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The Greatest Dynasties in Sports History Part II

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Which Sports dynasty is the greatest of all-time? I listed the first half of the top 10 a few days ago, and now will list the five greatest of them all.

To refresh your memory, to be on this list a team must win at least four championships in a 10-year period. Also, one of the key tools used to rate the best seasons of these teams is the Simple Rating System (or SRS) used by Sports-Reference.com. If a basketball team has an SRS of six it means that they would beat the average team in the league that season by six points.

10-6 were:
10.) 1981-89 San Francisco 49ers

9.) 1980-88 Los Angeles Lakers

8.) 1984-90 Edmonton Oilers

7.) 1961-67 Green Bay Packers

6.) 1980-83 New York Islanders

And now, the top Five Dynasties in Pro Sports history:

5.) Chicago Bulls (1991-1998): Michael Jordan. If I just left Jordan’s name there next to the years of his Chicago Bulls’ dynasty, people would still get the idea. Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history, and his excellence propelled the Bulls to win six championships in eight-years between 1991 and 1998.Sure, Jordan had a Hall of Fame head coach in Phil Jackson, hall of fame teammate and fellow Dream Team member Scottie Pippen, and for three of the six championships, hall of famer Dennis Rodman, but it was absolutely MJ’s team. Before the 1990-91 season even began, Jordan had already won one regular season MVP (1988), had become the game’s best statistical player, and had quickly eclipsed Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as the game’s most popular star, but unlike Magic and Bird, Jordan’s team had not yet won the championship. Jordan and Pippen had been getting closer to achieving that goal with each succeeding season, and during the 1989-90 season, they pushed the defending champion Detroit Pistons to a seventh game in the Eastern Conference Final, but the Pistons won game seven in Detroit before winning their second consecutive championship. However all the Pistons had done was delay the Bulls by a year, and when Chicago entered training camp before the ’90-91 season, they started a run in which they would win the NBA championship EVERY year that Jordan was in camp with them. The Bulls cruised to 62 wins and the best record in the Eastern Conference as Jordan won his 2nd regular season MVP and in the playoffs the Bulls left absolutely no doubt about which team was the best when they eviscerated the two-time defending champion Pistons in a sweep in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch, and then they slammed the door shut on the Magic Johnson era for the Lakers in a convincing five-game Finals victory after which Jordan won his first Finals MVP. Jordan had finally accomplished his goal by winning the championship, so in 1992 he set his sights on making history and had arguably the single greatest year any athlete has ever had. MJ began the run by leading an all-time great Bulls team to the best record in the sport at 67-15 and winning his second straight MVP award. Returning to the Finals, a dominant MJ won his second consecutive Finals MVP in a six-game victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Then in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain – the first in which professional athletes were allowed to compete instead of just amateurs – he led the 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball ‘Dream Team,’ to a gold medal (Scottie Pippen was also on the Dream Team and surprised many people, including the team’s Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Daly, with his incredible play. Because he was always overshadowed by MJ in Chicago, not everyone had realized how truly great Pippen was too, but they realized it in the summer of ‘92); Jordan ended the year with a regular season MVP, his Bulls having the best record in the sport and one of the best in NBA history, a second consecutive World Championship, a second consecutive Finals MVP, and a Gold Medal in the Olympics that was actually MJ’s SECOND Olympic Gold medal as he had been on the ’84 Men’s Team because he had not yet played in the NBA. In ‘93 the Bulls became the first team since the ’59-’66 Celtics to win at least three consecutive championships in a six-game series victory over the Phoenix Suns in which Jordan decisively outplayed fellow Dream Teamer Charles Barkley, who had won the regular season MVP in spite of Jordan’s far superior numbers, and MJ became the first player to win three straight Finals MVPs.

With Jordan on top of the entire sporting world, his life changed forever when his father James was murdered in a carjacking less than a month after the Bulls defeated the Suns for the title. Jordan soon after retired from the NBA, saying that his father’s favorite sport had always been baseball and that he had always wanted to see Michael play in the Majors. With MJ playing in the minors trying to make the Big Leagues for the Chicago White Sox – a team also owned by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who kept paying MJ his basketball salary – Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson kept the Bulls among the best teams in the NBA during the ’93-’94 season. While a deserving Hakeem Olajuwon would win the MVP that year, Pippen had an MVP-level campaign of his own, but the Bulls lost a controversial seven-game series to the New York Knicks (who were the Bulls’ chief rival in the Eastern Conference in ’92 and ‘93). Then in the summer of ’94, with Jordan starting to show significant progress in the minors, the MLB Players’ Association went on strike and Jordan – himself a member of the players’ union in the NBA – refused to break the strike. The uncertainty of the strike led MJ to return to the Bulls very late in the ’95 season – after sending out a fax that read simply ‘I’m back.’ With Jordan wearing the number 45, his body still in baseball shape, and the Bulls having lost some of their key players from the ’91-’93 three-peat including power forward Horace Grant, the Bulls fell to Shaquille O’Neal’s Magic (a team that also included Grant) in second round of the playoffs to Shaquille O’Neal’s Magic.

Angered by the loss, Jordan spent the offseason rebuilding his body for basketball while the Bulls added Dennis Rodman to the team to replace Grant while providing the interior defense, rebounding, and attitude that the Bulls needed. MJ, again the best player in the sport, put back on his world famous #23 jersey and, with Pippen and Rodman in their primes, the Bulls were primed for a special season in ’95-’96, but no one really knew how special it would be. In fact, the Bulls put together the greatest team in NBA history and one of the greatest in sports history, going a ridiculous 72-10 as MJ easily won his fourth regular season MVP award. The team romped through the playoffs to win the Finals in six games over the Seattle Super Sonics and MJ won a record fourth Finals MVP award in the process; in a coincidence the Bulls had won the championship on Father’s Day and Jordan was overwhelmed with emotion and sobbed on the floor of the victorious Bulls’ locker room. In ‘97 the Bulls were again the NBA’s best team, winning 69 games and taking the championship for the fifth time in seven-seasons, beating the Utah Jazz in six games. In game five, Jordan had what became known as the ‘flu game,’ and he played while violently ill and dehydrated Jordan scored 38 points and made the game-winning shot. Although the Bulls just kept on winning in ’98, it gradually became known that Chicago was going to be broken up after the year, mainly because Bulls GM Jerry Krause loathed Phil Jackson and refused to pay Scottie Pippen fair market value for his talent (the Bulls had been underpaying the excellent Pippen for his whole career, even insulting him by paying more money to the far less great and important Toni Kukoc).Jordan, who won his 5th and final MVP award during the season, had to shoulder even more of the burden than usual because Pippen badly injured his back late in the season and Rodman was well past his prime. All those issues did not stop the Bulls from making a Finals rematch with the Jazz, again winning in six games as Jordan won his sixth Finals MVP award and made the game-winning basket in game six to give the Bulls their second three-peat sixth title in eight seasons.

