What Distinguishes a Champion from a Choker?

Champions and chokers have many defining characteristics that allow sports fans across the world to separate their teams into their respective category. Champions look at every opportunity with a “cup half full” mentality, whereas chokers do the exact opposite. The perfect example for this in sports is the difference between the New England Patriots and the Washington Capitals.

The New England Patriots are clear cut champions, but their road to success is not always as smooth as their fans would like. Their path to the playoffs tends to be consistently easy by dominating in-conference opponents for the past decade, but it’s what this franchise does in the playoffs that makes them champions. The Patriots have a “New England vs. Everybody” mentality that allows them to play with a chip on their shoulder. As 5-time Super Bowl champions, each year they face adversity that only champions could overcome. Tuck rule, spygate, and deflategate are all accusations against the Patriots that they were able to overcome to win Super Bowls in 2001, 2003/2004, and 2014/2016 respectively.

Tom Brady attending Deflategate hearing in court

Many franchises allow accusations to create turmoil in a franchise; therefore, leading to rash decision making in unwarranted trades/releases. The Patriots are by no means easy on their players for discipline regarding team and league rules. However, they don’t let one player’s mistakes define a season. In the 2013 off-season, the Patriots took a huge salary cap hit by releasing star tight-end Aaron Hernandez due to his involvement in a homicide investigation. The team remained silent for weeks until they were able to make a decision as a franchise to release him from the team. The team took a devastating salary cap hit that would likely affect the outcome of the following season. Once again, the Patriots were able to overcome the salary cap issues and build another Super Bowl winning team for the 4^th title in franchise history.

New England Patriots' five Super Bowl trophies

Chokers let ghosts of the past affect the outcomes of seasons in the future. The Washington Capitals have far too many ghosts to name, but last year's outcome is a perfect example of the current state of the franchise.

 As Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Capitals clearly went all in for the Stanley Cup last year. The big trade deadline deal to acquire defensive phenom Kevin Shattenkirk showed fans that this was the year the Capitals break the curse. The Capitals finished the regular season as the top team in the NHL and headed into the playoffs playing great, disciplined hockey. The new playoff bracket structure meant that 3 of the top 4 teams in the NHL were in the Metropolitan Division bracket. The Capitals easily handled their first-round matchup against the last seeded Toronto Maple Leafs, but then were required to play in a conference championship caliber second round matchup against the second best team in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals would fail to make it past the Penguins losing in game 7, but not because of a lack in talent.

Washington Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin accepts Presidents' Trophy

The Capitals allowed their past outcomes to affect their playoff success. Media continued to beat the dead horse throughout the series consistently asking players on the Capitals if they would finally be able to make it to the Conference Championship. They lost focus on what got them to this point in the first place. Teams have strategies and different playing styles that allow the unit to play cohesively. Instead of continuing to play like one cohesive unit, the Capitals played in fear of losing. Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post wrote, “You never get to go back in time for a re-do of the worst of all your chokes.” The Capitals continue to let their chokes haunt them every season when playoffs role around in early April.

Capitals lose Game 7 vs. Penguins in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The ultimate difference between champions and chokers is that champions never fear losing. Once that fear slips into the locker room, the team has already lost. The Capitals have the foundation that the Patriots have created in order to become champions. So, when will the Capitals change this scarring misfortune? The Capitals will win the Stanley Cup when they start focusing on the playoffs with a “one game at a time” mentality rather than continuing to live in the past.

References:

Boswell, Thomas. “Capitals Face a Crossroads between Champions and Chokers.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Apr. 2017.