I know I live in the U.S., and all, but I figure the chances of the USMNST winning a World Cup before all of us die is approximately the same as that of the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series before all of us die. Actually, the Sox (Chicago White and Boston Red) have each won World Series in recent years, as have the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida (now Miami) Marlins. I think it’s entirely possible that the Chicago Cubs will win another World Series BEFORE the USMNST wins a World Cup.
For this I would count MLB (although I’m personally not a baseball fan in the least), NFL, NBA, and NHL titles (even though I am not of the belief that ice hockey is really all THAT big a sport in this country except to those east of Montana in the Great Lakes area and the Northeast). For college sports I’m with you but what constitutes “big time” college sports as far as you’re concerned? College football is my absolute favorite but I recognize that college basketball (at least the men’s) is pretty big, as well. Beyond that? Women’s college basketball? Ice hockey? Volleyball? Gymnastics? Cheerleading?
Yeah. I’m sorry. Yours is one of the few cities in this country with “major league” sports teams that has an even worse “championship history” (since, say, 1960, anyway) than the “major” city I live closest to - Seattle - does. Sorry 'bout that.
Well, your Bengals gave the Niners two good games (as opposed to being blown out the way the Dolphins, the {snicker} Broncos, and the Chargers were) in the Super Bowl back in the '80s, for what that’s worth (probably not much, I know).
Watching college football in one of the last couple of seasons I saw something about how USC (California) won some kind of lawsuit, or something, at some point which is why when one sees a sports ticker referring to a team from the University of South Carolina it’s abbreviated “SCar” instead of “USC”. Personally I just refer to them as USC (West) and USC (East). What the courts said matters little to me in this case.
They sure could. The way that franchise is going, though, I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Ooooo, rough! Though I am MUCH less of a basketball fan than I used to be (i.e. almost not at all) AND the local professional team is now based in Oklahoma, I still cannot STAND the Fakers for A) SOMEHOW managing to draft Earvin “Magic” Johnson when they hadn’t been even CLOSE to being the worst team during the 1978-79 NBA season and B) derailing what should have been a SuperSonics DYNASTY going into the 1980s (well, okay - probably not). Any of you who follow the NBA know the +/- on that for SuperSonics/Thunder vs. Fakers is NOT in favor of the team that’s now in OKC. @#@##@ Fakers!! (I am REVELING in them SUCKING SO BADLY right now - I only wish I knew that that would be guaranteed to continue until the day I die)
Seahawks vs. ??? - most Seahawks fans right now would probably say “San Francisco” although I was a HUGE fan of the Niners during the 80s. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott - I mean how could you NOT like that team unless you were a fan of the Rams, the Giants, or the Bears back then? Seahawk fans of old would probably say “the Raiders” but A) the Raiders are no longer in the Seahawks’ division (or even conference), B) the Raiders, while one of the most feared and respected NFL teams for the first 15 or 20 years after the merger (and for a few years before the merger, as well) have, for the most part, been CRAP for the last 20 years, or so, and C) I was a Raiders fan before the Seahawks even existed, so for me, they’re out. No, for me it HAS to be the Broncos, aka the Orange ‘n’ Blue Fairies. Too many bad memories of Seahawk games gone bad with “Horse Face” at the Bronco helm (and even while Horse Face was still in high school). By all rights the Seahawks SHOULD lead the Fairies in terms of Super Bowl titles but Horse Face got lucky in the '90s when the Fairies FINALLY got themselves a good running back AND because the Pack and the Falcons each self-destructed against the Fairies in those two Super Bowls. Hopefully none of us will ever again have to suffer the indignity of seeing the Orange ‘n’ Blue Fairies MAKE it to another Super Bowl, let alone win one.
Washington Husky football - even though right now I cannot STAND the Yucks from Eugene the Dawgs still have more national championships in football than THOSE fairies ever will. So for +/- I have to go with the USC (West) Trojans. Back in the day I hated the Trojans at LEAST as much as I hate the Yucks now. Very possibly even more. As with the Fakers vs. the SuperSonics/Thunder, though, anybody who follows college football knows which of those two teams engenders more national respect and it sure ain’t the one from the Pacific Northwest!!
