We as sports fans have watched a multitude of great teams come and go over many tears of watching the amazing sports that we love. Teams like the Boston Celtics, the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and most recently, the New England Patriots. What is one thing that we could all actually be in agreeance on. Odds are, they have been consistent historical winners, and oftentimes, the sheer mentioning of these teams brings anger and frustration to fans of other teams, and opposing fan bases get annoyed and aggravated when hearing about them.
Because they have been incredibly successful. They had a period where they were dominating their division, their conferences, and their leagues for a lengthy amount of time, and this in itself, angers others. And if we are being completely honest with ourselves, as fans, they are the teams that we wish our teams could emulate. Who wouldn’t love their underachieving, yet steady 7-9 football team to rack up 12 wins in the season every year, like the New England Patriots or have the reputation and great players, seemingly always, like Pittsburgh and be a preseason favorite to win it all, before the season even begins? We all would love that.
By definition from dictionary.com – a dynasty is regarded as a noun 1. a sequence of hereditary rulers: an Egyptian dynasty or 2. any sequence of powerful leaders of the same family: the Kennedy dynasty
But is that what you, as a sports fan consider as a dynasty?
A ruler?
Lets examine.
But is that what you, as a sports fan consider as a dynasty?
A ruler?
Lets examine.
A teams season wins count for something. A winning team that has been putting up a large amount of wins a season for a lengthy and long period of time is a huge component for being called a dynasty. In the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers have racked up a .654 win pct over the last 3 seasons – which is far ahead of the next best teams in the Eastern conference like hot teams like the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics. Winning is hard anyway you look at it, but winning 65% of your games for a lengthy period of time is pretty impressive. Not having the oddball eye opening season of big wins, like the New York Giants or the Portland Trail Blazers – but the 15 straight seasons of 10 wins or more like the New England Patriots or 8 of the last 11 seasons, like the Pittsburgh Steelers is something to be admired.
Playoff appearances have to count for a huge part of the equation, absolutely. For instance, New England has made the tournament for 9 straight seasons. The fact is, a team that has been able to utterly dominate their division and blow passed them, and get to the playoffs for so many years straight, is pretty impressive. Who wouldn’t want to feel they had a team that did that every single season? And making it to the championship of their sport is beyond comprehension for the vast majority of sports fans. It isn’t commonplace, which is sometimes misunderstood. What the Buffalo Bills did back in the 90’s was amazing, lets be completely honest about that. How many teams make the Super Bowl – let alone, 4 straight? I will tell you…. it doesn’t happen, that is why we always cherish the precious moment if our team makes it there.
Do you seriously consider the Bills a dynasty though? Or when you think of dynasties do you think of Troy Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys? You think of Dallas and I will tell you why. Not only did they win 3 Super Bowls during a 4 year timeframe, but they were one of the teams to beat for about a decade. And going back to an original statement – why do you think Dallas has so many fans that dislike the team? Because they won and they won for a long period of time.
That’s why.
That’s why.
Championships are the ultimate way to openly judge a dynasty. How many times have they won the top honors as the ultimate team to beat. The Yankees won 5 championships over 14 years from 1996-2009, and made it to the World Series 6 times in 8 years. The Patriots have made it to at least the conference championship at least 10 times over 15 seasons. And the Celtics hung up 11 titles from 1956 to 1968.
It’s trying for most of teams, especially those that are usually a middling organization, like the New Orleans Saints, the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers and you may question why or what happened, or the best of the hypothetical questions the “what if…” Trust me, we all have entertained those deep thoughts in our heads….but then reality comes back around, and who actually completed their goals and made the right draft picks and hired the right coaches.
Regardless of how you calculate the way you measure a teams success factor to be a dynasty. A team that wins and wins big consistently for a multitude of years, that’s what a dynasty is. A team that doesn’t play down to their opponents, a team that teams fear, and wins across their league – that is the true signs and key to being called a real dynasty. A team that seems to never get worse, a team that thrill their fans and infuriates fans of other teams, based on their immense amount of success, that is when your team has become a real dynasty.
In sports games we often judge a team, by their championships, or a player, often unfairly, by the 5 boxes that we look at. But a team that brings championships to teams, is the ultimate sign of success for an organization, and those are considered what makes a true dynasty.
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Dynasties are more associated with winning teams and mostly teams that win multiple championships in a short period. Often forgotten are those that constantly make the playoffs, but fall short so often like the Braves of the 90’s who won all those division titles, however just a single champion. Buffalo did something no team has done winning four AFC champions, appearing in four straight Super Bowls, but they fell short each of the four times of winning the championship. Dynasties come and go as players age and other rebuild and although the winners are the ones remembered most, there are a lot more as a dynasty is defined as a successful team not necessarily championship teams alone. The Florida Marlins have shown that winning, tearing down a team, winning again and tearing it down once again whereas the 76ers of the Allen Iverson era were constantly in the playoffs year in and year out with just one Finals appearance losing in five games despite Iverson being the top scorer in four of the five game scoring 35+ points in those games. For champions they are dynasties for consistent playoff teams they have their eras and for the rest they have their magical year and fade. So to be the best you have to do it more than once to show it wasn’t a fluke.