Easy on the"poor me"s

First, I'm going to begin by saying congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, who defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4 games to 1 in the World Series and are Major League Baseball's 2008 champions. They outplayed the Rays and outlasted the rain and proved that age and treachery do beat youth, innocence, and a bad haircut.

That said, don't count me among those who feel the slightest amount of pity for Philadelphia's "long-suffering" fans who had to endure a 25-year wait between championships, because I don't want to hear it.

If you take a look at the major-league sports franchises in the “big four” sports (football, baseball, hockey, and basketball), you’ll see that there are 114 teams spread out across 40 metropolitan areas within the United States (I'm omitting Canada for a reason). Those metropolitan areas would be: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York-New Jersey, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Washington, DC.

Out of those 40 cities, 17 have won a championship in the last 10 years (this includes Philadelphia's World Series title this week). Here's how they break out:

Championship cities in the last 10 years:

Metro Area	Championships
Baltimore	1
Boston	6
Charlotte	1
Chicago	1
Dallas	1
Denver	2
Detroit	3
Indianapolis	1
Los Angeles	5
Miami	2
New York-New Jersey	5
Philadelphia	1
Phoenix	1
Pittsburgh	1
San Antonio	4
St. Louis	2
Tampa Bay	2

Of course, if we look back further, let's say the last 25 years, the list gets considerably longer. Now the cities where a championship was celebrated grows from 17 to 25 and now includes: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco Bay area, Washington, DC.

Which means that the following cities have NOT won any sort of a championship in the last 25 years: Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Jacksonville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle.

The problem with that list is that we have a lot of cities which are either new to the whole major league sports scene (Columbus, Memphis, OKC to name a few) or have only one team (or both). So, let's remove the cities that only one team calls home and those whose teams have been in existence for less than 20 years, we see list become a lot smaller. Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle.

Hmm, that really draws a stark map of sporting futility, doesn't it.

Metro Area	Last Title	Mantle of Futility
Buffalo	1965	4 straight Super Bowl losses
Cleveland	1964	how many losing seasons since?
Milwaukee	1971
New Orleans	-	zero winning seasons in first 19 years
San Diego	-
Seattle	1979	only franchise to actually win a championship left town

Looking at it this way, it kind of makes that whole "haven't won a championships in 25 years" thing seem a little silly, doesn't it?

Power of people

jad·ed (jā'dĭd)
adj.
1. Worn out; wearied
2. Dulled by surfeit; sated
3. Cynically or pretentiously callous

That's how dictionary.com defines the term. It's an adjective I use often to describe myself. This week, however, something happened which changed that, if only for a little while.

Sunday night, a guy who most of you do not know nor, sadly, will ever know, died of pancreatic cancer. He was 31 years old.

Joe, known widely as crakburn, was a husband, a retired Marine, and a die-hard Browns fan. He was also one of the moderators of the Cleveland Browns forum on Football's Future. It was in this capacity that made his impact.

Last summer, while I was busy welcoming a new baby into the world, Joe got the official word that the tumor that had been growing in his abdomen was, in fact, stage III pancreatic cancer. I'm not going to lie, when I found out, my first thought was to wonder if he had months left, or just weeks. Regardless, over the next few months, as his condition worsened, he kept following the Browns as diligently as ever. In fact, all but a few people knew that there was really anything wrong.

Three weeks ago, Joe went into a hospice so that he might receive the care he needed while he "got his affairs in order" (which is a polite way of saying "waited to die"). Anyway, the online community that exists on Football's Future wanted to do something to show Joe how much they cared. So, they started a Make a Wish drive for him. Led by a 15-year old from Kansas City (who's not even a Browns fan), the members contacted the Cleveland Browns and arranged to have Joe Thomas, crakburn's favorite player, come and visit him in the hospice.

For a group of people to come together from all over the country to help make something happen for a man that none of them had actually met in person, that has to be one of the most touching stories I have ever heard and speaks volumes about the quality of people.

Big move on the NFL front

Well, well, well, things they are a changing in the NFL.

For those who might have missed it, the Miami Dolphins (my favorite football team) traded perennial Pro Bowl DE Jason Taylor to the Washington Redskins for two draft picks (a 2nd round pick in 2090 and a 6th round pick in 2010). This was a good move for both teams as it eliminated the distraction Taylor's presence (or lack thereof) would have caused at Miami's training camp, it gave the Dolphins more picks to use to rebuild, and it gave the Redskins an impact defensive player.

It also gave the Dolphins an additional $7M in 2008 salary cap space (bringing them to $21M under) which ought to be enough for the Dolphins to sign OT Vernon Carey to a very nice extension. They could also some of that money to extend several other players, but the question then becomes, who? Aside from Carey, there isn't one veteran player on this roster whose play deserves them receiving an extension. Not one. If that doesn't illustrate the negative impact that both Dave Wannstedt's and Nick Saban's tenures brought to this team, nothing will.