The Jordan/Pippen/Jackson Bulls were absolutely dominant and they not only never lost in the Finals, they never even faced a game seven, as if Jordan refused to allow it. Jordan’s six championships have also become the modern standard by which all great players across the Big Four measure themselves, and it is why Derek Jeter and Kobe Bryant, who have both won five championships, pushed themselves so hard in pursuit of a sixth. 17-years after he last put on number 23 for the Bulls, Jordan remains the gold standard not just in terms of his greatness on the court but for a brilliant ability to market himself that turned him arguably the biggest star on the planet. Even ignoring how successful he has been off the court, we need to realize that we will never witness another athlete that great again and, in that way, Jordan’s legacy may actually become more impressive with time.

Key figures:

Phil Jackson (HC)

Michael Jordan

Scottie Pippen

Dennis Rodman

Best season during the run: 1995-96 – Were you paying attention? Those Bulls went 72-10 and their SRS is 11.8 (the best of all-time). They lost only a single game in the playoffs before they made it to the Finals vs. the Sonics, quickly went up 3-0, and then after relaxing a bit in two losses, closed it out in game six for the first championship of the second three-peat.

Most Memorable Moment: There are almost too many to count, from Jordan’s famous shrug during his destruction of the Blazers in the 1992 Finals, his flu game in the 1997 Finals against the Jazz, and his final shot to beat the Jazz again in 1998. However, it was Jordan’s win in 1996 that stands out. With their game six, series-clinching victory coming on Father’s Day, Jordan, who until that moment had been able to celebrate every single sports championship with his father, broke down and cried on the locker room floor. It was a stunning display of emotion and humanity for a man who tried hard to never let us see him as vulnerable or human until that time.

4.) Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-79): When the 16-team National Football League merged with the upstart American Football League and its 10 franchises in 1970, the new entity kept the NFL’s name and history, but in order to be an even league with two conferences (the National and American Football Conferences, respectively), three teams were selected to leave the NFC for the AFC. The first and most desirable franchise was the perennial contender Baltimore Colts, who would win Super Bowl V, the first one played after the leagues had fully merged; the second team was the Cleveland Browns, who had won three NFL championships in the 1950s and another in 1964. By far the least desirable team to move into the AFC was the Pittsburgh Steelers, and if Pete Rozelle and the NFL had known what was coming, perhaps they’d have kept the Steelers and handed over the Detroit Lions.

The Steelers began play in the NFL in 1933, and in the 35-seasons they played before the merger, the team had won more games than it lost only six-times, only made the playoffs once, and never made it to the championship game; the next time the team made the postseason was 1972. Widely viewed as an irrelevant laughingstock, few took notice when the Steelers began accumulating good, young talent in the late 1960s and early 1970s, adding a cast of future Hall of Famers on both offense and defense who would be coached by another future Hall of Famer, Chuck Noll. In ’72 the Steelers finally returned to the playoffs and even won their first playoff game in history, defeating the Oakland Raiders with the help of one of the most famous plays in NFL history: “The Immaculate Reception.” The Steelers lost in the AFC Title game to the undefeated ’72 Miami Dolphins, but they had announced their arrival as serious contenders. By ’74 the Steelers defense, full of hall of famers like ‘Mean’ Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, and Mel Blount, became known as the ‘Steel Curtain,’ and led the team to its first ever championship by winning Super Bowl IX over the Minnesota Vikings 16-6. In ’75 the Steel Curtain was even more dominant and the team finished with a 12-2 record and won Super Bowl X over the ‘America’s Team’ Dallas Cowboys of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach 21-17. In 1976 the Steelers’ defense was perhaps at its best, but the Raiders finally broke through and beat the Steelers in the AFC Title game. The Steelers would fall short again in ’77, but the league had decided that the Steel Curtain defense was bad for the game ecause there was too little scoring. They passed new rules to limit the defense, with one of them becoming known as the ‘Mel Blount rule’ after the Steelers’ hall of fame corner back. It was then that the Chuck Noll’s Steelers dynasty would do one of the most impressive things in sports history: it did not lament the rules made to weaken its legendary defense, it just switched the emphasis to its offense, which was ALSO filled with hall of famers from quarterback Terry Bradshaw to wide receivers Lynn Swan and John Stallworth, running back Franco Harris, and center Mike Webster. Bradshaw won the 1978 regular season MVP as the Steelers finished with a league best 14-2 record and advanced to Super Bowl XIII for a rematch with the now defending champion Cowboys. It was a huge matchup because whichever team won would have the most Super Bowl victories in NFL history; the Steelers took the prize again, winning 35-31 as Bradshaw added a Super Bowl MVP to his regular season one. In ’79 the Steelers returned to another Super Bowl, Bradshaw won his second straight SB MVP award, and Pittsburgh defeated the Los Angeles Rams 31-19 to win SB XIV for their fourth championship in six-seasons. A team that had started the ‘70s as a laughingstock ended the decade with more Super Bowl wins than any franchise in the league. The Steelers organization also earned a reputation for consistent excellence over the decades since, and with Super Bowl wins after the 2005 and 2008 seasons, the team again has the most Super Bowl championships of any team in the league with six.

Key Figures:

Chuck Noll (Head Coach)

Terry Bradshaw

Mean Joe Greene

Mike Webster

Jack Ham

Jack Lambert

Mel Blount

Franco Harris

Lynn Swann

Best season during the run: 1975 – the Steelers went 12-2, led the league with an SRS of 14.2 and won a 21-17 victory over the Cowboys in Super Bowl X for their second straight Super Bowl win.

Most Memorable Moment: Although it took place outside the six-year title run that featured many, many memorable moments (such as Lynn Swan’s acrobatic catch in SB X and Dallas tight end Jackie Smith dropping what would have been a game tying touchdown in SB XIII), the choice is obviously the Immaculate Reception. It is tough to top what just might be the most famous play in the history of the league.

