Toughest trophy to win in sports

[Balta1701]

Everyone even halfway decent has a chance to make the NBA/NHL playoffs. Not so much in MLB.

But in the NBA, if you're not one of the top 4 teams or so, you're very unlikely to make the finals.

[whitesoxfan101]

Everyone even halfway decent has a chance to make the NBA/NHL playoffs. Not so much in MLB.

 

You have to win 4 rounds of 4 games in a sport where bounces and good fortune are VERY important and physicality is at an incredible level to win the Stanley Cup. The MLB playoffs are no doubt harder to make, but once you get there, it's nowhere near as difficult to win it as it is in the NHL IMO (although it is tough.) Guess it depends how you look at the question.

[knightni]

You have to win 4 rounds of 4 games in a sport where bounces and good fortune are VERY important and physicality is at an incredible level to win the Stanley Cup. The MLB playoffs are no doubt harder to make, but once you get there, it's nowhere near as difficult to win it as it is in the NHL IMO (although it is tough.) Guess it depends how you look at the question.

There's so much parity in the NHL that teams like Montreal and Philly come up and get to the Finals every year.

 

[Dick Allen]

There are so many ways to look at it. You can probably make a case for just about every choice. Fewer franchises have won an NBA title the past 20 years. How many NBA champions have there been or how many NBA teams have played in the finals that really no one gave much of a thought to before the season started? MLB has 162 games, and the playoffs are a crapshoot. The NHL's season is grueling. The NFL is tough. Each team is an injury or 2 away from being fairly insiginificant. Golf has more competors per winner than the others.

 

Maybe one is harder than the rest, but if it is, its a very slight difference. They all are tough and huge accomplishments.

[daa84]

its gotta be the NCAA bball championship....you have to win 6 games in a row without losing....1 loss and you are done...0 room for error ...and its always neutral court

 

in the NBA, MLB, NHL 7 game series the team that deserves to win will win more often than not....while this makes it easier for an upset to occur in the college bball tourney, its still unbelievably difficult to win 6 in a row without losing.....in addition, for a handful of the games you have 1 day to prepare for the next opponent you will play....

 

Stanley cup is ridiculously hard too because of the grind that 100+ games of hockey must take on the body

 

MLB is very hard to make the playoffs, but as others said, once you get there its a crap shoot and mediocre pitchers can get hot and win it all (ie 06 cards and Weaver/suppan)

 

NFL is difficult too, but teams that earn a buy only have to win 3 games (1 or 2 usually at home)

Edited June 12, 2010 by daa84

[WilliamTell]

Forgetting that World Cup is every four years, I say BCS because most of the field doesn't control their destiny at the beginning of the year. We've seen teams go undefeated in a BCS conference and not even get to the title game. Besides, if you ask Brazil or Italy the World Cup is actually pretty easy to win...

 

I picked College Football as well. It sucks for teams going undefeated and still not being able to play in a championship, especially when there could be a team with a loss playing for the trophy.

[Felix]

I disagree. If you spend more money than anyone else your chances of winning a title increase tremendously. The lack of a salary cap favors the top tier (in spending) franchises.

 

Just look at the titles the Yankees and Red Sox have won in the last decade.

 

Of course it was different prior to free agency.

 

BTW, I voted the World Cup. Only 7 different nations have ever won it.

There is no correlation between market size and playoff appearances.

 

Really, there isn't any proof that adding a salary cap would do anything to improve the competitive balance of baseball.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Felix

[whitesoxfan101]

There's so much parity in the NHL that teams like Montreal and Philly come up and get to the Finals every year.

 

To me, that proves even more that the Cup is the hardest to win. The fact that great, highly seeded teams are regularly bounced out early in the playoffs in the NHL shows that it's just really hard to build a champion.

Edited June 12, 2010 by whitesoxfan101

[knightni]

If you don't need to win in the regular season in order to compete for the championship, how is that proving difficulty?

[SoxAce]

Alright Slav. It's been 3 pages and you have yet to respond to your own thread. What is your opinion?

[SoxFan1]

Alright Slav. It's been 3 pages and you have yet to respond to your own thread. What is your opinion?

World Cup, by a mile and a half.

[Dick Allen]

There is no correlation between market size and playoff appearances.

 

Really, there isn't any proof that adding a salary cap would do anything to improve the competitive balance of baseball.

