alamo50
01-03-2006, 12:53 PM
You wouldn’t think that being a leader would be such a hard thing to get a handle on, especially in sports. It’s pretty simple: You set an example of hard work for teammates to follow, make the big plays when they’re needed, offer encouragement and constructive criticism, and represent the team to the public in a positive manner.
This isn’t a secret. Look at the greatest leaders on the greatest teams and they all follow the recipe. Stir in all the ingredients and out pops Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Emmitt Smith, David Ortiz, Tim Duncan, Steve Yzerman, Ray Borque, Matt Leinart — the list is longer than you’d think.
And yet there are people who can’t get even these simple directions right. They’re the ones who lead by screaming, think that the way to motivate a teammate is by demeaning him, make sure everyone knows the universe revolves around them and, then they get called on their execrable behavior, whine about being misunderstood.
There’s nothing to misunderstand about the first Whiner of the Week of 2006, Kobe “I Don’t Need Shaq and I’m Just Tolerating Phil” Bryant.
Kobe has chosen this year to show that he’s a leader in every sense of the word. So far, the part he’s gotten down is making big plays, which is the only part he ever had down. The rest is still a work in progress — or maybe that should be regress.
Last week, his efforts at being a leader led him to a fight with a teammate, a brutal foul and a two-game suspension, all of which he followed up by crying bitterly about how unfairly he’s being treated.
Apparently, Kobe has mixed up “thug” with “leader.” According to the New York Post, Bryant has taken to screaming vile execrations at his teammates on the bench. Last week, vituperation gave way to physical confrontation when Bryant jumped on teammate Lamar Odom for not properly running a pick-and-roll.
He also got himself suspended for throwing a vicious elbow at the throat of Mike Miller of the Grizzlies. The elbow was in retaliation for an inadvertent elbow Miller hit Bryant with earlier in the game that opened a cut requiring three stitches to close. Afterward, Bryant showed no remorse, even glorying in his thuggery.
For that, he was suspended for two games — a reasonable penalty levied by a league that’s trying to clean up its image.
Naturally, Bryant thinks the league is picking on him. “Very surprised. Shocked, actually,” he said of the suspension, adding he also felt, “Angry and frustrated. I’ve been hit with a couple of flagrant fouls already this year. I’ve been hit with a clothesline and no suspensions come of that. And I get two games for this?”
Nowhere in that was an apology to his teammates or the person he hurt. Nowhere has there been any remorse for the incident with Odom. Nowhere has there been any indication of leadership, just a pouting brat crying because the universe refuses to revolve around him.
Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3298669/)
This isn’t a secret. Look at the greatest leaders on the greatest teams and they all follow the recipe. Stir in all the ingredients and out pops Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Emmitt Smith, David Ortiz, Tim Duncan, Steve Yzerman, Ray Borque, Matt Leinart — the list is longer than you’d think.
And yet there are people who can’t get even these simple directions right. They’re the ones who lead by screaming, think that the way to motivate a teammate is by demeaning him, make sure everyone knows the universe revolves around them and, then they get called on their execrable behavior, whine about being misunderstood.
There’s nothing to misunderstand about the first Whiner of the Week of 2006, Kobe “I Don’t Need Shaq and I’m Just Tolerating Phil” Bryant.
Kobe has chosen this year to show that he’s a leader in every sense of the word. So far, the part he’s gotten down is making big plays, which is the only part he ever had down. The rest is still a work in progress — or maybe that should be regress.
Last week, his efforts at being a leader led him to a fight with a teammate, a brutal foul and a two-game suspension, all of which he followed up by crying bitterly about how unfairly he’s being treated.
Apparently, Kobe has mixed up “thug” with “leader.” According to the New York Post, Bryant has taken to screaming vile execrations at his teammates on the bench. Last week, vituperation gave way to physical confrontation when Bryant jumped on teammate Lamar Odom for not properly running a pick-and-roll.
He also got himself suspended for throwing a vicious elbow at the throat of Mike Miller of the Grizzlies. The elbow was in retaliation for an inadvertent elbow Miller hit Bryant with earlier in the game that opened a cut requiring three stitches to close. Afterward, Bryant showed no remorse, even glorying in his thuggery.
For that, he was suspended for two games — a reasonable penalty levied by a league that’s trying to clean up its image.
Naturally, Bryant thinks the league is picking on him. “Very surprised. Shocked, actually,” he said of the suspension, adding he also felt, “Angry and frustrated. I’ve been hit with a couple of flagrant fouls already this year. I’ve been hit with a clothesline and no suspensions come of that. And I get two games for this?”
Nowhere in that was an apology to his teammates or the person he hurt. Nowhere has there been any remorse for the incident with Odom. Nowhere has there been any indication of leadership, just a pouting brat crying because the universe refuses to revolve around him.
Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3298669/)