Sports entities that should embrace their place in this world

Tim Tebow's embraced his role ... have you?

Last week, Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry graciously received the Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Terry, naturally, said all the right things.

"I like it. If that means my team is going to be up there competing for a championship every year, that's the role I'll assume. I look at Darrell Armstrong as one of the best to ever do it. That trophy should be of him, though I don't know about the muscles and all. But the way he came in the game and affected the game, he symbolized 'team.'"

Please folks, remember, that it wasn't that long ago (last year? year before?) that Terry bitched and bitched some more about coming off the bench. Further references to Jerry Stackhouse were made as a guy who embraced the sixth man role. Except he didn't. Stack, too, bitched and bitched about coming off the bench.

It's silly really. Terry gets as many minutes off the bench as he did as a starter and maybe, actually, he's embracing his role as a guy who makes a difference instead of a starter who doesn't.

Without further ado, here's my list of sports entities that should embrace their roles more:

The Nosey Owner
Guess what, you own a professional sports team! You're doing what every other sports enthusiast would love to do, but can't because they make $40K a year typing TPS reports and raising kids. Jerry Jones is probably a hell of a oil wildcatter. Probably can smell the stuff from a country mile. But can he run a football team? Can Dan Snyder? Just sit back and make money. Seize the moment!

The Second-Tier Sport
It is the dream of soccer, Nascar, hockey, tennis, golf and curling to one day be the No. 1 sport in the United States. It ain't happening. Ever, ever, ever. It may not always be the NFL, but it'll never be outside of the mighty triumvirate of them, the NBA or MLB. What those other sports should be focusing on is becoming the fourth popular sport in the United States. This role, I think, tennis and golf have embraced. Nascar had momentum but lost it. Soccer and hockey think they can come to the big-boy table and eat, but they are sorely mistaken. Just embrace the fact that you've got Canada, Europe and, in soccer's case, the rest of the freakin' world in your grip and be happy.

The Tall, White NBAer
You're tall. You're white. Chances are, you are not one of the top 25 players in the NBA. But so what? All Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony are doing is heaping more pressure on themselves. In actuality, you're playing the game right. You're playing basketball for a living. That's good. You're probably making a bunch of money. That's really good. And all you've got to do is come off the bench, run up and down the court 20 minutes every game and rebound and score put-backs? I've always said that if I were a 7-2 dude, I would become the most sure-fire NBA pro ever by just rebounding, making sure opponents don't go crazy around the basket and scoring easy baskets. This does take effort, but you can relax you're entire life with the two max-out contracts you'll get (see: Shawn Bradley, Keith Van Horn) during your career.

The Special Teams Specialist
The Dallas Cowboys just selected a kicker out of USC to be their kick-off specialist. NFL teams galore pay guys millions upon millions to snap the ball, place kick, tackle opponents on punt returns and all sorts of silly things. Actually, these special teams guys actually already do embrace their role. In fact, I think they'd just prefer to play kick coverage than actually have to enter the game as a safety or linebacker.

The Assistant Coach
This list initially came into fruition after reading about Pittsburgh Steeler defensive coordinator Dick LaBeau. He is considered to be one of the best defensive minds and assistant coaches in NFL history. If any coordinator or assistant was going into the Hall of Fame, it may be him. For more than 30 years he's made a name for himself. But for three years he got the itch. From 2000-02, he coached the lowly Cincinnati Bengals. Chances are, he lost a lot of games. He was fired and eventually went to Pittsburgh. Overall, he's a guy that's embraced the fact that he can be considered the best defensive coordinator in the history of the game, but maybe one of the worst head coaches in the history of the game. Others can learn from this like Wade Phillips, Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis, Dave Wannstedt, Norv Tuner, Dave Campo, Rod Marinelli, et al.

The College Coach
This applies to basketball and football. How many times have we seen the super-successful college coach try to make the jump to the professionals and fail? The easier question is how many actually succeed? Then most high-tail it back to the colleges like Steve Spurrier and Rick Pitino. In the United States, there ain't nothing wrong with being awesome on the college level. College sports are gigantic. They need good coaches. Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer and John Callipari know what Pete Carroll, Pitino, Spurrier, Dennis Erickson, Lou Holtz, Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban had to figure out on their own.

The Relief Pitcher
I think you'd be surprised how many current MLB relief pitchers would love to become a starter. That's kinda what they're brought up to do. It not only makes you a ton more money, but it's the marquee name. Relievers don't win Cy Young Awards, starters do. However, the game of professional baseball, like most sports, has changed a lot. A middle reliever eating innings between the fifth and eighth are as important to a MLB team as any other player. The quicker the pitcher realizes this the more successful (and richer) they'll get.

The Sixth Man
Like the relief pitcher in baseball and special teams specialist in football, the sixth man is vital for a basketball team. It's to the point that teams put their third or fourth best player on the bench for the sole purpose of being able to bring him in with five minutes left in the first quarter. No more will you find the five best players in the starting line-up. Soon, the starting line-up may be two good players and three relatively poor players with three or even four good players sitting on the bench. Sixth men need to realize that this isn't their father's NBA. It's a changed game and they must change with it to succeed.

The College Star
I am convinced that Tim Tebow, Florida Gators stud QB, will never amount to much in the NFL. That's OK. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a transcendent college player and letting that become what your name means for the rest of your life. College is good. For the last four or so years, Tebow's gotten to hang out in Florida, be the coolest guy on campus, probably gets whatever he wants and bangs every piece of ass. What's wrong with this? For the rest of his life, he'll have a college education (or at least part of one), a job from any booster and free meals in any Gainesville eatery.