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Has just getting to the title games in sports being underrated?

Discussion in 'Football: NFL, College, High School' started by UtilityPlayer, Jan 31, 2015.

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  1. UtilityPlayer

    UtilityPlayer Member

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    Are we as sports fans undervaluing the hard work that takes to get to semifinals , or even title games and losing in different sports?

    Take all the various sports you might follow and see that from people. We are a imperfect society but expecting teams to be perfect .

    Got this idea from a radio show.
     
  2. Fyreball

    Fyreball Contributing Member

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    Indeed. When a guy like Peyton Manning is labeled as a choker, you know things have gone too far. Just go to the GARM and see the level of ridiculousness some people exhibit for a team that's 33-14.
     
  3. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    It certainly wouldn't be underrated in Houston. I fear my mom is going to die before she sees a Houston team in the Super Bowl.
     
  4. plutoblue11

    plutoblue11 Member

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    Yes, yes, and yes.

    Considering people, especially younger fans make fun of teams, like the 90s Bills and their 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses; the Braves and their 14 consecutive division titles, 1 World Series victory, and 5 World Series appearances; and the Eagles four consecutive NFC title games.

    I think it's harder for teams to win now, because all of the major team sports leagues are geared towards the concept of parity, while heavy free agent movement effects each roster from year to year. Especially the NFL were repeating is almost unheard of in 2014. Considering that Seattle is the only defending Super Bowl champion, since 2004 Patriots to win a playoff game the next season speaks volumes of how difficult it is to win a title.

    Look at how so many regular season juggernauts are falling down from the first round to the championship. In Baseball, it's very easy to lose 5 game series after 162 game season, while it's just easy to lose as a 14+ win team in the NFL against a team that barely made the playoffs.
     
  5. jdh008

    jdh008 Member

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    I think appearances in championship games (or series) is completely underrated in sports.

    I've always felt that how many championships a player won relative to their appearances in the postseason carries far too much weight when we get into discussions about the merits of certain players. To me, players who continually help their team get into a position to play for the championship (Peyton Manning, to use the stated example), even if they come up short more often than they would like, should be celebrated far more than they are today.

    More than we're often willing to admit, playoff games, particularly in one-off games like the NFL playoffs, are basically coin-flips. Every team is good at that point, and losses are going to happen.
     
  6. CCorn

    CCorn Member

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    Its silly how people discredit a finals appearance and act like its a blemish on a resume to lose in a finals... Like a second place finish is worse than not making the post season in general.
     
  7. Juxtaposed Jolt

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    Agreed. Although, one can technically argue that coming in second is worse than being the worst team in the league. You get a high pick for being bad, but you only get a "what might have been" offseason as the loser of the superbowl.

    "If you ain't first, you're last?" I guess, is the mentality a lot of people have.
     
  8. Major

    Major Member

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    I do think a lot of people think that way, but I think that it discredits the whole point of sports, which is entertainment. Sure, it sucked that the Astros got swept in the World Series, but the 2005 season (and 2004) was about as exciting as any sports season in Houston in a long time. The fact that people just sort of forget about how much fun it was because of one week at the end of the year is kind of crazy. Only one team can win it all, so if failure is the end result 97% of the time, then sports is going to be a depressing proposition.

    That said, I do argue all the time that its better to be bad than to be permanently mediocre. In part because it's the only way to ever get to good in many cases, and also because I don't think the entertainment value from being bad vs mediocre is all that much different - certainly much less than the difference in being mediocre vs good.
     
  9. KyleBombardier

    KyleBombardier New Member

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    Peyton has the most playoff losses of every single QB and some people will claim that he is the "worst" playoff QB of all time. But the fact that a Peyton Manning-led team has made the playoffs so many times indicates that he' actually a pretty darn good player.

    I do, however, agree that it's better to be bad than to be permanently mediocre... At least when your bad (i.e. Colts after Manning), you can suck for Luck!
     
  10. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    I agree and have brought this up in other discussions. Consider a knock on Rick Adelman was that he shouldn't be a great coach because he only went to two finals and didn't win.

    In the NFL it's even more difficult to the one and done format and also how bruising football is. Consider that Peyton Manning was playing half the season injured and still made it to the playoffs yet some consider he is a choker.

    We always have to remember that we are talking about team sports and at the highest levels of these sports the margins between victory and defeat are often very narrow. When assessing the greatness of any team or player you have to look at the body of work. For example few consider Ernie Banks who just passed away less than great even though he never made it to the post season.
     
  11. HouStu_Rocket

    HouStu_Rocket Member

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    To the mentality coming in second is worse than not making it to the playoffs. People would rationalize players of LeBron's caliber to "not having a good team around him" but if they lose in the Finals it will work heavily against that player. People commonly refer to LeBron James' 5 finals appearances and only 2 titles when comparing him to players like Kobe or Michael
     
  12. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    This is certainly NOT the case in football (soccer) worldwide. Rosters change, it's almost the same four to five people core, but it takes A LOT to get to even the World Cup and then to get there and it's so close you can't even see the next round or so... :eek:
     
  13. solid

    solid Contributing Member

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    I fully agree. For Texans fans winning anything is pretty exciting. I have been watching Houston Pro Football since the sixties and it started off pretty good. Been mostly downhill ever since. (few exceptions would be Luv you Blue, Warren Moon, and the two recent playoff appearances)
     
  14. Juxtaposed Jolt

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    I just think it's unfortunate that one game decides the outcome. Anything can happen in one game - QB getting a concussion due to a sack, a star RB / DE / CB getting injured, etc - teams just can't plan for that, much less have such a jarring change occur.

    At least in other sports, teams have time to recover from minor injuries / have at least 4 games to play before a winner is decided. I can understand why football is only one game (because the games are so demanding on the body), but it just stinks to have only one game decide the winner.
     
  15. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    Yes in the moment, a little less so in retrospect. Bud Grant and Marv Levy will probably always be downgraded a bit despite the Vikings' expansion success and the Bills being a staggeringly deep and good team. Reeves should have been able to retire with the Broncos: although feuding with the most autonomous player in league history didn't help, winning at least once out of three would have given him some credibility and leverage.
     
  16. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    It also makes it far more exciting. And a gigantic event. A "Game 7" every single season.
     
  17. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    It's silly. I'll take 4 consecutive Superbowl appearances over the 90's Oilers never making it to the conference championship game any day of the week. And to amplify the point, I'll take 7 straight playoff appearances over losing seasons any day of the week as well.

    There are people in the Texans forum who (hypothetically) wouldn't want any part of Peyton Manning next year - even if healthy - because he's only won 1 Superbowl against the Bears. Unbelievable.
     

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