By Travis Stahl
A name says it all. So before we get started today we need to send out a big RIP to the athlete with the greatest name of all time, NASCAR driver Dick Trickle. Just as a name says a lot about a person a mascot goes a long way to inspiring enthusiasm in a fan base. A good mascot and team name provide excitement for fans, drive marketing and strike fear in the heart of opponents. OK, that last part isn't true, but having a good mascot and name is important.
A while back we came up with some new names and mascots for the Sacramento Kings pending their move to Seattle. Then the NBA owners voted to keep the Kings in Sacramento so it became apparent none of our classy names were going to be used. Not cool. Now we have nobody to name. Unless of course the Jacksonville Jaguars move to Los Angeles as has long been speculated. Just in case Jax heads west let's help them out with some suggestions.
Los Angeles Ardvarks -
Granted the Ardvark is not as fierce as a Jaguar but still ... I can picture it now. Demon-looking anteater with glowing red eyes and uniform colors of red, white and orange.
Los Angeles Lobos -
Nothing is more majestic than the lobo, aka, a wolf. Lobos are fast, sleak and fierce which means they are everything the curent Jacksonville team is not. The new purple and yellow uniforms can piggy back on the Lakers scheme.
Los Angeles Aces -
Maybe using a playing card nickname will bring this team some luck, lord knows they haven't found any so far. Team colors can be red, black and white just like a standard deck of cards. For a mascot I'm picturing a Yosimite Sam looking fellow wearing boots like Curly Bill from Tombstone.
Los Angeles Enterprise -
Classy, business-like, this name honors the downtown LA financial district. I'm picturing a nasty looking guy in a ripped up business suit as the mascot and team colors of maroon and grey with white accents.
I'm going to have to call trademark on these names so if the NFL allows the Jags to move I can make millions of dollars. I really don't see the team leaving Florida for LA but knowing how much the NFL wants a team in the market there it's not out of the question. It would not be surprising for Jax to want to move, despite all the reports other wise the team has trouble drawing fans in Florda is no where close to being competitive. In other words ... Let's go Lobos.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Welcome to the NBA Memphis
By Travis Stahl
Have you ever heard of addition by subtraction? It's the new math. Sometimes a team will employ this tactic to make improvements to its roster but it is usually done with long-term goals in mind. You ship out one player, usually a good player, and bring in a lesser player to fill that hole. Teams do this knowing that they are pushing success down the road a couple of years for the sake of saving some money. Every once in a while a team will also jettison a talented player to improve team chemistry. If it works the team looks like the smartest franchise in sports but if if fails ... look out. Addition by subtraction worked out pretty well in Memphis.
Did you know that Memphis, Tennessee is home to an NBA team? It's true, the Memphis Grizzlies. So Memphis decided in January right before the trade deadline it was going to send its best player, Rudy Gay, to Toronto. Gay led the Griz in nearly every offensive category and Memphis was already a lock to be a solid team in the playoffs. Still, Memphis felt Gay's salary was too high and his locker room presence not what it should be so they shipped him north. That trade put Memphis in the Western Conference Finals as the team eliminated the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder last night.
Rudy Gay is a great player in the mold of Carmelo Anthony, he needs the ball in his hands and he has a scorers mentality. Those are great skills to have but in Memphis, a team with a developing center in Marc Gasol and a young point guard ready to lead in Mike Conley Jr., having Gay meant limited touches for the youngsters. As it would turn out it was Gasol who dominated the post against OKC's Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and Conley taking advantage of Russell Westbrook's absence that lead Memphis to the series win. Losing Gay was risky but necessary for Gasol and Conley to become great players.
I'm not sure how surprised we should be that Memphis is this good now. Gasol was the defensive player of the year, Tayshon Prince provides veteran leadership, Tony Allen is a lock-down defender and everybody always knew Conley had worlds of talent. All of that and we haven't even mentioned Zach Randolph. Would this series have been different with Westbrook on the court for the Thunder? Absolutely. But I don't necessarily think if Westbrook played OKC would have won.
