Most significant championships of the decade

Some championships mean more than others. Tom Brady’s fourth Super Bowl (tying Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw) and fifth (surpassing them) mean more than his six (an add-on).

Major League Baseball, the NHL, and theNBA have 30 teams each, and the NFL has 32. The average fan will enjoy a championship from his favorite team only two or three times in his lifetime. Some a lot more, some a lot less.

For less-fortunate fan bases, then, the championship means a lot. Fans of dynastic teams may forget the kind of details that are the stuff of legend to fans who enjoy just one championship.

So I decided to put down the most signficant championships of the decade, based on:

• Importance to a city and its fan base.
• The legacy of stars on the team.

The example which provokes the idea is from the last decade: the 2009 New Orleans Saints. It was the team’s first championship, and, four years after Katrina, it is was a comeback story for the city. It’s also important in how we remember Drew Brees: in additional to all the passing records he holds, he’s a Super Bowl Champion.

Here are the teams, by sport.

Football

• Seattle Seahawks, 2013
• Philadelphia Eagles, 2017

All the other Super Bowl champions of the decade had won at least one other in the previous 15 seasons. Seattle as a city has just one other…