Cinderella Teams Winning a Title- Good Or Bad?

[SabresRule]

How do you feel when the out-of-nowhere teams win a title/make it to the final round?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Here's my look at both sides:

The case for:

EVERYONE loves an underdog (I think)

It can turn a player into a superstar (remember J.S. Giguere in 2003?)

It can leave a mark on a franchise for years to come (See Vancouver's Towel Power in 1982)

The case against:

It can screw up some great possibilities (see the Giants spoiling what would have been great NFC Championship/Super Bowl possibilities)

It can be a slap in the face to the concept of 'the best team wins'

It can seem to be extrodinarily lucky with a lot of good fortune

IMO, I don't like it.

As a hockey fan, I still get sick to my stomach thinking about when a 27-win, 63-point Minnesota North Stars made it all the way to the Cup Finals in 1991

It's one thing to be a low-seed, but at lease they can finish with 40 wins or a record above .500 (My Sabres won fewer than 40 games when they made the Cup Finals in 1999, but at least they finished above .500)

Imagine a 6-10 team winning the Super Bowl or a 90-loss team winning the World Series!

 

[anders5189]

Cinderellas are good for sports unless they happen to beat your favorite team. That's the beauty of sports, anything can happen. Teams that lose to cinderellas are often cocky and deserve to lose, like the Patriots did. And not all cinderellas suck. Sometimes they have injuries or other things that slow them down during the season, and they get it together when they need to.

Sabres you should expand your horizons beyond hockey. I don't follow the sport myself so I'll take your word for it that some dreadful teams have gone a long way before, but that really doesn't happen much in other sports. Cinderella usually just means a big underdog, but most cinderellas in other sports were decent teams, just not favored to win it all, as was the case with the Giants. No sub .500 teams have ever won the WS, SB or NBA Finals.

 

[Ramy]

Imagine a 6-10 team winning the Super Bowl or a 90-loss team winning the World Series!

These scenarios are probably never going to happen. A sub .500 team has never even made the playoffs in the NFL or MLB.


P.S. Not that I care, but was just curious. Did you post this much on DBSForums and how do you have enough time to do it?

 

[HD MM]

Cinderellas are good for sports unless they happen to beat your favorite team. That's the beauty of sports, anything can happen.

+1 :up

Cinderella scenarios make for the best Drama.

 

[duckydan]

Tecnhically a sub .500 team HAS made the playoffs in the NFL. The Detroit Lions in 1982 were 4 - 5. Other than that no 7 - 9 team or worse has made it so technically you are correct but with that one exception during a strike year.

As for an underdog, I like it sometimes when the team is popular enough for me to care (Ex: Anaheim a few years ago in the NHL) but not when it is a team with no fans at all (Florida Marlins) who cannot even make the games watchable. The Giants were a great underdog and made the superbowl fun to watch last year (even though I hate them I had to root against the Patriots) When the underdog has a story or the team they are playing has a story it is good but a lot of times it's just not exciting enough.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well both my parents went to Villanova, so I think they support the idea of Cinderellas being good. ;-p

Cinderellas are nice when they add variety. A Cinderella every year gets annoying, but a story like a Nova or a George Mason or NY Giants of last year (If I had to watch Packers/Cowboys VS Patriots I would have jumped off a bridge) is good every few years.

 

[talos4]

Other than Patriots fans, who really thought the Giants winning wasn't a good thing?

THAT DAY the best team did win. It's not what you've done to get here it's what did you do today!

Going into the playoff's the Giants had the big MO.

And, I agree with yourbeliefs...

If it was going to be another Packers/Patriots SB, I would have joined you on that bridge.

We we're rooting for anybody but the Patriots coming out of the AFC.

Of course we all know how that plan worked out.:shocked

 

[cybok0]

These scenarios are probably never going to happen. A sub .500 team has never even made the playoffs in the NFL or MLB.


P.S. Not that I care, but was just curious. Did you post this much on DBSForums and how do you have enough time to do it?

I was thinking the same thing.