3.) Montreal Canadiens (1976-79): The Montreal Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup an NHL record 24-times, and many of those 24 have been won in multiple periods of excellence, but it is harder to rank some of Montreal’s dynasties because the majority of those championships came in a league with only six teams. It was during that ‘Original Six’ era when the Habs (a nickname for the Canadiens) set the NHL record by winning five straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to ’60. But in 1967 the league began the first of several expansions, making sustained success far more difficult, however the Habs won Cups in 1968, ’69 with much of the core they had built during that Original Six era. In ’71, won again, this time pushed forward by the late season arrival of goaltender Ken Dryden (who may be the greatest goalie in NHL history). The team won again in ’73, but after that the Habs suddenly seemed like a team of the past in comparison the hard-hitting and physical Philadelphia Flyers team that became known as the ‘Broad Street Bullies,’ won back-to-back Cups in ’74-’75. In 1976 the Flyers had a better record than they had had in ’74 and ’75, earning 118 points and Bobby Clarke won the Hart Trophy as league MVP, and the Broad Street Bullies advanced to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. However, the problem was that as great as they were, the Canadiens were better, leading the NHL with 127 points of their own, and when the two teams met in the Finals, the Habs swept the Bullies to win the Cup and the greatest dynasty in NHL history was off and running. With Hall of Fame head coach Scotty Bowman – probably the greatest HC in NHL history – calling the shots and a core built around future Hall of Famers Dryden, Guy LaFleur and the great defenseman Larry Robinson, the Habs followed up their terrific ’75-76 season with what is likely the greatest team in NHL history in ’76-77. Those Habs led the NHL with a remarkable 132 points and a record of 60-8-12, led by League MVP LaFleur, and going a combined 12-2 in the three rounds of the playoffs, culminating with a sweep over the Boston Bruins.  The Canadiens destroyed the league in 1978 as well, with LaFleur winning his second straight Hart Trophy, the team earning a league-leading 129 points, and beating the Bruins in a Stanley Cup Finals rematch four games to two. In 1979 the Canadiens failed to lead the league in points for the first time during their run, finishing with 115 points to the New York Islanders 116, and they were more vulnerable in the playoffs than in the previous years. They met the Bruins again in the playoffs, this time in the semi-finals, and beat them in a hard fought seven game series when, in game seven in Montreal, the Bruins got caught with too many men on the ice and the Habs scored on their ensuing power play to tie the game and bring it into overtime, where the Canadiens won to advance to their fourth consecutive Finals, this time defeating the New York Rangers (who in the previous round had knocked out the league-leading Isles, which would end up being the last playoff series the Islanders would lose until the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals against the Oilers) in five games.

The ’79 season had shown that the NHL had finally caught up to Montreal, but with Bowman and their legendary core, it was far from certain that their reign would come to an end, which is why it stunned the hockey world when Ken Dryden abruptly retired after the season at the age of 31 and after only nine seasons in the league (nine seasons in which Dryden’s Habs had won the Cup six times) in order to go to law school. Dryden became a successful lawyer and politician who eventually served in Canadian Parliament, but hockey fans interested in the game’s history were left wondering how things would have played out if Dryden had remained in net for the Canadiens. The dynasty might have been over regardless of Dryden’s decision as the Islanders outstanding club was ready to initiate a dynasty of their own, but Dryden’s retirement meant that hockey fans would never get to see one of those clashes of old and new the way there was when the Habs beat the Flyers in 1976 and would happen again when the Islanders dynasty ran into the rising Edmonton Oilers in both the 1983 and ’84 Stanley Cup Finals. The fourth championship would be the Canadiens’ 22nd Stanley Cup, but it was the end of their dominance of the league. Montreal would win the Cup again in 1986 and 1993 (led by another all-time goalie in Patrick Roy), but they have not returned to the Finals since then. However, none of that changes the fact that the ’76-’79 Canadiens had the most utterly dominant run in NHL history, and it is very unlikely we’ll ever see any teams that great ever again.

Key figures:

Scotty Bowman (head coach)

Guy Lafleur

Ken Dryden

Larry Robinson

Guy LaPointe

Steve Schutt

Best year of the run: 1976-77 – This was the team that went 60-8-12, wound up with 132 points, won the Cup in a sweep over the Boston Bruins, and finished with an SRS of 2.54. They are almost certainly the greatest team in NHL history.

Most Memorable Moment: How often does the hall of fame centerpiece of a dominant dynasty just walk (or skate) off at 31-years-old and in great health? But the most memorable moment may have come in the 1979 semi-finals against the Bruins. During the dynasty the Habs had defeated the Bruins in both the ’77 and ’78 Stanley Cup Finals and each time the Bruins had creeped a little closer to Montreal, losing in a sweep in ’77 and in six in ’78. In ’79 when they met in the semi-finals, the Bruins took them to game seven and even led late in the third period in the Montreal Forum when they were called for a ‘too many men on the ice’ penalty, and the Canadiens scored during their ensuing power play.

2.)  Boston Celtics (1957-69): In the autumn of 1956, rookie Bill Russell played the first game of a legendary career in which he played 13-seasons for the Boston Celtics and the Celtics won the NBA championship in 11 of those seasons, and Russell would earn his legacy as the greatest winner in the history of team sports. Along the way the Celtics would set the record among the Big Four sports leagues by winning eight-consecutive championships between 1959 and 1966.

It is hard to overstate just how incredible Russell’s Celtics were or how big an impact he and Hall of Fame head coach Red Auerbach had on the entire NBA. After winning consecutive NCAA championships in his last two-years at college, Russell joined a Celtics franchise that had never won anything in spite of already having future Hall of Fame players like Bill Sharman, Tommy Heinsohn, and the great Bob Cousy. Russell changed that in just his first season in the NBA, leading the team to its first championship in 1957 (in its first ever Finals appearance). When a late injury to Russell kept the Celtics from repeating in the ’58 Finals in a rematch from ’57, it would mark the last time a team other than the Celtics would win the NBA Championship until 1967. In 1959 the Celtics met the Minneapolis Lakers in the Finals and won in four games; in retrospect it was a historic meeting between the teams because it was the first time the Lakers ever lost in the Finals after five earlier championships, was their last Finals appearance before they moved to Los Angeles, and was the first of a record 12 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers (the Celtics have won nine of those meetings). After beating the Hawks again in the Finals in both 1960 and ’61, the Celtics would have their best season of the Auerbach/Russell era by going 60-20 before beating the Philadelphia Warriors of Russell’s great rival, Wilt Chamberlain, in seven games in the Eastern Division Finals, Boston returned to the Finals for the sixth straight season before beating the now LA Lakers in seven games for their fourth-straight championship. The Celtics were so consistent that you could have set your calendar by them: if it was spring they’d be in the playoffs, advance to the finals (usually against the Lakers) and win the championship. In ’63 it played out that way, in ’64, with Chamberlain’s Warriors moving across the country to San Francisco, the Celtics took the opportunity to beat them in the Finals instead of in the semi-finals as they previously had. In ’65 Chamberlain was traded to Philadelphia’s new team, the 76ers, and the Celtics responded with their best season of the run, going 62-18 before meeting Wilt’s 76ers in the Eastern Finals and beating them in seven games before beating the Lakers (who, led by the incredible Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, became a sort of shadow dynasty of their own) again in five games. In ’66 they beat Chamberlain’s team and outlasted the Lakers in a classic seven-game series to win an almost inconceivable eighth straight championship.

