We were the champions
05/22/2003
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
We've always attributed our heroes with a certain level of immortality. As kids, our parents seemed invincible, conquering the evils of "grown-up" life while still finding the time to apply band-aids and vanquish the Boogey Man. When we reached the age where respecting your folks was simply uncool, older kids in school appeared untouchable as they walked through the halls with their buddies.
As adults, many of us still have heroes we admire, and though we're older and allegedly wiser, we often refuse to lump our idols in with the rest of us mere mortals.
No, I'm not talking about your "American Idol" Ruben Studdard.
This is especially true in the minds of most sports fans. Some grew up rooting for legends like Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Namath; a few years later, another generation gravitated toward the greatness of Magic Johnson, Walter Payton and George Brett. But no matter whose posters were plastered on your bedroom walls as a kid or whose cards you collected, those sports heroes were all immortal, invincible and, most important, unbeatable in our minds. And because of their superhero feats on the field of play, we even granted those same indomitable traits to many of the athletes and teams we chose not to support, concluding that they too must be immune to defeat.
Of course, we now know better. Every team has a weakness; every player has a fault. And yet, somewhere deep down where we store all those old highlight reels and useless statistics, our heroes remain invincible. Even though we won't admit it, we still prefer to believe that champions are unbeatable.
And then... they're beaten.
Admit it -- most of you were surprised to see the Spurs actually knock off the Lakers this year, weren't you? Don't be ashamed. Even if you kept talking about their lack of depth and Shaq's health and Kobe's me-first attitude and the strength of the other teams from the West, you still half expected the Lakers to somehow wind up with their four-peat, didn't you?
Why? Because they're the Lakers. Auerbach, Riles, Phil, Mikan, West, Wilt, Baylor, Goodrich, Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Shaq, Kobe.
Madsen.
This franchise marinates in immortality and invincibility. You want to talk about championships? How does nine grab ya? So it's no wonder that, even though they started the 2002-03 season 11-19, and even though they "snuck" into the playoffs as a fifth seed, we were still stunned when the clock ran down to 0:00 in game six of the West semis and San Antonio, not the Lakers, was the team advancing to the next round.
"Down by 22 with a little more than four minutes left?" I said to myself. "They'll make a run."
And I'm not even a Lakers fan. In fact, I wanted to see them finally lose, even if I didn't think it was actually possible. That's what all the great teams and players do -- they force you to either love them or hate them, root for them or against them, and no matter which side of the fence you reside on you'll have a hard time believing that they'll truly fail.
In contrast, nobody cares about what happens to the Detroit Tigers or the Cincinnati Bengals, unless you live in Detroit or Cincinnati. And even that may be a stretch.
But you won't find very many sports fans who harbor neutral opinions about the Lakers, Yankees, 49ers, Cowboys or Braves. Because true championship-caliber teams either win you over or turn you against them. They breed loyalty or they breed contempt. You choose.
And yet, even if they hate those teams, most fans won't bet against them. Remember when the Patriots beat the Rams two years ago in the Super Bowl? I believe my insightful prediction at the time went something like, "The Rams are going to slaughter the Patriots." Hell, most New Englanders didn't believe their team had a legitimate shot at dethroning Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and the mighty Rams. Oh sure, it was chic to say that the Pats would prevail before the game because afterwards you could gloat about how you called the upset of all upsets if they somehow pulled it off, but I'm not buying it. You're probably not either.
What about the 2001 World Series? Did the Diamondbacks really slay the three-time defending champion Yankees in seven games? Last I remember, Mariano Rivera was on the mound in the ninth protecting a 2-1 lead. Game over, Series over, as painful as it was to admit. But there it is in the record books: 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. I have an uncle from Phoenix who gave me a championship t-shirt for Christmas that year, and every time I pull it out of the closet I expect to see the wording change before my eyes -- like Marty McFly's family picture in "Back to the Future" -- to proclaim yet another World Series triumph for the Bronx Bombers.
Did I mention that I hate the Yankees? Actually, if there's a stronger emotion than hatred, sign me up. I've probably devoted a good 10-15% of my material on this site to those hostile feelings for the pinstripers, and yet every spring I find myself trying to uncover reasons why the Yankees won't win another ring that season, this year included.
If those nine titles by the Lakers didn't impress you, try 26 by the Yanks. You can practically smell the championship aura from Jersey, with names like Ruth, Gehrig, Gomez, DiMaggio, Mantle, Maris, Ford, Berra, Reggie, Winfield, Jeter and Clemens standing as some of the best this game has ever produced.
Of course, George Steinbrenner's wallet certainly helps matters, but that's a rant for another time.
Despite their remarkable history, though, Luis Gonzalez dropped a sad, sawed-off blooper over a drawn-in infield two years ago and the Yankees went home not as champions, but as runners-up. Jack defeated the Giant, and he did it with a broken bat and a prayer. And while the Angels beat the unbeatable three games to one in the divisional series last season, that Yankee mystique remains intact. Even if their string of championships isn't.
When you grow up dreaming of hitting three-run homers and draining three-point jumpers for a living, it's only natural that you're going to look at the men who actually reached those heights with awe and admiration. And even though we know better, sometimes we let ourselves believe that these athletes truly are invincible and unconquerable, immortals on the field of play.
But every so often we're reminded that these are just guys in uniforms playing a game, and even the very best of them will eventually be defeated. Tiger couldn't secure another Masters title. The Red Wings got swept out of the first round by the Mighty Ducks. Michael Jordan failed to even reach the playoffs in his final NBA season. The Lakers and Yankees each fell short in their four-peat attempts. All former champions whose respective reigns were finite rather than infinite, as they once seemed.
Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tiger, the Wings, the Lakers and the Yankees back on top next year. In fact, I'd expect nothing less. Hell, knowing MJ, I wouldn't count him out either.
Questions/comments? Send all e-mails to jcodding@bullz-eye.com.