Real champions: Not a great season — but Real Salt Lake had great finish

SEATTLE — Maybe somewhere in the eons ahead, someone will figure where Real Salt Lake fits into the big picture.

Which is fine with RSL.

The experts can take their time.

All it knows is that it got there.

And that finishing in second place isn't quite good enough.

On the list of all-time surprise teams, in anyone's league, Real Salt Lake has to rank near the top, winning Major League Soccer's championship Sunday night, 5-4, on penalty kicks. RSL defender Robbie Russell gave Utah its first major professional championship since the 1971 Utah Stars won the ABA title, with a seventh-round penalty kick.

"Where to begin?" said RSL coach Jason Kreis, who added, "At certain points, in certain games, we saw what we were capable of, which is being one of the best teams in the league. Now we are the best team in the league."

Nothing to prove now, except whether this is the craziest championship ever. By anyone.

Nobody, but nobody, wins less than half its games and then wins it all.

It wasn't a great season, just a great finish. Which is what everyone will remember.

"I have the feeling this is really important and will be a really big thing for Utah," said Kreis.

Second place, of course, is where teams from Utah had come to reside. It was a tradition, like Pioneer Day and fry sauce. The Jazz made second place a habit in the '90s, finishing behind the Chicago Bulls in the race for the NBA title, back in 1997 and 1998. The University of Utah basketball team finished second in the NCAA Tournament in 1998.

More recently, the Ute football team finished second in the national rankings, last year, despite an undefeated season.

BYU won a national title in 1984 in football and Utah won a basketball championship in 1944.

Other than some minor league baseball titles, there hasn't been much among major spectator sports.

Even when you're perfect — as were the Ute football teams in 2004 and 2008 — they were a step or two shy of the brass ring, thanks to the poll voters.

Second place, of course, is nothing to scoff at. Jack Nicklaus finished second 19 times in majors. Gisele Bundchen, wife of football star Tom Brady, finished second in a Vanity Fair survey of the world's most beautiful women ... The Rolling Stones finished second on the list of greatest bands of all time.

Second isn't bad.

It's just that first is so ... definitive.

In reality, RSL wasn't afforded much attention from the start. America's most famous team was playing America's least famous. L.A. had one superstar in Landon Donovan and one metrosexual tabloid hunk in David Beckham.

Real had, well, some guys who tried really hard.