After the fantastic Twins 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.)
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 your 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.
Thoughts on this... This does not include major college teams, although the Gophers have done little enough to make me believe that the cities would be in either the same or worse shape then they are now. 8 out of 11 teams have over a .500 winning percentage, which leads me to believe that if your market supports all 4 major sports, you should have the resources to compete in most of them on a yearly basis. And for the most part we have, this year has just been particularly bad. The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be turning around any time soon. We'll see what the Wild do this offseason, with a few good additions they'll be contending for the playoffs, but no more than that. The Vikes are close too, I guess, although the jury's still out on them for me. They still look mediocre from my house. The Wolves are going nowhere fast, and the Twins are trying to keep up with them. Minneapolis/St. Paul is also the only one of these cities to have zero teams make the playoffs in the last year. That's sweet too.
My thoughts on this season's Twins squad and their manager have been well heard by everyone I've come into contact with, and I really have nothing else to say about them. I originally predicted 80-82 this season, but that might get bumped to 65-97 now.
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 your 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.
Thoughts on this... This does not include major college teams, although the Gophers have done little enough to make me believe that the cities would be in either the same or worse shape then they are now. 8 out of 11 teams have over a .500 winning percentage, which leads me to believe that if your market supports all 4 major sports, you should have the resources to compete in most of them on a yearly basis. And for the most part we have, this year has just been particularly bad. The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be turning around any time soon. We'll see what the Wild do this offseason, with a few good additions they'll be contending for the playoffs, but no more than that. The Vikes are close too, I guess, although the jury's still out on them for me. They still look mediocre from my house. The Wolves are going nowhere fast, and the Twins are trying to keep up with them. Minneapolis/St. Paul is also the only one of these cities to have zero teams make the playoffs in the last year. That's sweet too.
My thoughts on this season's Twins squad and their manager have been well heard by everyone I've come into contact with, and I really have nothing else to say about them. I originally predicted 80-82 this season, but that might get bumped to 65-97 now.
posted by f theb at 10:57 AM
2 Comments:
I just realized that this is pretty baseball weighted. Here is a rundown of the 11 by just averaging their winning percentages.
1. Dallas .600
2. Detroit .591
3. Denver .5906
4. Chicago .562
5. New York .534
6. Boston .522
7. Philadelphia .486
8. Phoenix .484
9. Washington .474
10. Minnesota .473
11. Atlanta .469
Hooray, we don't suck as bad as Atlanta! And Chicago has the only reigning champion on this list from the World Series, San Antonio, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh hold the otehr titles.
I think we need to get you some hand lotion and some kleenex - as well as a couple of magazines off the rack at the Broadway EZ Stop.
However - very interesting. You should include a comparison of the net worth of each of the owners of the franchises - and see who is doing what with what - if you know what I'm saying. I'm willing to bet that all this small market b.s. isn't really as skewed as they make it out to be. Plus - there has to be some tax advantage to losing $$ on your sports franchise - while earning with your legitimate businesses.
Plus - shouldn't it really be about the love of the game??
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