Memphis now awaits the winner of the Golden State/San Antonio series. How crazy is the thought of that, we might be looking at a Western Confernce Finals that features the Grizzlies against the Warriors? Not many people would have said they saw that coming. Memphis has the ability to beat either of those teams, it was just two years ago that Memphis punished the Spurs in the playoffs and Golden State is still pretty banged up. I'm not sure we're ready to accept that the Griz could be playing for an NBA title but it's something we need to start thinking about. Memphis has been slowly building to this point with some gritty playoff series over the last couple of years so the team has some experience. We will now see if the team is ready for the spotlight that is about to be put on them.
Have you ever heard of addition by subtraction? It's the new math. Sometimes a team will employ this tactic to make improvements to its roster but it is usually done with long-term goals in mind. You ship out one player, usually a good player, and bring in a lesser player to fill that hole. Teams do this knowing that they are pushing success down the road a couple of years for the sake of saving some money. Every once in a while a team will also jettison a talented player to improve team chemistry. If it works the team looks like the smartest franchise in sports but if if fails ... look out. Addition by subtraction worked out pretty well in Memphis.
Did you know that Memphis, Tennessee is home to an NBA team? It's true, the Memphis Grizzlies. So Memphis decided in January right before the trade deadline it was going to send its best player, Rudy Gay, to Toronto. Gay led the Griz in nearly every offensive category and Memphis was already a lock to be a solid team in the playoffs. Still, Memphis felt Gay's salary was too high and his locker room presence not what it should be so they shipped him north. That trade put Memphis in the Western Conference Finals as the team eliminated the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder last night.
Rudy Gay is a great player in the mold of Carmelo Anthony, he needs the ball in his hands and he has a scorers mentality. Those are great skills to have but in Memphis, a team with a developing center in Marc Gasol and a young point guard ready to lead in Mike Conley Jr., having Gay meant limited touches for the youngsters. As it would turn out it was Gasol who dominated the post against OKC's Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and Conley taking advantage of Russell Westbrook's absence that lead Memphis to the series win. Losing Gay was risky but necessary for Gasol and Conley to become great players.
I'm not sure how surprised we should be that Memphis is this good now. Gasol was the defensive player of the year, Tayshon Prince provides veteran leadership, Tony Allen is a lock-down defender and everybody always knew Conley had worlds of talent. All of that and we haven't even mentioned Zach Randolph. Would this series have been different with Westbrook on the court for the Thunder? Absolutely. But I don't necessarily think if Westbrook played OKC would have won.
Memphis now awaits the winner of the Golden State/San Antonio series. How crazy is the thought of that, we might be looking at a Western Confernce Finals that features the Grizzlies against the Warriors? Not many people would have said they saw that coming. Memphis has the ability to beat either of those teams, it was just two years ago that Memphis punished the Spurs in the playoffs and Golden State is still pretty banged up. I'm not sure we're ready to accept that the Griz could be playing for an NBA title but it's something we need to start thinking about. Memphis has been slowly building to this point with some gritty playoff series over the last couple of years so the team has some experience. We will now see if the team is ready for the spotlight that is about to be put on them.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
A Great Day Golfing
By Travis Stahl
Spring is a great time of year for a lot of people. It's when golfers can finally come out of hibernation, polish up their clubs and start hitting some balls for real. After a winter of only golfing on the Wii most golfers go running out to the courses before it even breaks 50 degrees. Now that it is nice on a more consistent basis the golfers are out in force. I used to golf. I was never good at golf but I enjoyed it and the links produced some pretty good stories.
There were a lot of times at Crooked Lake or Eagle Glen when I would leave the course pretty dejected. Longer courses were always more difficult for me but on the shorter courses where I could use irons to get to the greens I had more success. If I played courses like Magic Hills or Raccoon Run I could usually play a pretty decent round. It was at Magic Hills one day late in the summer that I was a part of the most unusual round of golf of all time.
