I was reading this story by Basketbawful (a blog I highly recommend) about the author’s freshman year in college as the roommate of a basketball player at a big time university. (He keeps the names of people and places secret, but he does drops hints, and so I figured out fairly easily who the “Future NBA Star” he talks about is, what university he attended, and even who his roommate was. I am going to keep that information under wraps, though, out of respect for him). Anyway, after reading part 7 of his story and reminiscing about “Future NBA Star,” I was watching some highlight videos on YouTube of that player in college, and that led…as most YouTube watching escapades do…to the viewing of more and more highlights of players, teams, etc. from that era. Of course, I gravitated to some of my favorite teams and players from the past, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the combined swagger of one team in particular (I’m still deliberately remaining vague so I don’t give anything away).

This all got me thinking more about swagger. Swagger is a difficult thing to define. Players and teams with swagger emanate confidence, almost cockiness…they have an edge to them. Because of differences in personalities, though, not all superstars seem to walk with swagger (i.e. Tim Duncan), and not all great teams seem overwrought with it either. Take Michael Jordan’s Bull’s teams of the 1990’s, for example. They were a dynasty, one of the greatest teams ever, but they didn’t have an overbearing swagger about them. They had Jordan, and he was so business like in his dismantling of opponents, and so measured and polished when dealing with the media, that he didn’t appear to have time for some of the showmanship that often accompanies athletes famous for their swagger. And that’s the funny thing about it. You don’t have to exude copious amount of it to be a champion, yet you don’t have to be a champion to be known for it either. Like I said…it’s hard to define. The ironic thing, though, is that as hard to define as swagger is, it is remarkably easy to spot. We could go back and forth for hours, PTI style, arguing over what exactly makes up swagger, but one thing I think we can agree on is this: when we see a player or team that has it…it’s obvious.

That’s why, for me, this blog was fairly easy to write…as it should have been. Remembering teams with swagger shouldn’t be difficult since swagger in and of itself is eye catching and attention grabbing. So therefore, here is my personal list of the top ten sports teams of my lifetime with the most swagger.

10. The Showtime Lakers of the 1980’s. Magic, Worthy, Kareem…they were as fun to watch as the Phoenix Suns were a few years ago, only they won championships too. These Lakers may be the quietest team on my list, but in their silence they carried an attitude of superiority…and one that was merited.

9. The 1995-1996 Seattle Supersonics. This team was perhaps the antithesis of the Showtime Lakers I just mentioned. There was nothing quiet about them. Gary Payton to Sean Kemp. Need I say more? Sean Kemp was the guy that would dunk all over you and make sure you knew that he just did, and Gary Payton (one of the more underrated PG’s of all time…an absolute stud in his prime) was a trash talker who wasn’t intimidated by anyone, including Jordan. Of course, these Sonics ultimately were beaten by Jordan and the Bulls, but in their short run, they embodied swagger.

8. The 1995-1996 Colorado Avalanche. I hated this team. They were rivals to the Detroit Red Wings, and they often got the best of them. Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Claude Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and of course Chris Simon…who was a bad a** no matter who was keeping score.

7. The Bash Bros – The 1987 Oakland A’s. McGwire and Canseco were two big hitters who created havoc for opposing pitchers and did it in style. The funny thing is, we thought of these guys as big back then, and this was before they each started taking their weight’s worth in steroids on a daily basis. Remember the “bashing” of elbows as opposed to the traditional high fives? Swagger…and let’s not forget about the other guys…guys like Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley, and even Micky Tettleton, who had his own brand of swagger with his weirdo batting style.

6. USA Men’s Basketball 1992 – 2000. Oh, there was trash talking. There was crotch grabbing. There were 40 point blowouts and then some. There were quotes like this: when asked what the USA team knew about Angola prior to their game in the 1992 Olympics, Charles Barkley responded by saying, “All I know about Angola is they in trouble.” The swagger from this era of USA basketball was contagious…but I guess it should have been, given how much better these teams were than their competition.

5. The 1990 UNLV Men’s Basketball Team. Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, David Butler, and Anderson Hunt. This very well may have been the best college basketball team in history. When critics wondered aloud if they were really legit, since they played in the Big West Conference, they answered by rolling through the NCAA tournament…a tournament culminated with their 30 point blowout of Duke in the championship game. This also capped off their perfect season. Most importantly, though, they did all this in style. The Runnin’ Rebels were runnin’, gunnin’, and jawin’…all while coach Jerry Tarkanian chewed on his towel and watched. Plus, I figure whenever there are multiple players/coaches from one team who develop killer nicknames like Grandma-ma, Shark, and Plastic Man, you know they were workin’ that swagger.

