The Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Stanley Cup. The Commissioner's Trophy. The Larry O'Brien Trophy. Those are the prizes awarded for the winners each year in the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA, respectively. This is every team and player's end goal at the start of each year. Regular season performances are great and will get you front page headlines, but the postseason is where legends are made and history is made.
There have been plenty of greats who have never won a title. Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, Charles Barkley to name a few. Their play will always be remembered and their achievements cannot be overlooked. Despite this, many people still measure a player's worth by how many titles he or she has won. When deciding who is best in a sport, a championship ring acts as the key to even get into the discussion. Below are four players who have never won a title, but definitely need to. Whether it is their skill set, hype at a young age, or trying to follow in history's footsteps, these four players need to win a title to justify their greatness. If not, they could leave everyone wondering how great they truly were.
NHL: Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals, 27 years old, eighth year in the league)
Ovechkin, like the other players on this list, came into the league with a tremendous amount of hype. Stats wise, he has certainly lived up to it. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 2006, scoring 52 goals and registering 54 assists. He's topped 100 points in four out of his eight seasons. He has scored at least 32 goals in each of his eight seasons including this year's shortened 48 game schedule. He won the Art Ross Trophy for the most points scored in 2008, which earned him an MVP award. He followed that up in 2009 with a second consecutive MVP award. He was an NHL First Team All-Star from 2006-2010. He has led his team to the playoffs six times, with the Capitals earning no worse than a three seed, except for 2012 when they were a seven. That's the good news.
The bad news is that, despite his success, the Capitals have never made it out of the second round of the playoffs with Ovechkin on the team. This includes the 2010 season where they lost in the first round as a number one seed, as well as the 2011 season where they were swept in the second round as the one seed again. This isn't to say he hasn't shown up for the playoffs before. In the 2009 Cup playoffs, he scored 21 points in 14 games and finished with a ridiculous +10 rating. Recent performances, however, tell a different tale. This past series against the Rangers was especially disappointing as he scored a mere two points in the seven game series. This, after finishing the regular season on a tear and scoring the most regular season goals.
The other thing that is pressuring Ovechkin to win a Cup is the hype. He was taken first overall in the 2004 draft, one spot ahead of Evgeni Malkin who has already won a Stanley Cup. Rather than compare Ovechkin to Malkin, however, he has been constantly been compared against Malkin's teammate Sidney Crosby. Crosby, drafted a year after Ovechkin, came into the league at the same time as Ovechkin due to the 2005 lockout. Since then, they have put up similar numbers with Crosby winning the Art Ross Trophy and MVP award in 2007, and looks to have the 2013 MVP award in his sights as well. Crosby, however, has been to two Stanley Cup Finals, winning the latter of the two against the Detroit Red Wings. Crosby's Penguins defeated the Capitals during their 2009 run in the playoffs on the way to the title. Just like RG3 will always be compared to Andrew Luck, Ovechkin and Crosby will always be tied to each other due to their high skill and when they came into the league. Ovechkin needs a title not only to equal the comparison to Crosby, but to prove that he's more than just a regular season scorer.
NFL: Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys, 33 years old, tenth year in the league)
Romo has two things going against him. The first thing is his poor playoff performance. Similar to Ovechkin, Romo is a regular season stud. He's passed for more than 4,000 yards four times in the seven seasons that he has started. His 2009 season would probably be considered his best in terms of efficiency as he threw for 4,483 yards, 26 TDs, and only nine interceptions. Not bad for an undrafted kid out of Eastern Illinois. Once the playoffs hit, however, everything goes haywire. His most memorable flub came in a 2006 game against Seattle when he dropped the snap to hold the ball for a field goal that would have given the Cowboys the lead late in the game. He has since gone 1-3 in the playoffs and has faltered down the stretch in December as well.
The second thing going against him is the history of the team. Unlike Ovechkin, whose Capitals have only appeared in one Stanley Cup Finals, the Cowboys are a team with a history of success. They have five Super Bowl Championships, legendary coaches, legendary players, and are always in the spotlight. After Troy Aikman left, the Cowboys have been searching for a quarterback and it seemed like Romo was the answer. That's a tall order to live up to, however, as Aikman won three Super Bowls in the 90s with a Hall of Fame running back and wide receiver. There is an expectation to win in Dallas, perhaps unlike anywhere else in the NFL. I believe that if Romo were playing in Jacksonville and had the same exact things happen to him, he would get a pass. Instead, he is scrutinized every time he throws a pick or fumbles the ball or dates a different girl.
