K-9 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Hard to exclude the 1971-72 Lakers from any list of all time great teams. As far as I know, their 33 game winning streak is still the record for any major professional sports team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanNC Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 1927 Yankees. It's not even close. They were 110-44 and won the pennant by 19 games. They won the World Series in four straight. They had 6 Hall of Fame players in their prime, and a Hall of Fame Manager. Babe Ruth had 60 home runs and was the best player of all time. Lou Gehrig was one of the best ever and hit 47. They had four players with over 100 RBIs including Gehrig with 175 and Ruth with 164. Gehrig was the league MVP only because they didn't allow Ruth (or anyone) to win it two years in a row and he won in 1926. They had pitchers with 22, 19, 19, 18 and 13 wins on their starting rotation. When I read the thread title this is the team that immediately came to mind. A no brainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Depends on how you define "greatest." I don't recall that one player on the 1980 US team had any kind of career in the NHL. Mike Ramsey Neil Broten Dave Christian Those 3 all played at least 1,000 games in the NHL and made at least 1 all star game. Ken Morrow was a stay at home D-man and won 4 stanley cups w/ the Isles. Several others were in the NHL a bit longer than for just a cup of coffee. (Apologies to Jim Craig, who was only up there long enough for 1 and Mike Eruzione that never did get there. Though he broadcast Rags games for a long time.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle flap Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I'm only going to mention teams I've actually followed/witnessed: The mid-to-late-nineties Bulls were unreal. Already discussed quite a bit here so I'll leave it at that. Since no one cares about or respects "the beautiful game," I fully expect some jokes at my expense after yall read this... The 2001-2003 Real Madrid squad was insanely good. Even a casual fan will recognize most of the players - David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raul, and Iker Casillas, to name a few. They won 2 Spanish league championships during that time, and also won the UEFA Champion's League - a competition including all the top teams in Europe. They also won the Spanish Super Cup in 2003 which is impressive, but not quite as big of a deal. There isn't really a parallel in US based sports- The closest I can come up with is imagine an NFL team that has the best record in the league, wins the Super Bowl, then imagine there's like 6 or 7 more NFLs and then they win the Super-Super Bowl through a playoff type system consisting of the best 32 teams out of those multiple NFLs. Then consider that the pool of talent completely dwarfs that of the NFL, so the level of competition is markedly higher. It is rare to see teams win domestic leagues back to back, much less assemble the "dynasties" we've seen over the years in the major sports leagues here. Not saying Real Madrid is necessarily better than any of the teams mentioned already, just wanted to offer a different perspective. Flame away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juror#8 Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 (edited) Well until the original question was changed to focus on geo-political implications how on earth could you think of a team that played in a two week tournament (maybe three I don't remember) that caught lightning in a bottle above a team that played 154 games and just dominated in every category? I apologize if I was unclear...I'm not trying to make the question deeper than a discussion of what is the best sports team ever, given their impact on their sporting contemporaries/generation. In the first post I provided some criteria with which to judge different teams across sporting genres. The question really isn't to solicit a discussion on geo-political implications or around which team galvanized the country more. Rather, I'm interested in who you feel is the best sports team based on how they dominated their contemporaires, the competition, the score, stats, margins, etc. That is why the 95-96 Bulls ring so loudly. They (and to a large extent, simply Michael Jordan) denied multiple hall of famers championships (Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Reggie Miller, etc.). They dominated statistically. They won at a near 90% clip while playing 82 games. They went on tears of three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, etc. without losing on multiple occassions during that season. The 1927 Yankees won 71% of their games. The Bulls won 88% during the regular season and went 15-3 in the playoffs with two of those losses coming in the championship game. Is there really a team that, in their respective sport, dominated in that fashion? Edited June 6, 2012 by Juror#8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I apologize if I was unclear...I'm not trying to make the question deeper than a discussion of what is the best sports team ever, given their impact on their sporting contemporaries/generation. In the first post I provided some criteria with which to judge different teams across sporting genres. The question really isn't to solicit a discussion on geo-political implications or around which team galvanized the country more. Rather, I'm interested in who you feel is the best sports team based on how they dominated their contemporaires, the competition, the score, stats, margins, etc. That is why the 95-96 Bulls ring so loudly. They (and to a large extent, simply Michael Jordan) denied multiple hall of famers championships (Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Reggie Miller, etc.). They dominated statistically. They won at a near 90% clip while playing 82 games. They went on tears of three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, etc. without losing on multiple occassions during that season. The 1927 Yankees won 71% of their games. The Bulls won 88% during the regular season and went 15-3 in the playoffs with two of those losses coming in the championship game. Is there really a team that, in their respective sport, dominated in that fashion? Just dominating, UCLA basketball with Bill Walton was far superior to the Bulls teams. They won 88 games in a row. In 1971-72 they were 30-0 and won by an average of 30 points a game. The Walton-led 1971–72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30–0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30 points. He was the backbone of two consecutive 30–0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA men's basketball record 88-game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost five years, in which Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 What is the Harlem Globetrotters record? I can't remember the last time they lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Butkus would