Question of the day: Which sports team is the luckiest?

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Which is the luckiest team in sports? Reporters from the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.

Dave Fairbank, Newport News (Va.) Daily Press

I’ll go with the San Antonio Spurs. They were one of only four ABA teams absorbed by the haughty NBA. They parlayed two uncharacteristically bad seasons into draft lottery gold and two of the best big men ever: David Robinson and Tim Duncan. All-Star point guard Tony Parker was a 28th pick, all-world nuisance Manu Ginobili was a 57th pick. Former GM Gregg Popovich’s only previous head coaching experience was at Pomona-Pitzer before he installed himself as Big Whistle during the 1996-97 season. Every trade and free agent signing seem to come up aces: Avery Johnson, Jerome Kersey, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, among others. All of that resulted in four NBA titles in nine years and a sterling reputation, in a picturesque city where they’re revered. Hard work and smarts can’t account for all of it.

Mike James, Los Angeles Times

There’s a reason the quote from John Milton – luck is the residue of design – has stood the test of time. Lucky teams are teams that put themselves in position for good fortune. So the Patriots win not simply because of one lucky play, but because they’ve assembled a team of players and coaches who know how to perform under pressure, know how to gain an edge in one-on-one situations and know what it feels like to win. Patriots, Yankees, Lakers, they’re all lucky just for that reason. Conversely, bad luck is the residue of chaos, and that’s why teams like the Raiders of the last decade and historically the Clippers, for example, have elevated bad luck to an art form. Poor planning and bad management set a team up to lose in any situation when victory seems to be only a good bounce away.

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant

You can’t go from 1-15 to the playoffs without more than a little bit of luck. There was much to feel good about the Dolphins’ turnaround from 2007 to ’08, including their Wildcat offense and plus-17 turnover ratio. But a lot of things had to go their way. First, their old pals, the Jets, dumped a competent quarterback, Chad Pennington, on Tony Sparano’s doorstep. Then came the forgiving schedule awarded for the 1-15 season. Razor-close wins over bad teams, the Raiders, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks kept them in contention. The Patriots’ Tom Brady was injured. Finally, they got help from the badly injured Brett Favre to beat the Jets and get in, despite outscoring opponents by only 28 points. We say they were lucky, and their season-opening loss to the Falcons could indicate rougher seas in 2009.