The Next Best Player Who Won't Win A Championship

With Alex Rodriguez galloping down the New York Yankees' parade route today, it got us thinking. How many years was it assumed that A-Rod was the best player in all of American sports who will never win a championship? For all those seasons in Seattle and Texas, there was little doubt that Rodriguez was a great in the game but would never be on a team that could bring home a title.

With his move to the Yankees in 2004, his chances at a ring increased immensely, but year after year of playoff failure followed by missing the postseason altogether in 2008, it looked more and more like A-Rod could be the greatest player in any sport not to win a championship. Well, obviously no longer.

So there's a giant void in the American sports landscape. Who is the next 'best player who will end his career with utter disappointment'? Sure it's very sports-talk radio of us to portend humiliation and disappointment for current athletes, but it's Friday, so let's have some fun.

NFL:
There are two obvious choices at wide receiver for the greatest current athletes who have yet to win a Super Bowl -- Terrell Owens and Randy Moss -- but to assume that Moss will never win a Super Bowl is to suggest that in the next two years the Patriots won't win it all. I'm not sure how comfortable anyone should be making that assertion. As for T.O., he's clearly at the end of his career, and if his signing with Buffalo this year proved anything, it's that contending teams no longer think he's the missing piece to a championship puzzle.

Another name on this list should obviously be LaDainian Tomlinson. The Chargers could go on a run this year, and there's a chance that Tomlinson will swallow his pride at some point in his career and become a third-down back for a contender to chase a ring, but we think he's too prideful for that.

Others: Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb, Walter Jones, Junior Seau.

NBA:
Did you know that since 1980, only eight franchises have won the NBA title? The Lakers have nine, the Bulls have six, the Celtics and Spurs each have four, the Pistons have three, the Rockets have two and the Heat and Sixers each have one.

What's odd is that in the decade prior to 1980 -- also known as the '70s -- eight different teams won in a 10-year span, with only the Celtics and Knicks bringing home multiple trophies. Which NBA shows up for the next 10 or 20 years -- that of parity or that of dynasty -- could determine the championship fate of many players in the league.

It's easy to predict that LeBron James won't win a title because, well, he hasn't yet. But we're not going to do that. He's already been to the Finals and, early season struggles aside, has a good chance to get back this year. And if you look at the best player in the league at any point in history, they have a ring. Great players don't always win rings -- Charles Barkley, Karl Malone -- but it seems the best player always seems to.

So who won't? Obviously the T.O. of basketball has to be Allen Iverson. His refusal to be a role player will be his undoing. AI was the most dynamic player in the league, but when his Sixers team lost the 2001 NBA Finals, it was obvious that was his best, and last, chance.

For the younger crop of players, the safe bet might be Chris Paul. He's in the West, which for the last decade or so has habitually been the tougher conference. If he ever does find a way in his career to get past Kobe Bryant or Carmelo Anthony (another guy you could add to the list) or a host of other good teams in the West (Duncan for a few more years, etc), he'll have to face LeBron, D-Wade or Dwight Howard in the Finals.

Could a guy like CP3 be one of those Stockton/Malone types who is great, yet came into the league at the wrong time to try and win a title? Sure, he could be Isiah Thomas, but he'll need far better players around him.

Others: Tracy McGrady (although he's far from the best), Steve Nash, Jason Kidd.

MLB:
Now that A-Rod is off the list, who is left? Winning a title is ultimately inconsequential for greatness in baseball. Do people think less of Willie McCovey because he never won a title? The guy has a cove named after him. What about Ernie Banks? Or Ted Williams?

For years, only two teams, then four, made the playoffs in baseball. Now eight teams get to postseason play each year, but it's still much harder to reach the playoffs in baseball than any other sport. It's frankly just not that important in baseball. But, since we made such a big deal about it for A-Rod, let's run through a list of replacements.

The obvious choice, and perhaps the choice even before A-Rod got his title, is Ken Griffey Jr. It's hard to know what to make of Griffey's career, in the sense that he was so incredibly dominant for such a long time, yet seemed to still find a way to underachieve.

For a player in his prime, the choice is Johan Santana. Mets fans don't want to hear that, but Santana is on a career path to not only not win a World Series anytime soon, but perhaps not make the playoffs during the prime of his career as the Mets have gone from division favorites a few years ago to perhaps the fourth-best franchise in the NL East. There's still time in his career, obviously, but he tops the list for now.

Others: Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Joe Mauer, Trevor Hoffman.

NHL:
Admittedly, this is not in my wheelhouse as I've paid more attention to my wall going from white to yellow to a slightly less tacky yellow to a completely-dry-to-the-touch yellow more than I've watched hockey since they came back from the strike or lockout or whatever happened that made me stop caring about a sport I once loved. So, for nothing other than cheap heat, I'll say Alexander Ovechkin. Sure he's the most exciting player in the league and he's transcended the sport to become a, gulp, household name, but that doesn't mean he's going to win anything. His team is good, but he has a guy named Crosby playing in his conference, and that guy has a guy named Malkin playing with him. Of course, Greg Wyshynski from Yahoo's Puck Daddy thinks I'm nuts, but what have the Caps ever won? Can they afford to keep this team of budding stars around Ovechkin?

Other names must include Joe Thornton, who was supposed to be the savior for two towns now and has won exactly nothing (other than a Presidents Trophy) while choking out of the playoffs every year.

Goalies: Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo

Other:
There are Sergio Garcia and Michele Wie in golf, and you can throw the name Danica Patrick into any post to get people's attention -- even if she has yet to prove she's one of the elite drivers in the world to be considered the best to never win a major title -- but we'll go a different route. College basketball. Mr. Littmann has the honors:

Mike Montgomery, Cal: It's tough to peg a coach who has achieved at a high level that isn't in a position to finally break through. Rick Barnes, Bob Huggins, John Calipari and Jay Wright all have teams that could -- in the right situation -- cut down the nets. So if I have to give the designation to one guy, I'll go with Montgomery, who has been to a Final Four and an Elite Eight. He's flirted with a title, and had some really strong teams, but hasn't been able to get over the jump. More to the point, I think he'll have a tough time getting it done at Cal as long as Ben Howland is at UCLA. This season's Cal team is one of its strongest in a while with a loaded backcourt, but probably not what you'd consider "national title contender" going into the season.

Other nominees to consider: Oregon's Ernie Kent, who has two Elite Eights; Indiana's Tom Crean, who is navigating the Kelvin Sampson aftermath at IU just trying to make them competitive after making a Final Four at Marquette. Still, Crean is kind of young to rule out at this point.

There are other sports and undoubtedly other names. And yes, we understand some of this is more conversation topic than actual career prognostication. Are we right? Wrong? Miss anyone? Completely avoid college football? Okay, fine ... Beamer? Lane Kiffin? Cap'n Leach? Let us know what you think.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.