while there is a belief that being a team player is crucial, individuality can also lead to success, financial gain, and creating a personal brand. They mention controversial players like Antonio Brown and Chad Johnson who embraced their individuality and achieved success. The speaker also touches on the historical context of conformity in sports and how times have changed. They emphasize that being irrelevant in sports today can hinder one's career. The speaker gives examples of players like Draymond Green who have been both loved and hated but have stayed true to themselves. They conclude by urging coaches to recognize and utilize the individual strengths and personalities of their players for the benefit of the team. The speaker shares a personal story about their own experience being confined to a mold in high school and almost quitting football, highlighting the importance of embracing in What's up everybody, just wanted to first of all say welcome, today I wanted to talk about why do people say there's no I in team but there's an I in win. So that last part was you know kind of that arrogant remark that you would get from somebody who suggests that they are that person, they are the team, they are the one person that makes a difference on this team and without them the team wouldn't be successful. When there, while there's truth to that, there is a lot of arrogance that is perceived there, they are looked at as not being a team player, they are looked at as someone who doesn't necessarily care about the overall team goal, they just want the accolades that come with being a talented individual. While there's nothing wrong with wanting that, there is some kind of controversy that is surrounds athletics when it comes to individuality, but I'm here to tell you that individuality and identity and your personality is not a bad thing. You know everyone in football is told to be a cookie cutter, you know you're supposed to fit inside of a specific box, you're supposed to do this and don't do that, you know that kind of mentality, that's pretty old school. Here in 2023 a lot of people have the mindset where they want to be their own self, that's kind of where the money is now, that's where everybody is actually finding their own lanes and creating new markets and actually creating success and generational wealth because of their individuality and their personality. And then for you to get into a field or the court or the rink or you know wherever and just to say, you know, you cannot be that person besides a sport like tennis or golf or shoot, even ping pong, bowling, like those individual sports that no one really criticizes people for being a character. But if you have one person who might act out of the norm on a football field or a basketball player who gets in front of the media and tells everybody how they think that they're the greatest basketball player in the league, while it might be a stretch and they might be really good at some things and overall they're just not that guy, they feel that way and they're presenting themselves that way and they're creating this persona that the fans can really buy into, that the media is going to try to touch on and exploit and create a lane for themselves to kind of create some more revenue and some more buzz around what they're doing. And if this is someone who can actually perform, then I don't see the real issue. Those kind of, you know, now this is going to get a little controversial so please bear with me, but that mentality in sports was kind of 1940s, 1950s, 1960s-ish where, you know, black people weren't allowed to do anything. And the white people that were the face of the sport, while there were a lot of talented individuals back then, nothing compared to today's game. And maybe they were revolutionary because of something that they did differently. We've been talking about, you know, dribbling or shooting in basketball or football changing, you know, going for the long passes versus a hard-nosed power running kind of scheme. There are revolutionaries in those eras, but those aren't the people that we're talking about when we're talking about individuality. We're talking about the people that are out here like the Antonio Browns, the Cameron Newtons, the Mike Vicks, the, what are some other controversial players, Randy Mosses. These people that are out here just kind of doing their own thing their own way are T.O.'s even better so than Randy Mosses, because Randy Mosses, in my opinion, was one of those guys where he just didn't give a fuck, but he loved to play football and he loved to go out there and perform, and he actually did care if his team won or lost. The Ochocincos. You don't even call him Chad Johnson. You guys call him Ochocinco. This man went out there and created a whole new name for himself based off of just how he perceived himself, how he watched soccer players celebrate and enjoy the game. He brought that same love of the sport to football, and he was great. This man was one of the best receivers, one of the most short hands, one of the best route runners in the history of the game, and if he's not recognized as that, I'm going to give him his flowers right now, so Ocho, kudos to you, but they didn't like you, Ocho. You didn't have that great of a career, Ocho, numbers-wise, and yeah, hell yeah. You even played with Tom Brady. That's an accolade that a lot of people wish they had. You know, you made everyone on your team look that much better just by you doing you and being you, individuality, but to look at the overall outcome of what came out of your career, how many playoff appearances did you have, how many Super Bowls did you win? Pro Bowls? Okay. Now we're talking personal accolades, but team stats is what they judge the greats off of. If you look at Tom Brady, he has six Super Bowl rings, seven, excuse me, this man is a goal, seven Super Bowl rings, they are, that's when they start talking about how many passing yards he had total. Look at LeBron, he has four championships, and people, and he's number one in scoring all time in the NBA, and people are still trying to say Michael Jordan is better than him. I may be biased because I've only seen elder Michael Jordan who, if you want to start actually comparing apples to apples, LeBron James is past the age right now where Michael Jordan was when I was watching him, and he's still doing things at a high level that Michael Jordan was only efficient at, but not as dominant. Look up those two words if you guys can't catch the difference between what I just said there. Now the one thing I will say is there is a time and a place for where individuality comes into play, but to be the cookie cutter, fit in the box, to not really have passion and energy and bring that kind of swag that you have outside of the court or the field or wherever arena that is that you're playing in, and you're not going to bring that to the game effectively to where you can now entertain people, and you can create a brand for yourself, and you can create some revenue streams outside of just your sport, not having that nowadays is almost like asking to be irrelevant. And the one thing about sports today is that being irrelevant does not give you that chance to be in the league 13 years. Being irrelevant does not give you that chance to make it to the Pro Bowl where they vote you in, or the All-Star game where they vote you in. These are fan votes. They don't