which sport's title is hardest to repeat?

[biittner77]

I feel like we've done this before but it's been long enough ago that I don't remember.

[Cubswin11]

Baseball and it's not even close

[biittner77]

Baseball and it's not even close

 

Hockey and football are wars of attrition. Injuries are a certainty and a few of the wrong ones can be absolutely devastating. There are a lot of random factors that have to come together to repeat in baseball but at least the players aren't actively trying to hurt each other.

 

Will anyone vote basketball?

[philosophizer75]

I'm on my phone so I can't see the options, but I'd vote college football if I could.

 

It's almost guaranteed that you're gonna lose 25%-35% of your team between years. You can barely afford to lose a single game throughout the season if you want to stand a chance to make the playoff. Lose two and you can kiss any chance to repeat goodbye.

 

And as was mentioned before, football being a contact sport means injuries galore.

[Cubswin11]

I know it's not repeats but football, both college and NFL, has been like the same 5 teams trading off winning titles for the last decade +

[Tim]

I'm on my phone so I can't see the options, but I'd vote college football if I could.

 

It's almost guaranteed that you're gonna lose 25%-35% of your team between years. You can barely afford to lose a single game throughout the season if you want to stand a chance to make the playoff. Lose two and you can kiss any chance to repeat goodbye.

 

And as was mentioned before, football being a contact sport means injuries galore.

This ignores history to such a crazy extent

[philosophizer75]

I mean great coaching, constantly pulling in the best recruits, and returning 75% of your championship caliber roster means the real blue bloods don't lurk far below the top 10 for long, but it's still rare to see any of them go back to back.

 

Except for Bama being Bama, it hasn't happened much in recent years.

[Tim]

I mean great coaching, constantly pulling in the best recruits, and returning 75% of your championship caliber roster means the real blue bloods don't lurk far below the top 10 for long, but it's still rare to see any of them go back to back.

 

Except for Bama being Bama, it hasn't happened much in recent years.

Since 2000:

 

Alabama won 4 in 7 years and was in the final game more than that.

Florida won 2 in 3 years

USC was a miraculous performance in the title game away from repeating

 

It's basically a 10-15 team league with built-in advantages to teams that had done well the prior year. There are no real mechanisms to enforce parity such as a salary cap, drafts, etc. The difference in talent level between teams is far greater than there is in any of the professional sports.

[Derwood]

Last back-to-back champs in the NFL were the '04-'05 Patriots.

[jersey cubs fan]

Last back-to-back champs in the NFL were the '04-'05 Patriots.

When was last time somebody won back to back Stanley cups? The 90s? You have to win 4 7 game series.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Last back-to-back champs in the NFL were the '04-'05 Patriots.

When was last time somebody won back to back Stanley cups? The 90s? You have to win 4 7 game series.

 

june.

[jersey cubs fan]

Last back-to-back champs in the NFL were the '04-'05 Patriots.

When was last time somebody won back to back Stanley cups? The 90s? You have to win 4 7 game series.

 

june.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I don't follow hockey, and even I knew that

[Thed Hoyerstein]

Last back-to-back champs in the NFL were the '04-'05 Patriots.

When was last time somebody won back to back Stanley cups? The 90s? You have to win 4 7 game series.

 

[Andy]

I picked hockey but have no argument with baseball. Much harder in those 2 sports than the other 2 options.

[biittner77]

Hockey has the randomness of Baseball but also the injury factor of football. Baseball has the slight edge for being even more random due to the 5 game series in the first round. Hockey also lets more teams into the playoffs than baseball.

 

Baseball doesn't have a salary cap so it's much easier to bring back more or less the same team to try to repeat. In hockey, a goalie can single handedly carry his team through a 7 game series. The closest baseball has is an ace starting pitcher who can only likely affect 3 games.

[Bull]

The randomness of every game in baseball clinches this for me.

 

A difference of .16 degrees on a batted ball is a difference of a foot down the line making a ball fair or foul.

[Brian707]

Any of Baseball, Hockey, Football are fine answers

 

 

LOL Basketball. Cleveland vs Golden St part 4 coming soon

[Hunter]

I voted Baseball because the randomness involved. Hockey playoffs are just brutal on the players. You see guys throwing their bodies at the puck. Most of the players are rather bruised and worn out by the time they get through it.

[biittner77]

Any of Baseball, Hockey, Football are fine answers

 

 

LOL Basketball. Cleveland vs Golden St part 4 coming soon

 

I should have made it college basketball since someone might at least be able to make a case, but yeah.

[biittner77]

Right now, it's not all that inconceivable that we'll have back to back champs in Hockey, football and potentially baseball (have to think the Astros have as good a chance as anybody of repeating. Basketball doesn't count.