Dynasties or Fan Favorites….
What is the difference between Sport Dynasties and Fan Favorites?
I believe that Sport Dynasties, are teams or organizations that are so dominate that they change the way the sport is played, and seen by the sporting world…...
While fan favorites, are just that…. Fan Favorites.. Teams that are so popular that they contribute to the culture brand of the sport and the majority of people love them or knows of them in some way….
We sometimes tend to confuse the two and both can be true at the same time….
Let's go back in time a little….
In my time, there was some "Dynasties" such as the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburg Steelers, New York Yankees. They were called dynasties, but they were also fan favorites as well.
In today's time, we try to make the fan favorites into "Dynasties" because they're so popular with the fans, when in some cases, they're not that dominate, just favorites..
Today, most of these fan favorites are able to win a bunch of games and string together a bunch of championships, but they are not dominating or changing anything. They're just taking advantage of certain situations in environment and scheduling…
For example..
When the New England Patriots went on their run for 10 plus years, not only they was popular, but the way that they change the culture with coaching, playcalling, draft picks, free agency and branding in the NFL made them dominate in all areas for quite some time, they made the term "The Patriot Way" symbolize what they was all about..
In the 1970's the Dallas Cowboys was popular as well as a Dynasty, because of the fresh and innovative offensive scheme that Coach Tom Landry and his staff implemented that clearly changed the way defenses had to defend against them. This was also true of the dominate San Francisco Forty Niner teams of the 1980's and most of the 1990's led by Bill Walsh and his coaching staff..
But those two examples also have top notch front office staff, from the administration to the scouting staff. These teams changed the way teams are administered, and in some ways, the Patriots improved on this formula during the 2000's and what they have done in the 10 plus years, is now the standard that all of the teams are chasing..
Which leads me to now….
There are a bunch of teams right now that has elements of the formula but not the total package to make them a total dynasty, some have an awesome front office staff but a poor coaching staff, some have a great team brand with great players but a messed up front office staff, and all of them have massive coaching and staff turnover that is not sustainable or conducive to a winning formula, let alone a "Dynasty".
We, who are sport fans and follow sport, are sometimes too quick to proclaim that some team is a dynasty when they are nothing more than a fan favorite that was able to string together a case of championships…. Let's just know the difference between the two…
