Lee Buchanan gathered his team in the locker room after practice on Monday to talk about one thing: championships.

It seemed fitting and timely since the Super Bowl, the grandest championship of them all, was the day before. It was Buchanan’s focus, too. 

He offered his players a list of Baltimore Ravens players — Tyrod Taylor and a handful of others — who either didn’t play this season or played a minute role. 

Buchanan asked if anybody recognized the names. He said even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter because they still won the Super Bowl. 

No matter what Tyrod Taylor, who is a back-up quarterback for the Ravens and former Virginia Tech Hokie, does the rest of his career; he’s a Super Bowl champion all the same. 

He gets the ring, goes to Disney World, holds the Lombardi Trophy, gets the free memorabilia with the word “champion” smeared all over it, probably gets the media attention (at least from his hometown media and Virginia Tech) and gets the bonus.

When the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last year, every player on the Giants got a $83,000 bonus. 

Tyrod Taylor and the rest of the Ravens roster will make about the same, if not a little more, this season. The losers, the San Francisco 49ers, will make about half of whatever Baltimore makes.

Buchanan wanted his players, from star guard Ta’Kenya Nixon to the player at the end of the bench, to know this because the Eastern women’s basketball team is trying to win a championship, too.

The Panthers don’t have as many players on their roster as a football team, but some of them don’t play as much — just like Taylor on the Ravens.

It means diddely squat that you never played, if you win a championship. You were still on the team that did it.

Sophomore forward DeAnna Willis and freshman forward Alece Shumpert average less than four minutes per game, this season, but if the Panthers win an Ohio Valley Conference championship this season, their ring will be the same size as Nixon’s. 

They’ll hold the trophy, they’ll be in the team picture, and they’ll be on the bus or plane when Eastern goes to its NCAA Tournament game. 

It’s an important lesson to learn and a pill to swallow. Yes, you might not play much, but each individual’s success is all the same. 

Five years from now, somebody will open up the media guide and see the team that won the championship in 2013, not the three players who played the most.

There may be five key players, who start every game, but it’s a total team effort. Where players like Willis and Shumpert earn their ring is in practice, challenging players like Nixon and King to be better every day — keeping the stars from becoming complacent.

“If we could win a championship with five players, then that’s what we’d do. But you can’t,” Buchanan said.

You win titles with 12 players in basketball — 53 in the NFL.

Have you ever heard of Ted Petersen? 

He has two Super Bowl rings. He played football at Eastern.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-2812 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.