After winning an eighth-straight title and the ninth in 10-seasons, Red Auerbach retired as the head coach of the Celtics and moved into the team’s front office and he promoted Russell to HC (he would be a player-coach), making him the first Black head coach in any of the Big Four sports leagues. In his first season as head coach, Russell’s Celtics (who during the run had been replacing retiring hall of famers like Cousy with future hall of famers like Sam Jones and John Havlicek) ran into the best team Wilt ever had with the Sixers, and they beat the Celtics in five games in the Eastern Finals and went on to win the NBA championship; it ended the Celtics’ streak at eight and stands as the only time in Russell’s career that Boston did not make the NBA Finals. Although the 76ers were great again in ’68 and built a large three games to one lead in the Eastern Finals, the Celtics came all the way back to knock off the defending champions before another matchup (and another victory) over the Lakers. By 1969 the NBA was changing and Lew Alcindor (soon to change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) was on the horizon, but the Celtics were not through winning. The Lakers had acquired Wilt during the season to give them a ridiculous roster featuring Chamberlain, West, and Baylor, and the Celtics again advanced to meet them in the Finals, although this time the Lakers had home court advantage. A closely contested series went to yet another game seven and Bill Russell, who never lost a game seven in his entire career, was not intimidated. He and Havlicek led the Celtics to another win over the Lakers; it was the seventh-time Boston had beaten the Lakers during the Russell era, his second championship as the team’s head coach, and the 11th in his remarkable 13-year career.

After the game, Russell retired, leaving the game as the greatest winner in its history and, along with Auerbach, turning the Celtics into NBA royalty (they still have the most NBA championships in history with 17 to the Lakers 16). To try and understand just how much of a winner Russell was during his career, just take a look at the other two NBA dynasties on this list and consider that if Michael Jordan (six championships) and Magic Johnson (five) put their rings together, they would still only equal the 11 of Russell. Yes: he is the greatest winner in the history of team sports.

Key figures of the dynasty:

Red Auerbach (Head coach)

Bill Russell (player during the whole dynasty, HC from 67-69)

Bob Cousy

John Havlicek

Sam Jones

Bill Sharman

Tommy Heinsohn

Best year of the run: 1964-65 – the Celts went 62-18, finished with a 7.46 SRS, defeated Wilt’s 76ers in a classic seven game series in the Eastern Finals, and beat the Lakers in five games to win their seventh consecutive championship.

Most Memorable Moment: Russell becoming the first Black head coach was a big moment, but because Russell was a silent, thoughtful person who was not very popular in his day in heavily segregated Boston, the best on court basketball moment might be a better choice, and John Havlicek’s steal during the 1965 Eastern Conference playoffs against the 76ers, as one of the most famous plays in NBA history, will serve nicely.

Note: There are three reasons that these Celtics are listed 2nd and not first in spite of winning more championships. Those reasons are that Boston won most of its championships in an NBA of only nine franchises, never had a single-season team that is considered to be one of the best ever (no single Russell team is even listed on top five all-time NBA teams, and rarely is one of the teams even listed among the top 10), and Boston never had a moment that equaled the one chosen for the top dynasty, which might have THE most famous and poignant moment in sports history.

1.)  New York Yankees (1936-41): The Yankees are the most successful franchise in the history of the Big Four, having won 27 World Championships from 1923 to today, more than any team in any sport. The Yanks won 20 of those 27 championships in a 40-year period between their first championship in 1923 and their 1962 victory over the San Francisco Giants. However, the Yankees did not have one, uniform 40-year dynasty, but several distinct periods of greatness. In terms of the most fruitful period of the dynasty, it was between 1947 – 1962, when the Yanks won 10 World Series in 16-seasons, highlighted by the ’49-’53 squad that set the MLB record with five-consecutive World Championships. However, as great as those teams were, the true heart of the Yankee dynasty was the 1936-41 bunch that won four-straight championships between ’36-’39 and won another in 1941 for five in six-years.

When Babe Ruth was traded by the Yankees after the 1934-season, critics could be forgiven for believing the Yankees would return to the bottom of the standings and the irrelevancy that had defined them before the arrival of the greatest player in baseball history. Sure, Lou Gehrig was the best player in the game, but the Yanks did poorly in 1934 and ’35 in spite of his excellence – he even won the triple crown for all of baseball in ’34 by leading in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, but he didn’t even win the American League MVP that year and the Yanks didn’t win anything either. In 1936 Gehrig, already surrounded by future Hall of Famers like Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing, and Lefty Gomez, got some real help in the form of rookie centerfielder Joe DiMaggio. Managed by one of the all-time greats (Joseph McCarthy), the 1936 Yanks won 102 games (out of 154) and met their cross-river rivals the New York Giants in the World Series, beating the Giants in six-games. ’37 was the same story as Gehrig and DiMaggio drove the Yanks to another 102 wins and another World Series victory over the Giants, this time in five games. However, things started to look bad for the Yankees in ’38 when their captain and leader, Lou Gehrig, started struggling to produce – he was already suffering from the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis that would force his retirement less than a month into the ’39 season and lead to his death by the summer of 1941 – but DiMaggio picked up the slack and the Yankees won their third straight AL Pennant by winning 99 games before sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the World Series for their third consecutive Championship, setting the MLB record in the process.

1939 would be a special season for the Yankees in many ways. Although Gehrig took himself out of the lineup only weeks into the season due to the progress of the ALS, he remained on the bench and inspiring his teammates. DiMaggio had also established himself as the best player in the game and was well on his way to his first MVP award. The Yankees would win 106-games and sweep a great Cincinnati Reds team to win their fourth-straight World Series championship (and that Reds team that would win the World Series the following season) and are today considered arguably the greatest team in the long history of Major League Baseball, but neither DiMaggio’s MVP, the all-time excellence of the team, or the fourth-straight championship is what stands out most in history from the 1939 season. Today what stands out most about the 1939 season is what happened on July 4th, 1939. The Yankees declared the day ‘Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day,’ and invited back Babe Ruth and the legendary roster of the 1927 ‘Murderer’s Row,’ of which Gehrig had been so large a part. Between the two games of a double-header, the Yankees had a ceremony to honor Gehrig, who was so emotional and nervous that he decided he would be unable to speak to the fans who had come to honor him. Pressed to speak, he gave the most famous speech in sports history as he spoke of how lucky he felt to be honored and respected by the fans, his teammates, the Yankees, and even opposing teams, and mentioned to the crowd, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

In 1940 the Yanks failed to win the AL Pennant for the first time in five-years, but they were not done. In ’41 as World War II raged across the globe (although America wouldn’t enter the war officially until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, several months after the baseball season ended), Joe DiMaggio captured the national attention and turned it away from war when he got at least one base hit in 56-consecutive games, setting a record that still stands today. During his hitting streak in the summer of ’41, Lou Gehrig succumbed to the disease which today carries his name, and the Yankees mourned but kept winning while DiMaggio kept hitting en route to a second AL MVP and leading the Yanks to 101 wins and their fifth Pennant in six-seasons. In the World Series the Yanks would meet the Brooklyn Dodgers for the first time in history (and between ’41 and ’56 the teams would meet in seven Fall Classics and the Yanks would win six of them). The Yanks would win the Pennant again in ’42 and ’43 and the World Series again in ’43, but by 1943 many of the Yankees’ biggest stars, including DiMaggio, had joined the military for WWII. The Yanks would continue winning after the War and bring in new legends like Yogi Berra, manager Casey Stengel, and the great Mickey Mantle, but the heart of their dynasty was the run from 1936 to ’41 that proved they were not going to fade after Babe Ruth was gone, but would go on to become the winningest franchise in the history of the Big Four.

