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Page 2's Power Poll dares to rate the teams that are currently wielding the most power in the entire sports universe.
Each week, our poll will rank the 10 teams at the top of the power heap -- and the five teams that have lost the most power in the past week. And, by the way, Page 2 uses its own definition for a "team" -- any group of two or more bonded together for the common purpose.
Our Momentum Meter also predicts the direction these teams will be heading in future weeks (see the bottom of the page for a full explanation).
If you've got anything to say about our Top 10 or our Bottom 5, click here to comment -- or forever hold your peace.
TEAM
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PAGE 2 SAYS
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MO' METER
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| 1. March Madness |
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For the next few weeks, nothing else important happens
in the world of sports. |
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| 2. UConn women's basketball |
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Could be one of the most dominant teams ever. In any sport. |
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| 3. Los Angeles Lakers |
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After a winter of hibernation, the sleeping giant yawns,
stretches, starts to get up ... and now it's time for the other forest creatures to scurry off and try to find a safe hiding place. |
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| 4. Detroit Red Wings |
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Making a mockery of the Presidents' Trophy race. But will their aging legs hold up through the Stanley Cup grind?
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| 5. All golfers not named Tiger Woods |
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Still unbeaten in 2002. This week it
was Matt Kuchar winning the Honda and $630,000 in only his 17th pro start.
Just shows you the value of a good college education. |
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| 6. Ivy League playoff "system" |
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Hey, they're smart! When they play extra games, they mean something. |
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| 7. Duke men's basketball |
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Easiest draw of the Big Five -- Duke, Maryland,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Cincinnati -- in NCAAs. Maybe it's true what they say about God being a Dukie. |
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| 8. Play-in teams |
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Neither Siena nor Alcorn State was going anywhere anyway. This way, at least one of them will have an NCAA win on its 2001-02 résumé, which is more than half the other teams in the tourney will be able to say. |
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| 9. Sports synergy |
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Charles Barkley, who works for TNT, which is owned by AOL-Time Warner, appears on the cover of SI, which is owned by AOL-Time Warner, in an extremely laudatory article. Ain't journalism grand? |
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| 10. Portland Trail Blazers |
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Many people, including Page 2, called them the most dysfunctional team in the NBA as they loafed through the first half of the season. Now they are the hottest team in the league, an inexplicable overtime loss to the lowly Nuggets on Saturday notwithstanding. Look out above! |
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| ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Cleveland Browns, Mississippi State men's basketball, Oklahoma men's basketball, Arizona men's basketball, Duke women's basketball, Newman-Haas Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, "Time Machine," "We Were Soldiers," Alanis Morrisette, Russell Crowe, Halle Berry, David Letterman, Botox
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TEAM
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PAGE 2 SAYS
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MO' METER
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| 5. Syracuse men's basketball |
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Ranked No. 7 early on, then went into
freefall, losing nine of their last 13 games, including their first Big East
tourney game, and failing to make the NCAAs, despite 20 wins, which is almost
unheard of for a Big East team (witness BC). |
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| 4. Gonzaga men's basketball |
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A No. 6 seed?! Of course, with a nickname like the Zags, it's hard to get any respect. We guess. |
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| 3. New York Knicks |
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How bad is the league's highest-paid team? Well, put it this way ... they're only a game ahead of the nondescript Cleveland Cavs. (Special prize for anyone who can name a single player on the Cavs other than Andre Miller ... if he's still with them.)
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| 2. Spring training |
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We're so happy when it finally arrives ... and then,
as the meaningless games go on forever, and sportswriters are forced to create feuds (like Sammy-Barry) just to amuse themselves and their readers, we begin to fidget ... and scratch ... and, finally, start screaming, "Please, enough, let the games that count begin!" |
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| 1. NCAA selection committee |
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By definition, they can't do anything right. Like ice-skating judges, they make strange decisions, based on criteria that can neither be explained nor understood, even by them. Hey, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Better them than us. |
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| ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Thrashers, Vancouver Canucks, mid-major bubble teams, North Carolina men's basketball, Sally Jessy Raphael |
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| Mo' Meter explained: |
No mo'; holding |
Climbing the charts |
Peaked; all downhill |
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