There are two competing three-peat efforts going on right now. I haven't really lived through this, at least during any sentient part of my life as a sports fan. I guess there was the 2000 - 2002 Lakers, or the 1998 - 2000 Yankees, teams I have vague memories of, but those were, in the sports sense, lifetimes ago. No, right now I'm living through it for the first time in a sense, or at least the opportunity for one. Both the Pittsburgh Penguins, as a write this up 3-1 in their first round series, and Real Madrid, as I write this setting up for their Champions League Semifinal tie against Bayern, are on the chase, and I can't wait to see if they pull it off.
Obviously, I have a more vested interest in Real Madrid, and if they can pull it off, it would be incredible. Until last year, no team had even repeated in the Champions League era, so for them to do it, even in a year where they've struggled in La Liga, would be unbelievable. For the Pens, in a way the same. No team had repeated for 19 years until the Penguins did last year. No team has done three in a row since Gretzky's Oilers. Odds are against either for pulling it off - even Madrid who is one out of 4 left, but I'm just invigorated to see it happen.
To be fair, I've watched teams attempt it, but few even came close. The first was the 2005 Patriots, of course with any Patriots team I would be actively rooting against it. Their run ended in a weird night in Denver where they made every mistake possible. The next was the 2011 Lakers, who were hilariously swept by the Mavericks, fit with Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum getting ejected in the 4th quarter of the Game 4 blowout that coupled as Phil Jackson's last game. The next was the 2014 Heat, who again due to their opponent being the Spurs, I was rooting against, and their run ended with the most devastating three game stretch of basketball ever.
These two feel different, in a way, though. We are still far away from either actually doing it, but I have a feeling both will give good runs. The Penguins look absolutely unstoppable, tossing aside Philadelphia like nothing (game 2 aside), with their offense humming, their top two guys playing as well as ever (honestly, how good are Crosby and Malkin?), and Matt Murray getting two shutouts in the first four games.
For Madrid, it is a bit tenuous, getting somewhat lucky to get past Juventus in the Quarterfinals, but at some point these lucky wins become more of a sign of their mental strength. I truly believe that Madrid believes that this is their competition, opponents be damned. Even in the face of Bayern Munich, they have the mental edge (it helps they've knocked out this iteration of Bayern twice recently), and of course they have Cristiano, soccer's nice answer to Sidney Crosby, a player far too hated for someone so incredibly good.
Looking past whether they can, I want to talk about whether they should. Are dynasties, especially ones like this where it is three in a row, actually good? Sure, some of the reaction is skewed by my feelings about the teams, but in these cases, sure, excellence is great at times. Especially here. No hockey team has done this in 35 years. No soccer team has done this in close to 45 years. Every now and then we need this type of dominance. To remind ourselves what greatness is. For both, these are grueling competitions, especially hockey where the length you go in the playoffs directly reduces the length of the offseason. For both teams to be potentially on the cusp of it, and with the same core each of the three years, is remarkable.
We are too often annoyed by such success, and sure there is a certain societal gain by spreading the wealth, but too often we overlook what incredible dominance can teach. For the Penguins, it is just how good Crosby and Malkin are historically - specifically Malkin who was hilariously left off of the NHL's league-sanctioned Top 100 players list in 2017 commemorating the league's 100th(-ish) season. Sidney Crosby, a man so maligned for years despite being the league's best, most gifted player throughout, reaffirming his status as truly one of the best ever.
For Madrid, it is that raised even higher, for Ronaldo, who is as good at soccer as Crosby is at hockey and far more maligned than Sid the Kid, finally getting the respect by blowing out the competition in the Champions League to a truly hilarious degree. We can debate who the best player is or who is better between Messi and Ronaldo, but there is no debate in Champions League play.
Even with the coaches, it is interesting to note that neither has gotten the requisite credit even at this point. Oddly, both were hired mid-way through the first title season, and sheperded their teams as something of a hired hand. That is somewhat understandable. What is less so is after both Mike Sullivan and Zinedine Zidane won the second straight title, they still lag behind in credit. As someone who follows these types of debates too much, it is glaring how little either man is mentioned in 'Best Coach' in his sport - specifically Sullivan (it is somewhat easy to overlook Zidane since he is still Ziendaine Fucking Zidane - it is still unnatural to think of him as a great coach). Their time will come.
This may be all for not. There is, again, a decent chance neither team pulls it off, but as someone who railed against these types of streaks, it's odd how much I want both to do it to some degree. Again, with Madrid I openly just want them to do it as a Madridista, but with the Penguins, ostensibly a division rival of my team, I'm fully in support of them doing it. In Crosby increasing his trophy case, in Malkin doing the same - and hopefully getting the credit he so readily deserves as being closer to Crosby historically than people think. I won't be too sad if they don't get it done (and to be clear, I did pick them to lose to Philly), but there is a lot to like about the Penguins rise these last three years.
In the end, this is just a continuing theme of me being drawn more and more to sustained greatness as I've gotten older (again, Patriots being a giant, glaring exception). It happened with Federer, with LeBron, with Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw. Greatness in sports should be celebrated, and the rarest of achievements, the threepeat, even more so. We were spoiled by Phil Jackson, thinking this is somewhat natural. It still has never happened in the NFL. The few teams that have done it in baseball and hockey are among the most celebrated groups ever. It has never happened in the modern Champions League, and when it has in the prior iteration that was the European Cup, it too were clebrated groups. We may just be having two more, with more similarties than you would thin, about to do it both at the same time.
