Leaders- By Ryan J. Murphy

"The leader always sets the trail for others to follow."

Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks said recently that the Knicks are “his team.” Let me put this in perspective for you, the Knicks are Jeremy Lin’s team. Of course, Carmelo is the best player, but Jeremy Lin runs the show as the point guard, therefore it is his team.

This is the case for other teams, as well. Rajon Rondo of the Celtics, not the best player, but it’s his team. Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, not the best player, but it’s his team. Jason Kidd of the Mavericks, not the best player, but it’s his team. You get the point.

This also is true for other sports too.

NFL:

Joe Flacco of the Ravens, not the best player, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis are, but it's Flacco's team.

Tony Romo of the Cowboys, not the best player, that’s DeMarcus Ware, but it’s Romo’s team.

Tim Tebow of the Broncos, certainly not the best player, but it is his team.

In the NFL, the quarterback, no matter how good he is, is the leader of the team.

MLB:

In baseball, the leader of the team is the pitcher.

In certain cases you can make an argument that other players are the leaders, such as the Yankees. That is Derek Jeter’s team. Although in most cases it is your starting pitcher on that given day.

NHL:

In hockey, normally your leader is your goalie.

The Red Wings leader is Jimmy Howard, although it is Pavel Datsyuk's team.

The Bruins leader is Tim Thomas, but it is Zdeno Chara’s team.

The Penguins leader is Mark-Andre Fleury, but it is Sydney Crosby’s team.

The Canucks leader is Roberto Luongo, but it is the Sedin twins’ team, and so on.

In hockey, your leader is the goalie, along with normally your best player.

My point is if you don’t have a specific leader, it is going to be very hard to succeed in any sport.

Look at the previous winners of championships… They all had a specific leader who led them to victory. Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning, the two previous years, led their teams to Super Bowl titles. Jason Kidd, with some major help of Dirk Nowitski, led the Mavericks to a title. The Cardinals pitchers, backed by Pujols and their dominant batting order, won a World Series title. Zdeno Chara and his great goalie Tim Thomas led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup win.

Look at teams who don’t have a leader, and look how poorly they do. Baltimore Orioles. Seattle Mariners. Kansas City Royals. Jacksonville Jaguars. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arizona Cardinals. Charlotte Bobcats. Montreal Canadiens. The list goes on.

The leaders of teams are the point guard, the quarterback, the starting pitcher, and the goalie, with very few exceptions, and your leader isn’t necessarily the best player.

Do you agree?