My good friend Kevin Frankle and I had headed out to Magic for nine holes. Neither Kevin nor myself were very good at the time (Kevin has gotten better) so Magic gave us more of an opportunity to to embarrass ourselves in front of a large group of people. As soon as we teed off on hole one I knew it was going to be a great day. I hit my shot first through the trees and it left me with an easy approach shot. Kevin teed up and fired his first shot straight inside the tool shed sitting just ahead of the tee station. It sounded like somebody was shooting at us.
The round proceeded without incident until we reached hole five, the hole with the sand bunker and wall in front of the hole. Kevin played it safe, he shot to the left and landed his tee shot right next to the green for an easy shot at par. I launched a beautiful shot that went straighter than any shot I had ever hit and it was headed right for the pin. Unfortunately the shot was about five feet short of the pin which means the ball hit the top of the sand retaining wall and bounced right back towards me in the air about 30 yards.
My luck turned for the better when we reached hole seven. Typicall if water is involved my ball is getting wet. On this day my first shot had landed about 10 yards away from the water. I decided to hit over the water and try to get up the hill towards the hole but I topped the ball on my shot and it bee-lined right towards the water. I immediately let a stream of explitives fly when Kevin asked what I was yelling about. He then explained that since I had turned my back right after the shot I had missed my ball skip four times on the water and land safely on dry land at the bottom of the hill.
With only two holes left I was sure I was out of luck. If you have never played at Magic Hills the course is challenging around the greens because several of them are raised. I spent a good many days chipping balls up on the greens to watch them role somewhere else. This day had been particularly rough on me and I still had to face the elevated green on hole eight. I was about 20 yards out so my plan was to just chip up closer and go from there but I hit the ball harder than I wanted to. Somehow the ball bounced once on the green and went straight in to the hole like it was pulled by a magnet.
Kevin of course beat me by about 15 strokes that day still. Due to the strange nature of the day we figured we should take a break from Magic for a while. We couldn't figure out if we had been extremely lucky or we were just dodging some kind of weird curse so better to play somewhere else. I'm sure my score was still somewhere in the 70's that day but it didn't matter it was still the most memorable day I ever had on a golf course.
Spring is a great time of year for a lot of people. It's when golfers can finally come out of hibernation, polish up their clubs and start hitting some balls for real. After a winter of only golfing on the Wii most golfers go running out to the courses before it even breaks 50 degrees. Now that it is nice on a more consistent basis the golfers are out in force. I used to golf. I was never good at golf but I enjoyed it and the links produced some pretty good stories.
There were a lot of times at Crooked Lake or Eagle Glen when I would leave the course pretty dejected. Longer courses were always more difficult for me but on the shorter courses where I could use irons to get to the greens I had more success. If I played courses like Magic Hills or Raccoon Run I could usually play a pretty decent round. It was at Magic Hills one day late in the summer that I was a part of the most unusual round of golf of all time.
My good friend Kevin Frankle and I had headed out to Magic for nine holes. Neither Kevin nor myself were very good at the time (Kevin has gotten better) so Magic gave us more of an opportunity to to embarrass ourselves in front of a large group of people. As soon as we teed off on hole one I knew it was going to be a great day. I hit my shot first through the trees and it left me with an easy approach shot. Kevin teed up and fired his first shot straight inside the tool shed sitting just ahead of the tee station. It sounded like somebody was shooting at us.
The round proceeded without incident until we reached hole five, the hole with the sand bunker and wall in front of the hole. Kevin played it safe, he shot to the left and landed his tee shot right next to the green for an easy shot at par. I launched a beautiful shot that went straighter than any shot I had ever hit and it was headed right for the pin. Unfortunately the shot was about five feet short of the pin which means the ball hit the top of the sand retaining wall and bounced right back towards me in the air about 30 yards.
