Was Philly the best sports town in 2008?
This question actually came from one of our (five) loyal readers. Here's the e-mail from Kevin that got us thinking:
So I was in the shower last night pondering the state of Philadelphia sports, as I've been known to do. And I realized, in the past year, Philadelphia has been the most successful sports city in the country. The Sixers made the playoffs, the Flyers and Eagles both made it to their conference championships and the Phillies won the Series. I couldn't think of one other city with all four sports where all of their teams even made the playoffs. Am I wrong?If you go by the 2008 calendar year, this makes a lot of sense. Let's take a look at the details.
So we've already established that 2008 was a good year for Philly sports. Out of the 4 major sports we saw: 1 World (F'ing) Champion, 2 losses in conference championships and 1 first round playoff exit. Technically the Eagles playoff run with in 2009, but it was the culmination of the 2008 season. If you throw in the Philadelphia Soul (which we really shouldn't) you have another champion.
What other city can compete with that? Of the other cities that had a champion in one of the 4 major sports, none of their counterparts were as successful as the other Philly teams. The Steelers won the Super Bowl - but Pittsburgh also has the lowly Pirates (and no NBA team). The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup but they share a city with the Lions and Tigers. Boston has the champion Celtics, but the Patriots didn't even make the playoffs this year.
Is there any other city that can even compare to Philly in 2008? Are we currently in the greatest era of Philly sports since 1980-83? I think we are. I'm going to try my best to stop being so bitter and expecting the worst. Oh wait, never mind.
3 comments:
So then, who will be the next team to miss the playoffs from philadelphia?
Based on their youth and skill
I can't see the flyers missing the playoffs for a few years. The Sixers aren't championship calibur but then again it's not too difficult to make the playoffs with a mediocre team in the east.
Baseball is the hardest sport in which to reach the playoffs based on the number of teams that earn a spot but the Phillies lack what philly sports teams generally have: a glaring, exploitable flaw.
The Eagles are the enigma of philly. They have the capability of winning a championship or missing the playoffs entirely any given year.
So who will be the first team to dissapoint the city and our newly inflated expectations by failing to reach the playoffs? Phillies or Eagles in 2009? I don't see either team missing. Could it be that a Philadelphia sports team won't miss the playoffs until 2010? Would you even be suprised?
The team most likely to miss the playoffs has to be the Eagles. That's just the nature of the NFL, though. Look at the Patriots, they were 16-0 on year, then 11-5 and out of the playoffs the next year.
I just googled this blog and I thought I would share my view especially as diehard philly fan - Because baseball goes by the calendar year doesn't overlap, like 08-09, the sports year begins with baseball and ends the next following June with basketball. That being said, if the eagles hadn't shit the bed in 07-08, we could be looking at TWO STRAIGHT YEARS OF HAVING ALL OUR TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS!...folks that is unparallel...the 07-08 boston teams did with the red sox, patriots, bruins, and celtics, but before that it gets very dicey...there are currently 13 cities with 4 pro sports teams and there are no others that I can think succeeded in this feat since 2000...it is excruciating brain power to figure it out...its almost impossible...i found the 1997 Miami teams succeeded in doing it, but didnt go back much further, so thank god that we have contenders and lets go flyers and sixers!
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