re: Is Alabama football the single greatest sports program in history?

No...

Yanks, Chelsea, Real, Cowboys (yuk), Niners (double yuk), Man U, Munich, Brazil National team, Barca, Bo Sox, Spanish National Team, German National Team, Netherlands and Sweden Olympic teams in any winter Olympics, US Women's National Soccer team, and I'm just getting started. Come down off yer high horse gumps.

the you've spent time in South America card, nice. hadn't heard about them liking soccer, thanks for letting me know!

they weren't the only ones who could moonwalk through qualifying in South America at the time. it, again, was a formality.

and again, in the context of the dynasties being discussed, a single tournament every 4 years is just ridiculous as a point of comparison. they are indeed the most successful national team of all time, albeit by a much closer margin than you're saying, but the idea that they're the greatest dynasty in sports history is ridiculous to me, and I say that as a diehard soccer fan who loves Brazil.

Chelsea?!? lmaoooooo

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the you've spent time in South America card, nice. hadn't heard about them liking soccer, thanks for letting me know!

they weren't the only ones who could moonwalk through qualifying in South America at the time. it, again, was a formality.

and again, in the context of the dynasties being discussed, a single tournament every 4 years is just ridiculous as a point of comparison. they are indeed the most successful national team of all time, albeit by a much closer margin than you're saying, but the idea that they're the greatest dynasty in sports history is ridiculous to me, and I say that as a diehard soccer fan who loves Brazil.

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I guess this is why the argument is subjective. To me a four year qualifying process means the stakes are higher and it's harder to sustain the success. You can say it's formality but the only team that is guaranteed entry in the FINAL 16 or 32 is the host country. Maybe I am missing something about their bid during the 50's.

As far as living in south america, you find out the nuances a little more. Like what it means to play a qualifier in the region and the rivalries. I, mean, it's just formality.

well the field didn't expand to 32 teams until 1994. it didn't even expand to 24 until 1982. when Uruguay won the World Cup the first time, barely anybody from Europe even played in it. more than half the world didn't even have national teams.

I'm not even shitting on Brazil's accomplishments. but what I am saying is that when you talk about giving them credit for qualifying and making it out of the group in that era, you're projecting the way things are now onto the way they were then. and it wasn't that way.

I would think I've displayed enough in depth understanding of the sport that you could refrain from explaining to me things like South Americans like soccer and how many teams are in the field.

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Is Alabama football the single greatest sports program in history?

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as college football goes...maybe so at least in the modern era. But in terms of sports dynasties, UCLA's basketball success under Wooden in the 60's/ early 70's is pretty stout 7 straight titles from 67-73 and from 1964-1975 10 titles total.

Pro football....hard to equal the Pack under Lombardi.

Baseball....New York Yankees the era of Di Maggio , Mantle and Berra of the 40's into the early 60's is pretty amazing.

Liverpool and others would have a helluva lot more of a claim than fricking Chelsea. what an absurd claim.

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I never said it was a formality now; it very much is not. I'm talking about history.

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I said I may be missing something about their bids during the 50's, 60's and 70's. I know that soccer was in full swing during that epic in South America. You've always had a strong qualifying field in South America since the inception of the cup.

In North American major sports off the top of my head...

Yankees
Canadiens
Lakers
Celtics

for sure