Key Figures:

Joseph McCarthy (Manager)

Lou Gehrig

Joe DiMaggio

Bill Dickey

Red Ruffing

Lefty Gomez

Best year of the run: 1939 – The Yanks went 106 – 45 and swept the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The team is considered to be maybe the greatest in baseball history, and their 2.4 SRS (For reference, the 1927 Murderer’s Row Yanks, who are widely held to be the greatest baseball team in history, finished with an SRS of 2.1) is the best ever.

Most Memorable Moment: Under normal circumstances, DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak would be the choice due to how big it was for the Yanks and the entire country, but it could not come close to the power of Gehrig’s famous speech. That speech may indeed be the most iconic and heartbreaking moment in sports history.

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The Greatest Dynasties in Professional Sports History Part I

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When the San Francisco Giants won their third World Series in five-seasons in 2014, immediately the, “D” word started floating around: were the Giants a dynasty? In sports, only the greatest of the great are considered to attain dynasty-status; with one championship the team will be remembered as being the best of that year, with two, the team is truly special, but it is at three and above when the team truly places itself on a level where it can only be measured against history, and not against its peers. But how does one separate the greatest sports dynasties from the Big Four North American professional sports leagues (Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League)? Which dynasty is truly the greatest of all?

To make this list, a team must have won at least four championships in ten-years or less. Franchises that have had multiple periods of greatness, like the Yankees, Canadiens, Celtics, and Lakers are only listed once, with the best of their best. One of the primary tools that aids in the evaluation of these dynasties is the Simple Rating System – or SRS – that is used by Sports-Reference.com in order to more effectively evaluate teams; it creates a league baseline for a particular season and each positive number represents how much more often the team scores points/runs/and goals than the average team in the league in that season. So in baseball a team that has an SRS of one scores one more run on average than any team in the league.

10.) San Francisco 49ers (1981-1989): The San Francisco 49ers were the first professional team from the Big four in the San Francisco Bay Area, but they were also the black sheep of the large metro areas teams, being the only franchise in the area that had neither won a championship nor even made it to the championship game/series. That all changed in 1981 when the team that Bill Walsh had been building around young QB Joe Montana went 13-3 and the Niners advanced to host the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game. With the Niners trailing Tom Landry’s team, and the clock running out, Montana fired a pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone to win the game that became known as simply ‘the catch,’ the 49ers would defeat the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl XVI, and the dynasty was off and running. Walsh instituted his version of the West Coast Offense, which was based around Montana throwing short, accurate passes that allowed the wide receivers lots of room to gain yards after the catch, but while everyone knew about the 49er offense early on, the secret to their greatness was a massively underrated defense – led by future hall of fame great Ronnie Lott at safety – and after contending but falling short for a few years, San Francisco answered back with their incredible 1984 season. Walsh and Montana lead the league’s top rated offense offense, Lott and defensive coordinator George Seifert commanded the league’s top rated defense, and the team went 15-1 in the regular season and returned to the Super Bowl after beating a great Chicago Bears team in the NFC Title game (in 1985 that Bears team would go 15-1, do the ‘Super Bowl Shuffle,’ and achieve their own immortality) before facing the 14-2 Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. The Dolphins were the talk of the league due to second-year quarterback Dan Marino having maybe the greatest regular season a QB has ever had and winning the MVP. What was supposed to be a close match with Walsh and Montana on one side and Dolphins’ Hall of Fame head coach Don Shula and Marino on the other, turned into an easy 38-16 victory for the Niners and Montana answered any critics by winning his second SB MVP award.

A football fan might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned Jerry Rice yet, a man who is considered to be not only the greatest wide receiver in league history, but perhaps the single greatest PLAYER of all-time; the reason for leaving off number 80 is that the 49ers actually won those two Super Bowls BEFORE the team drafted Rice in 1985. While the Niners continued to make the playoffs in 85-87, they couldn’t make it through the NFC playoffs (the Conference entered a period of dominance that saw an NFC team win the Super Bowl each season from 1984-1996), and in 1988 the Niners actually had a less impressive regular season than in previous years, but they made it back to the Super Bowl for a rematch with the Bengals, and the already legendary Montana cemented his status as maybe the greatest QB ever when the Niners got the ball took the ball at their eight yard line down 16-13 with 3:04 left on the clock. Montana led the Niners down the field in a text book example of Walsh’s West Coast offense, making short, accurate passes that gave his receivers plenty of room for yards after the catch and fired a TD to John Taylor that gave the Niners a 20-16 victory. Montana’s reputation for coming through in the clutch was also aided by the fact that, in order to relax his teammates at the start of the drive, he pointed out actor John Candy in the stands. Rice won the game MVP, but the team was shook up when Bill Walsh announced his decision to retire from the game, handing the team off to Seifert. The Niners through the league in ’89 with 14-2 record, and Joe Montana won his first regular season MVP award. In the playoffs, the ’89 Niners were the most dominant team in league history, cruising into a second consecutive Super Bowl and then destroying the Denver Broncos in 55-10, the greatest blowout in SB history; Montana won his third SB MVP after throwing five TD passes. In 1990 Montana rolled to his second consecutive league MVP and the team again finished the league’s best record at 14-2. No team in NFL history has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls, but those ’90 Niners came the closest, hosting the NFC title game against the rival New York Giants before losing on a 15-13 on a last second field goal. The dynasty had come to an end not just because of the loss, but because Montana was badly injured during that NFC title game and would miss almost all of the next two seasons. During his injury, fellow hall of famer Steve Young had won the starting job, and while the team remained consistently great and won a fifth Super Bowl in 1994, without Walsh, Montana, and Lott, it was no longer the same team, but the team had established a reputation for excellence that meant they would never be the black sheep in the Bay Area, or anywhere else, ever again.

Key Figures:

Eddie DeBartolo (Owner and President)

Bill Walsh (Head Coach for 1981, ’84, and ’88 Championship teams. Retired after ’88 win.)

