Yesterday's semi-OT has me thinking about a related topic. Since this doesn't apply to the Illini (B1G titles aren't really what I'm thinking about, though I'm willing to entertain them in the thread), this post is about each poster's favorite championships (could be a team/could be a finish).
My personal favorite championships are:
1. 2005 White Sox -- The Sox are my favorite pro team. After 88 years of failure (only 86 in Boston), an out-of-nowhere championship with a fantastic 11-1 playoff run. I was at the final game, and told the random White Sox fan next to me, after a couple of just horrendous swings by Willie Harris as he led off the 8th inning, that Harris was going to score the winning run in a 1-0 game. Because that's just the way our postseason had gone, everything came up aces. As a sidenote, while he was hurt, it was nice to see the greatest Sox player in franchise history (Big Frank) win a championship with the team.
2. 1998 Chicago Bulls -- This is the signature game and signature moment in the history of the NBA, IMO. There have been bigger rivalries, better title series, and so on. But there will likely never be a better finish. In the last 45 seconds, no one on the Bulls not named Jordan touched the ball on the offensive end of the court (and Jordan also created a key steal on defense). Simply the best. Notably, Jordan owns the greatest shot in league history, and it wasn't this one. TFG.
3. 2011 Rock Island High School Boys' Basketball - An odd addition to this list, but there's no team I've seen play more games in person than RIHS basketball. Grew up going at least once a weekend for 3 months every winter. So many excellent postseasons runs under Duncan Reid coming up just short (1995 was his best shot). After more than a century of pretty excellent play, including a runner up finish in the first and third IHSA state tournaments, Rock Island won a 2OT thriller against an even more fabled opponent (Centralia) to capture its first state championship. If only my wife's sister hadn't been getting married that afternoon, I'd have driven from Dallas to Peoria to go, with stops in Tulsa (I believe) for the Friday/Sunday Illini NCAA games (we beat UNLV and lost to Kansas).
4. Blackhawks titles of the 2010s - I almost didn't add a #4, but all of the Hawk titles were great. My favorite was 2013 over Boston, as I kind of think the Hawks were a bit outplayed in that series, gutted out a bunch of tough wins, and then finished with the greatest 2 minutes of hockey in franchise history.
Honorable Mention - 1993 Bulls. The Bulls had six title teams, and 4 basically had no shot to lose the Finals. With 1998, this was the other one that might have lost had it not been for some great clutch play. Humorously, they win Game 3, the series is a likely sweep.
My personal favorite championships are:
1. 2005 White Sox -- The Sox are my favorite pro team. After 88 years of failure (only 86 in Boston), an out-of-nowhere championship with a fantastic 11-1 playoff run. I was at the final game, and told the random White Sox fan next to me, after a couple of just horrendous swings by Willie Harris as he led off the 8th inning, that Harris was going to score the winning run in a 1-0 game. Because that's just the way our postseason had gone, everything came up aces. As a sidenote, while he was hurt, it was nice to see the greatest Sox player in franchise history (Big Frank) win a championship with the team.
2. 1998 Chicago Bulls -- This is the signature game and signature moment in the history of the NBA, IMO. There have been bigger rivalries, better title series, and so on. But there will likely never be a better finish. In the last 45 seconds, no one on the Bulls not named Jordan touched the ball on the offensive end of the court (and Jordan also created a key steal on defense). Simply the best. Notably, Jordan owns the greatest shot in league history, and it wasn't this one. TFG.
3. 2011 Rock Island High School Boys' Basketball - An odd addition to this list, but there's no team I've seen play more games in person than RIHS basketball. Grew up going at least once a weekend for 3 months every winter. So many excellent postseasons runs under Duncan Reid coming up just short (1995 was his best shot). After more than a century of pretty excellent play, including a runner up finish in the first and third IHSA state tournaments, Rock Island won a 2OT thriller against an even more fabled opponent (Centralia) to capture its first state championship. If only my wife's sister hadn't been getting married that afternoon, I'd have driven from Dallas to Peoria to go, with stops in Tulsa (I believe) for the Friday/Sunday Illini NCAA games (we beat UNLV and lost to Kansas).
4. Blackhawks titles of the 2010s - I almost didn't add a #4, but all of the Hawk titles were great. My favorite was 2013 over Boston, as I kind of think the Hawks were a bit outplayed in that series, gutted out a bunch of tough wins, and then finished with the greatest 2 minutes of hockey in franchise history.
Honorable Mention - 1993 Bulls. The Bulls had six title teams, and 4 basically had no shot to lose the Finals. With 1998, this was the other one that might have lost had it not been for some great clutch play. Humorously, they win Game 3, the series is a likely sweep.
