.(Part 7 of 7)
In a healthy world, the MVP would be the team.
We currently live in a world of rhetoric where words do not match actions.
We love to talk about there is no I in team and sportsmanship and being a team player, yet we come up with accolades and awards that promotes an individualistic mindset.
It is better to talk about the Lakers, Yankees, Celtics, Canadiens and Steelers rather than the individual players.
MVP & Hall of Fame designations do not serve the purity and integrity of the game but it does serve
the purpose of special interests.
MVP & Hall of Fame designations do not uphold the highest philosophies of life such as harmony, ecosystem, collective, team, community, communal, ujima, ujamaa, harambee and ubuntu.
MVP & Hall of fame designations are suboptimal expressions of how sports should be administrated
Just think about it. Somebody else gets to vote on the worthiness of a player's career.
Optimal thinking teaches us there can be no individual without the collective and there can be no collective without the individual.
If it applies to one, it applies to the team. If it applies to the team it applies to each team member.
In sports, it doesn't help that many contracts include incentives that are individual based rather than team based.
Bottom line is the money and the power, the power and the money.
Designations such as MVP, Hall of Fame, all-star, sixth man, most improved player, coach of the year, etc. all benefit individuals.
This is also a way to create and control a “who is the greatest” narrative, even when not warranted.
This is also a way of creating all sorts of categories for record-setting and writing history through a manipulation of numbers and establishing tiers of accolades, thus tiers of rewards are justified.
One of the most recent abuses is the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick individual anointings. Neither would be anywhere without the other players and coaches and front office, etc. Everybody knows no one in a team sport can win or lose the game by themselves or win or lose the game on one play, no matter at what point in the game the play takes place, including the pregame preparation.
Every team member is an MVP and the Hall of Fame is the path we walk together.
