Scholes
05-01-2006, 12:02 PM
After the fantastic Twins v Tigers weekend we just had, my brother and I were talking about the general poop-like status of Minnesota sports at the moment, and whether this was the low point of Minnesota sports history. I haven't really gotten into the past yet, and my memory is fuzzy at best, but I did do a study of the current status as compared to other cities with a franchise in the 4 major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). I added up each team's records from their last complete season, then threw the current season's baseball record in there as well. Here are the rankings: (NOTE: I threw out all overtime/shootout losses/ties from the books. Simply wins and losses, so these are not exactly ironclad, but should give you a good idea of each cities' success.)(NOTE #2: If I missed any cites/regions I apologize in advance. This was done quickly and I may have missed someone.)
1. Detroit 214-145 .596 pct The Pistons and Red Wings do more than enough to offset the Lions and Tigers 2005 season, and the Tigers hot start to the baseball season adds fuel to the fire.
2. Dallas 214-147 .593 pct I included the Texas Rangers with Dallas, due to their proximity. The Mavericks and Stars, like Detroit's winter sports, carry the load here.
3. New York/New Jersey 420-366 .534 pct Included are the following teams, Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Jets, Giants, Knicks, Nets, Yankees, Mets. Pretty impressive due to the amount of teams in the area, especially throwing in the Knicks and Jets' records.
4. Chicago 286-252 .532 pct The White Sox and Bears are the big timers in Chi Town, actually, if you take the White Sox out and just use the Cubs, Chicago goes under .500 (.480). I used both the Cubs and Sox.
5. Philadelphia 167-168 .527 pct The Flyers are the only non-mediocre squad of the bunch, but they did well enough to push Philly into the top five.
6. Phoenix 186-176 .517 pct See Philly's recap and substitute the Suns for the Flyers.
7. Boston 181-170 .516 pct I included New England football in the mix, and thanks to them Boston remains above .500. The winter sports squads, the Bruins and Celtics, are dragging the successes of the football and baseball teams down.
8. Denver 182-176 .508 pct Denver had a winning season in every sport other than baseball, where the Rockies' 95 losses last season put a huge dent in the winning percentage, accounting for more than half of the cities' losses. Their 15-10 start this year bodes well for the Mile High city.
9. Atlanta 175-183 .489 pct Atlanta was at .500 or above in everything until you hit the Hawks and their soul-sucking 26-56 record. In fact, as I was doing this, I didn't include Atlanta at first because I forgot that they had a basketball team.
10. Washington 170-185 .479 pct Once again, see Atlanta but subsititute the Capitals for the Hawks and you have the second worst winning percentage amongst cities with four major league franchises.
11. Minnesota 172-186 .478 pct You guessed it, bringing up the rear is my beloved Twin Cities area. Just barely edging out Washington, the Twins pathetic start doesn't help matters. The thing is, the Wild, Vikings and last year's Twins were all over .500. They were all close to .500 though, and the awesome season from the Wolves and mint Twins start drag them to the cellar. The Minneapolis/St. Paul region is also the only one out of the eleven to not have a single playoff team in the last year. The Vikings and Wild (with some promised off-season activity) are probably the closest to returning to post-season play, but I don't think either of them have a good shot at advancing very far if they do.
Only 3 out of the 11 areas are under .500, which leads me to believe that if your market can support 4 teams, you should have the resources/stadiums/fanbase available to compete.
1. Detroit 214-145 .596 pct The Pistons and Red Wings do more than enough to offset the Lions and Tigers 2005 season, and the Tigers hot start to the baseball season adds fuel to the fire.
2. Dallas 214-147 .593 pct I included the Texas Rangers with Dallas, due to their proximity. The Mavericks and Stars, like Detroit's winter sports, carry the load here.
3. New York/New Jersey 420-366 .534 pct Included are the following teams, Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Jets, Giants, Knicks, Nets, Yankees, Mets. Pretty impressive due to the amount of teams in the area, especially throwing in the Knicks and Jets' records.
4. Chicago 286-252 .532 pct The White Sox and Bears are the big timers in Chi Town, actually, if you take the White Sox out and just use the Cubs, Chicago goes under .500 (.480). I used both the Cubs and Sox.
5. Philadelphia 167-168 .527 pct The Flyers are the only non-mediocre squad of the bunch, but they did well enough to push Philly into the top five.
6. Phoenix 186-176 .517 pct See Philly's recap and substitute the Suns for the Flyers.
7. Boston 181-170 .516 pct I included New England football in the mix, and thanks to them Boston remains above .500. The winter sports squads, the Bruins and Celtics, are dragging the successes of the football and baseball teams down.
8. Denver 182-176 .508 pct Denver had a winning season in every sport other than baseball, where the Rockies' 95 losses last season put a huge dent in the winning percentage, accounting for more than half of the cities' losses. Their 15-10 start this year bodes well for the Mile High city.
9. Atlanta 175-183 .489 pct Atlanta was at .500 or above in everything until you hit the Hawks and their soul-sucking 26-56 record. In fact, as I was doing this, I didn't include Atlanta at first because I forgot that they had a basketball team.
10. Washington 170-185 .479 pct Once again, see Atlanta but subsititute the Capitals for the Hawks and you have the second worst winning percentage amongst cities with four major league franchises.
11. Minnesota 172-186 .478 pct You guessed it, bringing up the rear is my beloved Twin Cities area. Just barely edging out Washington, the Twins pathetic start doesn't help matters. The thing is, the Wild, Vikings and last year's Twins were all over .500. They were all close to .500 though, and the awesome season from the Wolves and mint Twins start drag them to the cellar. The Minneapolis/St. Paul region is also the only one out of the eleven to not have a single playoff team in the last year. The Vikings and Wild (with some promised off-season activity) are probably the closest to returning to post-season play, but I don't think either of them have a good shot at advancing very far if they do.
Only 3 out of the 11 areas are under .500, which leads me to believe that if your market can support 4 teams, you should have the resources/stadiums/fanbase available to compete.