If he does manage to win just a single title, I think all things will be forgiven. His early success had people predicting multiple championships, but after everything that has happened, I think Dallas fans and Jerry Jones will be happy with one at this point. He still has a lot left in his career and just signed a juicy six year contract to keep him in Dallas. Jason Witten should still hang around and Dez Bryant has the potential to be a superstar. If he fails to win a title, then no matter what numbers he puts up, he will never be mentioned among the Aikmans and Roger Staubachs of the world.
NBA: Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks, 28 years old, tenth year in the league)
While Anthony has yet to win a title in the NBA, he has won on other levels. He carried the Syracuse Orangemen to the 2003 NCAA title and has also won two gold medals for Team USA at the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. He is arguably one of the best pure scorers of all time and has never averaged less than 20 points per game in a season. He has made it to the postseason every year he has been in the league; seven times with Denver and three times with the New York Knicks. Despite averaging 25 points per game for his career in the playoffs, he was never able to get very far, often losing in the first round. Although the series is still 3-1, it looks like it will be another early exit for Melo again this year as the Pacers are simply pounding the Knicks right now.
The pressure for Anthony mainly has to do with the draft class he was in. As I mentioned before, athletes coming into the league at the same time will always be judged against each other. Whether or not that is fair is up for debate. What is not up for debate was how good Anthony's 2003 draft class was. Lebron James, Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh were four out of the first five picks. Due to the Big Three forming in Miami, James, Wade, and Bosh have won a title, though Wade already won one prior to that formation with Shaq. Anthony has never even been able to sniff the Finals.
This year looked like the one where he could do it. He had a veteran point guard in Jason Kidd who somehow discovered a jumper this year. J.R. Smith was shooting lights out during the season and you had the experience and girth of Tyson Chandler down low. Add in a great coach in Mike Woodson and the stage was set for a deep playoff run in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, it looks like those plans are being put on hold by the Indiana Pacers and the Knicks won't even get a shot at title favorites the Miami Heat. It's still not over, but the way the Pacers dominated last night made it seem like it's a matter of "when" not "if" the Knicks lose this series. Melo will no doubt go down as a great player and probably in the top five all time if you were to choose someone to win a game of one on one. Without a ring, however, his name will be lost among Lebron, D-Wade, and Bryant.
MLB: Stephen Strasburg (Washington Nationals, 24 years old, 4th year in the league)
I have to admit, it was hard thinking of someone for baseball. Every player I could think of has either won a ring, never had the hype to win one in the first place, or retired. For this one, I'll cheat a bit and go with Strasburg even though I'm aware it's unfair to him this early in his career. But here's the deal. Like all these guys, the hype factor was high, perhaps higher than Anthony, Romo, or Ovechkin. He was taken first overall by the Washington Nationals and was touted as a pitcher that would go down in the history books. And, he did. Opening day. He struck out a franchise record 14 batters on his way to a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, after only 12 starts and 92 strikeouts, he tore his ulnar collateral ligament and needed Tommy John surgery.
With his 2011 season essentially thrown away, the Nationals decided to play it safe with Strasburg and limit his innings in 2012, shutting him down for the end of the regular season and playoffs. Despite earning the number one seed in the National League, the Nationals lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS 3-2. Although I know it wasn't his decision, I think he and Nationals fans the world over will always ponder what if. It's hard to tell what would have happened considering the Cardinals were a solid team and the Giants' pitching last year was scary. Still, with one more ace, it wouldn't be that shocking to me if that Nationals team went all the way.
Fortunately for Strasburg, he's still very young. He'll have plenty of time to try and have postseason success, as it seems the Nationals organization has done a fine job of getting young talent on that ball club. A player with his level of hype, however, deserves a title. Needs a title. His immediate success has been great, but as the players above have demonstrated, before you know it your career is halfway over and you still don't have that title.
Maybe this article is coming too prematurely. After all, the only player over 30 on here is Romo, but he has a spot on the roster for another six years. Maybe all four will win a title with their respective teams. Still, only one team wins a title each year. The door on a sports career closes faster than players think. Add in injury risk, coaching changes, and off the field issues, and it's not difficult to imagine any of these guys not winning a title. So whether they need to wait for a superstar teammate, leave for another team, or do it themselves, these four players need to prove they can win it all before they are considered among the greatest in their sport.
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