But they still have a more positive history than the Muh-REEE-nurrs!!
This always raises suspicion in my eyes.
Honestly, I’m surprised it was only a third, all things considered.
Perhaps, but then they only play the World Cup every 4 years.
I’m sure you’ve since realized this but the Sixers didn’t win the NBA title in 1977 (they went up 2 - 0 in the Finals before losing 4 straight to the Trailblazers). The one they DID get was the wonderful one in 1983 when they ALMOST went (in the immortal words of Moses Malone): “Fo’, fo’ and fo” (if memory serves the Milwaukee Bucks got one win off of them, I believe in the Eastern Conference Finals. Other than that it was a Sixers whitewash throughout the playoffs. The SWEETEST win - in my estimation, at least - was the clincher against the Bakers. Already up 3 - 0 in the series Game 4 was in L.A. and at one point the Fakers were up by something like 25 points. I wasn’t happy but I figured “BFD - the Bakers might win this one but [hopefully] the Sixers’ll finish 'em off in Game 5.” As it turned out, I needn’t have worried - the Sixers came back to win Game 4 and SWEEP the “Magic” Johnson- and Kareen Abdul-Jabbar-led Fakers. How sweet it was. Too bad it turned out to be a flash in the pan for the Sixers.
What’s the problem? I’ve seen “complaints” like this before. Who ever said that personal preferences for sports teams has to necessarily be defined by geography or proximity? Sometimes I’ve become a fan of a team simply because it’s beaten the crap out of a team that I really DIDN’T like (i.e. when the Philadelphia 76ers CRUSHED the L.A. Fakers in the 1983 NBA Finals or when the Italian national soccer team beat the West German entry in the 1982 World Cup Final).
Not at Game 3, when the Mets were still in it and you could argue they “should” have won Game 1; but being in a 3-1 series hole going into Game 5, I think a fair number of people cashed out to high bidding Yankees fans on the secondary market. I sort of sympathize, but the contrast was pretty stark.
Who said this was a complaint? I don’t see it as a “problem” at all; I am just curious about the mechanism.
Most people I know who are Cubs fans, say, are also fans of the Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls, assuming they follow these other sports, rather than following for-the-sake-of-argument the Broncos, Red Wings, and 76ers in addition to the Cubs. I’d that would be the default, with fandom for one team in one sport extending to teams in the same city in other sports; obviously that’s not always the case.
You’ve named one way of becoming a fan of a team that’s outside your general geographic interest. I’d like to know if there are others.
Redskins - 3
Blackhawks-2
Heat-3
Braves-1
Total-9
I have the good luck to be both a Cubs fan and a Spurs fan. Total = 0
Bulls = 6
LA Angels = 1
I was 3 when the Bears won, and there is a cute picture of me in a huge t-shirt celebrating the victory, but no one in my family has watched football since. = 1/2
Total 7.5
Green Bay Packers: 2 (I was young in 96 when they won, but I still count it)
Brewers: Should be 1 (damn Cardinals), but alas tis a 0
Badgers: 0, because honestly I’m just counting Basketball and Football. I never went there, just a fan.
Ball State Cardinals: Sigh…I feel we will never be a champion in anything.
Miami Dolphins: Also a Zero
To answer why all the Wisconsin, then Miami. When I was younger I LOVED Dolphins, and I found a football team that was Dolphins and started following them and I guess I just never left.
Stop it! I can’t breathe!
I think I have to start a thread based on your rant.
I also think you may want to head off to bed rather than polish off that entire case of Seattle microbrew in one sitting.
As for comparing my teams’ championships to our rivals’ – which gets a little messy because rivals can change over time – the chief rival for Laker fans has pretty much been the Celtics (sorry, Seattle, it’s hard to get worked up over Detlef Schrempf, Luke Ridnour, et al). The Celts won three to the Lakers five in the 80’s, so we fared pretty well there and then won 2-1 during the Garnett/Pierce-Kobe/Gasol years. in the early 2000’s, the San Antonio Spurs weren’t truly considered rivals, but I wanna say the Spurs won 4 'chips to the Lakers 3. I hated the 80’s Celtics with a passion – really, my stomach would churn even during regular season games – but over time, I’ve really come to embrace that team, even if DJ, Parish and McHale were ugly as sin and Ainge was the biggest whiner in NBA history.
