My Prediction

Source

Yeah it's December 8th, barely.

We shall see!

2013 NBA Playoffs Bracket

Mine -- CLICK FOR CLARITY

Franchise Relocations

Apparently the New Orleans Hornets are considering changing their name to the Pelicans. And because of this possibility, Michael Jordan has stated that he wants to change the Bobcats back to the Charlotte Hornets. (I assume there was no interest in Utah to allow New Orleans to have the "Jazz" back.)


Image Source

Now all we need is the Arizona Cardinals to create a new name, so St. Louis can have the Cardinals back. Then this will allow the new team in Los Angeles to be the Rams, like they used to be. By the way, those Rams also used to be in Cleveland, and the Cardinals used to be in Chicago.. Thank goodness St. Louis still has its baseball Cardinals!

As far as the Colts go, they moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis, keeping their name. Then the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. Then when the new team was created in Cleveland, they jumped at the chance be the Browns again! That Cleveland team is the only one in all of this who had any sense! And remember the Houston Texans had every opportunity to become the Oilers, since that team changed its name to the Titans when they moved to Tennessee. It's also important to note that probably 99% of all Houston Texans fans don't even know the Kansas City Chiefs used to be the Dallas Texans.

Speaking of Kansas City, the origin of the Royals has some crazy history too, but it's actually an original franchise. However, there was once a team in Philadelphia called the Athletics, who moved to KC and were the Kansas City Athletics for 13 seasons. But that team is now in Oakland.

No wonder the Athletics decided to move in the first place. Philly also had the Phillies. What on earth could be the significance of baseball's Philadelphia Phillies? They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. (Source)

But what sucks about the New Orleans Hornets is that they were forced to play a season in Oklahoma City before the Seattle Supersonics came to town. So lots of OKC basketball fans, who became attached to the Hornets, suddenly had no team again. Very soon, however, they would be rewarded, to the chagrin of everyone in the city of Seattle, with the Supersonics - and called themselves the Oklahoma City Thunder. Had the Hornets simply decided to just stay in OKC, the Supersonics could've gone to New Orleans, and then we'd have the New Orleans __?___ Thunder? But then, the Charlotte Hornets (being in OKC instead of New Orleans) may have not wanted to change their name to the Pelicans, and I wouldn't have written this blog post in the first place.

But wait.. We all know that Salt Lake City is not known for its jazz music. But are there any Grizzlies in Memphis? I presume there must be at least one.. at their zoo. Same with the lakes of Minnesota. Once upon a time, Minneapolis had a basketball team called the Lakers, formerly the Detroit Gems, who are now in Los Angeles, and the rest is history.

Now that the New Jersey (formerly New York) Nets are in Brooklyn, I assume New Jersey is just flat-out screwed.

But at least you're not a D.C. baseball fan. The original Washington Senators decided to move to Minnesota, and became the Twins. Then after being granted a new franchise (also called the Senators), 11 years after the original Senators moved to Minnesota, the second Senators moved to Arlington, TX, and became the Texas Rangers.

Oddly enough though, I don't think any teams have anything on the Sacramento Kings. They began in Rochester, NY as the Rochester Royals. After 37 years, they moved to Cincinnati, and were the Cincinnati Royals for 15 years. Then they moved to Kansas City and changed their name to the Kings to avoid confusion with their baseball Royals.
Image Source

(What! Why?? Two St. Louis organizations obviously didn't have a problem both being the Cardinals in both baseball and football!)

Anyway, thirteen years later they moved to California, and became the Sacramento Kings. Now this Sacramento Kings team is seriously considering moving to Norfolk, VA to become either the Virginia Kings or the NorfolkKings. I seriously hope they choose the former rather than the latter. Yeah I intentionally left no space. That pronunciation is just not nice at all.

I won't even get into hockey or soccer. Nor will I mention any of these:

∙ Buffalo Braves - San Diego Clippers - L.A. Clippers
∙ Baltimore Orioles - New York Highlanders - New York Yankees
∙ Milwaukee Brewers - St. Louis Brewers - St. Louis Browns - Baltimore Orioles
∙ Boston Braves - Milwaukee Braves - Atlanta Braves
∙ Seattle Pilots - Milwaukee Brewers ..(Seattle Mariners)
∙ [Brooklyn Dodgers --> L.A. Dodgers ~&~New York Giants --> San Francisco Giants]
∙ The Redskins used to be in Boston. Hmm...

I know one thing. If Tottenham ever decides to move its soccer team to San Antonio, we might be in trouble!

Sources: Wikipedia's "Relocation of Professional Sports Teams", and Philly's, and Cincy's

Honest Logos for NFL Teams

Click the image to see the rest!

Via / Source: Grantland

2012 NBA Playoffs Bracket

Looks like this:

Click to enlarge!! - Source - (NBA.com)

And here is the entire Round-1 schedule.. Source - (NBA.com)

Faces of the Franchise

Click to enlarge!                                                                                                 Via

Phil Jackson Questions NBA Owning Hornets

...foreshadowing at its best.

