A champion?

Athletes like to say that a championship is one thing they can win that can never be taken away.

I have some questions about that. No, I’m not here to bury Floyd Landis. But one of the most vexing contentions of my childhood was the argument that John Elway wasn’t a great quarterback because he hadn’t won a championship. Yet a lot of Joe Montana’s backup fullbacks had. Clearly, not all champions are created equally.

So today I want to look at some recent winners and decide if their championships can be taken away.

1. Drew Bledsoe-Bledsoe won his ring with the 2001 Patriots in that beautiful upset over the Rams. Is he a champ?

Cons: Bledsoe’s team had a great season only after he got hurt and Tom Brady came in. In a lot of ways, the Patriots dynasty was born only because he wasn’t on the field.

Pros: Bledsoe had to come in to the second half of the AFC Championship against the Steelers just to put his team in the Super Bowl. (Then again, his counterpart was Kordell Stewart in a big game, so it’s not like he had to be Unitas or anything.) And do you remember the “Brady v. Bledsoe” starting controversy before the Super Bowl?

Verdict: Bledsoe’s championship is as legitimate as anyone’s, largely on the strength of his postseason appearance. I remember thinking Bledsoe would have been a smart pick to start that Super Bowl, which is probably why I’ve bent over backwards to praise Brady every chance I’ve had since. What an idiot I was.

2. Brian Griese-Won as a rookie on the ’98 Denver Broncos.

Cons: Griese barely played-I think he only appeared in the end of one game, a blowout over the Eagles. (In a sign of things to come, he was one-of-three with a pick.)

Pros: His team did win the title, and as far as I know he got a ring.

Verdict: This one stretches the very definition of “teamwork.” I mean, he practiced with the rest of the team all year, and while some roles are more important than others, each matters. And backups can, by their very presence, push starters to greater heights, though that would be absurd to suggest in this specific case.

That said, if anyone’s title doesn’t count, it’s Griese’s. The only waves he made were when his father, a member of the undefeated and unloveable ’72 Dolphins, admitted he was pulling for the Broncos to lose.

Looking back, it’s still hard to believe the Broncos going from Elway-who, despite his draft day demands, earned everything he got on the field-to Griese, who was handed a ring his first year and whose coddling has never been surpassed.

3. Anaheim Angels, 2003-Beat Barry Bonds in his only World Series appearance.

Cons: The sissies walked Bonds nearly every time he came to bat.

Pros: They had torrid hitting through the playoffs and lights-out relief pitching. And while there’s nothing American about the rule that you can just wuss out of pitching to someone, it’s just as fair as, say, steroids were in 2003.

Verdict: I still want to say this one doesn’t count. But it’s not the Angels’ fault that baseball’s rules created but hadn’t anticipated a hitter like Bonds. They’re champs.

4. Los Angeles Lakers, 2002

Pros: Annihilated the New Jersey Nets in four games.

Cons: Suspicious-at-best officiating in the West Finals against the Kings.

Verdict: Who cares? Did anyone watch the Lakers play the Nets that year?

I was going to cover Gary Payton, but I feel like I did that already. Even though he mostly just played defense and hit two big shots, well, that’s two big shots more than Bruce Bowen usually chips in, and no one questions him.

Let me also say that most college football championships are legit despite BCS controversy. Most of the time, the debate is over the No. 2 team-when CU got slightly jobbed a few years ago, they, Nebraska, and yes, Oregon would have all had a hard time against Miami. That said, of course LSU and USC were not both the best team in 2003.

I guess I don’t really have the heart to say these athlete’s performances are tainted that much. Can you think of any that should be taken away?