The importance of team play.

I'd like to be running the Chicago Cubs baseball team. With an iron-fist. I'd cajole two of the team's most talented hitters, outfielders Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley, into voluntarily spending two weeks in the minor leagues. Trying to get their acts together. For the benefit of the Cubs team. Both are in horrific batting slumps. In the minors, they'd escape the stress of major league baseball. And they'd be able to more easily relax. To find a rhythm again. And confidence. Now they are playing uptight. They have big contracts. Making millions. And maybe that's part of the problem. The pressure. They're supposed to be producing. And so they press. And go from bad to worse. But both players have big egos. They'd consider it an insult, a punishment, to go down to the minors. Even though it probably would be good for the team. Maybe that's why the Cubs won't have a successful season. They have forgotten how to play team baseball. --Jim Broede