Arkady
President
Living in the Boston area provides a lot of cultural offerings, from elite academics, rich history, and highbrow entertainment like symphonies, opera, ballet, and art museums, to one of the greatest sports cultures in the world. In that last category, Boston has something to offer almost any sports fans. It has had dynasties in each of the major team sports. Even when its clubs aren't winning championships, they're almost always in the hunt (for example, the Patriots haven't won a championship since 2004, but they've won at least 10 games in every season since then. There is much to enjoy beyond those major sports, too. Boston has the world's most prestigious marathon. Its huge number of universities give it a vibrant college sports culture. Arguably the greatest boxer who ever lived is from the area, too. And the proximity of NY, another major sports town, gives Boston intense rivalries.
Anyway, Slate has a nice map showing where all the championships in the four major team sports have been won:
http://www.slate.com/articles/sport...tory_of_mlb_the_nba_the_nhl_and_the_nfl_.html
New York has the most combined championships (54), with Boston second (34), followed by Chicago and Montreal (each with 26, all of Montreal's having come in hockey). I'd make the case that Boston is the most "overachieving" sports town, since it's only the tenth largest metro area and yet, with that relatively small market, it manages to out-compete everyone except New York, which has four times the metro area population Boston has, giving it a huge advantage in attracting and paying for talent.
The most under-achieving sports towns are probably Dallas and Houston. They're the fourth and fifth largest metro areas, yet only have seven and two champions, respectively. Houston is particularly sad, with both its championships coming in the same sport, in a two year-span, and little other sports history worth mentioning. It's basically Hakeem Olajuwan and a bunch of nothing -- and even those two championships notably came during Jordan's first retirement. Atlanta is also a sad excuse for a sports town -- one championship in the major pro sports (the Braves, 17 years ago), which is pretty weak for the ninth-largest metro area in the country. Despite having had teams in three out of four major team sports since the 1960s, they have little to show for it.
Anyway, Slate has a nice map showing where all the championships in the four major team sports have been won:
http://www.slate.com/articles/sport...tory_of_mlb_the_nba_the_nhl_and_the_nfl_.html
New York has the most combined championships (54), with Boston second (34), followed by Chicago and Montreal (each with 26, all of Montreal's having come in hockey). I'd make the case that Boston is the most "overachieving" sports town, since it's only the tenth largest metro area and yet, with that relatively small market, it manages to out-compete everyone except New York, which has four times the metro area population Boston has, giving it a huge advantage in attracting and paying for talent.
The most under-achieving sports towns are probably Dallas and Houston. They're the fourth and fifth largest metro areas, yet only have seven and two champions, respectively. Houston is particularly sad, with both its championships coming in the same sport, in a two year-span, and little other sports history worth mentioning. It's basically Hakeem Olajuwan and a bunch of nothing -- and even those two championships notably came during Jordan's first retirement. Atlanta is also a sad excuse for a sports town -- one championship in the major pro sports (the Braves, 17 years ago), which is pretty weak for the ninth-largest metro area in the country. Despite having had teams in three out of four major team sports since the 1960s, they have little to show for it.
