Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Daniel Briere Finally Understands Teamwork

"Hey, we might really be on to something with this teamwork thing!"
AP Photo/Jeff McIntosh

Because, obviously, there was none of that going on during his time in Buffalo. Thank goodness he signed with the Flyers this summer, otherwise he may have never learned the value of teamwork. After all, hockey is clearly a game dominated by individual players and not teams.

"Some of the exercises we did just showed you how much quicker and better it was when you worked as a team compared to by yourself or in groups of two or three," said Briere who partook in team building exercises during a recent Flyers team retreat. "It was pretty cool to realize that."

Did you get that?

He said it was 'pretty cool' to find out how much better working as a team is. Is he serious? He really has never understood the value of teamwork before? Daniel, you play a team sport for a living. What exactly was it that you were doing in Buffalo last year when you had 63 assists?

Oh, right. You were probably just shooting the puck at your teammates, hoping it would deflect off them and past the goalie.

Look, I know athletes say canned, feel good, bland PR crud all the time, but jeez; don't suck up to the team too much. Next time, say something like "that sure was a great team retreat, and arts and crafts time really helped to build team unity and make friends!" That sounds a lot better than "I finally realized that teamwork actually is important!"

Anyway, as it turns out, the Flyers are no different than anyone who works in corporate America today. Just like you, these million-dollar-making athletes have to put up with "team building" and "corporate synergy" baloney too.

3 comments:

  1. Perhaps Danny was still euphoric over participating in one of those team building exercises where he was lifted onto someone's shoulders and, for the first time in his life, was taller than everyone else in the room.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that would be a good team name. Perhaps they could call them the Philadelphia Synergy, and the team colors could be shades of gray, and the mascot would be a 38 page document that nobody reads.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @james and ryan: nicely played, but Philadelphia Synergy sounds like a team from MLS.

    According to the first article, they played with Legos. Allow me to elaborate:

    Reg: They brought their FUCKING TOYS with them!
    McGrath: well, I'd rather have them playing with their toys than playing with themselves
    Reg: They're too dumb to play with themselves!

    ReplyDelete