Every now and again, the staff at this website likes to put on their thinking caps and come up with solutions to questions that viewers keep on pondering about. For this article, we did a little research and tried to figure out just who had the best and worst sports cities in North America based on their Championship Records. Let’s face it; you can have the best sports franchise all season long but if you don’t win the final game than all of your team’s hard work goes straight out the window. Many teams have had successful seasons but the only thing that matters at the end of the season is the large trophy or cup sitting in the winning team’s locker room.

We looked up MLB , NHL, NBA, and NFL championship records dating back to 1980 to figure out just which city has had the best and worst luck at winning championships in their city. We should note that we tried our best to only study cities that had multiple teams with the name of their city representing the team. In some cases, like with the Texas Rangers or Phoenix Suns, we included the state or city’s team name into our calculations because the team that used their state’s title was located in the same city as the name of a similar sports franchise with another league. Ex. Phoenix Suns- Arizona Diamondbacks( both teams are located in Phoenix, Arizona.) So without further adieu, here’s our picks for the best and worst sports cities in North America.

Great Sports Cities

Los Angeles, California

Since 1980, the city of Los Angeles has seen the most Championship appearances in sports with 17 appearances to the finals of a major sporting event. Their biggest participant at these events have been the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers who have been to 13 NBA Championships and won 8 of them. The Dodgers have also been in the spotlight by winning 2 World Series Championships in baseball. The Los Angeles Raiders(now Oakland Raiders) went .500 in the 80’s with a 1-1 record at the Super Bowl. the Los Angeles Kings NHL franchise led by Wayne Gretzky helped the kings reach the final in 1993 but lost and have not been back to the finals since. The other disappointment with the city of Los Angeles have been the Clippers NBA franchise which has not been to the NBA finals once since 1980. Overall the city of Los Angeles has a record of 10-7.

New York City, New York.

New York City holds an overall record of 8-7 with 15 Championship appearances. Leading the way are the New York Yankees who have a record of 4-3 but dominated the 1990’s winning 3 consecutive World Series titles in 4 years only to lose to the Diamondbacks in 2001. The Mets have also won 2 World Series and their only loss came to their arch rivals the New York Yankees in a battle of New York baseball clubs called ‘The Subway Series’. The New York Rangers only have made one cup appearance since 1980 but won the Stanley Cup in their only appearance in 1994 by beating the Vancouver Canucks in a 7 game series. Not to be outdone, the New York Giants have won 2 Superbowls and lost once with their only loss coming to the Baltimore Ravens in a defensive packed Super Bowl. The one sour spot for the city of New York has been the NBA’s New York Knickerbockers who have made 2 NBA final appearances but lost both of them. (more…)

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Members

Slug (Sean Daley)
Ant (Anthony Davis)
Spawn (Derek Turner)
Mr. Dibbs (touring DJ)

Atmosphere is a hip-hop group from Minneapolis that centers around rapper Slug (Sean Daley). After some early gigs as Urban Atmosphere, Slug and his pal Spawn (Derek Turner) paired up with producer Ant (Anthony Davis), as well as like-minded locals such as MC Musab, Mr. Gene Poole, and the Abstract Pack, forming an underground rap group dedicated to freestyling, clever and complex lyrics, and anti-gangsta positivity. In 1998, Atmosphere released its debut album, Overcast! Group member Spawn (Derek Turner) left shortly after the release of the album.

The next Atmosphere album was titled Sad Clown Bad Dub II, a 2000 set originally sold while the group was on tour. A year later, the group released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs In 2002, the group — down to the duo of Slug and Ant released God Loves Ugly, that featured 18 tracks and was more pop-friendly than any of their previous albums. In 2003, Atmosphere released Seven’s Travels for Epitaph Records, a major punk label. Their track ‘Trying to find a Balance’ from the Seven’s Travels album was featured on 2004’s Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 video game. The group has toured consistently the past few years, both at home and overseas.

Anthony Davis usually doesn’t accompany the group on the road and is replaced by Mr. Dibbs of the group 1200 Hobos who often joins in behind the turntables and Slug is usually assisted on the mic by young rappers like the teenaged Eyedea. ‘You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having’ was released in 2005 and featured the return of a heavier rap appeal with similar influences from early rap group of the 90s like Public Enemy and LL Cool J. The first track from the album, “The Arrival,” was featured on 2006’s EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 video game.As of 2005, the group now tours with a full live band Mr. Dibbs is still listed as Touring DJ, but Ant is also touring for the first time in Atmosphere’s History. The band brings a new, jazzy element, and depth to Atmosphere’s sound. You can check out out Atmosphere on the ‘Pour Me Another Tour’ that is currently touring across North America as well as a few overseas appearances in Japan and South Korea later on this year.

thanks to http://www.wikipedia.org and http://music.yahoo.com and http://www.myspace.com for biographical information.

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Lewis Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright and occasional actor. He is best known for his regular appearances on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show delivering his “Back in Black” commentary segment, in which he ridicules (often simulating a nervous breakdown or rant) recent trends and cultural phenomena. His style of comedy is that of a man who, dealing with the absurdities of life and politics, is approaching his personal limits of sanity. Sarcasm, strong language, shouting, and trademark angry finger-shaking bring emphasis to his topics of discussion.

In this quote, Lewis Black discusses the blackout that occured in 2003 that left most of the North-Eastern United States and Canada without power. He helps to explain how a baby boom doesn’t occur when the power turns off.

Thanks to http://www.wikipedia.org for some of this biography information.

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The Boondocks is a daily comic strip written and originally drawn by Aaron McGruder. It was established in 1999 and is now one of the 7 most read comic strips in North America. The strip depicts Huey Freeman and his younger brother Riley, two black children who have been moved out of Chicago by their grandfather to live with him in the predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest, Maryland.The title word “boondocks” refers to the isolation from primarily African-American urban life that the characters feel. Huey is politically charged and is a supporter of black radical ideas. Riley is the opposite of his brother and embraces gangsta rap culture and the “thug” lifestyle. Their grandfather is a firm disciplinarian who is offended by their values and ideas. McGruder recently sold the television and film rights for the strip to Sony and “The Boondocks” television cartoon premiered on the Cartoon Network’s ‘Adult Swim’ lineup on November 6, 2005.

In this strip quote, Huey tries to explain to his ‘gangsta’ brother that they are living in a different environment and should try to fit in better…

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Cobra Starship is the side project of Midtown’s singer Gabe Saporta. He, along with William Beckett (The Academy Is) , Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes) and Maja Ivarsson (The Sounds) have just recently completed shooting a music video for the upcoming film ‘ Snakes on a Plane’. The title of the band comes partially from Gabe Saporta’s experience with a snake while in the desert. The snake ended up biting him and ever since Gabe took that experience and used it to create his new project.The band signed to Decaydance in July 2006 and spent part of autumn on tour with Gym Class Heroes and Cage. The release of the film ‘Snakes On A Plane’ also comes at a surprising time as the movie’s theme and the band’s name and style helped to create a successful partnership for both the film and the band.

Their song, Snakes on a Plane (Bring It), will be featured on the upcoming Snakes On A Plane: The Album, to be released on August 15, 2006. Also, August 16 the Starship will make their live debut at the Key Club in Los Angeles followed by their live television debut on The Jimmy Kimmel Show. While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets hits stores in October, 2006.

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