by Keith Staines

Created on: January 05, 2009

When you are trying to figure out which sports team deserves the mantle of being called the best team of the year, you inevitably come back to teams that won championships. It's extremely hard to argue for a non-championship to fill this role. You could give me every argument in the book why the second place team should be considered the best team of the year, and all I have to say is "Yeah, but this team won the championship, so they're better right?"

So I'm going to go with the championship team argument and run with it.

The New York Giants had a pretty good 2008. They entered the playoffs in January as a wild card team and weren't really expected to do a lot of damage. This probably wasn't the smartest thinking since they were on quite the road winning streak, but it was fair nonetheless. Especially once they got to the Super Bowl and were faced with the presumed champion New England Patriots who were chasing history and attempting to become the second team to ever be undefeated throughout an entire season.

Then the Patriots totally laid an egg in the biggest game of the year, the Helmet Catch entered the annals of greatest plays ever, and the New York Giants were Super Bowl champions, and Eli Manning finally dug his way out of Peyton's shadow. They followed it up by going 11-1 to start the 2008 season and looked like world-beaters. They came back to earth a bit and finished off the season at 12-4, heading into the playoffs with a bye.

But are they the best team of 2008. I don't think so. I honestly still think they sort of fluked out in winning the Super Bowl. They just aren't entirely that impressive. Nobody on their team stands out to me as being amazing. Some might say that makes the ultimate team, but I wouldn't be scared of facing the Giants in the playoffs. So they don't make the cut.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series, with no one really expecting it either. They have some great players in Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. But they paled in comparison next to the Red Sox, Cubs, Angels and Rays heading into the playoffs. But they managed to beat the Brewers, took out the Dodgers, and whipped on the Rays in 5 games to claim the World Series. And none of those three teams are ones I would have picked to win the World Series either.

So again, the Phillies don't add up when figuring out the best team of 2008.

The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. They were dominant, defensively sound, a total team, and dominated the

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