Team Bonding Can Work Wonders
By Mike Silva ~ February 23rd, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
I could only imagine the reaction by some when they heard Joe Girardi had cancelled spring workouts to play billiards. What? Doesn’t he realize that there is still tons of work to be done? How can billiards improve the OPS of the outfield, get CC Sabathia ready for opening day, or nurse Jorge Posada into game shape. The answer is nothing, but this might have needed this more than any workout. In the fragile psyche of New York sports teams the difference between success and failure is often minuscule. History suggests in times of need, getting away from the playing field is often just what the doctor ordered. It worked before, why not now?
Upon hearing this news I thought of Pat Riley taking the Knicks out after losing their fourth straight game in the 1994 season. The team was heading for a downward spiral. They were injured, not scoring, and looked to be losing confidence in themselves. Before heading to Sacramento, he took a detour with the team plane and decided to have fun, rather than beating them up in practice. Davey Johnson responded to a 0-2 deficit in the 86’ World Series by giving his group the day off. The Knicks would respond with a fourteen game winning streak and the Mets, well, you know what happened.
Girardi’s Yankees are nowhere near the type of critical point that both the 94’ Knicks and the 86’ Mets were in their respective seasons. However, this again shows how important Girardi connecting with his group and, in turn, they connecting with each other is to the 2009 season. It’s not necessary, as Scott Pose pointed out on last week’s show, to build chemistry through off the field activities. Pose’s teams had already been through the battles and had a trust for each other’s capabilities. These Yankees haven’t had that type of situation in years.
No one will ever say a billiards tournament turned around the 2009 Yankees. It’s simply another example why this team, unlike recent groups, is building something together. True trust and chemistry will come with winning. In the interim, all the Yanks can do is build the right foundation. They started this offseason with the star imports. The next phase is bringing the group together. It looks like Joe Girardi is taking a page out of history and using a nice diversion to yield long term results. Who knows, it’s just so crazy it might work.