An article written almost a year ago.

From the Orange Country Register dated 12/29/2010: NEW ORLEANS — Phil Jackson has said it before, so he said it again: He isn’t confident about the Hornets’ long-term viability in New Orleans.

Image Source

"I don’t know if New Orleans can support a team," Jackson said.

The Hornets had their second sellout of the season Wednesday with the Lakers in town, drawing a season-high 18,018 in New Orleans’ 17th home game of the season (13-4). The franchise was recently bought by the NBA, which prompted Jackson to say: "Not happy about that."

Jackson put forth a scenario where Hornets star Chris Paul might revive his demand for a trade, and Jackson wondered how the league could manage being the one deciding which other franchise would get Paul.

"Who’s going to pull the button on it?" Jackson asked. "When Chris says he has to be traded, how’s that going to go? ... Someone’s going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that’s not going to irritate anyone else in the league."

The Article Itself

Source / Via

NFL Franchise Histories Map

Click to enlarge!

Via

That Would Be A Record

On Aug. 4, 1982, Mets center fielder Joel Youngblood had driven in two runs against Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins in an afternoon game at Wrigley Field when he was traded in mid-game to the Montreal Expos.

He left the game and flew to Philadelphia in time to take up a position in right field at Veterans Stadium at the bottom of the sixth in an evening game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the top of the seventh he singled

Image Source

against Steve Carlton. That makes Youngblood the only player in history to get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities on the same day — and he did it against two future Hall of Famers.

Source

San Antonio Spurs Named Top NBA Franchise In ESPN The Magazine’s 2011 Ultimate Standings List

Image Source

SAN ANTONIO (June 15, 2011) – ESPN The Magazine released its ‘The Ultimate Standings’ rankings for 2011 today and the San Antonio Spurs were named the top NBA franchise and the fifth-best professional team out of 122 total teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB franchises. The Spurs have ranked as the top NBA franchise six times and is the only franchise to have been named the top overall team twice among the four major sports since ESPN introduced its annual survey in 2003.

"It is with great pride that we congratulate the San Antonio Spurs for being ranked as ESPN The Magazine's top NBA franchise for the sixth time," said NBA Commissioner David Stern. "San Antonio's commitment to excellence starts with owner Peter Holt, is instilled in every member of the organization, and makes the Spurs a model franchise both on and off the court."

The Spurs ranked number one overall in two categories that were part of the judging process to determine the best overall sports franchise; 'fan relations' and 'players.' 'Fan relations' is described as the openness and consideration of players, coaches and management toward fans and the 'players' category is described as the effort on the court and the likeability off the court of franchise players.

Spurs Chairman and CEO Peter Holt was ranked as the top NBA “Ultimate Boss,” second overall among sports franchise owners, based on the criteria of honesty, commitment to their communities and loyalty to core players.

“This is truly a testament to the outstanding leadership and dedicated commitment to excellence from our basketball and business operations,” said Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman and CEO Peter Holt. “Our success is measured not only by what we do, but how we do it. By once again ranking first in fan relations showcases our loyalty to our community and exemplifies the passion our fans have as the best among professional teams.”


Spurs Chairman & CEO Peter Holt (Source)

The Ultimate Standings debuted in 2003 with the Spurs ranked #3 overall with the Green Bay Packers at #1. and the Arizona Diamondbacks at #2. In 2004, the Spurs garnered their first title ranking from ESPN, followed by the Dallas Mavericks at #2 and the Green Bay Packers at #3. In 2005, the Spurs ranked an impressive #2 behind the Detroit Pistons, and ahead of the #3 ranked Indianapolis Colts. In 2006, a year after their third NBA Title, the Spurs were voted to the top of the list again with the Detroit Pistons at #2 and Pittsburgh Steelers at #3.The Spurs finished second behind the Buffalo Sabers and above NBA Division Rival the Dallas Mavericks (#3) in 2007. The following year, the Spurs were ranked second overall behind the Indianapolis Colts (#1). In 2009, San Antonio ranked #9 overall and in 2010 ranked 7th.

Source

That's A Whole Soccer Team!

Click to enlarge!

Via - (NSFW)

Team Spirit FAIL

Via

NFL Fanbases

Not quite to scale:

Via

Closer to scale:

Via

Still a lot left out, though. I'll be searching for a very accurate one - it's pretty interesting to see where the fans of the teams are located.

Also related: Commoncensus Dot Org's maps for other major sports teams.

11 Well-deserving NFL Playoff Teams - And One Other

Click the image for full stats list

OK - Let's all pick the best 12 teams in the league for the playoffs. Seriously, go up and pick them..

(Jeopardy theme playing...)

Did anyone pick the Seattle Seahawks? Exactly.