My luck turned for the better when we reached hole seven. Typicall if water is involved my ball is getting wet. On this day my first shot had landed about 10 yards away from the water. I decided to hit over the water and try to get up the hill towards the hole but I topped the ball on my shot and it bee-lined right towards the water. I immediately let a stream of explitives fly when Kevin asked what I was yelling about. He then explained that since I had turned my back right after the shot I had missed my ball skip four times on the water and land safely on dry land at the bottom of the hill.
With only two holes left I was sure I was out of luck. If you have never played at Magic Hills the course is challenging around the greens because several of them are raised. I spent a good many days chipping balls up on the greens to watch them role somewhere else. This day had been particularly rough on me and I still had to face the elevated green on hole eight. I was about 20 yards out so my plan was to just chip up closer and go from there but I hit the ball harder than I wanted to. Somehow the ball bounced once on the green and went straight in to the hole like it was pulled by a magnet.
Kevin of course beat me by about 15 strokes that day still. Due to the strange nature of the day we figured we should take a break from Magic for a while. We couldn't figure out if we had been extremely lucky or we were just dodging some kind of weird curse so better to play somewhere else. I'm sure my score was still somewhere in the 70's that day but it didn't matter it was still the most memorable day I ever had on a golf course.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Bears Odd Offseason Continues
By Travis Stahl
It's kind of funny how much a sports fan can hate another team. It's usually a build-up over the years of seeing that other team beat our team, listening to their annoying fans and a lot of disdain for a group players we can't stand. As a Dallas Cowboys fan I completely understand why people hate my team. Typically, I would take a day like today to gloat over the further demise of my most hated team, the Chicago Bears. But instead I decided to look at what is happening in Chicago and try to come to some sort of understanding.
In case you haven't been following the Bears offseason has been one train wreck after another with the latest disaster kicking off yesterday. Apparently Chicago's first round pick from two years ago, offensive lineman Gabe Carimi, is on the verge of being cut. That was all just speculation until Carimi didn't show up at team activities yesterday. That means Carimi is either upset he is about to be cut or he was told to stay away from the team because the Bears are trying to trade him and don't want him to get hurt. Either way this is not a good situation for the Bears or Carimi.
When Carimi came in to the league he was a big, bruising offensive tackle from Wisconsin. The knock on Carimi was that he had limited mobility in pass protection but he was a great run blocker. He started as a rookie and was playing pretty well until he got injured and missed the rest of his first season. Last year Carimi seemed to regress and became like the rest of the line in Chicago, horrible. Now maybe he was still recovering from his injury last year or maybe he just wasn't able to hold up because the entire line was over matched. Or maybe, just maybe, that is what Carimi was always supposed to be and the Bears just drafted poorly.
If Chicago ran a system like San Francisco which featured big offensive linemen that paved a path like bulldozers than Carimi would be perfect. But to be fair the Bears haven't really put him in a system to succeed. Carimi is not a pass blocker, he is a road grader who can maul defenders in the running game. It would not be surprising to see Chicago but Carimi and have another team scoop him up in a matter of minutes. The way things are proceeding now though doesn't look good for player or team.
As it stands Carimi looks like a tremendous draft bust and the Bears are just living up to their repeutation as a team that drafts poorly. Carimi could still succeed in the NFL if he lands with the right team. How do the Bears recover from this though? We're talking about the team with the worst offensive line in the league, a team that desperately needs players at that position. Can the Bears realistically cut Carimi at this point and go in a different direction? This is the first big test for first-year head coach Mark Trestman and if he fails it the Bears will be no better off than they have been for the last couple of years.
It's kind of funny how much a sports fan can hate another team. It's usually a build-up over the years of seeing that other team beat our team, listening to their annoying fans and a lot of disdain for a group players we can't stand. As a Dallas Cowboys fan I completely understand why people hate my team. Typically, I would take a day like today to gloat over the further demise of my most hated team, the Chicago Bears. But instead I decided to look at what is happening in Chicago and try to come to some sort of understanding.
