There is an interesting distinction to be made between individual play and team play; the former involves a complex psychological and physical encounter between a person and time obstacle or competitor. It is a defined encounter with epic implications. (Such athletes are) perhaps the quintesential heroes, because they operate in a private, absolutely rigorous world, where there are no excuses, and a person's triumph or loss is his or her own, not his team's.... The outcome is total--one man won, the other man lost.
~ Lionel Tiger, Men in Groups