George Seifert (Defensive coach in 1981, Defensive Coordinator for ’84 and ’88 champions, HC in ’89)

Joe Montana

Ronnie Lott

Jerry Rice

Best season during the run: 1989 – Some people might say 1984 and that team had a Simple Rating System score of 12.7, but I’m picking the 1989 team that, while having a less impressive SRS of 10.7, went 14-2, and won their first two playoff games by scores 41-13 over the Minnesota Vikings and 30-3 over the Los Angeles Rams on the way to a 55-10 demolition of the Broncos in SB XXIV. Also, unlike the 1984 team, the ’89 team included Jerry Rice and featured Montana’s first MVP season. The 1989 San Francisco 49ers are actually my personal pick for the greatest team in NFL history.

Most Memorable Moment: ‘The Catch,’ which won the 1981 NFC Title game for the young 49ers and beat the Dallas Cowboys (NFL royalty at the time), is one of the most famous plays in NFL history, so it earns the spot here. In second place is Montana’s drive to win Super Bowl XXIII over the Bengals 20-16 following his pointing out John Candy in the stands.

9.) Los Angeles Lakers (1980-88): It may be hard for NBA fans to imagine now, but before the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson in 1979, the franchise was mostly known for coming up short in the biggest games. Between the 1961-62 season and ’72-73 the Lakers made the NBA Finals nine times, but had only won the championship once (in 1972). Six of those losses came at the hands of the Bill Russell Celtics (more on them later) between ’62 and ’69, and then even after Russell retired the Lakers fell to the Knicks in humiliating fashion in ’70 (when Wilt Chamberlain could not take advantage of a horribly injured Willis Reed in game seven). In ’75 the Lakers acquired the best player in the league, 27-year-old future Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks, but in spite of Kareem’s singular dominance, the Lakers still couldn’t win a championship in what had become a watered down league. Everything changed when Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson joined the team. Besides himself being a great player from the very first game, Magic also made Kareem and his teammates better. In his rookie year the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973, and they defeated Julius Erving’s great Philadelphia 76ers in spite of their best player, Kareem, going down with an injury in game 5. With Kareem unable to go in game six in Philadelphia, Magic filled in with one of the greatest games in NBA history: Magic started the game at center in spite of being a point guard (although he was 6’9”) and he went on to play all five positions on the court, score 42 points, grab 15 rebounds, and dish out 7 assists to lead the Lakers to a game and series victory that earned him the Finals MVP award. After a down year in ’81 the Lakers promoted assistant coach Pat Riley to head coach and with Magic and Kareem leading the way, they again beat Dr. J’s 76ers in the Finals. In ’83 the Lakers returned to the finals and again played the 76ers, but they had added Moses Malone from Houston, who had always given Kareem trouble, and the 76ers crushed the Lakers in a sweep. However, the NBA was still not extremely popular, and in 1984 Magic’s Lakers would meet the Boston Celtics in the Finals, reigniting the Lakers-Celtics rivalry that suddenly had new blood because the Celtics were led by Magic’s college rival Larry Bird (Magic’s Michigan State had defeated Bird’s Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA Championship), and the league would never look back. Boston had won the championship in 1981 and in ’84 Bird won MVP and was the game’s best player. Bird’s Celtics prevailed in a classic seven game series (and he won Finals MVP too), but that was the only time Bird’s team would get the better of Magic’s in the Finals. In ’85 the two teams returned to the Finals but after a dominating Celtics win in game one, the Lakers railed back to win the championship in six games, with Kareem winning Finals MVP; it was the first time the Lakers had ever defeated the Celtics in the NBA Finals.

However, Kareem was past his prime and was exposed as such in the 1986 playoffs as the young Houston Rockets knocked off the Lakers before themselves losing to an all-time great Celtics team led by Bird, who won his third-straight league MVP. Riley’s response to Kareem’s aging was to give total control of the team to Magic, and he did not disappoint as he led the Lakers to their OWN all-time great season in 1987, won league MVP for the first time, and then faced the Celtics again in the Finals. Magic’s Lakers would win the series in six games (and it was the rubber match for the Bird-Magic Finals series, with Magic’s team beating Bird’s two to one), win Finals MVP, and clearly show that now HE was the best player in the NBA, and not Magic or Bird. In ’88 the Lakers returned to the Finals and bested a young, determined Pistons team in seven tough games, becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since the ’68-’69 Celtics. Having won five championships in his first nine seasons in the league, Magic, who won his second MVP in ’89, was the heart of an aging team and, while the Lakers again won the Western Conference, the Pistons were just too much for an old and battered Lakers team to handle and they were swept. Big changes faced the dynasty in 1990 when Kareem retired and Pat Riley left the team too, but Magic had another MVP season, leading a Lakers team that fell short in the Western Conference playoffs for only the third time in Magic’s career. Magic was still playing great basketball in 1991, but the league had changed around him and when he helped drag the Lakers into the Finals, Magic was no match for the game’s new unquestioned master, Michael Jordan, and the Bulls won in five easy games. However in spite of the fact that Magic’s rival and friend Bird’s career was nearly over due to a horribly injured back, Johnson was still only 31-years-old and in good health. That was why the sports world was turned upside down when in October 1991, Magic announced that he had contracted HIV and would therefore have to retire from the NBA. At the time, it seemed a death sentence for Magic, but while it thankfully turned out not to be the case, his career was over. In 12-seasons the Lakers had made it to the NBA Finals nine times and gone five and four, and had won all five between 1980-88. Magic won three MVPs and three Finals MVPs during the run, and completely changed the culture of the Lakers, going from the team that always came up short to a team that could win the biggest games. Even now, with Kobe Bryant at the end of his career and the team in bad shape, it is still a prime destination for free agents and that is not just because the team plays in Los Angeles, it is because Magic, Kareem, and Riley helped to change the franchise.

Key Figures:

Jerry Buss (Owner and President)

Jerry West (General Manager)

Pat Riley (Head Coach from 1981-89)

Magic Johnson

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

James Worthy

Best season during the run: 1986-87 – 65-17, 8.32 SRS, victory in NBA Finals in six over the defending champion Celtics.

Most Memorable Moment: Rookie Magic Johnson jumps center for the Lakers in place of the injured Kareem, plays every position and scores 47 points. Hell of a way to end your rookie season in the NBA. Two other big moments would be Magic’s baby skyhook that pretty much sealed the 1987 Finals for the Lakers – a huge feat because it meant the Showtime Lakers would be the Team of the ‘80s and not the rival Celtics, and it meant Magic would be the player of the decade instead of Bird. In third place is the terrible moment when Magic had to prematurely retire due to HIV.

