Monday May 07, 2007

The Greatest Compliment

The Greatest Compliment
I know the New York Yankee detractors will talk about the pro-rated $28 million dollars. I know the Rocket detractors will talk about steroids. I know the baseball detractors will talk about all of the negatives of the game. However, please put aside all of the bias and hear what Roger Clemens said yesterday.

One of the major sports stories this summer will be Barry Bonds’ countdown to breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record and some call it sports’ greatest record. I completely disagree because it is not even baseball’s greatest record. That distinction goes to Yogi Berra and his 10 World Series titles. The record for major sports team titles goes to the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell and the Montreal Canadiens Rocket Richard who each had 11 championships. Don’t forget that Russell won two NCAA titles at in college at San Francisco and a gold medal for the US in the summer Olympics of 1956.

In team sports winning is the most important thing and being a good teammate is the greatest compliment you can give an athlete involved in team sports. Russell knew it and can be called that by his peers.

When Clemens made his announcement yesterday he constantly talked about his teammates. He said one of the biggest factors in him coming back and coming back to the Yankees was the draw to his teammates like Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. He talked about how the guys in the locker room were fighters and how they knew how to win. Clemens was receiving text messages and e-mails from Yankee players asking him to hurry up and come back. It was the draw of his teammates that got him back to New York.

I know you detractors are already sick of this but stay with me a few more paragraphs.

I have the pleasure of knowing some great athletes and I have asked many former superstars what they missed most about the game. Almost all said they did not miss the workouts or the practices. Some said they missed the games and the excitement of competition. But almost everyone said they missed the comradery in the locker room and their teammates the most.

Many former Clemson greats will tell you the same thing. I am working on a blog of the greatest Clemson teammates by sport and this will certainly include the likes of superstars like Jeff Davis but it will also include the walk-ons like Carl Martin. Leadership and being a great teammate can cross racial lines and athletic ability. Many times an athlete that may lack athletic ability but works hard and gets everything out of his ability is looked up to by his/her teammates. DeJuan Polk and Richard Moncrief come to mind. Chris Lancaster used to joke about his athleticism but he could be counted on by his teammates. One could make a case that no one was more respected by his teammates than Tony Elliott.

This leads me to the examples we now have on campus at Clemson and there are many examples of this trait but allow me to point out examples of four or five.

I don’t know Brad Chalk but I have talked to a couple of his professors that say he is a great kid. They say he works hard in the classroom and is very accountable for his work and actions. On the field, Chalk hits the ball to the opposite field. He hits behind runners and is known as one of the greatest bunters in Clemson baseball history. He does all of the little things well like run the bases and draw walks. Chalk is a great example of a great teammate.

How many times have you seen a great tailback actively recruit another high school superstar even though his number of carries may be affected? That is exactly what James Davis did with C.J. Spiller. Davis knew the times he would touch the ball would decrease and his role in the offense would decrease if Spiller chose Clemson over Florida but that did not keep him from text messaging the All-American back in attempts to persuade him to come to Clemson. Once Spiller arrived Davis helped him learn the offense faster. I love the unselfish attitude and the idea that if it makes the team better than I am better for it. Davis gets it and Clemson is better today because of his unselfishness.

Willy Korn has yet to play a down at Clemson but I assure you he is a great teammate. His high school coaches knew it in his 10th grade year and told college coaches that he accepts all of the blame and never wants any credit. Korn told the media in his first interviews on campus that he may not be the most talented quarterback but he would be the hardest working quarterback Rob Spence has ever had and his goal was to be the most coachable quarterback he has ever had. That is all you need to know about Korn’s character.

And finally, one of my favorite Clemson athletes ever, Cliff Hammonds, needs yet another mention on this blog. The role model of anyone aspiring to be a student-athlete is this type of person that can juggle the school’s hardest major with sports. No one out works Hammonds in the classroom or on the court. His coaches tell stories about how he is in the architecture study groups until 4 AM and sleeps just a couple hours a night so he can eat breakfast with his teammates. When he makes a change to his free throw shooting he works on it by himself for hours on end. He is the first one off of the court and into the locker room at half time and the first one hustling to the bench during timeouts. Hammonds is a great example of someone who just gets “IT”.

Again, there are many examples of being a great teammate at Clemson. Rashaad Jackson was told many times that he was not smart enough to get into college but he made the honor roll last semester because he sometimes spends 30 hours in a week at Vickery Hall. I think he is a great teammate.

I truly hope Clemson can win many more championships in the future and when and if they do I will be extremely happy for and grateful to the teammates like Chalk, Davis, Korn, Hammonds and Jackson.

Give me the guy that cares more about his teammate and less about his personal success and I will show you some one that deserves the greatest compliment in team sports—A Good Teammate.

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