be petrified of a Michael Vick. I just read this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 '76-'77 Montreal Canadians That wasn't even the best Montreal Canadians team. Just dominating, UCLA basketball with Bill Walton was far superior to the Bulls teams. They won 88 games in a row. In 1971-72 they were 30-0 and won by an average of 30 points a game. They weren't even as dominant as the UCONN women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 They weren't even as dominant as the UCONN women. Who weren't even as dominant as the Passiac High School boys team who won 159 straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 (edited) That wasn't even the best Montreal Canadians team. Did not the Guy LaFauer Canadians win the the cup 5x straight over Boston? They weren't even as dominant as the UCONN women. If more then 5 people remembered them that would be significant Edited June 7, 2012 by Jim in Anchorage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 If more then 5 people remembered them that would be significant There are. They just don't live around you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 There are. They just don't live around you. Nor do the 1927 Yankee's. But I recognize the place in history of the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I had never even heard of them until this morning. Granted, I was 5 at the time, but still... Good lord. Next up, do some research on famous June 6ths in history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Really, the criterion was not set for the definition of "greatest team". Darin made a decent point about the UCONN girl's hoop team being one of the most dominant teams, but that may have been due to the competition they faced compared (which is, of course, not their fault). The UCLA men's team had a few great players, including a Hall of Fame star, as well as one of the highest rated coaches of any sport at any time. The Bulls had one of the greatest players of all time and an all time great coach, as well as another Hall of Fame player in Pippen. The reason it seems to me the 27 Yankess were "the greatest team" was the fact they had it all. They had the single greatest player of all time in one of his two best seasons 9and one of the most celebrated seasons in the history of sport, the 60 homeruns). 6 Hall of Famers. They had one of the greatest managers of all time, one of the greatest stats seasons (if not the greatest) of all time, had one of the very best season records of all-time, had the two best players in all of baseball on the same team (as evidenced by Gehrig winning the MVP only because Ruth won it the year before and would have won it if qualified), won their league by 19 games and didn't lose a single playoff game. To me, by having the best players, an all time great coach, numerous Hall of Famers, a great stat season and a great regular season and not losing a single playoff game is hard to beat as the best team of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhg Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I agree with you and you are correct - it is silly to say one team would beat another team from a different generation because it kinda goes without saying. The original question surrounded the greatest team based on their impact during the generation in which they played so we'll stick to that. Based on that, the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team. No question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAWNDO Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 1927 Yankees. It's not even close. They were 110-44 and won the pennant by 19 games. They won the World Series in four straight. They had 6 Hall of Fame players in their prime, and a Hall of Fame Manager. Babe Ruth had 60 home runs and was the best player of all time. Lou Gehrig was one of the best ever and hit 47. They had four players with over 100 RBIs including Gehrig with 175 and Ruth with 164. Gehrig was the league MVP only because they didn't allow Ruth (or anyone) to win it two years in a row and he won in 1926. They had pitchers with 22, 19, 19, 18 and 13 wins on their starting rotation. I had never even heard of them until this morning. Granted, I was 5 at the time, but still... You don't think that the only team to win 70 games in a century of that sport is more impactful? This is a team that didn't lose a game at home until the last week of the regular season. They won almost 90% of their games. They went 15-3 in the playoffs and had the greatest sports player on the planet, ever, at the helm. I'm not saying that the U.S. Hockey team wasn't culturally impactful, or nationally redeeming...but were they even the best hockey team to ever put on skates? Good points, but didn't the 1998 Yankees win more games and won't they have four or five Hall of Famers when it's all said and done? True but they had a 162 games to do it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRC Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 They dominated statistically. They won at a near 90% clip while playing 82 games. They went on tears of three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, etc. without losing on multiple occassions during that season. The 1927 Yankees won 71% of their games. The Bulls won 88% during the regular season and went 15-3 in the playoffs with two of those losses coming in the championship game. Is there really a team that, in their respective sport, dominated in that fashion? The 1947-1949 Cleveland Browns went 29 straight games without a defeat, including two championships. Let's look at that: Starting in the 1947 season, they finished on a winning streak, including the championship. They go through the entire 1948 season without a defeat, including the championship game. They proceed to go into the 1949 season and continued without a defeat. For ten straight years, they went to the championship game and won seven of them, including five straight championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 (edited) Hate to admit it but the 90's cowboys team was stacked. 3 super bowls in 4 years. Doubly hate to admit but if we're talking longevity at the top, pats for last 11 years would do it. 5 super bowl appearances, 3 wins, playoffs every year but 2, 9x division winner ..... Edited June 7, 2012 by Joe_the_6_pack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Really, the criterion was not set for the definition of "greatest team". And further, it appears to have changed several times during the thread. You could make a case for almost anyone mentioned based on how you want to look at it, but I'd certainly agree that the '27 Yanks cast the longest shadow from the time of their achievments till now, much of which you detailed above. In terms of flat out domination, I'll go with the Darien, CT girls HS volleyball team. 459-12 over the past two decades w/ 15 straight state titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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