‘Team’ Over ‘Me’: The Two Best Things You’ll See in Sports This Week
In Cincinnati and Chicago Wednesday night, Christian Pulisic and Willson Contreras proved all that is right about sports.
There’s a ruthless streak running rampant throughout sports these days, a competitiveness that we celebrate, and I’ve never fully understood. Maybe it started with MJ and was codified by Kobe’s Mamba Mentality, but you see it most often in the aftermath of the NFL Draft. One team selects a rookie, and the veteran on the team grumbles about how they won’t help the fresh face. Everything is a competition, and they won’t give anybody the slightest of edges.
It happened again just a few weeks ago, after the Tennessee Titans selected Liberty quarterback Malik Willis. Reporters asked Ryan Tannehill about the newest addition to the locker room. “I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him,” Tannehill deadpanned.
Sure, there are starting jobs at stake and careers to protect. But sports are about teamwork, and one of the most rewarding parts of following a team is to see it grow and evolve, to see new faces integrate with old ones. To dismiss a new player in the matter that Tannehill does is a lot of things—selfish and shortsighted are the first that come to mind. Yet on Wednesday, just hours apart from each other, came two examples that struck back against the paranoid feeling that everybody represents a threat, no matter what uniform they wear. They were two points for the good guys, and they’re worth celebrating. So that’s what we’re going to do here.
We’ll start in Cincinnati where the US Men’s National Team faced Morocco in a friendly to tune up before the World Cup in November. The Yanks only play a handful more times before Qatar, which means that each second on the field is more valuable than the last. These games represent players’ last chance to prove that they deserve to make the final US roster. Every data point counts.
Into that context stepped Haji Wright, the 24-year-old striker from Los Angeles, who made his national team debut when he subbed on at halftime. For Wright, the moment had been a long time coming. As a teenager, commentators dubbed him America’s latest can’t-miss prospect, the skeleton key that would finally unlock the country’s soccer potential. He scored dozens of goals on the youth national team, and one day, scouts from the German club Borussia Dortmund traveled to the States with the intention of signing him. But at the game, a different prospect caught their eye. The undersized Christian Pulisic, Wright’s roommate at the youth national team’s camps, had the type of first touch that can’t be taught. Dortmund looked right past Wright and signed Pulisic instead.
While Pulisic soared to unprecedented heights for an American player, Wright fell off the map. A different German team—Dortmund’s rival—signed Wright two years later, but he struggled in the Bundesliga. He’s played with five clubs in the six years since, bouncing around the lower levels of European soccer. This year, Wright was sent to Turkey on a loan with a club called Antalyaspor, and he responded by awakening a part of himself that had been dormant for years. He scored 14 goals this season, and at 24 years old, was finally called up to the Men’s National Team with a shot to make the World Cup roster.
Fifteen minutes after Wright jogged onto the pitch as a substitute, Pulisic earned a penalty kick. Pulisic typically takes penalties for the Yanks, but this time, he turned and handed the ball to his old roommate. He wanted Wright to take the shot instead, and Wright responded by burying it into the back of the net. After the game, Wright wrote simply, “Unbelievably grateful to my Friend, Brother, and Captain,” alongside a picture of Pulisic looking towards the striker, arms outstretched waiting for a celebratory hug.
One more. We’ll head now to Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cubs have been miserable this year after trading away much of the core that brought a World Series to the North Side. That already thin roster has been decimated with injuries, which opened up a spot for Christopher Morel, a fringe prospect from the Dominican Republic who was never expected to be much more than a role player.
A few weeks ago, before his debut, Morel approached all-star catcher Willson Contreras. In 2016, Contreras hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. Morel promised the veteran that he was going to do the same thing when he got his shot. Contreras probably rolled his eyes. Maybe he even laughed.
But when Morel stepped up to the plate later that day, with Contreras watching from the dugout, he blasted a shot into the left field bleachers. Contreras was so excited that he ran on the field celebrating.
Said Morel, “In this moment, I don’t think too much. I just say, ‘Oh my God.’”
Said Contreras, “I’m just so happy for him and his family. Hopefully, this is the start of a huge career for him.”
Morel hasn’t slowed down since. He’s reached base in all 15 games he’s appeared in so far, a record for a first-year Cub. But the best moment of all came last night. The Cubs had men on first and third in the 10th inning of a tie game against the Brewers when Morel stepped up to bat. He fouled off the first two pitches, down in the count 0-2. Then somebody yelled at Morel. He turned around. There was Contreras in the on-deck circle. “Breathe,” said Contreras, signaling at Morel to inhale. “Take your time.”
Morel took the next pitch for a ball. And then he drove a changeup in the outfield, deep enough for Jason Heyward to tag up and score the winning run. Game over. Cubs win.
Neither Pulisic nor Contreras needed to take the time to cede the spotlight to new characters on their teams. Both of them could have kept their head down, keeping their focus inward. They might have even been celebrated for that approach. Instead, they took the selfless approach. They thought bigger.
That’s leadership. That’s class. That’s sports.
🇺🇦 On Wednesday, the Ukrainian National Team won a semifinal against Scotland, earning them a shot to make the World Cup if they can beat Wales on Sunday. ESPN’s Wright Thompson traveled to Kyiv, “to watch a city watch a game.” The result is breathtaking.
🥊 Cuba has long dominated boxing—at least in the amateur ranks. At the Tokyo Olympics, Cubans won four boxing gold medals. But traditionally, Cuban boxers are only paid $1 a day. A new agreement will change that—and might change boxing forever.
🪦 So long, Presidential Fitness Tests. As The Atlantic boldly declared this week, “The Sit-Up Is Over.”
⚾ Ladies and gents, we have the Catch of the Year.
🏒 If you wear a Colorado Avalanche jersey in Canada ahead of the NHL’s Western Conference Finals, you might be in for a surprise.
