Did you enjoy the season?

Same for me with Red Sox and Steelers. I've been spoiled to witness as an adult four World Series wins and two Super Bowl titles. I have a friend though who is Mets, Jets, Islanders fan and he's been in the desert for a long time. When I told him my teams not winning titles mow it me like meh, because I've been spoiled, he looked at me like I two heads. (I don't).

 

I do.

 

Yup.

As disappointing as the Carolina Panthers have been the last few seasons, they've made two Super Bowls and achieved some fairly lofty heights over a relatively short existence. To view every season they don't bring the Lombardi Trophy to Charlotte as "a disappointment" is not really thinking it through.

As for the Carolina Hurricanes ... won a Stanley Cup in 2006. What a magic carpet ride ... shoot, the run to the 2002 Cup Final was remarkable. Yes, lost to Detroit, which had seven or eight Hall of Famers on the roster. The home team had Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour, Jeff O'Neill, were rotating goalies through the postseason and had Paul Maurice on the bench (which is why I wasn't shocked when the Florida Panthers recently took out Boston in the first round). Seems even more remarkable now than it was 20 years ago. Then, after a nice run to the conference final in '09, 10 years of some ugly on-ice product. So ... five consecutive seasons of not only reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs, but also winning at least one postseason series. Does the fact that they're not bringing the Cup back to Raleigh every season "a disappointment"? GTFOH.

Kudos to Giannis for the stance he took. He's not floating through anything and simply collecting paychecks. Neither were the Bucks. They lost. It happens. The Miami Heat isn't exactly the Washington Generals. That some want to get into this level of hyperbole over something like this – given all the other crap going on around us – is just stupid. And, given the backgrounds of many on this board, we should be more aware of it than most.

 

I guess this is on topic, but my daughter and I were talking about the Cowboys’ season last week. First it should be noted she’s insanely competitive in sports.

We mentioned that when Dak went down and things looked bleak in Week 1, it was nice to rally and play important games down the stretch. Sure it ended in an oddly humiliating fashion - as one expects - but it brightened up a lot of Sundays for us in the fall and winter. A Super Bowl would feel like a miracle right now, so I’m not going to complain about being relevant.

 

A slightly contrarian point of view. Not every season can produce a championship. But when the stars align, the talent is there and the window opens for the possibility of a championship and the team not only misses but belly flops in spectacular fashion? Yeah, it’s hard to call it anything but a failure.

 

2019 Tampa Bay Lightning
2016 Warriors (although NO shame in losing in 7 to those Cavs, so they don’t count as a “belly flop in spectacular fashion”)
2007 Patriots
2001 Mariners

who else?

 

The Steelers had Ben, Bell and Brown. Arguably the best at their position for a 3-4 year stretch and never went to a Super Bowl mainly due to them all never being healthy together in the playoffs.

Relevant games is very important. Mike Tomlin has coached 258 regular season games. The Steelers were alive for a playoff berth for 257.

 

SEAHAWKS, SUPER BOWL XLIX

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This year’s Bruins.

 

The Eagles from 2001-09. Five NFC championship game appearances, only one Super Bowl (that they probably should've won) and no championships.

The Yankees of the past decade, although no one will ever cry for them.

 

The '94 Red Wings stand out to me. Only team that year to average more than four goals per game and lost in the first round.

 

Part of that was injuries to those guys, but there was a lot more to it. One problem is that Roethlisberger just wasn't Brady. He gave them a puncher's chance in most games, but he was usually good for a killer mistake or two at the worst time. I also hate to put a lot one one injury, but the loss of Shazier was devastating. It didn't just sidetrack the best team of the Roethlisberger/Bell/Brown era. They still haven't been able to replace him, and that includes the very expensive failure of Devin Bush. Also, speaking of 2017, Jesse James scored that touchdown, dammit!