In case you haven't been following the Bears offseason has been one train wreck after another with the latest disaster kicking off yesterday. Apparently Chicago's first round pick from two years ago, offensive lineman Gabe Carimi, is on the verge of being cut. That was all just speculation until Carimi didn't show up at team activities yesterday. That means Carimi is either upset he is about to be cut or he was told to stay away from the team because the Bears are trying to trade him and don't want him to get hurt. Either way this is not a good situation for the Bears or Carimi.
When Carimi came in to the league he was a big, bruising offensive tackle from Wisconsin. The knock on Carimi was that he had limited mobility in pass protection but he was a great run blocker. He started as a rookie and was playing pretty well until he got injured and missed the rest of his first season. Last year Carimi seemed to regress and became like the rest of the line in Chicago, horrible. Now maybe he was still recovering from his injury last year or maybe he just wasn't able to hold up because the entire line was over matched. Or maybe, just maybe, that is what Carimi was always supposed to be and the Bears just drafted poorly.
If Chicago ran a system like San Francisco which featured big offensive linemen that paved a path like bulldozers than Carimi would be perfect. But to be fair the Bears haven't really put him in a system to succeed. Carimi is not a pass blocker, he is a road grader who can maul defenders in the running game. It would not be surprising to see Chicago but Carimi and have another team scoop him up in a matter of minutes. The way things are proceeding now though doesn't look good for player or team.
As it stands Carimi looks like a tremendous draft bust and the Bears are just living up to their repeutation as a team that drafts poorly. Carimi could still succeed in the NFL if he lands with the right team. How do the Bears recover from this though? We're talking about the team with the worst offensive line in the league, a team that desperately needs players at that position. Can the Bears realistically cut Carimi at this point and go in a different direction? This is the first big test for first-year head coach Mark Trestman and if he fails it the Bears will be no better off than they have been for the last couple of years.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Wake Up Jacksonville
By Travis Stahl
It's funny how sometimes the obvious is right there in front of you. When you realize that the glasses you have been looking for have been on your head the whole time or you are walking around looking for your cell phone while you're talking on it. We've all been there. The Jacksonville Jaguars are there right now. The obvious is right there in front of them, staring them in the face and not a single person in the city wants it to happen.
I'm talking of course about one Mr. Timothy Tebow, quarterback. The recently released quarterback is now on the market, free and clear, any team can sign him. Tebow is from Florida, played at the University of Florida and is easily the most popular football player to step on to a field in the Sunshine state in years. And still nobody in Jacksonville wants him anywhere near the Jags. The team management doesn't want him and now there is even a group of fans compaigning to keep him from signing with the Jags.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but we are talking about the same Jacksonville Jaguars that resemble a gridiron version of the Keystone Cops right? The team that just can't get it right, constantly drafts poor players, switches coaches every year and can't score more than 14 points in any given game. We are talking about those Jags right? If there was one team in the entirity of the NFL that needed Tebow more than it needed oxygen it is the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's not like current Jag's quarterback Blaine Gabbert is on the verge of developing into a superstar.
Tebow is a circus, we all know that. But it's a good circus, not the strip club/hookers/gambling circus that comes to town with other players. This attention that Tebow brings is actually good. And other players on his teams would kill for him he inspirers them so much. Granted, Tebow is not the second coming of Dan Marino, we all know that. But by god he wins football games and isn't that what really matters? It would seem to me Tebow could actually provide the spark this franchise needs to re-ignite it's stagnant state.
The odd thing to me is it's not like the Jags would have to shell out a lot of money to sign Tebow. The financial pay-out to sign a player off the street is pretty low and seems like it would be well worth the risk. Jacksonville needs to act quickly before another team in the league in need of a quarterback (Arizona) picks up Tebow. If it doesn't work in Jax then fine, but at least you gave it a chance. Right now the Jags are missing out on the most obvious savior their team could ask for.
