The 2009 film, “The Blind Side”, in which Sandra Bullock won one of her Oscar Academy Awards, tells the story of a young homeless student whose life was turned around when a family took him in and helped him to become an All American football player. He was not particularly academic but extremely strong and filled the Left Tackle position on the field, his role being simply to protect the key position of the Quarterback. The Quarterback was the playmaker, the one who would call the moves and execute the pass, but there was an area in which he was always going to be vulnerable, his blind side, and the Left Tackle’s task was to allow him to fulfil his role efficiently and effectively.
Many people will argue that the Quarterback is the most valuable player in American football – as a result, he is usually the highest-paid player with the most prolific profile. A successful team will have a brilliant quarterback; the quarterback will provide the passes to set up the team’s scores. All the attention is on him; even people not totally interested in American football will know the names of quarterbacks, even if no other players (Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Fevre, Joe Montana). However, that is perhaps to ignore the crucial role that the Blind Side tackler plays; if the Blind Side does not do his job then the quarterback will certainly not be able to do his. So, it could well be argued that if we think the quarterback is the most valuable player then we need to reassess that view and recognise that the one who is protecting him is in fact the most valuable player.
Schools and clubs love to hand out the award for the MVP – the Most Valuable Player, the player (it is decreed) that is of the greatest value to the team. Who then is the Most Valuable Player?
Most people, especially the players, will like to believe that the MVP is the one who scores the most points, wins the most matches and has the most skill. In other words, we will think it is the best player in the team – how though can we compare the roles of a tight-head prop and a winger, for example, or a batsman and bowler, and determine somehow which is the better player? Spectators often scream their delight at a player who performs an act of individual skill when in fact the player might have done better simply to have passed the ball to a team-mate who could have scored. MVP does not mean the most gifted, charismatic, crowd-pleasing player.
If we think that the MVP is indeed the Best Player, then if that player is injured, we will see it as a disaster. And if it is deemed a disaster that the MVP is injured then it becomes even more crucial that we have a player to protect that player, which now means that player becomes the MVP. And so we could go on!
Others often misread MVP to stand for the Most Important Player, in terms of their position or role – the play maker, the kicker, the short-corner taker, the captain. Again, it is extremely dangerous in a team sport to try to suggest that one player or position is more important than another. It perhaps also explains why in adult, business life we come across people who enter our office and ask us: “Do you know who I am? I am a VIP”. The MVP is not the most important player or indeed a VIP.
Instead of thinking of the Best Player or the Most Important Player, we might perhaps look again at the phrase, the Most Valuable Player. In that regard, the MVP is the player who provides the greatest value to the team and that value may be found in the greatest contributions to the team. Such a person may not have the best sporting skills but will never let the team down.
In fact, we might argue that the Most Valuable Player may not be the strongest player but actually the weakest player. Just as the old adage goes that “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”, so a team is only as strong as its weakest player – and if that is the case, then our weakest player is our most valuable player. We need to protect, strengthen, assist and develop that player and so that player becomes our most valuable player. That will make the team stronger, when the team members do not look at who is the strongest but at who is the weakest, not least because, even if we do not do so, the opposition will look at him.
The Most Valuable Player is not necessarily the one we think. We must be blind if cannot see that!
