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Jets players such as offensive guard Matt Slauson (68) and quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) should be more focused on what they need to do to win, instead of worrying about team chemistry and coming up with ideas such as bowling outings.ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 2:00 AM - 02/19/12
Points to ponder while wondering if the Jets think they can just decide, "Hey, lets build us some chemistry for next season!''
Chemistry isn't something you mandate, not something you cross off a checklist. Chemistry must be developed. A team must have the right pieces in place to have chemistry. It must have the right leadership inside the locker room and on the sideline.
Chemistry isn't something developed from team bowling nights or other so-called bonding activities being looked into by Jets offensive lineman Matt Slauson. It is, best put, something that is developed from a culture in which 53 guys possess the same goal.
That goal is winning.
When every single guy in the locker room places winning above personal achievement, there is chemistry. Of course bonding should be stressed. But you don't need 53 guys getting along like frat brothers. You need 53 guys sacrificing for the common cause: winning.
Did you once hear Hakeem Nicks or Mario Manningham or Jake Ballard complain about a lack of touches? Did you see a Giants player quit on his team during a game? Was there an occasion when players griped about coaches, at least publicly? Not that I can remember.
Oh sure, more than one Giants player found defensive coordinator Perry Fewell's schemes hard to grasp at different points in the season. You can bet they expressed their frustration from time to time. But they handled it in-house. They communicated. They worked through it. And guess what? Because they dealt with it like men, unlike the Jets, Fewell and his guys discovered the formula that helped the Giants win the Super Bowl.
Safety Antrel Rolle had the biggest outburst, complaining after the late-season loss to Washington that teammates needed to practice through relatively minor injuries. Seemed a little harsh at the time. But players responded, saying Rolle's rant represented a much-needed kick. In the end, teammates knew that Rolle, if a bit chatty in the press, cared only about one thing: winning.
The Jets can hold all the pizza-and-wing nights they want. They can hit the local bowling alley until the skin peels off their kegling thumbs. That doesn't make chemistry.
Chemistry arrives when Santonio Holmes cares more about winning than catching footballs. Chemistry arrives when teammates support teammates through difficult times. Chemistry arrives when every player believes in every coach, and when the head coach earns the respect of every player in the locker room.
Here's a team-bonding activity for Slauson. Have every teammate over your house whenever possible during the offseason, and each week during the season. Make it a two-hour meeting with the same topic: What can each player in the room do to make the team better? Discuss your feelings. Hash out issues.
Communicate.
And you won't have to wear those creepy bowling shoes.
Wanted: A 35-year-old receiver who sat out last season, totaled 28 receptions for three teams in 2010 and has a long history of minimizing his effort.
What, no takers for Randy Moss?
Gee, can't understand it.
For fans of the United States Military Academy, and I am one, Tampa Bay's offense (Mike Sullivan) and defense (Bill Sheridan) will be run not only by former Giants assistants, but by former Army assistants.
I wish Jeremy Lin would just go and take care of this global warming mess before the playoffs tip off.
The following is not fair, but then, sports and life aren't always fair. I can only make one prediction very strongly this baseball season:
A.J. Burnett is going to win 15 games.
It won't be fair to those forced to sit through that long-running tragicomedy at Yankee Stadium known as "The Worst of A.J. Burnett.'' It won't be fair to manager Joe Girardi, who watched Burnett stink up the joint almost every fifth day for two seasons, who stood by Burnett when almost everybody wanted him banished to the bullpen or, better, Siberia, and in response heard Burnett grumble about quick hooks.
Now Burnett's in Pittsburgh, right about where he belongs, way off the beaten baseball path in a super low-pressure hardball environment. It's precisely the scenario in which Burnett, his crucial flaws from the neck up, can and probably will thrive.
What do you know, Floyd Mayweather Jr., became the only person on planet Earth to diss Jeremy Lin.
Lin's a good player, Mayweather said, "but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise.''
This, folks, is an example of why bigotry and ignorance go hand in hand.
I for one am anxious to see what Nicki Minaj has up her sleeve for the NBA All-Star game after that nutty Grammys bit of hers.
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Gleason's Sporting World: Wins solve chemistry, not bowling outings
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
