Failed Leadership

This past Sunday, I was watching the New York Jets play against the Miami Dolphins. Even though I am an avid supporter of the Giants and tend to watch only their games, this game was crucial for the Jets, and hating this team almost as much as I love the Giants, I watched this game rooting against Gang Green. With two minutes left in the game and the Jets trailing the dolphins, New York was giving one last shot at a comeback. However, team captain Santonio Holmes, their star wid receiver, clearly did not have the same intentions. Having been passed to only once all game, Holmes showed his discontent in moody body language and complete lack of effort. At this point, some of his teammates had enough of Holmes' juvenile behavior and one of them yelled at him saying “If you don’t f------ want to play get your a-- the f--- out!”. This sparked a fight in between the two, which culminated with Holmes being taken off the field and benched in the final minutes of the game. From the bench, Holmes, in disdain, kept his attention away from the critical last plays and gave off a very non-chalant attitude as the Jets lost and their playoff hopes came to an end.

As a captain, this type of behavior is unacceptable. No matter how good an athlete might be, he, especially a captain, should never put his own personal discontent above the well-being and success of the team. A captain must lead by example and should put forth model behavior. Holmes has not only failed as a captain, but has failed his entire team and he should be punished. I look forward to seeing what will happen to Holmes during the offseason and hope that he comes to see how wrong his behavior was.

http://thejetpress.com/2012/01/02/santonio-holmes-called-a-cancer-in-locker-room/