In Dan Shaugnessy's most recent article, appearing in today's Boston Globe newspaper, there's a quote from Tom Brady. The quote reads, "Obviously, when you are losing you are not doing enough. This is the ultimate team sport. You've got to have everyone going in the same direction." Tom Brady, you might remember, was the rookie who last year lead the New England Patriots to a Superbowl win last January, when he was put in as a replacement for Drew Bledsoe, now quarterbacking for the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots have lost their last four games, and the reality of the NFL has come crashing down hard upon them.

The point of this is not the Patriot's current woes in the league, but what he said instead. Professional football? The ultimate team sport? Interestingly enough, my boys and I were discussing this topic last night. One of my friends mentioned Major League Baseball, which is nowhere near the ultimate team sport. Another of my friends put it best when he called baseball the best co-operative sport, a bunch of individuals doing their individual best for the good of the team. This is very true, as baseball is mostly a two on one duel, with the battery, the pitcher and catcher, versus the batter at the plate. The battery wants the batter out and the batter is trying to get on base so he can score a run more easily. The teamwork in baseball is mostly on the defense, as the fielders commit double plays and put-outs and the starting pitcher working with his relievers and the closer as a pitching unit. Baseball would not be the best teamwork sport.

What about the NHL? Hockey, along with lacrosse, ultimate frisbee and soccer I all consider similar sports. All these sports are more team interactive than baseball, as each team member has to work together to make the team win the game. With each sport to do well you must know each of your teammates, how well they work, how fast they run/skate, how well they receive passes, etc. There was a hard push that soccer was the ultimate team sport (we concluded we know little to nothing about rugby and cricket, so those sports were not part of the considerations, we Americans don't see those too much). However, all these sports are similar, and so I counted them as one.

Where does football fall in all this mess? Well football is an insteresting sport, it's similar to a controlled war without weapons , where both armies fight and push against each other in a battle for land. Each play could be broken into a touchdown run, no matter where it is on the field. Each play could also lead to a devastating loss of yardage or a loss of possession of the football. Baseball is the only sport with similar delays in-between the action. However, football boils down to the individual again, doing his best for the good of the team. As a football player, it is your duty to do what you're supposed to when necessary, like the army. If you're a wide receiver, ya gotta run that pattern correctly, a lineman has to make his block, and stop the defense from getting close to the quarterback or halfback. There's a lot of trust involved in football, because all it takes is one person to screw up even the most perfectly designed play.

Football could be the ultimate team sport, as that phrase is rather ill-defined, and it probably boils down to opinion anyway. Do you need a team of all-stars to win in football? No. With the Angels' win over the San Francisco Giants in the World Series this year, and the Patriots' win last season, it's been proven recently and repetedly that the underdogs, the no-name guys can win the whole enchilada. However, I do have to agree with Tom Brady, just because of the way the Pats came together last season. They were a unit, a solid team with no fractures, lead by the unlikely, doing the unexpected. Is that teamwork? What about Hockey and it's one-timers? Or soccer and the amazing set up passes and headers off the corner kicks?

I specifically did not mention basketball, as that is not played as a team game at the professional level, in my eyes, and with the skills the ref's show, barely a sport at all. If it was a team based game, why would Latrell Sprewell be employed by anyone?