Making and breaking records and earning individual awards are a part of every sport that you see.

Players blow up for 55 points in a basketball game or throw for 400 yards in a football game, or maybe even an end-of-the-year award for how great that player did during the season.

All of these are great accomplishments, but what happens when the team doesn’t even win the game or the team has a losing season? Are the records really worth it then?

With the talk all football season of senior quarterback Tony Romo breaking passing records and competing for the Walter Payton Award, and now with senior guard Henry Domercant breaking the school record for total career points, it made me think about the importance of individual records.

From my understanding, team sports should be about the team and not the individual.

I say it is just fine to congratulate a guy for achieving something nobody has done or for a big award, but hyping it up for months before it even happens is just stupid.

Not only do I get sick of hearing about how close someone is to breaking a record, but I am sure the players get a little tired of it too.

After the Evansville game on Saturday, Domercant wished he had just broken the record then so he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. But now he is just going to have to be bothered about other records that are waiting to be broken.

Records and awards can prove to be a negative on both the team and the individual. They can be distracting for players and can put extra pressure on them.

I bet Romo was asked about the Walter Payton Award a bajillion different times before the season ended. I mean, it would be great for him and the school if he wins, but I can’t see how that didn’t get a bit distracting for him.

For every pass he made somewhere in the back of his mind had to be that statuette of the late Bears running back.

Players shouldn’t have to spend the entire season thinking about if the incomplete pass they made in second quarter of the fourth game of the season will effect the award voting, and they shouldn’t be swarmed by people with questions every time they are within 50 points of breaking another record.

So my proposal is let’s try to focus more on what a team is capable of doing and not worry about what the superstar is doing or is going to do in the future. Isn’t that what team sports are about anyway?