America’s Best Sports City

I don’t think there’s any question what city is the King of American Sports right now.  The Giants are three months removed from their second World Series title in three seasons, and San Francisco has a chance to make it back-to-back championships with a 49ers victory next Sunday.  That’s a lot of sick/vacation days that fans in the Bay Area need to use up solely for going to championship parades and a lot of money spent on the ridiculously overpriced t-shirts/hats/DVDs that they simply have to have.

Contrast that to Phoenix, which has a grand total of ONE title on its city resume (the 2001 Diamondbacks).  Or Detroit, where the Tigers and Red Wings don’t even come close to making up for the Lions and Pistons.

So, how do the cities stack up?  There are 12 cities in the country that have at least one team in each of the Big Four (for San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose count; same thing for New York and New Jersey).  Some have an abundance of riches.  Others not so much.  It’s pretty obvious that San Francisco’s No. 1.  But what about the rest?  These rankings are based on a couple factors, including overall success of the group as a whole, championships won and general relevance in each particular sport.  So, without further ado, here are the top-to-bottom rankings of the 12 four-sport cities in America:

• 1. San Francisco-The Giants have won two of the last three World Series.  The 49ers are in the Super Bowl.  The A’s won their division last season.  The Sharks are perennial contenders, and you’ve gotta figure they’ll break through and get to the Stanley Cup Finals eventually.  The Warriors?  They’ve been a laughingstock for a long time, but even they’re on the upswing.  Then there’s that dysfunctional mess known as the Raiders, who are currently the only ones holding the Bay Area back.

• 2. New York-It may seem like I’m being a homer here, but consider the recent success of New York teams.  The Giants won the Super Bowl last season.  The Yankees are in the playoffs every year, and even that’s not enough, which says all you need to know.  The Rangers should’ve won the Stanley Cup last year, but lost the Eastern Conference Finals to the Devils.  Over in the NBA, the Knicks, who’ve been irrelevant for years, have turned a corner and are one of the best teams in the East, and moving to Brooklyn has suddenly made the Nets relevant.  Nobody cares about the Mets or Islanders, which is fine with them.  As for the Jets, they do their part by providing everyone with some comic relief.

• 3. Boston-A few years ago, Boston was the undisputed King.  But they’ve been knocked down a few pegs in recent years.  Sure, the Bruins were the Stanley Cup champions in 2011 and still rank among the five or six best teams in the NHL.  And the Celtics made the conference finals last year.  And the Patriots have won approximately 65 consecutive AFC East titles.  But they’ve lost two Super Bowls to the Giants in the last five years, which means Boston can’t rank above New York.  Especially after the 2012 Red Sox season (which I, personally, enjoyed very much)

• 4. Washington-Washington gets the slight nod over Chicago for No. 4 because there were a pair of division champions in D.C. in recently completed seasons.  The Nationals are a team on the rise.  They’re young, they’re good, and they’re going to be around for a while.  Same with RG3 and the Redskins.  Talk about talented, how about Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals?  They might be one of the most overrated teams in hockey, but they’re a perennial playoff team.  Even the Wizards are less of a joke than they’ve been recently.

• 5. Philadelphia-If I’d done this list last year, Philly probably would’ve been in the Top Four, if not the Top Three.  But that was before the Phillies and Eagles each had a completely miserable 2012 campaign.  The 76ers?  I have no idea how good they are, but they’re in the same division as the Knicks, Nets and Celtics, who are all better.  The last Philadelphia team to reach the Finals was the 2010 Flyers.  They’re probably the best of the lot right now.

• 6. Chicago-Chi-Town didn’t get the 2016 Olympics and hasn’t won a title since the 2010 Blackhawks, but neither one of those things is really the city’s fault.  It’s not really possible for the Bulls to match their six-championships-in-eight-years Jordan heyday, but they’re back to being one of the best teams in the NBA under Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.  And it’s not as if the Blackhawks have slacked since their Cup win.  As for the Bears, they just fired Lovie Smith after a 10-6 season.  They haven’t been regularly making the playoffs, but they have been contending.  Chicago’s always going to love the Cubs more, but the White Sox are the better of the two baseball teams by far.  They led the AL Central for most of the 2012 season before the Tigers caught them in September.

