I know it is ESPN's excuse to fill time during the summer, and thus cannot be taken too seriously, but I want to debate Title Town. I guess they decided to start this debate because nobody understands "Who's Now?" to this day. If you had something better to do at 6pm today, here's the results:
6. Gainesville, FL
5. Boston
4. Massilon, OH
3. Green Bay
2. Parkersburg, WV
1. Valdosta, GA
This was decided by fan voting. Since I have too much time on my hands, here's my criteria on how I would pick the true Titletown.
1. It has to be known for winning championships, not for being the hometown of sports stars or for hosting a lot of championships. This means Columbus doesn't get credit for Jack Nicklaus, Detroit doesn't get credit for hosting the Super Bowl, Final Four, etc. and Williamsport, PA is eliminated from contention.
2. It has to be the home of a major D1 school or a pro team. We all know how much I love crazy HS football fans. This eliminates Massilon, OH, Parkersburg, WV, and Valdosta, GA
3. The city has to have won a major championship in the past 5 years. It can't be Title town without TITLES - and I don't care what they did in the 1970s. For colleges, it needs to be football, basketball, baseball, or hockey because people don't pay to see world class cross-country. This eliminates Green Bay, Louisville, Ann Arbor, Columbus, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and New York. Los Angeles gets a pass since they won 2 titles in 2002.
4. The city cannot have one team that is infamous for being horrible. We all know which city this eliminates. The Blackhawks and Cubs take Chicago out of the running as does UNC football.
With those 4 rules, I have already taken out over half of the field, including 4 of the top 6. The rest of the cities need to be evaluated case-by-case.
Pittsburgh - While the Steelers have been consistently good and the Pirates and Penguins have won championships, they just don't have anywhere near enough. Pitt's complete lack of success brings them down as well.
Knoxville, TN - They have a Top 2 (or 1) women's basketball team, but not enough else.
Lawrence, KS - Solid basketball team, but the football team is just starting to come around. Overall, they have 0 championships and an all-time record barely above .500
Gainesville Their recent dominance in football and basketball makes them a tempting choice, but they had 0 titles before 1996.
Ironically, that leaves us with Boston vs. LA. The two teams have combined for over half of the NBA championships. Boston's recent championship dominance make a strong case - except the Patriots don't count since they don't play in Boston and belong to "New England". The fact that their most beloved team had one of the most storied championship droughts until 2004 ends the debate.
LA has been host to 9 Lakers championships, 1 Angels' and 5 Dodgers' World Series, 1 LA Raiders Superbowl victory, 7 USC football championships and Heisman winners, 11 UCLA basketball championships, 1 UCLA football championships, etc., etc. The only blemish would be the lack of a Stanley Cup, although owning the game's best player ever for 8 seasons makes up a little ground.
LA is Titletown... or at least they should've been.
7 comments:
You cannot take out the past!!! "I don't care what they did in the 70's." What?!?! Let's just pretend and say sports have only been around for the last ten years. Let's say a city won championships in ALL of the four major sports for the first five years, but nothing in the last five. Since they didn't win anything in recent memory, you're eliminating them??? Even though they may have won more titles than most? And if you're going to say you don't care about what they did in the past, then don't bring up past championships when defending a city's claim for Titletown (L.A.)!
You are absolutely right though that you have to eliminate all of those small HS towns. That was just ESPNs way of getting more of the country "involved". Bullshit, but whatever. One of my criteria for Titletown? I have to have HEARD OF YOUR TOWN before! Bye Massilon, Parkersburg, and Valdosta.
For me, it's looking at the cities that have the four major sports, and how they've fared throughout history. Other things, like hosting, birthplaces, who played for a team, etc. don't matter to me as well. I focus on the major professional sports and the titles they bring because they are what matter, period.
That said, I have to eliminate college sports as well. College is a completely different world than professional. Given a choice, would a recruit rather go play football at USC, or for Boston College? 9 out of 10 would choose USC. So is it any shock that USC and UCLA have dominated the college landscapes championship wise? No. And what about the cities that don't have major college programs (Chicago, Detroit, etc.)? Is it their fault that they don't? See, I don't think so. So I have to take the college championships with a grain of salt. So much so that I give them absolutely no weight in my decision making. Then again, I'm much more of a professional guy anyway.
So, out of the twenty, I can narrow my list down to these:
Detroit
Boston
Los Angeles
Chicago
New York
And I would rank them:
5. Chicago: Blackhawks, Bulls, Bears, Cubs/White Sox- 15 Championships.
4. Los Angeles: Kings, Lakers/Clippers, Raiders/Rams, Dodgers/Angels- 16 championships
3. Detroit: Red Wings, Pistons, Lions, Tigers- 18 Championships.
2. Boston: Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox- 32 Championships
1. New York: Rangers/Islanders, Knicks, Giants/Jets, Yankees/Mets- 42 championships.
42!!! Done. Over. This is called "Titletown" right??? Forty-fucking-two championships. You can even add the 19 collegiate championships to LA if you want, you're still 7 short!
Yes, having two teams helps, but they have the most professional titles. If that bothers you, then Boston is your Titletown.
Honestly, I cannot wait for this competition to be over. This is just as bad as that "Greatest Highlight" tournament or "Who's Now". Uggh.
And yet you've blogged about it and I've responded with a lengthy response...well done ESPN, you win again...
Okay, promise last comment...
Rereading, did you forget about New York??? It seems to have met all your criteria...
Titletown is defined as being Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Done and done.
"3. The city has to have won a major championship in the past 5 years... This eliminates...New York".
When I said "I don't care what they did in the 1970s" that was an exaggeration aimed at cities like Green Bay and San Francisco. I do care about what they did in the past, but my point was they must have won in the recent past to be considered THE Title Town.
I am surprised you didn't call me out on rule #4 with the Clippers, so I'll call myself out right now.
I disagree with you on the College sports - yes, weather and city-life help. BUT, why have South Bend, IN; Ann Arbor, MI; Columbus freaking OH; Norman, OK; and Lawrence, KS produced 5 of the best programs in history. Don't forget the #1 NBA draft pick played in Memphis and the #2 played in Manhattan, KS. Having college teams can help a city's case, but it can hurt it too - remember what I said about Pittsburgh.
Well, the New York Giants don't count???
And you even gave a free pass to L.A., who hasn't won anything since 2002...
You're right - I forgot about them.
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