4. The 1999-2000 Baltimore Ravens. If you look up the word “swagger” in the dictionary, there is a picture of Ray Lewis next to it. There may be a picture of Ray Lewis next to the word “crazy” too, but that’s beside the point. This Ravens team, Super Bowl Champions, had an absolutely awful offense, but it didn’t matter. They only gave up like 10 points a game. This was the most suffocating, intimidating defense I remember watching in my years on this earth, and the thing was…as an opposing offense, you knew it was over before the game even started. You knew it was over when Ray Lewis stood in the middle of his guys before the game and did his stomp-around dance to pump them up. Watching Ray Lewis lead that defense was a treat, my friends. It was a treat if you liked athletes with swagger…because he had it dripping off of him, and so did that whole team based on his lead.

3. The Bad Boys. The 1989-1990 Detroit Pistons. There couldn’t have been a more fitting nickname than “Bad Boys” for this team. Remember the black “Bad Boys” flag with a skull and crossbones on it? Perfect. This team was up in your grill. They had that look that said, “We’re going to beat you, and we’re going to beat you by being nasty, dirty, physical, and what are you going to do about it you little, little girl? Nothing? That’s what I thought…now sit down…next.” I loved this team. Loved them. Isaiah, Joe D., Vinny, Laimbeer, Rodman, Salley, Mahorn, etc. They knocked off Magic and the Lakers, Bird and the Celtics, Jordan and the Bulls, and they did so with attitude. Bill Laimbeer was once quoted as saying, “You can know our team. You can know what our team does, but as long as each individual on our team executes to perfection…you can’t stop it.” Here we are. Bring it on. That was the message of the Bad Boys.

2. The Fab Five. The 1992-1993 Michigan Men’s Basketball team. You know they were good when as five freshman starters, they got all the way to the NCAA Championship game in a time where players still generally stayed for at least a few years in college before making the jump to the NBA. I mean, 4 of the 5 members of the Fab Five all signed NBA contracts. Most importantly, though, this team, for never winning anything and for essentially be wiped from history by their own university for scandals and more allegations of scandals, is one of the most celebrated teams in all of sports history. The long, baggy shorts and the black socks were more than trend setting. The alley-oops, the trash talking, the street ball style. This was a transformative basketball team. It was hip-hop and basketball merged into one cohesive unit. Oh, and these 18 year old kids knew they were special. In my mind, the pinnacle had to be Jalen Rose standing on the scorers table pumping his fist in the air at the crowd after beating Kentucky (Jamal Mashburn’s stacked Kentucky team) in the 1993 Final Four. Sure, they lost to NC in the championship game. Sure, they had some very public failures following that, and sure the Fab Five members went on to have disappointing and mediocre individual NBA careers, but together for that short stint in the early 90’s, man…they were good, and nobody could deny their swagger.

1. The 1985 Chicago Bears. The Superbowl Shuffle, baby. That says it all. It seemed to me that this team simply knew they were so much better than everybody else that they were just going to enjoy the process of winning it all more so than anyone else had done before them. I mean, they used to hand the ball off to a 900 lb lineman in goaline situations instead of their all pro running back just because. Jim McMahon mooned reporters. They made a rap video for crying out loud! From McMahon and his antics, to Ditka and his intensity, to Singletary and his eyes, to the Fridge and his…well, his weight. The 1985 Bears were a walking, talking, football playing reality show that also happened to win the Super Bowl that year by a mere 36 points…and that’s after outscoring their opponents previously in the playoffs 45-0. Ouch. Yeah, I recently bragged on the Ravens for only giving up somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 points a game in 1999-2000, well…the Bears gave up 10 points total in the entire 1985 playoffs. Total. Yeah. In the conversation with the 1972 Dolphins, and perhaps the 2007 Patriots (albeit for their little Super Bowl hiccup), the 1985 Chicago Bears are considered by many to be the greatest NFL team of all time. That’s up for debate. There should be no debate, though, that no team had as much style, pizzazz, and swagger as these Bears…at least not in my lifetime.

So, there you go. My top ten list of sports teams with the most swagger. If you have any qualms with my picks or would like to make your own suggestions for this list, please feel free to share your opinions in the comments section.