• 7. Dallas-It’s a Cowboys town, but the Rangers and Mavericks are the current standard-bearers for sports in Big D.  The Rangers made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010-11, but pissed away a third straight division title last season and ended up losing to the Orioles in the wild card game.  Mark Cuban is one of the best owners in sports.  The Mavericks are going to be good as long as he continues to care, and they won the title two years ago.  Under the weight of the ridiculous expectations they face every year, the Cowboys have underachieved.  But they’re always in the hunt until the final game, even though they usually end up short of the playoffs.  I’m curious to see if the roster overhaul the Stars have made this season lifts them out of last place.

• 8. Denver-Peyton Manning’s arrival turned the Broncos into the Toast of the Town (which they always were anyway) and moved Denver up a little bit in the rankings. But outside of the Broncos, Denver’s a little lacking. The Nuggets are good. The Rockies have a lot of talent, but not enough for their tough division. Same thing with the Avalanche. Some talent. Not enough. Although, their 2001 Stanley Cup remains Denver’s last championship.

•  9. Detroit-Detroit has the Tigers and Red Wings. But, unfortunately, Detroit also has the Lions and Pistons. We might as well get used to the Tigers playing in the World Series. Because I don’t think last season will be an isolated instance of that happening. The Red Wings are always in the discussion, even if they’re not as good as they used to be. They have the longest active streak of consecutive playoff appearances at 20-something years. After a couple years of promise and a playoff run in 2011, the Lions regressed back to last place this season. And the Pistons are currently a mess.

• 10. Miami-Let’s face it, Miami has the Heat and nothing else.  LeBron and Co. won their championship last season, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to making up for how horrendous the Panthers, Dolphins and Marlins have been.  In all fairness, the Panthers won the division last season, but the verdict’s still out as to whether that was a fluke or not.  Regardless, they’ve been so bad for so long that even if last year wasn’t an anamoly, it doesn’t help much.  Same thing with the Dolphins.  Being in the same division as the Patriots shouldn’t be an excuse.  They haven’t been consistently good since Marino.  The Marlins?  Yeah.  That rebranding thing went well.  Last season was the first time they tried to be good and it didn’t work, and now they’ve completely given up.  That’s why all of their best players now play in Toronto.

• 11. Minnesota-If the WNBA was factored into these city rankings, Maya Moore’s Lynx would help Minnesota’s cause.  As it is, though, there hasn’t been much to cheer about in the Twin Cities recently.  Sure, Adrian Peterson’s a beast and the Vikings made the playoffs, but they sucked last season.  The Wild will probably be a lot better this season and will probably contend for the Northeast Division title, but they’ve struggled in recent years.  Same thing with the Timberwolves.  The Twins have gone the other way.  They’ve got one of the most talented players in baseball (Joe Mauer), yet have gone from challenging for the division title year after year to fighing to stay out of last place.

• 12. Phoenix-The collective lack of success for the four Phoenix teams over the past few years was enough to put our friends in the desert over the top as the proud owners of the title “Worst Four-Spor City.”  Phoenix’s only title came from the 2001 Diamondbacks.  Said baseball team throws in a random winning season every couple of years, but, for the most part, hangs out in fourth- or fifth-place.  The Cardinals?  Outside of Kurt Warner’s time there, which included one Super Bowl near-win, they haven’t been relevant since moving West.  The Coyotes are owned by the NHL and have been rumored to be on the move for a couple years.  Despite all this, they made a run to the Western Conference Finals last season.  Again, probably a flash-in-the-pan, though.  Phoenix’s standard-bearer has always been the Suns, but even they’ve struggled recently, and their best player–Steve Nash–is on the Lakers now.

So, there you have it.  San Francisco’s supremacy will be further cemented if the Sharks win the Stanley Cup.  As for everybody else, it gives them something to strive for.  Just like Boston was King in the early 2000s, San Fran’s not going to be top dog forever.  Who’s the biggest contender to steal the title away?  I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Washington.