Exactly. How has the cap worked in the NBA? If you aren't the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Rockets or Spurs or Heat, you haven't won a title in a very long time.

[danman31]

World Cup, by a mile and a half.

Yeah because when you get a red card and a penalty against you it's pretty hard to win. Sorry, had to. I really don't think the World Cup applies because it's such a different competition.

[Milkman delivers]

I picked College Football as well. It sucks for teams going undefeated and still not being able to play in a championship, especially when there could be a team with a loss playing for the trophy.

 

And in the case of Notre Dame, you can have a team with 3 or 4 losses playing in a BCS game.

[Chisoxfn]

How is the Stanley Cup possibly ahead of the World Series. No American sports profession has fewer teams make the playoffs and historically even less teams did. Teams in the NHL, NFL, and NBA have a much easier time getting in and from there like most sports, it is a bit if a crapshoot.

 

World Cup I could buy into because of the 1 out of every 4 year thing and the fact that some countries have almost zero chance. Baseball has a few teams that have almost zero chance too.

[witesoxfan]

I'd say the NBA is hard. A lot of times, you have to play against not only another team, but against the refs too!

 

I do think I'd agree with baseball. The amount of work it takes to get a team competitive enough to actually make it to the postseason requires either a ton of luck or being far and away better at scouting and player development than other teams within your division, and even then you have to have a team that can win in the playoffs too. The A's make like, what, 5 playoff appearances in the 00s and won 1 series? The Angels were constantly making it, and, aside from their fluky run (when they could have easily lost game 6 of the World Series), they didn't make much noise in the postseason either.

[JPN366]

I picked College Football as well. It sucks for teams going undefeated and still not being able to play in a championship, especially when there could be a team with a loss playing for the trophy.

 

The 2004 Auburn Tigers agree. Undefeated in the SEC, but overrated Oklahoma, with a loss in their conference championship, plays the cheating USC squad for the title. I'm glad the NCAA can't come down on the Seahawks, Pete Carroll be bringin' the throat slash to Seattle.

Edited June 13, 2010 by JPN366

[zenryan]

The 2004 Auburn Tigers agree. Undefeated in the SEC, but overrated Oklahoma, with a loss in their conference championship, plays the cheating USC squad for the title. I'm glad the NCAA can't come down on the Seahawks, Pete Carroll be bringin' the throat slash to Seattle.

 

 

OU was 12-0 going into that national title game vs USC.

[MattZakrowski]

Even if you don't count the World Cup because of the every 4 years thing, the UEFA Champions League still beats our domestic sports.

[Drew]

I'd say the NBA is hard. A lot of times, you have to play against not only another team, but against the refs too!

 

I do think I'd agree with baseball. The amount of work it takes to get a team competitive enough to actually make it to the postseason requires either a ton of luck or being far and away better at scouting and player development than other teams within your division, and even then you have to have a team that can win in the playoffs too. The A's make like, what, 5 playoff appearances in the 00s and won 1 series? The Angels were constantly making it, and, aside from their fluky run (when they could have easily lost game 6 of the World Series), they didn't make much noise in the postseason either.

 

Comcast owns Versus and the Philadelphia Flyers. Compare the officiating in the two games in Philly that were televised on Versus to games 5 and 6. Not only does Comcast have a vested interest in extending the series and up ratings, they also have a vested interest in who wins.

[GoodAsGould]

After watching the NHL playoffs these last 2 years I think that has to be the sport for me, it seems that its the one sport that no matter how mighty you are, can still lose in 1st round.

[SoxFan1]

Yeah because when you get a red card and a penalty against you it's pretty hard to win. Sorry, had to. I really don't think the World Cup applies because it's such a different competition.

No, you didn't have to.

[Felix]

How does the World Cup even relate at all to any of the other options? It's between countries and only happens once every four years. It's like saying the Winter (or summer) Olympics are the hardest competition to win, which might be true, but it's not the same type of team sport as the others.

[T R U]

soccer sucks

[southsider2k5]

Comcast owns Versus and the Philadelphia Flyers. Compare the officiating in the two games in Philly that were televised on Versus to games 5 and 6. Not only does Comcast have a vested interest in extending the series and up ratings, they also have a vested interest in who wins.

 

They also own comcastsportsnet here in Chicago...