Prima Donna

The idea for this post came to me when I witnessed what I considered selfish and lazy play on the part of some of my teammates during a hockey game.  Although we are far from being professional athletes, I believe that there is such a thing as putting forth a minimal amount of effort and that no one is above anyone else; that is, the expectations should not be less for a select few relative to the rest of the team under any circumstance, good or bad.

I am sure that the majority of you have seen this type of thing.  Remember that professional baseball player who attempted a catch at the wall, but after it hit his glove and remained in play, he proceeded to throw his glove down and stomp around, leaving a teammate to pick it up and throw the ball to one of the infielders?  Because of this bonehead play, the hitter was able to make his way closer to home plate than he otherwise would have.

A similar thing happened last night during an NHL game.  One of the so-called elite players went down the ice on a breakaway and, after the goalie stopped the scoring attempt, the player skated past the net, turned slowly, and glided back toward his defensive zone, simply watching the play go down the ice and not putting in any effort to back-check.  And what was the result?  A goal against.

And how about the NFL player who, as he was about to cross the goal-line, was so cocky that he threw the ball backwards, not realizing that he actually produced a fumble instead of a touchdown, allowing the other team to recover the ball?  Great play man!  Nice no-touchdown!

With these examples in mind, I thought it a propos to entitle this post “prima donna.”  If you don’t know the term, it has a negative connotation and is often used to describe an egotistical, undisciplined, vain, obnoxious, and/or temperamental person whose role is essential to the success of a team but often behaves in a detrimental way.  

Where does this type of attitude come from?  I believe that over the course of their lives, these people have been praised so much that they’ve developed an inflated view of themselves, their talent, and their importance, in turn leading them to believe that they are above others and should be treated differently.  The result is that these people become selfish and lazy, only putting in an effort in circumstances when they are guaranteed to receive praise from the people around them.  Then, when the going gets tough, these individuals let up or give up entirely!  To that, I say: “Back to the minors, all of you!”  And if sending them there doesn’t serve to put them back in their place, the only thing left to do is: Blame it on fast foods.

- B. J. T. Pepin