sportsfanIQ

In one championship weekend, Phil Jackson won his tenth title (as an NBA coach), Kobe his fourth, and Sidney Crosby his first.  

The Penguins won their third Stanley Cup, the first since 1992, and in the process deprived the Red Wings their 11th.  While the Lakers captured their 15th, their first since 2002, the Magic lost for the 2nd time in 2 visits.

Every year, whether it's the NHL, NBA, MLB or NHL, professional sports teams win championships.   Rarely do we see organizations earning their first.  Rather, for the most part, as was the case this weekend, franchises tend to accumulate more.  

As the Yankees seek their 27th World Series title and the Steelers their 7th Vince Lombardi Trophy, let's look back over the years and assess which sports teams have earned the right to be considered some of the greatest of all time.

To start with the most, the Yankees' 26 World Championships is king.  Their late nineteen nineties surge of 4 in 5 years moved them past the Montreal Canadiens for the most by any sports team.  But does 26 tell the true story?

Beginning in 1969, MLB expanded its 2 team playoff format allowing 2 more teams to contend for a title.  Prior to this, the Yankees captured twenty out of sixty-five World Series.  Or, 31% of the total championships.  

Since the expansion, they've collected six of the next thirty-eight titles.  Or 16%.  It's obvious, then, that as MLB welcomed more teams to the race for a World Series, the likelihood that one team would rule decreased.  Do these numbers diminish the Yankees 26 titles?  

Considering only the Oakland A's have more than 3 since 1969, with 4, or 11% of the total, six in that span and 26 titles overall still holds water.

As for the NHL...

The Montreal Canadiens have tallied 23 Stanley Cups wins.  This number nearly doubles that of 2nd place Toronto with 13, who by the way haven't won another since 1967.  

But similar to the restructuring of MLB's playoff format, the NHL went to a 16-team system for the 1980-1981 season, and since this time, Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers lead the way with 5 Cups followed by the Detroit Red Wings' 4.  

Just like the way the Yankees racked up titles in the 50's, the Canadiens took advantage of a league of 6 by winning five consecutive Cups from 1956-1960.  Should their accomplishments be lessened because of the lack of competition?  

For the recent format, the Halves won in 1986 and 1993.  

Until the Maple Leafs can get within single digits and break their forty-two year slump, we'll grant the Canadiens the NHL's team.  (Although the Red Wings are creeping up.)

Moving to the NBA is where it gets interesting.

The Boston Celtics have won 17 NBA Championships followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with 15.  

The Lakers, who once resided in Minneapolis, shot out to a 5-0 lead in this back and forth rivalry.  

The Celtics answered with eight in a row from 1958-1966 and an incredible 11 titles over a 13 year span.  What's more remarkable: the Celtics defeated the Lakers in 7 of those 11 titles.  

Throughout the 80s, the Celtics added on three more titles and were present in the finals a total of 5 times.  As for the Lakers, they won 5 titles and represented the West in an astounding 8 of the 10 championships of the decade. 

Which seems to be where the Lakers take this debate.  

Of the 63 years the NBA title has been a goal, the Lakers have been one of the final two to compete for it a total of 30 times.  The Celtics a respectable 20.  

Regardless of the amount of times the Lakers have won the whole thing, a 48% championship finals rate is an achievement in any capacity.  

And finally there's the NFL.

This past February the Pittsburgh Steelers recorded their NFL-best 6th Super Bowl victory.  In the process, they surpassed the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers both with 5.  

Considering there have only been forty-three Super Bowls, and the parody preached amongst the NFL is so prominent, it's difficult to argue that 6 titles makes a team the best.  

The Cowboys have made the final stage a league best 8 times; the 49ers are undefeated at 5-0 in Super Bowl play, and the Vikings and Bills made the trip four teams each, although both unfortunately losing all four.

The reality, then, is that football existed prior to the two leagues merging to form a Super Bowl in 1966.  Before that, the likes of the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins and New York Giants roamed the championship gridiron.  

These teams combined to dominate 21 out of the 33 NFL Championships and after 1966, collectively hold 10 of the 43 Super Bowls.  So you see, to extend the NFL discussion over seventy-seven years trumps the mere 6 Super Bowl wins the Pittsburgh Steelers have attained.  

In a nutshell, winning writes history.  It's always a great story when the Tampa Bay Rays or Arizona Cardinals shock the sports world and make a run toward a title.  But unless they follow it up with more of the same for years to follow, they'll simply become just a fluke.

Consistent winners give sports fans something to chew on.  Time and time again these aforementioned teams, when not playing well befuddle us with why.  

When they are playing well, amaze us with wow.  

OK, here we go.  After a month's hiatus from talking sports, I've decided to jump head first into the pool.  What better time to get back into the swing of things than the two week period leading up to the Super Bowl.  This period, arguably, might represent the lowest point of the entire sports season.  Then again, when approached a little more optimistically, it could just be the beginning.

Let's begin with the NBA and NHL.  Both sports are in mid-season form.  With an 82 game schedule and a 16 team playoff format, these leagues get lost in the shuffle until at least post-March Madness.  Speaking of March...  

Now that the kids are back on campus, the race to 64 (65 if you count the play-in game; I don't) has just begun.  For those looking to avoid a six hour Super Bowl pre-game marathon, try tuning into a Big-Ten matchup between Penn State and #7 Michigan State 12EST.  Or how about an ACC showdown as Virginia travels to #2 Duke 2EST.  Alright, so hoops isn't your game?

