Jimmie Johnson is becoming an individual dynasty

Posted Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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By RAY BUCK

rbuck@star-telegram.com

Jimmie Johnson is being short-changed, even cheated.

In NASCAR circles, he’s butter. Outside NASCAR circles, he’s barely a blip on the radar.

"The thing I hate most," said TMS president Eddie Gossage, "is there seems to be an apathy when there ought to be a celebration."

Apathy. The word is degrading to any athlete. It would’ve raised the tiny hairs on the back of Dale Earnhardt’s neck if anyone had suggested that about him.

Because whether you loved him or hated him, The Intimidator evoked raw emotion from all race fans. Apathy wasn’t ever in the conversation.

Johnson, the three-time-going-on-four-time Cup champion (in a row), is every bit a sports dynasty as were the Lombardi Packers, the Russell Celtics, the DiMaggio Yankees or the even the Jordan Bulls, which won two sets of three consecutive NBA titles in the ’90s.

"We have a word for three-peat but we don’t have a word for four-peat," Gossage said. "Jimmie is on the verge of doing something that no one in the sport has done."

Not Richard Petty, Earnhardt Sr., Darrell Waltrip or Jeff Gordon.

"And Jimmie doesn’t get enough credit for it, I don’t know why," Gossage said. "Maybe because we tend to give only 'teams’ credit for being dynasties. You never hear anybody say Tiger Woods is a dynasty."

If putting the "dynasty" tag on the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy is a reach for some of you, Jimmie is "flattered" to be mentioned in the same sentence as these legendary sports teams.

There doesn’t seem to be many Jimmie Johnson Haters out there, but there are plenty who think he’s a little too a) mild-mannered, b) squeaky clean, c) just plain nice or d) all of the above.

"Maybe that’s why he hasn’t really caught the fancy of the sports world," Gossage said.

In a less than perfect world, we grow tired of perfection.

Many of our favorite sports dynasties didn’t start out that way. It took awhile before they were accepted as such.

A few past dynasty examples:

New York Yankees went 16-4 in World Series over a span of 27 years (’36 through ’62), as the baton was passed from DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle. Except for the Ming Dynasty, it doesn’t get much better/longer than this.

Green Bay Packers (’61-67). The NFL’s smallest market became "Title Town U.S.A." by winning NFL championships in ’61, ’62 and ’65, followed by Super Bowls I and II by a combined 68-24 (over AFL opponents). Vince Lombardi and the power sweep made these teams famous.

Boston Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years (’57-69) behind five-time MVP Bill Russell. They won nearly 10 championships in a row except for losing the ’58 NBA Finals to the St. Louis Hawks in six games.

Chicago Bulls (’91-93 and ’96-98) piled six NBA rings in eight years with a pair of three-peats behind Michael Jordan, who (not coincidentally) played a total of 17 games during those two non-title years because of his fling with baseball.

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