The Brotherhood Problem

Friendship is great. There’s nothing sweeter than seeing a couple of chums happily chatting and laughing it up with one another at a park, restaurant, maybe on a plane (as long as they’re not being too annoying about it). But there’s one place friendship should be quelled or even outright discouraged – out on the field or court.

Today, it’s not uncommon to see opposing players fraternizing with each other before games. Gone are the days when players stayed on one team for their entire career; thanks to free agency and trade demands, they move more than ever. And this means that they have more teammates than ever, so the guy they’re playing against today might have been a teammate last year – and he may also be a teammate next year.

But it’s just not the same when opponents are friends. Recently, Pittsburgh Pirates pitching phenom Paul Skenes and Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga were seen together before a game, with Imanaga giving Skenes some tips. And last year, Skenes did the same for Imanaga – and this may have resulted in Chicago no-hitting the Pirates. Said Skenes after that one:

“I regret this one a little bit. Shota came up to me when we were in Pittsburgh and he asked me how I held my fastball. And not my sinker. And so I was like, ‘Yeah, here you go dude, like, whatever, check it out.’ And then he no-hit us his next outing.”

Can you imagine someone like Nolan Ryan giving advice to a pitcher on another team? Can you imagine an opposing player even having the guts to ask him for advice? (Today, I’m not sure Robin Ventura would ask him for a piece of gum.)

In the early part of the 1977 MLB season, Mike Caldwell was traded from the Reds to the Brewers. Soon after he arrived in Milwaukee, he called a team meeting in which he said: “There are only 24 players in this game I like … and if I ever get traded from here, I’ll hate every one of you, too.”

Rivalries are a big part of why sports are great, and when players not only aren’t friends, but seem to genuinely despise one another, this makes things even better. If you’re of a certain age, you may remember John McEnroe and his clashes with Jimmy Connors. The two star tennis players truly hated each other, and once almost fought during a match. That would never have happened with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal; despite their heated battles on the court, they’re pretty much besties.

Think about the crucible-like Yankees-Red Sox games from the 90s and 2000s. Would they have had the same juice if you saw guys like Paul O’Neil and David Ortiz joking around during batting practice?

That era also produced some of the most contentious basketball that the NBA has ever seen. And if you rooted for the New York Knicks – as I did – hatred of certain teams and players was a big part of being a fan. You didn’t just want to see the Knicks win, you wanted to see the other guys in pain – perhaps not physically, but at least emotionally. (In the case of Reggie Miller, maybe both.) And the players on both sides seemed to agree. While with the Chicago Bulls, Horace Grant said when playing against the Knicks: “I didn’t always know if we were gonna win, but I always knew we were going to bleed.”

While we don’t need to see it actually spilled, more bad blood in sports would make games a lot more interesting. And even though the heyday of player animosity appears to be behind us, with pretty universally reviled guys like Draymond Green and Manny Machado still playing, hope is not entirely lost.