Great Teams that Couldn't Get the Job Done

The result of last night's NBA Finals game was a shocker. Like I posted previously I was expecting a Golden State blow out win. They were at home and the holders of the NBA's greatest regular season record ever, at 73-9. The Cavs are a good team, but they aren't a historically good team, or at least they didn't appear that way on paper. But things didn't work out like I expected. Instead of a blowout the game was the closest of the entire series, being decided by only four points, and the victor was the away team. Yes, the Cleveland Lebron Jameses defeated the greatest regular season team ever and won the first major professional sports championship for Cleveland since Lady Bird Johnson was in the White House.

Major congratulations are owed to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the teams fans. I visited the city last year and it was surprisingly fine. The three locals I know are all great people, so I have to assume everyone is like that. The city deserves to enjoy the excitement and joy that comes with a championship. They have had to wait long enough.

On the other side the Golden State Warriors now join an infamous club of regular season powerhouses that were unable to get the job done in the playoffs.  The NFL, MLB, MLS, and now the NBA have now all had their regular season best record holders fail to win the championship, which is pretty weird when you think about it. Of the major professional leagues only the NHL's 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens managed to win the championship during their record breaking regular season. Though, even the NHL has had regular season greatness fail to achieve post season success. The 1995-96 Detroit Redwings have the records for the most regular season wins ever, at 62, but they failed to win the cup.

To help Golden State Warriors fans deal with the emotional pain of coming so close only to lose, here is a rundown of the other three teams that failed to seal the deal.

• The 2001 Seattle Mariners were the most depressing for me personally. The Mariners team feature the league MVP and Rookie of the Year in Japanese import Ichiro Suzuki. They almost had Bret Boone, John Olerud, and Mike Cameron. They were so fun to watch. The team was nver out of any game. You just knew they were going to put something together and get the win. Than they lost in the American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees. While the rest of the country was rooting for the Yankees because of 9/11 I was having my baseball heart broken. Watching a team this talented lose was rough. The team hasn't made the playoffs since.
• The 2007 New England Patriots were the most fun team to watch blow it. Their team was full of smug and arrogant players and their coach, Bill Belechick, is one of the biggest assholes in pro sports. The team was easy to hate. To add to the fun, the Super Bowl had one of the most memorable moments ever when quarterback Eli Manning broke a tackle to avoid a sack and then threw a pass to wide receiver David Tyree who caught the ball on the side of his helmet to keep the Giants alive in the game. Watching the Patriots lose is always fun, but watching them lose on the biggest stage in dramatic fashion is the best.
• I have no firsthand knowledge of the 1998 Los Angeles Galaxy. It was well before I, or for that matter the rest of the country, had discovered my love of soccer. The team recorded 24 wins in a 32 games season, good for 68 points. Which when you convert to the imperial measurement system equates to really good. However, even with this sterling record, LA didn't even make it to the MLS cup. They lost in the conference championship to Chicago.