It's an age-old bit of conventional wisdom: Team A won because they wanted it more. But we at the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times are nothing if not skeptical of conventional wisdom—often with hilarious consequences!

That's why I've spent the last 14 months or so compiling tons and tons of data on sports teams and their desire to win the game. My research took me far and wide, from the locker rooms of some of pro sports' model franchises, to the dank, basement archives of some really old museums, all the way to the Kwik-E-Mart head office, high atop the Himalayas.

But now, I have reliable data on every MLB team going back to 1963, every NBA team going back to 1980, and every NFL team going back to 1985. I feel this is enough of a base to draw some conclusions about just how often the winning team is actually the one who wanted it more.

Interestingly, the sport where "wanting it" seems to matter most is basketball, where, over the last 28 NBA seasons, the team with the stronger desire to win actually came out victorious in 66.1% of games. And if we limit the data to playoff games, that percentage rises to 70.7%. In 17 of the 28 seasons I studied, the team that wanted it most went on to win the NBA title. And in all 28 seasons, the team that wanted it most made it at least as far as the 2nd round of the playoffs.

In football, I found that the team with the stronger desire tends to win the game about 62.1% of the time, or 63.9% in the playoffs. The team that led the NFL in "wanting it" has won 14 of the last 23 Super Bowls. During that time, only two league-leading wanters have missed the playoffs entirely: the 2005 Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles of the strike-shortened 1987 season.

My most remarkable finding, however, was that in Major League Baseball, "wanting it more" does not appear to matter much at all. Over the last 45 seasons, the team that wanted it more ended up winning only 51.3% of the time. And most ironically, in the playoffs, that figure actually dips down to 51.2%. Only twice in 45 years has the team with the greatest desire captured a World Series trophy: in 1983 (Orioles) and in 1993 (Blue Jays).

In closing, for your infotainment, here are the teams in each sport that I found to have wanted it most, and wanted it least:

Wanted it most (basketball)

1. 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers
2. 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers
3. 1996-97 Atlanta Hawks
4. 2004-05 San Antonio Spurs
5. 1985-86 Los Angeles Lakers

Wanted it least (basketball)

1. 2002-03 Cleveland Cavaliers
2. 2004-05 Atlanta Hawks
3. 1982-83 Cleveland Cavaliers
4. 1982-83 Houston Rockets
5. 1991-92 Philadelphia 76ers

Wanted it most (football)

1. 1992 Buffalo Bills
2. 1998 Denver Broncos
3. 2006 Indianapolis Colts
4. 1986 Cleveland Browns
5. 1985 Chicago Bears

Wanted it least (football)

1. 2005 Baltimore Ravens
2. 1995 Cleveland Browns
3. 2000 Baltimore Ravens
4. 2007 Baltimore Ravens
5. 1991 Los Angeles Rams

Wanted it most (baseball)

1. 1974 Houston Astros
2. 1987 Milwaukee Brewers
3. 1998 Oakland Athletics
4. 1976 Texas Rangers
5. 1993 Toronto Blue Jays

Wanted it least (baseball)

1. 1984 Cincinnati Reds
2. 1966 California Angels
3. 2007 New York Mets
4. 2002 Florida Marlins
5. 1970 Chicago White Sox

My next major research project is going to be studying the relationship between the number of taxis a team takes home from the ballpark, and success on the field. Should be a good one!