The age of dynasties

Sports are played on the field or on a court. Not on a piece of paper. \n Great cliché, isn't it. But does it hold water? With Tiger and the Williams' sisters winning every tournament they enter, the sport of women's tennis and the game of golf are suffering. No longer do fans watch to see who wins; they just want to see by how much.\nIn fairness, if the Williams sisters where not super-athlete-sisters, but unrelated super athletes, the WTA would have a rivalry reminiscent to Sampras and Agassi at their prime.\nThree of the four major American professional sports -- baseball, basketball and hockey (and even tennis and pro golf can be included) -- have all been more or less dominated in recent years by one team or individual.\nThe Lakers' two-headed monster of Shaq and Kobe dominates the NBA, turning away many non-avid basketball fans. \nThe Yankees and Red Wings buy their championships by out spending the other teams in their leagues.\nCertain individuals or teams are dominating more and more professional sports. We can almost pencil in a Lakers NBA title, a Yankees' Pennant and the Red Wings in the Stanley cup finals every year.\nThe one professional sport that is not dominated by an individual team is the NFL. The only team you can pencil in anything about is that the Rams are going to be good, and that was not even possible a few years ago.\nThe NFL has got something going right for it. There is no talk of contraction, the league does a better job of keeping its athletes off banned substances and the last labor stoppage was well before I was born.\nThe one problem the NFL has is the occasional run in with the law by a player. While many players are upstanding citizens, there is no way the front office of the NFL can control the actions of every player. Paul Tagliabue is no Joseph Stalin, or Bud Selig for that matter.\nThe salary cap they have in place ensures no team can buy a championship, players can still make a very healthy living and teams can play in small markets. Green Bay is about the size Bloomington, and the Packers are staying where they have always been well into the foreseeable future.\nThe signing bonus and incentive-laden contracts ensure players play every game, every minute and every down. Except Randy Moss, who for some reason is allowed to take plays off and is dumb enough to admit he does.\nBecause the NFL is wide open, it has become the most important league socially of the four major sports. After Sept. 11, the leagues followed when it cancelled play the following weekend. Bud Selig wanted his league to continue playing! With many other sports in disarray, sports commissioners would do well to learn form Paul Tagliabue. Everyone in sports can be a winner; the NFL is the one sports league were that promise is true and the games are played on the field, not the pocketbooks of owners.