Golden ages of sports cities

[Batman]

Started thinking about the Bay Area's recent sports success -- the Warriors, the Sharks finally breaking through, the Giants winning a few World Series, the Niners getting good again for a hot minute -- and it seems like a good time to be a sports fan in that area. It's also weird how, when one team in a city gets good others seem to follow in short order.
What are some other "Golden Ages" for cities, in terms of sports success?
Boston, for example, is unquestionably 2001-2014, with all four of their teams winning championships and playing for several more in that span.
Philadelphia was probably 1974-83, with the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies all winning titles and being consistently good, and the Eagles reaching a Super Bowl.

What would be considered some of the others?

 

[DanOregon]

Oakland in the 70s was phenomenal. 1 NBA title, a Super Bowl* and three World Series. *- you could probably count 80-81 as well.
Pittsburg late 70s

And the answer to the question is - people suddenly realize they don't have to put up with investing and rooting for a loser because "that's all there is."

 

[heyabbott]

Mets-Jets-Knicks, 69-70

 

[FileNotFound]

Kind of spread out, but it was a fun decade in the Tampa Bay area when the Bucs won the Super Bowl in '03, the Lightning won the Cup in '04 and the Rays went to the World Series in '08. It was nice to finally have any expectations for these teams.

 

[outofplace]

I'd say the entire '70s for Pittsburgh. The Pirates won two World Series, '71 and '79, and reached the LCS six times.

The Steelers didn't win the first of their four Super Bowls that decade until the 1974 season, but the run really began with the '72 team and the Immaculate Reception.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

For Kansas City it is probably now. The Royals obviously. Sporting KC won whatever its thing is a few years ago. The Chiefs finally won a playoff game.

If you want to cover a decade you can go back to 2007 and include KU and Mizzou's best football seasons in decades, NCAA title for KU basketball, Snyder coming back for KSU football, etc.

 

[Batman]

Mets-Jets-Knicks, 69-70

New York is hard to pinpoint because it was the epicenter of the sports universe for the first half of the 20th century. In modern times (let's say post-1960, after the Dodgers and Giants moved out west), I was thinking 1994-2001.
The Rangers won the Cup to end a long drought, the Knicks made it to the Finals twice, the Giants went to a Super Bowl and the Yankees got good again and embarked on their dynasty (effectively culminating with the 2000 Subway Series).

 

[Batman]

If you want to cover a decade you can go back to 2007 and include KU and Mizzou's best football seasons in decades, NCAA title for KU basketball, Snyder coming back for KSU football, etc.

This doesn't necessarily have to be limited to a single year or two. I was actually thinking over the span of at least five years, and sometimes longer. As I pointed out with Boston, its golden age started with the Pats in '01 and might still be going. The city hasn't gone more than three years without a championship team since 2001. Philly's spanned almost a decade, and Pittsburgh's in the 1970s was about eight years.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

This doesn't necessarily have to be limited to a single year or two. I was actually thinking over the span of at least five years, and sometimes longer. As I pointed out with Boston, its golden age started with the Pats in '01 and might still be going. The city hasn't gone more than three years without a championship team since 2001. Philly's spanned almost a decade, and Pittsburgh's in the 1970s was about eight years.

The only other time period I can think of for KC is the 80s with the Royals being good and Big 8 basketball among the local schools being quite intense. But the Chiefs were terrible for most of that time until Marty ball arrived at the end of the decade and all three college football teams were a joke.

 

[doctorx]

Gainesville 2006-08. UF football 06 and 08, men's basketball 06 and 07.

 

[Donny in his element]

Gainesville? Ughh.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I'd say the entire '70s for Pittsburgh. The Pirates won two World Series, '71 and '79, and reached the LCS six times.

The Steelers didn't win the first of their four Super Bowls that decade until the 1974 season, but the run really began with the '72 team and the Immaculate Reception.

Plus Pitt during the Dorsett and Marino years.

 

[outofplace]

Plus Pitt during the Dorsett and Marino years.

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.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

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.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

'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.

 

[outofplace]

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.

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.

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.

 

[micropolitan guy]

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.

 

[tapintoamerica]

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

 

[MTM]

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).

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

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, and an LA Raiders Super Bowl win.

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

And 88. Or did you forget this.