(on a clear day, you can see the ECW Arena all the losing)
John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News makes the case for his city’s phutility.
I understand that a century is an incredibly long time to wait for anything, but strictly by the numbers, the Cubs actually have [won] two World Series.
The Phillies, by comparison, have won just one World Series in 125 years of existence. I explained the statistical impossibility of that.
I told them that during one 10-year period (1936 to ’45), the Phillies had seven 100-loss seasons and that this year they became the first franchise in the history of American professional sports to lose 10,000 games.
I didn’t even bring up the collapse of 1964.
Then I asked one of the guys how old he was, and he said 25.
I flashed a sad smile and informed him that there are fans around his age in Philadelphia who had never seen a professional sports championship parade for any of their hometown teams in their entire lives.
I told him the sad Philadelphia saga of the 1983 Sixers being the last team to win a championship and that collectively, with the Phillies about to be eliminated in the NLDS by the Colorado Rockies, the city had now gone 93 seasons without a parade.
I said, dude, in that time, Chicago has gotten six NBA titles from the Bulls, a Super Bowl from the Bears and a World
Series from the White Sox – OK, so bringing up the White Sox’ 2005 title to a Cubs fan was a bit cruel, but I was on a roll.
I explained that the Super Bowl didn’t exist the last time Philadelphia won an NFL title, and that the Eagles, Flyers,
Phillies and Sixers had won just eight championships in their combined histories. That was just two more than Michael Jordan personally delivered to Chicago.
When I was seven I used to complain that Scotty from a few blocks away was really lucky because his parents bought him like all the Star Trek dolls and every game in the toys r us and you’d go over to his basement and it was entirely filled top to bottom with this amazing collection of toys and games that he’s mete out using a complex system where he’d only bring out one toy at a time. Jerk. It wasn’t until late in high school that I realized Scotty’s grandfather was a multi-millionaire and his father basically was a lackey in his grandfather’s company. What I initially thought of as “lucky” turned into a strange world where everyone was beholden to what Grandpa wanted, such as Scotty forced to go to Grandpa’s alma mater and study business (Scotty now plays drums in a Miami bar band according to his website). In the end I’m probably happier not having to deal with that kind of pressure from someone holding money over my head.
The New York Yankees won more world series titles than any other team. Steinbrenner is their rich grandfather.
So who in their right mind would try to say that all teams were equal and there was some kind of chance related to the talent a team can buy? Were all families equal in your elementary school? The team with the largest budget can buy the players who have played the best in the past. It’s no fool-proof system, but it absolutely works the law of averages. Philadelphia can only support one baseball team, Chi is big enough for two. Chi has advertising revenue enough for two teams. Advertising revenue and merch sales equals more money for players and more money for players equals a better team much of the time.
You spend the money on coaches, players and facilities and eventually the good coaches get better results from better players. It has nothing to do with anything but money and management.
“It has nothing to do with anything but money and management. ”
The on the-brink-of-elimination Yankees have not won a World Series in 7 years. During that time span, the frugal A’s and Twins have made repeated trips to the playoffs. The 2003 Florida Marlins won a World Series with a 25th ranked payroll of some $48 million, nearly four times less what the Yankees spent.
This year’s challengers in the NLCS, Colorado and Arizona (ranked 25th and 26th respectively) could combine their two payrolls and still come nearly $50 million behind the New York Mets. Both the Rockies and Diamondbacks managed to beat teams in their respective division series’ that spend nearly twice as much in player salaries.
As far as Chicago being big enouch to support two teams, it was less than twenty years ago the White Sox threatened to move to Tampa Bay.
“Advertising revenue and merch sales equals more money for players and more money for players equals a better team much of the time.”
Sorry to correct another commonly repeated fallacy, but royalties from sales of licensed merchandise are split equally amongst all 30 teams. While the Yankees keep their retail cut from whatever swag they shift at Yankee Stadium, revenue from items sold elsewhere —- say, for instance a New Era Yankee cap purchased at a Lids in downtown San Francisco — benefit the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates just as much as the Bronx Bombers.
Certainly, management decisions play a part in a club’s success. And when the likes of KC choose to pocket their cut of Steinbrenner’s luxury tax rather than invest said sums in procuring new talent, it’s hard to feel much sympathy. For ownership, anyway.
I stand corrected about the licensing issue, something I knew about, know about and yet I let a good story get in the way of the truth.
I do believe, however, that too much lip-service is paid to the idea that people in a given region are “due” championships in some kind of pseudo-religious process. I am a firm believer in jinxing oneself, holding onto the belief that you “Can’t win” so strongly that you force yourself to get sloppy and lose just to keep that story coming true. However, come on, there are and will be teams, particularly outside the majors, that will always and forever lose because there’s no effort made to be better. There will even be teams in the majors who will never compete because no effort is made to compete. Offhand, I’ll besmirch the Brewers with that one.
How is your high school’s lacrosse team? Aren’t they due for a state championship since they never won one previously?
Suggesting that the brewers “never compete because no effort is made to compete” is the final indication that you have no idea what you’re talking about. 2 or 3 years under new ownership, they just had their first winning season in a decade or more. And they were in first place for most of the 2007 season….
And anyone who is paying attention can see that Bud Selig’s efforts to achieve some kind of competitive balance is working. For every Oriole, Blue Jay, Rangers team with a substantial payroll and crappy results (like the Mets from 02 – 04), there’s an A’s team, a Brewers team, or a Twins team that make smart moves, good draft choices, and get the job done. If you really think that money is only way that team can win, you’re probably just covering for your own team’s shitty performance and management…