It's funny how sometimes the obvious is right there in front of you. When you realize that the glasses you have been looking for have been on your head the whole time or you are walking around looking for your cell phone while you're talking on it. We've all been there. The Jacksonville Jaguars are there right now. The obvious is right there in front of them, staring them in the face and not a single person in the city wants it to happen.
I'm talking of course about one Mr. Timothy Tebow, quarterback. The recently released quarterback is now on the market, free and clear, any team can sign him. Tebow is from Florida, played at the University of Florida and is easily the most popular football player to step on to a field in the Sunshine state in years. And still nobody in Jacksonville wants him anywhere near the Jags. The team management doesn't want him and now there is even a group of fans compaigning to keep him from signing with the Jags.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but we are talking about the same Jacksonville Jaguars that resemble a gridiron version of the Keystone Cops right? The team that just can't get it right, constantly drafts poor players, switches coaches every year and can't score more than 14 points in any given game. We are talking about those Jags right? If there was one team in the entirity of the NFL that needed Tebow more than it needed oxygen it is the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's not like current Jag's quarterback Blaine Gabbert is on the verge of developing into a superstar.
Tebow is a circus, we all know that. But it's a good circus, not the strip club/hookers/gambling circus that comes to town with other players. This attention that Tebow brings is actually good. And other players on his teams would kill for him he inspirers them so much. Granted, Tebow is not the second coming of Dan Marino, we all know that. But by god he wins football games and isn't that what really matters? It would seem to me Tebow could actually provide the spark this franchise needs to re-ignite it's stagnant state.
The odd thing to me is it's not like the Jags would have to shell out a lot of money to sign Tebow. The financial pay-out to sign a player off the street is pretty low and seems like it would be well worth the risk. Jacksonville needs to act quickly before another team in the league in need of a quarterback (Arizona) picks up Tebow. If it doesn't work in Jax then fine, but at least you gave it a chance. Right now the Jags are missing out on the most obvious savior their team could ask for.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Five Best Teams in Sports
By Travis Stahl
Sometimes I am described as only seeing the bad side of things. That's probably true, I tend to point out problems and offer solutions instead of seeing the good in situations. So in an effort to be fair, we should probably have a counterpoint to yesterday's column on the five worst teams in sports. Therefore, I offer you the five best teams in sports right now. We of course will be using the same standards as yesterday to determine the five teams that have sustained success over a long period of time while constantly providing fans with a winning squad to support.
San Antonio Spurs - The Spurs have four NBA titles in the Tim Duncan era and finished with the second best record in the Western Conference this season. Every season we expect San Antonio to be at or near the top of the standings thanks to the "team first" philosophy used by head coach Greg Popovich. The Spurs prefer to develop their own players instead of chacing pricy free agents and have the foresight to draft foreign players, stash them in Europe for a couple of years and then bring them over to be solid contributors at the NBA level. As long as Coach Pop is around the Spurs are going to be title contenders.
New England Patriots - Few people remember that the one year the Patriots missed the playoffs in 2008 Matt Cassell still led the team to 10 wins. Every season we expect the Patriots to win the AFC East, advance at least to the AFC Championship game and play for a Super Bowl title. The team has three Super Bowl rings in the Tom Brady era and has appeared in five. If it weren't for the New York Giants we would be talking about New England as a five-time Super Bowl winner because the only team with the right players to match up with the Patriots was the Giants. Like the Spurs, this team is built around a system and it all centers around what is best for the team. The Patriots aren't afraid to cut older players, take on veterans with leadership skills or trade for players with a checkered past. As long as Bill Belichick is the coach New England will continue to compete for titles.
Miami Heat - Does anybody remember that Miami won a championship before LeBron James arrived? The Heat have established themselves as a franchise that will play for titles every year. That win-at-all-costs mindset is thanks to team president Pat Riley who believes in constructing teams like he had in Los Angeles with the Lakers in the 1980's. You need to have superstars who understand there role and want to win multiple titles and that is what the Heat have done. First Riley brought in Shaq to win a ring and followed that up by pairing LBJ with Dwayne Wade. Miami is primed to win again this year, next year and the year after that.
