There’s no I in team

During Harris’s post game interview there was one comment that really bothered me and still does. He was asked by a reporter if everyone on the team had a team first attitude. He responded with “do I think everyone has a team first attitude on this team? yeah, I’m not going to talk about the team”. Then a staffer shut the interview down. Ben touched on the subject as well in an interview after he retired. He said something along the lines of when I first came into the league everyone was about the team these younger guys are all about me first. Additionally Matt Stanford’s wife made comments about him having problems connecting and communicating with the younger teammates. It used to be after practice they would play ping pong in the lockerroom. Have tournament, but now there isn’t any of that team bonding. The players go straight to their lockers and get on their phones. With all of that out of the way it makes me wonder how much that’s permeated through the Steelers, but also the league as a whole. Football is the ultimate team sport. All 11 guys doing their jobs on every play. Not half asking a route because they’re not the primary etc. The Steelers have a young offense and no real leader on that side of the ball. Pickett was named the sole offensive captain this year, but how much weight does that carry with teammates when his play is subpar?

https://triblive.com/sports/after-l...lack-of-production-steelers-offense-on-whole/


https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...ethlisberger-todays-young-players-are-coddled


https://www.foxsports.com/stories/n...-connect-to-young-teammates-is-that-his-fault

 

Yeah, I remember stories of Ben taking the whole O line to dinner, or having them all over, going bowling together, just basically doing tons of stuff together outside of football, specifically for the purpose of bonding and being in sync with each other.

I'm sure nothing like that is happening anymore.

 

That always seemed quite common for QBs and the o-line.

I do remember Joey Porter calling out Ben in a team meeting for his selfishness, so maybe it’s not such a new thing…

 

I would think this is the norm across the NFL. All these guys are interested in self promotion. There is no going back to the era of team first

 

Cell phones and the internet have ruined civilization.

 

You have to wonder how older vets see the younger guys and vice versa. It's easy to have a Vet go these kids are all about I and not the team but they seldom turn the magnifying glass around on themselves and try to see what the younger guys see. To Ben and any vested Vet the Ben's day tradition seemed perfect normal, he had earned that right because of who he is and what he'd done. Yet to a young player they see a pompous Vet who talks about team this and team that but doesn't work on Wednesday because he has earned it.

That's not even bringing the money aspect into it which really is the big issue that separates old and young players.

 

And you wouldn't have this message board to complain everyday without either of them .

 

True

 

There's no I in team, but there is an m-e.

 

On this day of thanks I am thankful that cell phones and video did not exist when I was young

 

Can’t knock internet

I do a lot of research and learning there

Not so much specifically on this site

 

When we were kids we were gone all day, playing ball in the streets, getting in trouble, streets are empty now. Everyone is on their cells.

 

At one stage we had to be home when the street lights came on

Otherwise if you covered 3 counties that was ok

We used an abandoned slaughterhouse as a jungle gym

And only one of my friends died there

Then that was off limits

But everything else was still fair game

 

Yeah, but not having electricity and running water had to be a pain in the ass.

 

Not if you never had them

And we had running water it was rain

 

My fault. I didn't think that had been invented yet then either.

 

It's all about "my brand", "my contract", "my catches", "my touches", etc. It's all about the money and nothing but it anymore. Jeez, even Cam is doing a show while he is still playing and active on the team. I was watching his reaction to Canada being fired and him speaking about the offense. Why? You are currently playing on the team, why does it make sense to have a show. If I was the owner, no f'ing way. There is zero upside for the team for an active player to have his own show, there is only chance for the wrong thing to be said, to come across criticizing a teammate, etc. I hated Ben doing it and felt the same way, just dumb. Your job is to play football for the team and to keep all comments about your teammates in house, period. It should be team first.

 

We don't really know what those guys do in their free time. I'm sure like any other team, they hang out and have some fun together at times. The important things are that they have good communication, and are in sync with each other on the field, and that seems to missing in the offense. If Kenny isn't taking his O line out to dinner, and his WR's too, he probably should start soon because it sure wouldn't hurt

 

we didn’t need electricity either. We could see in the dark back then

 

Funny I remember an O-Lineman who objected to Ben taking over at QB as a Rookie, and wanted Tommy Maddsux back in the starting lineman as soon as possible. Was it Allan Faneca?

 

Marino used to buy his lineman Isotoner gloves!

 

You are missing the entire point of Harris's Conversation. He told the reporter that reporters didn't know what was happening behind closed doors with the team, and then said basically he was only going to talk about what he thinks, and was not going to speak for anyone else on the team.

This is not an "I" attitude, but a "I am not going to throw anyone under the buss but me" type of situation.

 

I can't even imagine......
We've reached the "20 year rule", where my father (mom passed recently) can be told about the things we did well, actually 45-50 years ago. I still beg my brothers not to mention certain things in front of my kids......

 

That isn't exactly right. A reporter asked Faneca if they were excited to see what Roethlisberger could do and Faneca said no. He preferred the veteran be available, but he didn't specifically argue for Maddox to be put back in, either.

 

But damn if they don't make things easier. And when else in history could you be sucked down a YouTube rabbit hole and find some of the following: hot chicks half naked dancing to every dance song ever made, great singers and bands who no one ever would have heard about, relief figuring out your new car without reading the manual (my favorite), how to do just about anything without reading the instructions, having a place to go where you can talk with fans of your team when you live in an area of another team.* Did I mention hot chicks dancing?

I've been saying it this way since 1998, "technology while wonderful will end up being the demise of our civilization".

*We have a member who lives among the fandom of a team in the AFCN. Way worse then I have it.

Little funny story. Walking the golf course with a guy who just got this new thing called a cell phone. In the fairway on 18 he orders a pizza for dinner. Looks over at me and says, "I don't how we ever made it without cell phones". All I thought about at that moment was the 100 billion humans who somehow lived a life without one.