In professional sports you always have that team that looks good on paper, but doesn't always perform up to the expectations that are expected of them. Take Philadelphia sports for example, The Philadelphia Phillies won the world series in 2008 with a sub-par pitching staff, since then they've added big names like Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee, not to mention the couple years they had Roy Oswalt in the mix, but since 2008 the Phillies have failed to win another world series, even with the title of having "The greatest pitching staff in the history of baseball". The Philadelphia Eagles were all hype in 2011 when Vince Young dropped the bomb "Dream Team" only to find out that they were just the opposite of that.
More and more teams have numerous superstars on them, making them look good on paper, but they do not always get the job done when everyone expects it. Take the Miami Heat for example, Bosh, Wade, and King James, yeah they got to the championship but they lost. This is happening in all the major professional sports (baseball, football, hockey, basketball).
I'm no expert but I do know that money can change a person. Once these athletes get out of college and get paid millions of dollars, do they lose the drive to win? Sports are played with passion, and frankly, sometimes professional sports look passionless. If you build a team with an array of talent like the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Heat, these teams should be winning championships. Until they do, these are teams I like to call "Paper Teams" they look good on paper, but until they go out there on the field or the court and get the job done, that's all they'll ever be.
Ah, yes, paper teams. I agree with you, I think money can make or break an athlete. I have Casey Matthews added on Facebook and it's interesting to see him transform from a college athlete (I have had him added since mid 2010... gotta love my love for Clay Matthews) to a professional athlete. It doesn't seem like in a negative way, but it'll be interesting to see what he does this season. Hopefully he'll have more opportunity!
ReplyDeleteso a lineup with pujols, holliday, berkman, carpenter, molina isn't a paper team?
ReplyDeleteThe teams listed above were merely examples, there are many other teams that can be considered paper teams, as for the Cardinals, Berkman is getting old, nor has the team had a consistent pitching staff to put them in that category.
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