New York Yankees - Hate them all you want but the Yankees play to win. Yes they pay big money to attract free agents but at least you have to acknowledge that the pinstripes to all they can to win a World Series every season. You can't say that about half the teams in baseball right now. Winning rings is the only thing that matters if you are a Yankee. We are talking about the most storied franchise in the history of baseball, a team that at one point averaged winning a World Series every four years.
Baltimore Ravens - This was a tough call but can anyone out there tell me when the last time was the Ravens missed the playoffs? I thought so. General Manager Ozzie Newsome has kept the team in the Super Bowl hunt every season and finally earned the team's second ring last year. It will be interesting to see if there is a let down now that Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are gone. I think the thing that impresses me the most about Baltimore is how they win on the road in the playoffs. This team just doesn't care where the game is played, they expect to win every single one of them.
Sometimes I am described as only seeing the bad side of things. That's probably true, I tend to point out problems and offer solutions instead of seeing the good in situations. So in an effort to be fair, we should probably have a counterpoint to yesterday's column on the five worst teams in sports. Therefore, I offer you the five best teams in sports right now. We of course will be using the same standards as yesterday to determine the five teams that have sustained success over a long period of time while constantly providing fans with a winning squad to support.
San Antonio Spurs - The Spurs have four NBA titles in the Tim Duncan era and finished with the second best record in the Western Conference this season. Every season we expect San Antonio to be at or near the top of the standings thanks to the "team first" philosophy used by head coach Greg Popovich. The Spurs prefer to develop their own players instead of chacing pricy free agents and have the foresight to draft foreign players, stash them in Europe for a couple of years and then bring them over to be solid contributors at the NBA level. As long as Coach Pop is around the Spurs are going to be title contenders.
New England Patriots - Few people remember that the one year the Patriots missed the playoffs in 2008 Matt Cassell still led the team to 10 wins. Every season we expect the Patriots to win the AFC East, advance at least to the AFC Championship game and play for a Super Bowl title. The team has three Super Bowl rings in the Tom Brady era and has appeared in five. If it weren't for the New York Giants we would be talking about New England as a five-time Super Bowl winner because the only team with the right players to match up with the Patriots was the Giants. Like the Spurs, this team is built around a system and it all centers around what is best for the team. The Patriots aren't afraid to cut older players, take on veterans with leadership skills or trade for players with a checkered past. As long as Bill Belichick is the coach New England will continue to compete for titles.
Miami Heat - Does anybody remember that Miami won a championship before LeBron James arrived? The Heat have established themselves as a franchise that will play for titles every year. That win-at-all-costs mindset is thanks to team president Pat Riley who believes in constructing teams like he had in Los Angeles with the Lakers in the 1980's. You need to have superstars who understand there role and want to win multiple titles and that is what the Heat have done. First Riley brought in Shaq to win a ring and followed that up by pairing LBJ with Dwayne Wade. Miami is primed to win again this year, next year and the year after that.
New York Yankees - Hate them all you want but the Yankees play to win. Yes they pay big money to attract free agents but at least you have to acknowledge that the pinstripes to all they can to win a World Series every season. You can't say that about half the teams in baseball right now. Winning rings is the only thing that matters if you are a Yankee. We are talking about the most storied franchise in the history of baseball, a team that at one point averaged winning a World Series every four years.
Baltimore Ravens - This was a tough call but can anyone out there tell me when the last time was the Ravens missed the playoffs? I thought so. General Manager Ozzie Newsome has kept the team in the Super Bowl hunt every season and finally earned the team's second ring last year. It will be interesting to see if there is a let down now that Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are gone. I think the thing that impresses me the most about Baltimore is how they win on the road in the playoffs. This team just doesn't care where the game is played, they expect to win every single one of them.
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