text: With Team Like This, Who Needs Rivals? - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
  With Team Like This, Who Needs Rivals?
  August 10, 1993|By Ron Berler. Special to the Tribune.
  Gabe was in awe the first day of Little League practice. He had never been on a team with so many good players before. Baseball was his favorite sport, and he had dreamed all his life of playing on a team like this.
  His club was the pre-season favorite. The four best players - the team leaders - made clear to the rest that they expected to make the playoffs. Gabe, 12, figured he'd have to give his all just to earn their respect.
  The first half of the season was the most fun he'd ever had playing ball. The team went 7-3 and clinched a playoff spot. Gabe was proud to be a part of things, even though he was only a substitute and wasn't hitting particularly well. The guys on the bench were always supportive, particularly the four leaders.
  "I'd walk back to the dugout after striking out, and one of them would sit next to me and tell me not to worry," said Gabe (who spoke on the condition that we change his name). "It seemed like they always knew the right thing to say."
  But after the team got the playoff spot, with half the season left, the leaders' attitudes changed. They seemed to lose their enthusiasm, both for their fellow players and the game itself.
  "It was like they had reached their goal and now they didn't care about playing anymore," said Gabe.
  The four no longer cheered when a teammate got a hit. They goofed around at practice. They didn't run quite as hard after balls in the field. Worst of all, they started teasing their teammates for making errors or striking out.
  The ballclub went into a tailspin, losing four of its next seven games. Gabe had the feeling they weren't really a team anymore, just a bunch of guys wearing gold uniforms.
  Going to the ballpark became almost a chore. Gabe would hear the leaders mocking teammates, and he'd swell with anger. He couldn't understand why they'd jeopardize something as wonderful as a winning team. He wished he had the guts to tell them off.
  Gabe didn't even think much about the upcoming playoffs; he just wanted baseball to be fun again.
  He could still tell at the last practice before the playoffs that the leaders didn't really care. The team lost in the first round to a team they should have beaten.
  "We could have won it all if we'd stayed together," Gabe said. "I wonder if they understand what they ruined."