Perhaps some serving and volleying down under strikes your fancy.

Currently, tennis is taking full advantage of the aforementioned two week grace period by commencing its Grand Slam season.  This past Sunday was the first day of the Australian Open.  It began shortly after the NFL championship games had ended, and will conclude shortly before the Super Bowl begins - simply brilliant planning.  OK, so you're not into rackets and tennis balls?  

What about clubs and golf balls?  Or bats and baseballs?

February 13th marks the first day for pitchers and catchers to report.  Not to mention, just eleven days later, spring training games will begin.  Will the Yankees make it back to the playoffs?  Where will Manny Ramirez end up?  Don't worry.  We have 162 games to figure it all out.

And finally - this one is a personal favorite - the PGA tour season debuts at the 50th Bob Hope Classic January 21-25.  This event might not attract an audience worthy of praise, but with Tiger Woods lurking back from his knee injury, the 2009 PGA season is on my front burner.          

So there we have it.  Two weeks without much to do about sports, but once kickoff rolls around at 6:18EST on February 1st, all we'll have to look forward to is another fine year of magical sports' moments.  Which ones will you be watching?  

It must be done.  After fourteen long and tiresome weeks, a playoff elimination from my fantasy football league presented me with a revelation.  I contemplated if I should even share my thoughts about it, having finally come to the conclusion that thus: fantasy football is way too consuming!  

Just imagine, there are actually individuals participating in up to 5 leagues at a time.  I couldn't even handle one without losing sleep over whether I should bench Mewelde Moore or Ryan Grant in my playoff game.  (I benched Moore and rightfully so.  Grant put up 22 points this past week!)  

I mean honestly, there were nights when I drifted off to sleep envisioning the moment when I win it all.  I know, pathetic!  This past week's experience was, as my fiancee likes to say, the tipping point.  

Entering Monday night's game between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I led my opponent by 15 points.  This lead usually, and I am foreboding when I say usually, equates to a victory.  All day Monday I wrestled with an uneasy feeling that something odd was about to happen.  For all you fantasy participants, you'll know what transpired when I inform you, I had D'Angelo Williams going and he had Antonio Bryant.  

For all you non-fantasy league participants, I'll save you the mundane details by letting you know it was a unique unfolding of events.  Something that made me yearn for my sanity back. After two long, drawn out days of football (three if you include Thursday's game), my opponent and I were tied.  The commissioner's decision to deem my opponent the victor based on more bench points was fine.  After all, it was the rule.  

What was not fine, however, was my feeling that I had lost a battle.  For now, I literally have to exit fantasy and re-enter reality.  It will be a reapplication into something I like to now call: "Reality Life."  I'll remain there until next season begins!   

Last night, moments before the start of game 1 of the NLCS, I got to thinking: what would a world without sports look like? The thought occurred to me that my day starts and ends with some sort of sporting relation. Reading the sports section in the morning; sports talk radio throughout the day; and of course, finish it off with a clash between whichever two teams are playing that night. What would I do with my day if I didn't have these options?

7:00AM: The Today show airs on NBC. Matt and Meredith discuss how one politician bashed the other for wearing lipstick, or something to that manner. By the 8:00 segment, Al Rocker is interviewing some guy who claims he cheats at the casinos - class act. Tuning away from this captivating television, I'll instead read the paper. Let's see, the economy is sagging, Russia is invading their neighbors, and our politicians are promising lower taxes. I feel like I read this before. And perhaps I did. So here's my issue with topics other than sports: it's all been done before.  Sports has as well, you say.  But the difference is sports tell you it's going to happen.  Everything else does not.

Not buying this argument to this point? Ok, think of it this way.  History is reflective. Everything we read about in the history books is after the fact. No one can predict a historical moment is about to occur, and only after can anyone analyze and place significance upon it. Sports, on the other hand, is the closest thing to "reality" television we have.  It isn't edited up to fit a one hour time frame, and comparatively, has its fair share of soap opera divas.  Think Chad Ocho Cinco.  But seriously, sports are a part of our culture.

Who was watching when Eli Manning miraculously connected with David Tyre to setup the game winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress in the Super Bowl? Ok, just about everyone. But that's the point.  When we tune into sports, we sit on the edge of our seats in anticipation of something great about to happen. This is the agreement we have with the sports world: they promise to broadcast the event at a specified time, and we promise to watch, knowing something memorable can happen on any given play.

Where were you when you heard the news the Challenger had exploded in space? Where were you when O.J. was set free (the first time)? Where were you when 9/11 happened? This clichéd "where were you when" type of question will stay relevant for the rest of time because, in the "real" world, we simply never know where we're going to be. Perhaps some prefer the unpredictability of this perspective, and that's fine. My personality prefers the unpredictability of knowing it's going to happen at my discretion. Give me live television, sports style, and I'm content.

If I'm having a bad day, I can always rely upon a big game that same night. Whether it's a great pitching match-up in a CS game (Dice-K vs Shields 8:00 EST tonight), or a Monday Night Football showdown (Giants vs Browns 8:30 EST Monday), I always know sports will be there for me.  They'll be there to offer a moment that I'll remember forever.  Last night, that moment came in the sixth-inning when the Phillies put up a 3-spot to steal game 1 of the NLCS. A terrific start to what is destined to be a great series. When will tonight's moment come...

Some will say this is a pathetic way to live (lord knows my fiancée tells me this every night).  But I want to know what your relationship with sports is.  Do you depend on sports to provide you with reality?  Or are sports the escape from it?