8.) Edmonton Oilers (1983-90): The 1980s Oilers’ dynasty may be the greatest assemblage of talent in sports history, as their roster reads not only like an all-star team for the era in which it played, but an all-star team made up of Hall of Famers and starring ‘The Great One’ Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player in hockey history. In 1983 the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup Finals but was crushed by a battle-tested Islanders dynasty (more on them later) that swept Edmonton to win its fourth-consecutive Stanley Cup Championship. Gretzky had already proven he was the best player in the league, had won the Hart Trophy for NHL MVP four-straight times, and was still only 23-years-old, and the team finally started playing up to his skills, winning the President’s Trophy as the top team in the NHL regular season, and made it back to the Cup Finals for a rematch with the Islanders, and this time the Oilers steamrolled the Isles to end their ‘drive for five’ beating the four-time defending champions and announcing their arrival to the league. The Oilers had accumulated an almost unbelievable collection of talent in a league of 21-teams, surrounding Gretzky with Hall of Famers Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr and fellow top-ten all-time player Mark Messier, and from the ’84 season through ’88 the Gretzky’s Oilers won four Stanley Cups in five-seasons, with only an upset at the hands of a great Calgary Flames team in the second round of 1986 playoffs stopping them from winning five-consecutive titles; instead they had to settle with a pair of back-to-back championships in ’84-’85, and ’87-’88. However, the dynasty – which had a higher ceiling than almost every dynasty on this list – was running into the kind of trouble that did not face the others, and that was a cheapskate owner in Peter Pocklington. After the ’87 season, the cracks started to show when Pocklington got into a dispute with Coffey, and then traded the star defenseman (who is in the discussion for who is the second best defenseman ever behind Bobby Orr) to Pittsburgh. The trade did not stop the Oilers from winning it all again the following year, and running through the playoffs with an incredible record of 16-2, meaning that the Oilers did not even lose enough games through four rounds to have even been eliminated in one round. In the ’88 Stanley Cup Finals the Oilers swept the Boston Bruins and Gretzky hoisted the Cup for the fourth time in five-seasons; it was the last he’d ever win, and his last game as an Oiler.

Pocklington had decided that he did not save enough money with the Coffey trade, and he therefore could not afford to sign the Great One to a new contract after his current one expired after the ’89 season, and he shocked the world by trading could not afford to keep the Great One, shocking the hockey world by trading hockey’s biggest star to the Los Angeles Kings at the age of only 27. In 1989 the Oilers, now led by Messier, who had succeeded Gretzky as team captain, were upset in the playoffs by Gretzky’s Kings. But incredibly, the Oilers’ dynasty was still not done and in 1990 Messier won his first Hart Trophy and led the Oilers to their fifth Stanley Cup in seven-seasons. After that win, through a series of trades and free agent departures, the Oilers eventually dismembered the entire dynasty, Messier left for the New York Rangers, and Kurri joined Gretzky in LA.

There are other teams on the list that might have one more championships if or two things went differently, but the Oilers are unique in that they were broken up by their owner and while it may seem silly to say that four championships in five-years and five in seven stand as a failure to live up to the team’s potential, it is the truth nonetheless. If Pocklington had not been so cheap or if the Oilers played in a bigger market and could have been kept together, it is hard to believe that they would not have just kept winning title after title. If the team was great enough and had enough skill that it could win without Coffey and then without him and the greatest player in history, how could it have been stopped if it could KEEP those players together? It is why this dynasty is not ranked higher, because by all rights this should have been the single greatest dynasty in sports history, but Pocklington’s decision to break up the team not only kept it from attaining that status and made it so the Oilers’ dynasty is ranked behind two NHL dynasties that directly preceded their run.

Key Figures:
Glen Sather (Head coach for first 4 Cup wins, General Manager for the whole run.)

Wayne Gretzky

Mark Messier

Paul Coffey

Grant Fuhr

Jari Kurri

Glen Anderson

Best season during the run: 1983-84 – The Oilers went 57-18-5, led the league with 119 points (the next closest team had 104) and finished with an SRS of 1.51. In the Stanley Cup Finals they met the Islanders in a rematch of the ’83 finals that ended in an Islanders’ sweep, and defeated the four-time defending champion Islanders four games to one.

Most Memorable Moment: John Pocklington’s decision to trade the 27-year-old Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings and the tearful press conference that followed it is sadly the most memorable moment for a dynasty that was cut short by a cheap owner and a small market when it might have been the greatest in sports history.

7.) Green Bay Packers (1961-67): There is a reason the Super Bowl winning team is handed a trophy named for Vince Lombardi. Before Lombardi took the helm of the Packers in 1959, the team had been terrible every year after winning the 1944 NFL Championship. Green Bay was the most successful franchise in the early years of the NFL, winning six NFL titles between 1929 and ’44. After that win though, the franchise fell on hard times, and watched from afar as the 1950s were dominated by upstarts like the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts, two teams that had only come into the league in 1950 from the All-American Football Conference. But that all changed when Vince Lombardi arrived in 1959 after serving as the offensive coordinator for the perennial contender New York Giants (on a staff that amazingly had Lombardi in charge of the offense and Tom Landry as defensive coordinator) and instantly turned the team’s culture around. In 1960, only his second season ever as a head coach in the NFL, Lombardi had the Packers in the NFL Title game for the first time in over a decade, losing 17-13 in Philadelphia to the Eagles. The Packers’ loss to the Eagles was only the beginning for Lombardi squad that would own the decade, and in 1961 the Packers finished with the league’s best record at 11-3 to return to the NFL Championship game before smoking Lombardi’s former team (the Giants) 37-0. The Pack followed up their success in ’61 by having arguably the greatest season in NFL history, going 13-1 and defeating the Giants again (though, with the game in NY, the Giants kept it closer before losing 16-7). After the Packers came up short of the playoffs in ’63 and ’64, some critics wrote off the Packers as an old team past its prime, but Green Bay was far from done, and still relying primarily on the power sweep that Lombardi had invented, the Packers returned to the NFL Championship game in ’65 and defeated the defending champion Cleveland Browns 23-12.

Professional football changed forever in 1966 though, when the competing American Football League formed an agreement with the NFL for its champion to play the NFL champion in a new title game that would eventually be called the Super Bowl, and the new game would lead to the greatest coaching not just of Lombardi’s career, but perhaps in NFL history. The coaching was amazing for one simple reason: once the Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Title game (which, prior to this season would have made them the champions of football), Lombardi somehow successfully kept his team of veterans mentally sharp and hungry to play in a Super Bowl that seemed anti-climactic and even a bit like an exhibition to some of the players. Lombardi was under an amazing amount of stress too, because the NFL believed that its brand of football was far superior to that of the AFL and many of the NFL’s most powerful owners were pressuring Lombardi and telling him that he represented the NFL and had to win. Then once the game began, the Packers showed up to play and decimated the AFL champ Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in Super Bowl I. In ’67 the Packers started to show their age, but once again they found themselves back in the NFL Championship game, again playing the Dallas Cowboys in a game that, due to the sub-zero temperatures in Green Bay, came to be known as the ‘Ice Bowl.’ Trailing 17-14 with the time running down and the ball at the one, it was expected that the Packers would kick a field goal to tie the game at 17 and head to overtime, but Lombardi, saying he wanted to get everyone out of the cold, called a QB sneak and Hall of Famer Bart Starr plunged ahead for the score that gave the Packers a 21-17 victory. In Super Bowl II the Packers again smoked the AFL Champion, this time the Oakland Raiders, by the score of 33-14.

