Many fan bases would have us think that they are perennial championship contenders year in and year out for decades on end. However, their perceptions are based upon antiquated successes of yesteryear, opportunistic media, overspending on athletes, and the forgotten reality that other teams are working to build their teams in the face of these aging legends of sport. Here are a few teams for which their fans must surrender the arrogant thought that they should be annual championship contenders.
First I introduce to you, the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL’s first expansion team founded in 1960. In 1978 a NFL films narrator anointed them as America’s team because they were on television so much. What a great media creation to keep eyeballs on the storied franchise. After several Super Bowl victories, Dallas did not need the help from NFL Films for marketing.
Skip forward past the first heyday (1970s Super Bowls) of the Cowboys to 1989 and Jerry Jones’ purchase of the team that had fallen from its pedestal. The selection of Troy Aikman in the next draft, and controversial trade of Hershel Walker brought the Cowboys back to relevance and three more Super Bowl victories. Jerry Jones would have you believe that the Dallas Cowboys remain one of the key programs of the NFL as it was in the early 1990s regardless of its recent woes.
During Jones’ ownership, he has built the value of the team to billions, and erected a new state of the art stadium which is the envy of all of the other owners. What’s the problem? Dallas football is bad. Jerry Jones has wielded too much control over the management of the team, and the result is a failed team and a failed culture. The difference between today’s Dallas Cowboys, and the Detroit Lions? Nothing at all. Fans frothing at the mouth screaming for Dallas relevance need to remember that while Oil Man Jerry has ruined his team with his meddlesome involvement in on field decisions, teams like Kansas City, Seattle, and others have been smartly building their teams. KC and Seattle deserve more, and have earned more for their fan bases even as Dallas’ metropolitan size and media scope double or even triple that of KC and Seattle. Settle down Cowboys fans; at the rate you are going, the Lions may earn a playoff bid sooner.
On to two more fan bases of storied professional franchises which are at a different state of decline. First – the LA Lakers. The LA Lakers won the NBA title this past year during the COVID pandemic. LeBron James continues to be the best player of our generation, and amongst the best of all time. However, the Lakers had to back up the money truck to earn their title, having to pay both James, and Anthony Davis astronomical amounts to attract them to LA. I believe the Lakers could have won the title in a full length season, however the shortened season significantly benefited their squad.
LeBron would have been worn out from a complete season, and Anthony Davis (something is injured on him about every second game) would not have lasted to and through the playoffs. As James continues to age, and Davis remains injury prone, I believe the LA Lakers are a one championship and done squad with this unique lineup. The Lakers greats of old (1979 through the 1980s) along with LeBron’s, err the Lakers, 2020 title makes the Lakers fans believe and expect more championships (think back to LeBron’s intro at Miami – not one championship, not two, not three…). LeBron only has a few more years left, Davis cannot carry the team on his own; LA fans’ expectations clearly need to take a breath.
Next – the New York Yankees. The media and the Yankees money artificially fuel this team and the result is an obnoxious fan base that believes that every Yankees team, every year, should contend for the World Series. Wait a minute, aren’t there 29 other MLB teams? The media smartly recognizes that the Yankees are in the largest market in the country. So ESPN Baseball programming has become the NY Yankees YES network spin off. Yes they cover a few other teams, but why should they, when the largest viewership which will generate the most advertising dollars, is the New York market? Where the fans miss the boat is that just because their squad is on TV more, doesn’t mean that their team is any better. However the YES Network and the other powers that be funnel more funds to the Yankees than other squads. They can afford better players, and technically they should be better than most of the other teams on a year by year basis. The media and money have created a competitive imbalance that the rest of the MLB can only dream of. Hey NYY fans just relax, with all of the advantages you have, another World Series championship is right around the corner.
Last but not least, University of Michigan football. There was a time when there were really only a few legitimate Big Ten teams (think 1970s and 1980s with U of M and Ohio State, and add Wisconsin in the 1990s). Bo Schembechler’s Wolverines squad popularized the Big Ten’s ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ reputation, then added individual flair later with the likes of legend Desmond Howard.
Today’s Wolverines are not Bo’s team. Flawed departmental philosophies and deeply ingrained athlete arrogance have the team tumbling from its great pedestal. Michigan first limits its head coach options to ‘Michigan Men’. Yup, you read that right. Michigan Athletic Administration generally limits its football head coach search to Michigan graduates or others with deep Michigan connections. The result has been a string of ‘pretty good coaches’ but not great coaches leading the way. Sorry Nick Saban, you aren’t the right fit for us, you didn’t attend the University of Michigan or pay your dues (painfully) as a UM assistant.
Arrogant team culture further sinks this squad. Mike Hart famously talked about Michigan State University football in 2007 when he said “… Sometimes you get your little brother excited… you let him take the lead, then you just take it back.”. Since then, ‘big brother’ is a pathetic 4-9 against Sparty. Since Jim Harbaugh (another Michigan Man) took over as the Wolverines coach, his teams are 3-8 against rivals MSU and OSU, having laid an egg with none of those wins against the Buckeyes. Dear Michigan fans, until your football team can beat the Bucs, you need to say their name (Ohio State University), not the silly ‘that team down south’.
The media further energizes the Wolverines entitlement. In the last twenty seasons (I am including 2020 in this stat – a 1-2 start with a loss to MSU locks in this year as part of the statistic), Michigan football has had a pre-season Associated Press Poll Top 25 ranking fourteen times. In only three of those fourteen seasons did the Wolverines football team’s final AP Ranking exceed that of their preseason AP Poll Ranking. It is hard to ‘prove’ that any team is overrated, but the media’s bias in favor of a Wolverines championship season is overwhelmingly evident when considering those polls.
The media has clearly over rated the Wolverines for years, while continuing to cheer in an echo chamber for the Yankees, Lakers, and Cowboys. While the maize and blue fans drink up the Kool-Aid, they should work on updating the lyrics to their famed fight song. A good start would be a change to the first line. ‘Hail to the Victors’ can easily be replaced with the more honest ‘notice the mediocre’.
Paul MacDonald - Sports Broadcaster 