Now that we are in the final month of the year, we at Sparty & Friends are taking a look back at the very best from this first decade of the 21st century in professional and college sports. We may be a little bit early with these lists, so they could change. How are we early? Because the 2009-10 sports season doesn’t conclude until June. What I am saying is this: whoever wins the Super Bowl, NBA Title, Stanley Cup Finals, the BCS, or the NCAA Mens and Womens Basketball Titles gets credited to this first decade. Meaning, if you won a title in the 1999-2000, it actually gets credited back to the 90s. You follow? Good. However, if your entire season took place in the year 2000, you get credit for this current decade. Still got it? Good. Remember this is mostly subjective, so don’t get too bent out of shape…even though I am right.

7 Division Titles

4 Conference Championships

3 Super Bowl Championships

1 Undefeated Regular Season

112-47 Regular Season Record

14-3 Postseason Record

Try to tell me there’s another NFL team that owned the league more than the Patriots.  In the 70’s it was the Steelers, the 80’s had the Niners, and the 90’s were owned by the Cowboys.  This decade was dominated by New England from early 2001 through the moment you are reading this post.

Almost every franchise in the NFL has begun to mold their operations around the New England model.  Increasing funds to draft scouting, building a system to fit their players, not overspending on the flashy free agents, and focusing on a team-first mentality almost to the extreme.  In this age of constant player shuffling, free agency and rising salary caps, teams often tried to follow the old model of spending to the limits and trying to buy titles.  Not New England.

Up and down the roster over the past ten years, there are no more than a handful of future Hall of Famers.  Brady.  Harrison.  Vinateri.  Moss.  Those are the only four that are near sure-fire locks.  Perhaps names like Seymour, Bruschi, Brown and Welker get consideration down the line, but the franchise was built on the backs of the everyman players, and that formula has led them to success.

Despite an early 2007 videotaping scandal that many claimed would tarnish the team’s historical standing, they recorded only the second perfect regular season record since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, and were a mere two minutes from completing a 19-0 season in the Super Bowl – the only Super Bowl appearance they lost this decade.  As the “new aughts” wind down, the Patriots are in contention for yet another NFL Championship, an astonishing fourth in ten years.

When all the evidence is considered, there can be absolutely no doubt of the dominance displayed by the best NFL team of the decade.

The Others:

10. Louisiana State University Tigers Football
9. UNC Tar Heels Basketball
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Southern Cal Trojans Football
6. University of Tennessee Lady Vols
5. Detroit Red Wings
4. UConn Huskies Women’s Basketball
3. San Antonio Spurs

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