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JA Sports Dilemma by Chris Komai John and his friends play on an adult basketball team in the Japanese American community leagues. They are a middle-of-the-pack team, neither as good as the best teams nor as hapless as the worse teams. Recently, John's team was short of players and so Bill, one of John's teammates, invited Al to play. Bill only knew Al from his work, but had heard that Al liked to play basketball. At first, things seemed to work out. Al showed up to every game, so John's team was never in danger of forfeiting. Al occasionally shot the ball very well and so contributed to the team's offense. But, John's team began noticing Al's shortcomings as the season went along. Al didn't expend much energy on defense. While he sometimes shot well, he rarely passed the ball. And worse, Al began to be more vocal, complaining to the officials about missed calls and chiding his teammates to pass him the ball more often. Al seemed overly competitive to his teammates. It became apparent to everyone but Al that Al was not fitting into John's team. The dilemma, however, was what to do about Al. Having been invited to play, Al had become part of team. Now, John and his teammates wanted Al to quit the team, but no one was willing to confront Al. Bill especially refused to do so since he worked with Al and would see him everyday at work. John wasn't sure what to do. He had grown up in the Japanese American youth leagues and his parents and coaches had taught him that everyone who wanted to play should be able to play, regardless of their abilities. Moreover, he hated direct confrontations. And truth was that Al's personality grated on John's team and that was the main reason they wanted Al to leave. How could John tell Al that they wanted him off their team because they disliked him personally? Under these circumstances, John should: a) Confront Al and tell him the truth; b) Make up a reason why Al shouldn't play on John's team; c) Disband the team, reform under a new name and not tell Al; d) Quit playing basketball.