As for the Dodgers, casual MLB fans may think of the rivals always being the Giants, but in the 70’s and into the early 80’s it was the Cincinnati Reds of Big Red Machine fame. Even though the Reds were probably better, the Dodgers fared pretty well, winning 1 championship ('81) to the Reds 2 (75 & 76). BUT, the Dodgers got into more World Series than Cinci, 4-3, no small feat.
The late 80’s and 90’s Dodger rivals were mostly the Atlanta Braves (until the Divisions were adjusted) and each team won 1 title, but over that stretch the Braves were far better and the latter stretch had Fox running the Dodgers into the ground.
More recently, the Giants have returned to become the Dodgers biggest rival and they’ve had the upper hand, winning 2 Series to the Dodgers zero, the latter having used up all its good Karma in '88 (Gibson’s HR, etc.). But the Dodgers will win it this year and continue winning as long as the Guggenheim group keeps spraying the money hose on them.
USC’s chief rival has been UCLA, but it’s not really a fair fight for many of the years – USC is a private university and UCLA part of the UC system and doesn’t place the same emphasis (see: $$$) at the program and recruits the way USC does (UCLA saves it for hoops). But in recent years with Phil Knight taking U of Oregon to his bosom, the Ducks are now the real rivals and although they haven’t won a title, they’ve splattered USC more times than not.
I don’t even want to talk about the Lambs, fed to slaughter at the hands of the 90’s 49ers until Georgia Front-and-Rear-y took the show to St. Louis. But I recall the Rams holding up pretty well in the regular season against them. You wanted to hate the 49ers but they were so damn good and a pretty classy outfit compared to the cheapskate Rams. And I don’t think 49er fans really considered the Rams as “rivals.”
BTW, Magic Johnson was a draft pick obtained from the New Orleans Jazz, who signed ex-Laker star Gail Goodrich as a free agent. The rules at the time stated that a team signing a top free agent had to give up their first round pick as compensation (not sure how many years later, but it appears three, based on Goodrich’s signing and the Lakers drafting Magic). The Jazz went into the tank and ended up with either the worst or second-worst record (I’m not sure which) and the Lakers won the coin flip to draft #1 overall in 1979. It only seems like the Lakers stole Johnson from the rest league. It is not like how the Celtics stole Larry Bird with Red Auerbach’s “Junior Eligible” rule, which was in place for exactly two years.
That may very well be, but it sure seems suspicious, to me, how the Fakers, for much of the last 40 years, or so, have managed to find themselves a quality big man right after their current one’s either retired or been kicked to the curb. The Big Dipper (Wilt Chamberlain) retires? No problem - we’ll just go fleece the Bucks for Kareem. Kareem gave us a solid 15 years but now is FINALLY calling it quits on his Hall of Fame career? Okay - we’ll go get one of Europe’s finest, Vlade Divac. He’s not really working out? No worries - Shuh-Kweel just decided that he doesn’t want to play for Orlando any more - let’s get ‘im! Shuh-Kweel has gotten too fat and lazy (even though while that bastard was on the team the Flakers managed to win 5 [or whatever it was] NBA titles)? Let’s go get us another one of Europe’s finest, Pau Gasol! Pau Gasol’s not really working out? Dwight Howard to the rescue! (Okay, admittedly not ALL of those transactions worked in the Bakers’ favor but, overall, I don’t think any team in the NBA has somehow been able to wrangle big man talent from other teams in the league as well as the Fakers have since the early '70s. It’s almost as if every other NBA team is in on the “we gotta make sure the Takers aren’t down for TOOO long 'cause they’re the real ‘meal ticket’ for the league!” way of thinking. Sorry, but I can’t stand your team. Never have been able to and I’m pretty sure I never will. Okay - I’m not sorry).
Teams got compensatory picks for players who weren’t even under contract to them anymore back in those days?!? Sounds pretty effed up, to me. You sure that wasn’t some sort of “horse trading” deal meant to benefit the Bakers 'cause that’s sure what it sounds like to me!