Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sports Wars Episode VI: Return of the Legends

Well the Yanks finally did it: after a nine-year drought the New York Yankees are World Series champions.

For the world that doesn't care about sports your regular scheduled programming will resume. For me, this World Series brings to mind the fact that the teams of old who dominated the previous century are returning to glory here in 2009.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, the team of the 70s, returned to glory winning their sixth Super Bowl. This set an NFL record for Super Bowl wins. The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Playoffs to win a third Stanley Cup, reviving the glory days of the early 90s. The Los Angeles Lakers, showtime of the 80s and Shaqtime of the early 2000s, won their 15th NBA championship by defeating the Orlando Magic. Now, the New York Yankees, the team who made baseball what it is today, won their 27th World Series Championship.

I think this is fantastic for sports. To see the traditional teams winning championships again reinvigorates the old-timers. More importantly, it gives the youngsters a feel of what it might have been like to watch Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in the NBA Finals, to see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Mario Lemieux in 1991 and 1992, and Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain against Roger Staubach and the Cowboys.

Today it's Kobe Bryant vs. Dwight Howard in the NBA Finals, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, Sidney Crosby in '09, and Ben Roethlisberger and the New Steel Curtain against anybody from the NFC. This has been a fantastic year of sports.

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