Winning Super Bowl II made the Packers became the first – and still only – team in NFL history to win three consecutive championships (the 1929-31 Packers technically did too, but back then there was no championship game at all and the league champion was just the team with the best record). However, after the game not only was the team now truly past its prime, Lombardi was burned out too, and after he was carried off the field by his victorious players, he retired from the Packers; his team had won five championships in seven-years with the last two doubling as the first two Super Bowls. Like I said: there is a reason it is called the Lombardi Trophy.

Key Figures:

Vince Lombardi (HC and team President)

Bart Starr

Ray Nitschke

Paul Hornung

Jerry Kramer

Max Magee

Best season during the run: 1962 – The Pack went 13-1,and won the NFL Championship 16-7 over the Giants. Their SRS of 19.1 is the second greatest in history, trailing only the 2007 New England Patriots 20.7. Of course, those Patriots lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants, which means that this Green Bay team may in fact be the greatest single-season team in league history.

Most Memorable Moment: Winning Super Bowl I is up near the top, but the prize needs to go to the QB Sneak by Bart Starr that ended the Ice Bowl with a victory for the Packers. It was the last game Lombardi ever coached at Lambeau Field, as the Packers won go on to win Super Bowl II in Los Angeles and then he would retire.

6.) New York Islanders (1980-83): When the Montreal Canadiens dynasty (more on them to come) ended after their fourth-consecutive Stanley Cup Championship in 1979, the New York Islanders were eager to replace that dynasty with one of their own. Coming into the league in the 1972 expansion, the Islanders had begun accumulating one of the greatest collections of talent in NHL history: it honestly was not that far behind the roster the Oilers had put together. As the ‘70s progressed the Isles and their eventual Hall of Fame head coach Al Arbour built a remarkable team with a foundation of Hall of Famers led by defenseman and captain Denis Potvin, center and ’79 NHL MVP Bryan Trottier, goalie Billy Smith, and rightwing Mike Bossy, who is perhaps the greatest pure goal scorer in NHL history. The Islanders were poised to replace Montreal in the ’79-’80 season, but new rules had expanded the playoffs to four rounds, which made it more difficult to win one championship, let alone more than one. Still, the Isles made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their history, where they faced the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that had won back-to-back championships in ’74-’75 before being shoved aside by the Habs’ dynasty and was trying to return to greatness. The Islanders would not be denied, however, and they defeated the Flyers in six games to become only the second expansion franchise (after those Flyers) to win the Cup. The Isles had pushed themselves very hard to win the Stanley Cup, but somehow the team did not lose focus after their victory, but instead found new purpose in a desire to surpass the preceding Montreal dynasty. In ’81 the Isles showed their commitment to excellence by finishing with the best record in the sport, driven in large part by Bossy’s league-leading 68 goals, and they then defended their championship in the playoffs, defeating the Minnesota North Stars in five games. In ’82 the Isles again earned the best record in the sport, and once in the playoffs and, after a scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one, rolled through the next three rounds with 12 victories and only two losses, sweeping the overmatched Vancouver Canucks in the Finals to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup. In ’83 the Isles did not finish with the best record in the league, but once the playoffs started they were just as deadly as ever, advancing to the Finals for the fourth straight time, this time against the young Wayne Gretzky Oilers who were gunning for the Isles just as the Isles had once chased the Habs, but the Oilers proved no match for the Isles and were swept by New York as the team won its fourth-consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

However, unbeknownst to the Islanders until later, they had inadvertently helped the Oilers to overtake them when Wayne Gretzky passed by the Isles locker room after the game and saw the bruised and battered Islanders have a very low-key celebration. The Great One later said that it was seeing those Islanders, and recognizing the price that they had paid (not just in the ’83 playoffs but through their incredible run) to win that showed him what it truly took to be a champion. When the Islanders returned to the Finals in ’84 for the fifth-straight season, they again ran into the Edmonton, but this time the Oilers were ready, and they beat the Isles in five-games to end their ‘drive for five,’ and announce the start of their own dynasty. By that point, the Islanders had set a record that is likely to stand forever by winning a ludicrous 19 consecutive playoff series from 1980-84. The Canadiens had won their titles when there were less rounds of the playoffs, while the Isles won 16-consecutive playoff series during their four-straight Cup wins, and then won three more to return to the Finals in ’84, ending at an almost unfathomable 19.

For some reason, this dynasty usually doesn’t receive the acclaim that it should, and I believe that may be because it took place in the time between the Canadiens’ run and that of the Oilers, and the Isles did not have the gaudy team stats of the Canadiens, who set records for the amount of points a team had won in one season, while they did not have the individual stars to equal the Oilers collection of Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, and Jari Kurri. Bossy, Bryan Trottier, and Denis Potvin are three of the greatest players in NHL history, but the Oilers’ stars were all better at the things that those Isles were best at. Bossy may be the greatest pure goal scorer in NHL history, but not only did Gretzky outscore him, he also had an all-around game that Bossy couldn’t match. Trottier was an incredibly well-rounded center, but was he as good as Messier? Probably not. And Potvin is one of the best defensemen ever, but Coffey produced far more points and won three Norris trophies just as Potvin did. Had the amazing Bossy come along in almost any other era he would have won multiple MVPs, he just had the misfortune to play at the same time as Gretzky. For example, Alex Ovechkin won the MVP in 2008 when he led the league with 65 goals and 112 points, while in ’82 Bossy scored 64 goals and earned 147 points, but that year Gretzky set the single-season record for goals with 92 and accumulated 212 points.

The Islanders may not have been the match of those Habs and they didn’t have The Great One, but for a while there they won like no one ever had before and none have since, are the last team in any of the Big Four Sports leagues to win four-straight championships, and strung together 19-consecutive playoff series victories; there’s nothing unfortunate about that.

Key Figures:

Al Arbour (HC)

Dennis Potvin

Mike Bossy

Bryan Trottier

Billy Smith

Best season in the run: 1981-82 – The Isles went 54 – 16 – 10, and led the league with 118 points, and a 1.63 SRS. They swept the Vancouver Canucks in the Cup Finals to win the team’s third-straight Stanley Cup.

Most Memorable Moment: The Isles steam-rolled the league for so long that they actually had few moments that truly stand out. Just before the dynasty, Bossy had scored 50 goals in 50 games, but Gretzky soon bettered that. They invented the playoff beard, but in the absence of one specific moment I’ll again highlight the facts that they won 19-consecutive playoff series and are the last Big Four team to win a title in four consecutive seasons.

The top five dynasties in sports history will be listed tomorrow in Part II.