So I’m sitting here on a fine Monday doing a bit of web reading and I get this old quote of the day gem:
Like I always say, there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’. There is a ‘me’, though, if you jumble it up. – David Shore
I say old gem because even though it’s attributed to David Shore, as far as I can tell it’s been around as long as the “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” saying. Which brings me to my question of the moment – who first said that there wasn’t an ‘I’ in ‘team’? I’ve always assumed it was Vince Lombardi. Pretty much any quote that involves teamwork, winning, or playing with a concussion I attribute to Vince Lombardi unless otherwise attributed.
There are all of these things, be it words or paper napkins, that were at some point created for the first time. I’d imagine that at the time people didn’t understand the ‘I’ in ‘team’ bit.
COACH: Alright everybody, there are no ballerdonnas here, we win as a team and we lose as a team. [ pauses for effect ] There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’!!!
[ team cheers ]
PLAYER1: Yeah! Group effort! Punch it in!
PLAYER2: Play selflessly! We win by playing together!
COACH: Yes, yes. Play selflessly. But also spell it out. Think about it.
PLAYER2: T-H-E-R-E … I-S … N-O
COACH: Not the whole thing you lummox. Spell out ‘team’.
PLAYER2: T-E-A-M.
COACH: Notice anything?
PLAYER1: Oh… hold on. Yeah wait. The letter ‘I’, you don’t need it to spell ‘team’!
PLAYER2: Yes, you only need four letters. None of these letters are ‘I’.
PLAYER3: You need two vowels and two consonants. All of those letters are worth 1 point in scrabble except the ‘M’ which is worth 4 points! Yeah! Go Wolverines!
COACH: Yeah. So what I was trying to get across is yes, play selflessly, but also I was being really clever and stating the fact that there is no ‘I’ in the word ‘team’ itself. Which is undeniable. I am also making it seem like because one possible reading of the statement is true, that there is in fact no letter ‘I’ in the word ‘team’, that the other reading about selfless play is similarly undeniable.
PLAYER1: Yay! Thanks coach! I’m sure with such clever wordplay we will be undefeatable!
