Is this Bull run the best of any sport?

Lawrence: Bulls' rampage is remarkable

This might just be the most dominant two-year stretch ever seen in the history of pro sports. -- Mitch Lawrence

The 1995-96 Bulls set an NBA record with 72 regular-season victories before cruising to the championship. This season's squad, while slightly behind the impossible pace set a year ago, also appears on track to win 70-odd games and another NBA title.

But are the Bulls really on their way to the most dominant two-year run of all time?

Before we even attempt to answer that question, we need to set some parameters. Yes, they're boring, but they're also necessary.

First, in order to be a candidate, a team must win back-to-back titles. Therefore, we have to assume the Bulls will go on to win another NBA championship.

Second, we'll assume the Bulls will not suffer a serious injury before June. If Michael Jordan tears an ACL this weekend, we can safely say the Bulls wouldn't be favored to win the title.

And third, for reasons of convenience, let's assume "the history of pro sports" includes only such North American pursuits as the NBA, NFL, NHL, and 20th century Major League Baseball.

Got all that? Good. But before we get into those non-roundball sports, we must answer one important question: Are the Bulls even the best NBA team ever?

Check out their numbers over the past two years (1996-97 numbers are projected):

Season	Regular rec.	Regular %	Post. rec.	Post. %	Total record	Total %
1995-96	72-10	.878	15-3	.833	87-13	.870
1996-97	71-11	.866	15-3	.833	86-14	.860
2-yr. totals	143-21	.872	30-6	.833	173-27	.867

We're probably giving the Bulls too much credit in the 1997 playoffs -- can they really go 15-3 again? -- but hey, they've done it before.

Frankly, their NBA competition, history-wise, can be limited to one team, the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics of the 1960s. That franchise's most dominant two-year stretch began in 1963-64, but as you'll see, it doesn't approach Chicago's dominance in terms of sheer winning percentage.

As awesome as the Celtics were, their composite .753 winning mark is more than a hundred points lower than the Bulls' projected percentage. So, leaving aside the issue of diluted competition, it's safe to say that, yes, the Bulls are the most dominant team over a two-year period in NBA history.

And the other sports?

Schedule-wise, the most similar league to the NBA is the NHL, and there is little doubt about the most dominant team in modern NHL history. That honor goes to the Montreal Canadiens, who began a run of four consecutive Stanley Cups in 1975-76. The two best years of that streak began a year later.

Not bad, eh? But that .817 winning percentage still falls well short of Michael and the Jordanaires.

In the NFL, our choice for most dominant team is the 1972-73 Miami Dolphins, who went 26-2 in the regular season and won a pair of Super Bowls.

But don't let that gaudy record fool you. Football, more than any other sport, is a game of dominance. Truly great teams rarely have "off days," as even the Bulls do from time to time.

Still, the Dolphins have to be considered serious rivals for the Bulls.

When it comes to baseball, we have plenty of candidates. We had to choose one, though, and we're going with the Joe DiMaggio-led New York Yankees of 1938-39.

By the 1930s, the major leagues were well-enough established that it was difficult for a team to run roughshod over its opponents as, for example, the Cubs did early in the century. Yet the Yankees ran up a 205-98 (.677) record over those two seasons, and swept each World Series in four games.

On the other hand, other baseball teams have approached that level of two-year dominance, including the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds (.648 winning percentage, 8-3 in Series), the 1929-30 Philadelphia Athletics (.678, 8-3), and, of course, the Murderers' Row Yankees in 1927-28 (.666, 8-0).

Which was really the most dominant two-year run in the history of professional sports?

That's a question to which there is no objective, definitive answer.

But you know, the Bulls have a hell of a case.