get there based off of accolades anymore. These are fan voting for you, so if the fans don't like you, scratch that. If the fans don't know you, you're not getting in, because even the people the fans don't like are still getting these votes. Look at Draymond Green, one of the most famous players in the world, four-time NBA champion. I couldn't even tell you how many All-Stars he has, but this man has been controversial for his whole career, has been someone that people have loved, other people have hated, most people have hated, because of the way he plays, but he plays with so much passion. He's so true to who he is, he doesn't even care if it's going to cost him his job. He doesn't even care if it's going to be his last game in the NBA. That's why he's playing like that. Do you guys not even understand what it is that he's doing? He's finding his own teammates in practice. I don't know what the reasoning was, but this man was out there putting in that effort and the passion and having a drive and setting a standard about what he expects around him at all times. It don't matter if we're playing in a game, or at practice, if we're on the plane, if we're on a bus, if we're in the hotel, if I'm in my house, if you guys are around me and you do not have that same energy that you have elsewhere, then you are trying to fit into a mold. If you have personality and you're not letting it show when you're out there performing, you are fitting into a mold. Now the trick is, as a coach, to look at everybody on your roster, and it gets a little more trickier when you're actually playing these people, but if you look at everybody on your roster and you see what it is that they're bringing to the table as far as the individual, their personalities, their strengths, their weaknesses, if you're not looking at this stuff and you're not really gauging how these people can benefit the rest of the team collectively if everyone puts together those little bit of pieces, then as a coach you need to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate your job or your occupation, your career path, your future, because this is a different time that we're in. We're not in just people do what the coaches say anymore. Now fun fact, and I'll end with this last story. My entire high school I spent my life in a box, and it almost cost me my football career. I almost ended up stopping playing football after high school. Fortunate enough to play five more years at a high level, got a couple opportunities to play in the NFL, those didn't really stick, but I had a chance, right? That's another story for another time. But in college as a senior, one day my coach tried to kick me out of practice because he was upset, because he let someone get to him in a meeting, another coach, mind you, not even a player, and he wanted to throw the ball at my other teammates in a catching drill, mind you. We're DBs, so catching drills was just something that we did just to warm up for the day. It wasn't something that we were doing to try to make sure that we had that skill. We were just trying to make sure we caught footballs just so we didn't forget how to catch footballs essentially, and he's just tossing the ball at us usually on a good day. This day, he's throwing the ball as hard as he could. Now this man's in his late 50s, probably early 60s at the time. If he's throwing that football with aggression, he's not aiming, and the ball's going all over the place, and he's yelling at people to catch the ball. People running after the football left and right because he just can't throw it to where he normally does, you know, and yeah, as a DB, that ball's not coming to you, but there was something off about him this day, and I just had a feeling that when it was my turn, there was going to be a conflict because I was not going to go for that. The first pass he threw, I caught it, no problem, get back to the line, we're coming back down the other way, and he's still doing the same thing, upset, and this man throws the ball now, my turn, he throws the ball, and it's so high, I jump, and I'm a seven-foot high jumper, mind you. I got up. I can dunk off vert. I can almost put it under my legs and dunk off vert, and this man's throwing the ball high enough and too far to the left for me to even grab the ball, and he wants to yell, catch the fucking ball, and I looked at him like, yo, who the fuck are you talking to like that? And that's my ego coming out. I understand there's a line between respect and disrespect, but you don't yell at me just because you're having a bad day. I have never once in my life disrespected this man. Now, at this point in my life, I actually enjoy having conversations with this guy, and I wish our relationship was a lot closer than it is for real, but ATE taught me a lot, but that day, I had to say something. I had to let him know, and for him to yell at me that way, it just immediately incited a response from me of just straight anger and frustration, because I felt it coming from the rest of my teammates. They just wouldn't say anything. They are in the box. They are trapped. They have a ceiling on their head that they couldn't break through, but what did I do? I yelled back at him, and what was his response? Get the fuck out of practice. This man done kicked me out of practice, so you know what I said? I stopped this shit, and I started walking away to the locker room. Didn't look back. Didn't wonder what my teammates were thinking of me, but I knew I was a senior. I knew I was a leader in the secondary. I knew I was a captain on the entire team, and for him to just kick me out of practice because he's having a bad day? Before I even got off the turf, I stopped, and I turned around, and I buckled my chin strap back up, and I said, fuck that, and I walked back in, and I jumped straight into the front of the line, and he said, get out of here, and I said, I'm not going nowhere. I came here to practice, so I'm going to practice. You're not going to kick me out because you're having a bad day. I came here to do what I have to do, and now my individuality in that moment, my personality in that moment made me one of the best team players, an example of a team player that I have ever personally witnessed, and I can say that because I believe that 100%. No one else on my team would have rolled out for me like that. Now maybe some of them were like, shit, you should have left. You gave us an opportunity to play. No, I wanted to show you that you can still be who you are and be a part of this team without consigning and falling into this little box that they always try to put you in. Imagine if one of my friends who got kicked out on the first day of summer camp got kicked out of practice for high stepping in the end zone after he caught a 90-yard pick six. On the first day of summer camp, high stepped into the end zone with other coaches running and cheering him on, then the head coach blows the whistle, kicks him out of practice. Now imagine if he said no and came back and said, coach, I do this. I'm a baller. I like to have fun. If you had a problem with that, we could talk about it, but I'm not going anywhere. I came here to play ball. If he just did that, what would that coach have done? That's a story for another time. I appreciate y'all listening, man. I got to go right now. It's getting late. My wife's calling me if you know what I'm talking about, but I'll see you later. Peace.