What happened to Goliath?

I think just about everybody is familiar with  the ancient Bible story. As most often the case when an unlikely team knocks off a powerhouse, we get that referenced. It has become a very common saying in the world of sports, although recently it is seeming to become more and more prevalent. The Powerhouse teams are dying, Juggernauts are few and far between. Goliath does not seem so big anymore. Why?  Why can't teams get completely stacked and make a run of being untouchable? It stills happens, some teams just have that "it" factor. That is expected, its sports, and for every bad team anyone has been on, they have at least been on a pretty good one.  With playing,coaching, or just watching sports it is not hard to understand that a run of dominance can happen. I am starting to find that the feat of being on a lights out championship team is becoming increasingly harder.Let us examine this recent phenomenon a little more closely.
      The NCAA Basketball tournament has long been known for being a sporting event celebrated for upsets and buzzer beaters.....on the first weekend.  By the time of the Sweet 16, the Dukes,North Carolinas and Kansas Jayhawks of the world push the little guys away and the big boys get to play.  Well somebody forgot to tell Butler, VCU, and George Mason that.  These so called, "Mid Majors" have advanced to the College Basketball Mecca, the Final Four. The little guys have found a way to compete with the big boys, and I think this thing may have some staying power. The expansion of AAU Basketball has made the sport a year long game that can allow players to grow and reach higher potentials. That is one theory, the more likely one simply has to deal with the NBA's early entry rule. Kentucky has basically made itself a program that is going to have Five High School All Americans on the floor at all times, the problem is that those players turn over each and every season.  They can not build and grow together as a team, and this is often the case among many of the College Basketball elite teams.  What does this all mean?  Kentucky, North Carolina, and UCLA have been getting the same McDonald's All American prospects that they have always gotten, the key is these kids turn over as quickly as a program gets them, whereas Butler still gets that same kid they have always gotten, yet he will be there three to four seasons, throw in that he has been a product of the AAU Basketball system, he has been playing against these same guys.  The run by John Wooden will never be matched as long as the current rules are in place. Basketball nationally, and internationally keeps improving and allows for more talent across the board. It will not be uncommon to see teams from lower end conference to continue the upset trend.
               Parity has now shown up in professional sports as well. The factors for the lack of dominance vary from the collegiate ranks. Three sports in particular stick out to me more than the other. The Dynasty in Football still can be present, and has been present very recently in the NFL. The Patriots and Steelers have been dominating the AFC simultaneously over the past decade. With five Super Bowl over the past decade, it is evident that the NFL is still susceptible to a dominating force. The NBA is in the midst of a team's bid for a Three-peat, yet I do not see this the same as the Lakers-Celtics of the 80's, or the Bulls of the 90's.  The NBA is currently down to their final eight teams, and feasibly six of those teams can win it. The NBA's most recent trend is to align stars in three and make runs towards finals. The Celtics started the movement, the Heat
popularized it, and now somebody is out there looking to perfect it.  This only creates an atmosphere of a top heavy league, not so much a dynasty driven league. It is a matter of survival, the Knicks will be looking to add Chris Paul or Deron Williams, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah will be looking for a running mate, and Mark Cuban will certainly love to put together a three man dream team.  The Anti-Heat, the Memphis Grizzlies are a small market club without superstars that are fighting the battle to keep level balance throughout the league, but it will be a losing battle. When contracts are up, big market squads will scoop up what they can and leave less popular teams like the Raptors and Cavaliers to die(SEE:MIAMI HEAT).    So no I do not see NBA as a league compilable to a dynasty, just a collection of team hoarding the league's top talent.
          While Baseball and Hockey are on very opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their Salary Cap ideals, their sports both share the most anti-Dynasty atmosphere.  Baseball which was once dominated by the Yankees year in and year out, has proven that other teams can compete, and small market teams can put together a run, even if it be for only a small window.  The expansions of teams and the larger scale Free Agent              market have taken away from one single franchise running the league.  Now being a fan of a small market baseball team, I still have my gripes. But with the Yankees having the highest payroll for the entire decade, and they only walked away 1 World Series tells me that baseball does have parity. It does have opportunities for more than the top 5 teams.  Hockey has an interesting situation. Last year's playoffs were an interesting situation. The 6th,7th, and 8th place team in the Eastern conference all pulled upsets in the first round of the playoffs. And that may have something to do with the game itself. There does not appear any sure things in a game that only takes 1 score to win.  With that said, Hockey does have the best structure in any of the four major sport league in North America, and it shows because dynasties are very hard to build.
              The Yankees of the 1920's and 30's, the Celtics of the 1960's, and the UCLA bruins of the 1970's are gone, and they are not likely coming back. Free Agency, expansion, and early entries have affected sports  in a negative, or could it be in a positive way? Are sports better off without a dominant team? Maybe for television ratings, and interest in smaller markets, yes.  But the NBA is starting an arm's race, Hockey has a fair salary cap, and Baseball teams have found ways to win without top salaries.  Whatever be the case, the dominance of one sole team has become a rarity in sports today. It can happen, but the longevity and likelihood of it all is slowly going away.