Such a travesty that TWO 10-6 teams will miss out, and this team gets to go lose to the Saints. Not only that - they actually get to host the game next week! Let's look a little deeper:

It's not just the 10-6 NY Giants, and the 10-6 Tampa Bay Bucs that have a serious gripe, here.

There are also the 9-7 San Diego Chargers, the 8-8 Jacksonville Jags, and the 8-8 Oakland Raiders who have something to be pissed about. Wait a minute.. look at the Raiders' division record. Wow - they went undefeated 6-0 in a division that went a combined total of 31-33. That's right! They beat the 10-6 Chiefs twice, the 9-7 chargers twice, and the other team Broncos twice too.

The Seahawks now go to the playoffs by virtue of winning a division which went a combined total of 25-39. OK so it must be pretty important how a team does in its own division, afterall, they get to go to the playoffs simply by having the best record of the four teams in that division. How did the Seahawks do in that division? Well, they went 4-2. Ehh.....

Let me fore-go any further ranting valid arguments, and just provide you with this to look at for a few minutes. All you have to do is compare the teams here and their respective statistics:



All stats via

The Original Dream Team

Via - (NSFW)

I always wondered why the hell Christian Laettner was on that team.

9 Most Hateable Teams In Pro Sports

Source

It’s fun to hate sports teams. We LOVE to hate sports teams. If there weren’t hateable teams out there, every game would be the equivalent of the Seattle Mariners versus the Sacramento Kings. No one would care. Sports consist of compelling stories, and every compelling story needs an antagonist. And no one is more antagonistic in sports than the residents on this list. So take a giant shot of whiskey, chuck the empty bottle against the wall, and snarl your lip as we visit the 9 most hateable teams in pro sports.

9. Boston Red Sox
Yankee fans were way ahead of the curve on this one. While the NYY-BOS rivalry has always been in full affect, the Yankees dominance during the Jeter era found the whole country rooting for the lovable underdogs to the north. It turns out that America ONLY loved the Sox in the underdog role. Massholes are a scrappy, lovable bunch when they’re down in the dumps. When they’re winning, they’re like Yankees fans with less bearable accents. Further, the underdog status vanished pretty quickly when Red Sox Nation developed a payroll that surpassed the GDP of several Latin American countries, second only to you-know-who in the majors.


8. Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Jones. The figurehead of the Dallas Cowboys encapsulates everything that America hates about their own damn team. He’s got hubris, bravado, arrogance, and a pretty strong track record during the 90’s. The Cowboys were a phenomenal team in the 70’s and again in the mid-90’s, so everyone stepped up their game. In the NFC East, every division game is a rivalry game, so right there, the Cowboys lost votes in DC, Philly, and NYC. Then there were the regular conference rivals in the playoffs in San Fran and Green Bay. Now that Houston’s got a team, they’re a rival too. And that’s before we even discuss the impact of Michael Irvin, Nate Newton, and the other members of Bizarro Ocean’s 11. There was a time when the Cowboys were repped by Tom Landry and Roger Staubach and were loved. That ain’t gonna happen again as long as Mr. Jones is still kickin’.


7. Miami Heat
Welcome to the list, Miami. A lot can happen in a summer. Every sport has an evil empire (though hockey’s is harder to peg down) and Miami just left Boston and LA in the dust. If you listen carefully, you can hear LeBron James’ PR team screaming as the jump off the roof of the tallest building on Collins Ave. They WERE a cute enough team, with the gentlemanly Dwayne Wade leading the way. They won a championship that appeared to be handed to them by the refs, and America STILL didn’t hate them. But then they land this decades Judas and spend the rest of bank account on Chris Bosh, who has all the charm and personality of a sack of doorknobs. Even the league's biggest optimists are vocally hoping for a train wreck in South Beach, and why wouldn’t they? Things are boring when they go the way they should.


6. New England Patriots
Oh, Boston. You used to be cool. Then you started winning. The Pats were met with the developments on this list. They got Tom Brady, the most handsome man in the history of handsome men. Not good. Sports fans hate good looks. That’s why Joe Namath was so popular. They got Bill Belichick, who smiled once in 1983 when he ran over a chipmunk. Those two acquisitions led to the third development: lots and lots of success. Accusations of cheating rocketed them up this list, and Brady started banging Giselle, which pissed off everyone cause she was supposed to be saving herself for us. When Wes Welker, a 4’8” white wide receiver can’t sway popular sentiment, you know that they’ve passed the point of no return.

Continue to the rest of the list..

Via

Helpful Pup

Via

The United Countries Of Baseball

Click to enlarge..

There needs to be a section around Montreal where there are still a ton of fans for the Nationals. I also guarantee that the Astros area extends well into Texas where Rangers are noted. Same thing with the Cardinals into Missouri, and a lot more of Illinois. Heck I know a ton of Cardinals baseball fans, and I live in Texas.

Lots more Dodgers and Phillies fans than shown, too. I know I knock it, but yet I posted it. It's still pretty accurate. You get the idea. Anyone wanna do one of these for football?? NBA??

Via