Golden ages of sports cities

More Dorsett, who won the Heisman Trophy and was the star of Pitt's national championship team in 1976. Marino did start as a freshman in '79, but most of his impact was in the '80s.

 

The Penguins were fair in the mid 1970s as well with Apps, Pronovost, stackhouse, Larouche, etc.

Actually early 1990s weren't bad to be in Pittsburgh either. Penguins won two cups, Steelers started to win again, Pirates were winning. By the mid 1990s -- not so much. Pirates stunk and the Steelers and Pens found new and exciting ways to lose playoff games.

 

'94 could have been an all-time great year in New York. Rangers won the Cup, Knicks fell one game short of the title and the Yankees had the AL's best record when the strike hit.

 

I honestly don't know much about the Penguins in the '70s. I'm like a lot of Penguins fans of my generation. I never paid attention until Mario Lemieux arrived. To be fair, I was only 12 his rookie season.

I don't remember the early '90s quite as fondly, though the Penguins' run to consecutive Stanley Cups was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. The Steelers missed the playoffs in '90 and '91, Chuck Noll's final two seasons. They turned it around in '92, Bill Cowher's first season.

The Pirates' run of three consecutive NLCS appearances was bittersweet. They lost all three times, including the agonizing Game 7 defeat by the Braves in '92 (Sid Slid), which was made worse because we all knew they were going to suck for a long time after that season.

 

A New York City team won the World Series in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1961 when baseball was the country's undisputed No. 1 sport. A NYC team also played for the World Series title, but lost, in 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1960.

NYC college basketball was also very good in that era, and the New York Football Giants were the NFL's No. 2 team in that general time span.

The Knicks and Rangers sucked, but the NBA and NHL were regional, niche sports at that time.

 

It still amazes me that there were virtually no pro sports west of St. Louis until the 1950s.

 

Growing up in Los Angeles from 1970 through the 80s, I saw a lot of success. I'll admit, some was from the sheer number of teams.

There was the end of the UCLA basketball dynasty, three USC football national titles, two World Series titles in five appearances from the Dodgers, Lakers showtime, very good Rams teams, but just one Super Bowl, an LA Raiders Super Bowl win and the 1984 Olympics.

Between the Dodgers and Angels, there were postseason baseball games in the region in 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86 and 88 (thanks BYM).

 

And 88. Or did you forget this.

 

Just came back to add that.

And 1980 was a one-game playoff for the NL West, not an NLCS game.

 

I remember thinking as a kid about how some cities had some nice runs.

In the late 1960s and up to about 1971, the Colts and Orioles both won titles. The Bullets were pretty good at that time, also, losing i the finals to the Bucks in 71.

The Mets and Jets both won it all in 1969, with the Knicks winning it all in the 69-70 season.(Though some New Yorkers might only count Yankees and Giants titles in baseball and football -- and there were plenty of those in the late 50s.)

The A's and Raiders were pretty darn good in the early 70s, and the Oakland Oaks of the ABA were pretty good during that time.

Celtics and Bruins were good at the same time in the late 60s, with the Bruins getting it done in 1970 and '72.

These are the ones off the top of my head from when I was a kid. I'll probably think of a few more later.

 

Well, considering there was little plane travel, and the sports leagues were quite small by today's standards (NHL at one point was just 6 teams), it's not really that surprising.

Also, for a few decades, the Pacific Coast League was seen as nearly on par with the major leagues in terms of fan attendance and player salaries, so it wasn't like there wasn't any pro teams.

 

I didn't even think of college sports when I considered Philadelphia.
The Flyers won the Cup in 1974 and '75, and made the finals in '80.
Sixers only won the one title, in 1983, but made the finals three other times.
The Eagles had a nice run in the late 1970s and made the Super Bowl in 1980, when they got their ass kicked by the Raiders.
Phillies won it all in 1980, and were perennial contenders from 1976-83 when they squeezed out one last run with the "Wheeze Kids" team.
And then Villanova won the NCAA championship in 1985. You had Paul Palmer from Temple finishing second in the Heisman voting in 1986, too, and Jon Chaney turning Temple into a solid team, to extend it out another year or two.
Philadelphia is still the only four-sport city in the pros to send all four teams to the championship series/game in the same season (in 1980).
No wonder, as a kid, I gravitated toward what eventually became a pit of misery.