In an era of astronomic payrolls, steroid scandals, and widely publicized acts such as "The Decision"; the underdogs, and what one would consider blue collar teams, are the one's walking away with their respective championships and titles.
This past year in the world of major sports, we have seen championships won by the likes of guys such as Donald Driver, Jason Terry and Aubrey Huff. These guys are not exactly your Big Ben’s, Lebron James' and Alex Rodriguez's of the world. These guys represent entire teams of pro's who aren't as highly paid, have zero involvement with anything illegal and are not making the front page for anything except team pictures.
When looking at our recent heroes and their teammates, they encapsulate the term 'blue collar'. This term is defined as every day, hard working, middle class guys who basically shut-up, avoid the limelight and do their jobs, period! And guess what, the ultimate prize has been attained by those groups! Although these teams such as the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco Giants have storied franchises, their personnel are comprised of either home-grown talent such as Aaron Rogers and Tim Lincecum, or wily veterans such as Charles Woodson and Juan Uribe. The most recent champions, Dallas Mavericks, have stuck by star Dirk Niwitski from day one and also assimilated this formula by bringing in vets such as Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion to aid their cause.
We always hear sports is about team and that "it is a team game", however, in our modern era, these teams have been typically overshadowed in the media by scandals, individual stardom and big fat ego's. Thankfully, at the end of the day today, it's those groups of men that come together under one cause and one mindset of playing for one another with the ultimate goal of being winners that not only bind them, but propel them to the heights of their respective sport.
After defeating the likes of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Big Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick and Josh Hamilton; these group of scrappy youngsters and veterans have overcome those widely considered villains in today's sports world on the biggest stages, making today's true heroes in sports to be the low-key, blue collar athlete.
So I ask, would you trade all the fame and talent in the world for modesty and effort? To me the clear answer is YES! And I think we have prime examples as to why the answer should be yes today thanks to these 3 recent champions. As it was well put in the post game yesterday after Dallas' victory, "10 men beat 3".
It is my solemn hope and prayer that this will become the start of a new era, where the individual athlete is overshadowed by the character and principle of the word TEAM. An age where the media's coverage is more closely focused on what is happening in team practices than high-profile decisions and court cases.
As a true fan of all sports, let's ask more of our athletes on the field and beg them to shut up afterwards instead of making themselves into negative icons.
May the age of the 'Blue Collar Champions' reign supreme from here on!
