We are the Champions

Well it took all year, but I can finally say that I know what it takes to be a champion. The key ingredients: hard work, dedication, a little bit of financial strategizing, and a little bit of cheating. I hate to admit it but I think the cheating factor made all the difference for me. The realism of my players progressing to the point where I couldn't afford to have 4 all-stars on one roster was a legitimate problem that General Managers face every day. That's why it is so hard to have a dynasty in sports. If you think about the history of sports, dynasty's happen very rarely because of the influence of money and the power of free agency. Think about baseball for a second. How many times has a team repeated as champions? Very rarely. There are the same number of teams in the MLB, NBA and NFL so that can't be the reason. It has to do with the fact that baseball is the only sport without a salary cap. Teams can pour however much money they want into their teams and baseball players seem to prefer lucrative contracts over the prospect of winning a championship.

Until sports becomes more about the love of the game than money, it will be very hard for a dynasty to be built. The only time in the real world where we see superstars willing to sacrifice money for championships is when aging veterans out of their primes change teams at the end of their careers when they weren't able to win on their own. Think about Karl Malone. Why else would the second highest scorer in NBA history leave the Jazz, the team he built with his bare hands to live in the shadow of Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Derek Fisher and Gary Payton on the Lakers. It truly is great for society that the sporting world has developed into a billion dollar enterprise but the system as it stands now just sets up General Managers to fail. Unless you are the New York Yankees and have an unlimited payroll, you will never be able to have an equilibrium of wants and resources. I learned this the hard way in my own playing, and learned a valuable and extremely realistic lesson that costs General Managers their jobs every year. The world of sports is the most competitive field whether you are operating in the front office or playing on the field. There is little room for error, and we must keep the big picture in mind when making daily decisions.