THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
MAX CRANSTON
Sports Writer
Throughout the history of sports, dynasties have come and gone. From Gretzky’s Oilers to Jordan’s Bulls, a dynasty is a team that can win, and win lots. An integral part of a dynasty is consecutive wins, or several championship wins in sequence. An example was the Dallas Cowboys; from 1991 to 1997 they walked away with three Super Bowls in four years (’92, ’93, ’95), three conference championships and five straight division titles. The Cowboys tore up the NFL for many seasons, utilizing players such as Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.
A pivotal change in how we view sports is the popularization of free agency. Players are able to sell their services to the highest bidder and salaries have skyrocketed. Free agency grew in popularity during the ’70s. Around the year 2000, some salaries had become exponentially large. Alex Rodriguez, for instance banked $25 million a year, or $150,000-plus per game from ’01 to 2010.
Salary caps have been put into place in many major sports, to circumvent teams spending exorbitant amounts of money on players. Salary caps are set up differently depending on the sport. They often involve a percentage of the league’s revenues like in the NFL and NBA or a certain amount of money determined annually as in the case of Major League Soccer and MLB. Free agency and salary caps have evened out the playing field and are slowly making true dynasties a figment of the past.
It’s no wonder franchises are unable to create long-standing dynasties; often it’s a revolving door when it comes to signing high-profile, high-paid players. That’s certainly not a bad thing — it breeds better competition and more exciting contests.
In the past decade there have been some excellent squads that have had great success in their respective leagues. Can these teams truly be considered a dynasty, especially when compared to the complete dominance shown by teams in previous decades? Let’s have a look at some stand-out teams of the past decade.
Detroit was a resilient team in the ’90s, with coach Scotty Bowman and a roster composed of innumerable Russians. Motor City’s first championship this decade was in ’01 but they ran into personnel and coaching problems, hoisting the Stanley Cup again in ’07.
With help from coach Mike Babcock and on-ice leadership from Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings have continued to be a strong team year after year, winning the cup in ’08. They’ve won their division eight times from 2000 to ’08 — only missing this feat in ’04. The Red Wings have made the playoffs in 25 of the last 27 seasons, including the last 20 in a row (1990”“2010). This is the longest current streak of post-season appearances in all of North American professional sports.
The Red Wings only have two Stanley Cups this decade but their strong presence as a perennial playoff favourite and dominant team in the NHL provides us the closest to a dynasty the NHL has had since the Montreal Canadiens days. In an era of salary caps and frequent free agent moves, Detroit has somehow remained consistently awesome.
Spain’s soccer team recently won the World Cup in 2010 and La Furia Roja (the Red Fury) have been favourites in tournaments for many years. Generally regarded as underachievers, they had a big tournament win in Euro 1964 and a long absence from victory since then.
They won the European championship in ’08, which got the monkey off their back. Between ’06 and’09 Spain went undefeated for a record-tying 35 consecutive matches (tied with Brazil). The team has become known for using a style of play which involves roaming movement and positional interchange amongst midfielders, moving the ball in intricate patterns, and sharp, one- or two-touch passing; this style of play has been dubbed “Tiki-Taka” which is also associated with FC Barcelona.
Could this be a dynasty in the making? Time will tell, but the Spaniards have certainly been making a case for it.
How could this list be complete without the Yankees? During Steinbrenner’s 37-year ownership up until his death in July 2010, the Yankees earned 7 World Series titles and 11 division titles. He and his astronomical wealth were a big part of the Yankees success.
The Yankees had a lot of success during the 2000s, an era that will be greatly remembered because of legendary players Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and handfuls more. They won the World Series in 2000 and ’09, but won their division eight times from 2000 to ’09, missing only twice. The MLB does not have a fixed salary cap, but a “luxury tax” for teams with large salaries. As of ’09, the Yankees have paid 95 per cent of the total tax, a staggering figure that equates to $164.1 million. Big bucks.
Between ’01 and ’05, the Patriots became the second team in NFL history since the Dallas Cowboys in the ’90s to win three Super Bowls in four years (’01, ’03, ’04). The Patriots went 16-0 regular season in ’07, and 18-0 through the playoffs until their loss to the Giants in Superbowl XLII.
The Patriots have been a wrecking ball, largely thanks to coach Bill Belichick’s ability to create a tightly-knit team core.
The Lakers are the closest we’ve seen to a true dynasty this decade. Their most recent championship in 2010 was the 16th for the franchise, placing them second in NBA history, only one championship behind the Boston Celtics.
L.A. has won five championships this decade in 2000, ’01, ’02, ’09 and 2010. Kobe Bryant has obviously been a big part of their success after being drafted in ’96. Though Shaquille O’Neal was with the team during the first part of the decade, the Lakers have found success without his gigantic presence.
The Lakers did not win championships from ’03 to ’07, a period that can be seen as a rebuilding phase. Since then, the Lakers have been on fire. Bryant was NBA MVP in ’08 and NBA Finals MVP in 2010. No wonder the Lakers have been unstoppable.
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image: Crestock