Some Notes Regarding Bids For 3 Straight Crowns

It now stands that less than 60 percent of the teams bidding for the “rare air” accomplishment of 3 straight major North American sports leagues titles were successful.

The ‘Lanche 6 game triumph denied the Lightning a third straight crown, the 11th time a team bidding for a third straight title was denied. 15 times they were successful.

Really esoteric and maybe a bit scary, that I would even check, however I note 9 of the 11 (those #’s again!) winning coaches in the final round entities in which a team was denied a third straight crown, had/have last names, that start with earlier letters in the alphabet than the rival coach.

It was a touching scene when “Col” coach, Jared “B”ednar embraced and talked a bit with 2 time “C”up winning “c”oach, Jon “C”ooper of T.”B.” It is close, as was the series, but it is “B” before “C. ” In fact “before” is part of an all-time phrase involving the two letters.

Others times the above situation manifested:

Baseball (2)

Miller “H”uggins and the Yankees denying John “M”c Graw and the N.Y. Giants 1923 World Series

Walter “A”lston and the L.A. Dodgers ” ” Ralph “H”ouk and the New York Yankees 1963 World Series

Football (2)

Ray “F”laherty and the Washington Team denied George “H”alas and the Chicago Bears in the 1942 NFL Title Game

Paul “B”rown and the Cleveland Browns denying Buddy “P”arker and the Detroit Lions 1954 NFL Title Game

Basketball (2)

Chuck “D”aly and the Detroit Pistons denying Pat “R”iley and the L.A. Lakers 1989 NBA Final

Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs denying Eric Spoelstra and the Miami Heat 2014 NBA Final

Hockey (2)

Hector “Toe” “B”lake and the Montreal Canadiens denying Jimmy Skinner and the Detroit Red Wings in the 1956 Stanley Cup Final

Scotty “B”owman and the Montreal Canadiens denying Fred “S”hero and the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1976 Stanley Cup Final

Twice the later alphabet coach prevailed. Both times a Toronto team “titled,” and remember the city of Toronto has won its last 6 final round entities (the Leafs doing so (’62-’64 and ’67), while the Blue Jays won both their final round/World Series appearances, winning it all in ’92 and ’93. Toronto last lost in a final in 1960, when Montreal under Blake, won a still and likely not to be broken 5th straight NHL title) In the 1967 NHL final, “Punch” “I”mlach and the Toronto Maple Leafs denied Hector “Toe” “B”lake and the Montreal Canadiens.

The other later in the alphabet coach to prevail in denying an opponent a third straight crown in a final round entity is the alliterative named, Nick “N”urse, who did so vs current champion, then and now Golden State Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr in the 2019 NBA final.

 

George Wilson pictured above, played on 4 title winning Chicago Bears’ teams (’40,’41,’43 and ’46) and the ’42 team denied a third straight crown in the title tilt. 

Apparently, he was an assistant coach on 2 Lions’ title teams (’52 and ’53) and the aforementioned ’54 team, that was denied a third straight crown. 

He later coached the Lions to their last title and in fact, final round entity in 1957.