Obviously, I have a more vested interest in Real Madrid, and if they can pull it off, it would be incredible. Until last year, no team had even repeated in the Champions League era, so for them to do it, even in a year where they've struggled in La Liga, would be unbelievable. For the Pens, in a way the same. No team had repeated for 19 years until the Penguins did last year. No team has done three in a row since Gretzky's Oilers. Odds are against either for pulling it off - even Madrid who is one out of 4 left, but I'm just invigorated to see it happen.
To be fair, I've watched teams attempt it, but few even came close. The first was the 2005 Patriots, of course with any Patriots team I would be actively rooting against it. Their run ended in a weird night in Denver where they made every mistake possible. The next was the 2011 Lakers, who were hilariously swept by the Mavericks, fit with Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum getting ejected in the 4th quarter of the Game 4 blowout that coupled as Phil Jackson's last game. The next was the 2014 Heat, who again due to their opponent being the Spurs, I was rooting against, and their run ended with the most devastating three game stretch of basketball ever.
These two feel different, in a way, though. We are still far away from either actually doing it, but I have a feeling both will give good runs. The Penguins look absolutely unstoppable, tossing aside Philadelphia like nothing (game 2 aside), with their offense humming, their top two guys playing as well as ever (honestly, how good are Crosby and Malkin?), and Matt Murray getting two shutouts in the first four games.
For Madrid, it is a bit tenuous, getting somewhat lucky to get past Juventus in the Quarterfinals, but at some point these lucky wins become more of a sign of their mental strength. I truly believe that Madrid believes that this is their competition, opponents be damned. Even in the face of Bayern Munich, they have the mental edge (it helps they've knocked out this iteration of Bayern twice recently), and of course they have Cristiano, soccer's nice answer to Sidney Crosby, a player far too hated for someone so incredibly good.
Looking past whether they can, I want to talk about whether they should. Are dynasties, especially ones like this where it is three in a row, actually good? Sure, some of the reaction is skewed by my feelings about the teams, but in these cases, sure, excellence is great at times. Especially here. No hockey team has done this in 35 years. No soccer team has done this in close to 45 years. Every now and then we need this type of dominance. To remind ourselves what greatness is. For both, these are grueling competitions, especially hockey where the length you go in the playoffs directly reduces the length of the offseason. For both teams to be potentially on the cusp of it, and with the same core each of the three years, is remarkable.
We are too often annoyed by such success, and sure there is a certain societal gain by spreading the wealth, but too often we overlook what incredible dominance can teach. For the Penguins, it is just how good Crosby and Malkin are historically - specifically Malkin who was hilariously left off of the NHL's league-sanctioned Top 100 players list in 2017 commemorating the league's 100th(-ish) season. Sidney Crosby, a man so maligned for years despite being the league's best, most gifted player throughout, reaffirming his status as truly one of the best ever.
For Madrid, it is that raised even higher, for Ronaldo, who is as good at soccer as Crosby is at hockey and far more maligned than Sid the Kid, finally getting the respect by blowing out the competition in the Champions League to a truly hilarious degree. We can debate who the best player is or who is better between Messi and Ronaldo, but there is no debate in Champions League play.
Even with the coaches, it is interesting to note that neither has gotten the requisite credit even at this point. Oddly, both were hired mid-way through the first title season, and sheperded their teams as something of a hired hand. That is somewhat understandable. What is less so is after both Mike Sullivan and Zinedine Zidane won the second straight title, they still lag behind in credit. As someone who follows these types of debates too much, it is glaring how little either man is mentioned in 'Best Coach' in his sport - specifically Sullivan (it is somewhat easy to overlook Zidane since he is still Ziendaine Fucking Zidane - it is still unnatural to think of him as a great coach). Their time will come.
This may be all for not. There is, again, a decent chance neither team pulls it off, but as someone who railed against these types of streaks, it's odd how much I want both to do it to some degree. Again, with Madrid I openly just want them to do it as a Madridista, but with the Penguins, ostensibly a division rival of my team, I'm fully in support of them doing it. In Crosby increasing his trophy case, in Malkin doing the same - and hopefully getting the credit he so readily deserves as being closer to Crosby historically than people think. I won't be too sad if they don't get it done (and to be clear, I did pick them to lose to Philly), but there is a lot to like about the Penguins rise these last three years.
In the end, this is just a continuing theme of me being drawn more and more to sustained greatness as I've gotten older (again, Patriots being a giant, glaring exception). It happened with Federer, with LeBron, with Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw. Greatness in sports should be celebrated, and the rarest of achievements, the threepeat, even more so. We were spoiled by Phil Jackson, thinking this is somewhat natural. It still has never happened in the NFL. The few teams that have done it in baseball and hockey are among the most celebrated groups ever. It has never happened in the modern Champions League, and when it has in the prior iteration that was the European Cup, it too were clebrated groups. We may just be having two more, with more similarties than you would thin, about to do it both at the same time.
