BrySmalls

So when do the Capitals and Wizards banners come down? You want to honor winning, right?

Hopefully some time before the 2010-11 seasons.

WNBA's Mystics Attendance Championship banners are taken down.

Wes Unseld no longer has to share the rafters with WNBA attendance banners.

The three banners marking seasons in which the Washington Mystics led the WNBA in attendance have been taken down at the Verizon Center.

The large banners - with the bold letters "WNBA ATTENDANCE CHAMPIONS" - have long been considered eyesores by many fans, who felt they looked out of place among banners commemorating the retired jerseys of the Washington Wizards and Capitals as well as the various titles the teams have won.

Capitals and Mystics owner Ted Leonsis, who is purchasing the Wizards and the arena, announced the news Friday on his blog.

Leonsis wrote that banners should be reserved for championships that involving winning.

Problem: Lowell's moving to Albany.

Thanks for the update.

Now that the AHL will have 30 teams for the 2010-11 season, here's my attempt at realignment:

East:

Colonial:

Hartford Wolf Pack

Manchester Monarchs

Portland Pirates

Providence Bruins

Worcester Sharks

Tri-State:

Adirondack Phantoms

Albany Devils (or what ever they'll be called).

Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Springfield Falcons

Syracuse Crunch

Mid-Atlantic:

Charlotte Checkers

Binghamton Senators

Hershey Bears

Norfolk Admirals

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

West:

Great Lakes:

Grand Rapids Griffins

Hamilton Bulldogs

Lake Erie Monsters

Rochester Americans

Toronto Marlies

Midwest:

Chicago Wolves

Manitoba Moose

Milwaukee Admirals

Rockford IceHogs

Peoria Rivermen

Abbotsford's Gonna Be Bankrupt:

Abbotsford Heat

Houston Aeros

Oklahoma City Barons

San Antonio Rampage

Texas Stars

They were smart to turn it down, as that first year in the West was on the verge of being historically bad.

I didn't know this, but during the 1989-90 season and for only this season, the Charlotte Hornets were placed in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.

Even further, it seems that the late 1980/early 1990 expansion teams (Orlando, Miami, and Charlotte) all spent one season in the Midwest Division before settling into the Atlantic and Central Divisions.

This always bugged me in the NBA.

I know New Orleans was in the Southeast Division until Charlotte came back in to the league, Then the Hornets moved out west.

But why haven't Memphis and Milwaukee been swapped? Is it just because of Milwaukee's rivalry's with Chicago or whoever (If that's even a rivalry) and that they wanted to keep the Grizz in the West when the left from Vancouver.

I'm guessing it is due to the proximity of the other teams in their divisions.

MLS 2020:

1. Atlanta Silverbacks (expansion club, 2020; club owned by Fulham FC)
2. Boston Minutemen (New England Revolution rebrand)
3. Chicago Fire SC
4. Colorado Rapids
5. Columbus Crew
6. Dallas Sidekicks (FC Dallas rebrand)
7. DC United
8. Houston Dynamo
9. Kansas City Wizards
10. Los Angeles Galaxy
11. Barca Miami (expansion club, 2016; club owned by FC Barcelona)
12. Minnesota Thunder (expansion club, 2020)
13. Montreal Impact (expansion club, 2012)
14. New York Cosmos (Red Bull New York rebrand)
15. Philadelphia Union
16. Portland Timbers
17. Real Salt Lake (club owned by Real Madrid)
18. Saint Louis United (expansion club, 2012; former AC St. Louis)
19. CD San Diego (CD Chivas USA rebrand and relocation; club owned by Toluca)
20. San Jose Earthquakes
21. Seattle Sounders FC
22. Tampa Bay Rowdies (expansion club, 2016)
23. Toronto FC
24. Vancouver Whitecaps

Any expansion / realignment proposal for any sport in any league in any universe in any place in the space-time continuum that doesn't include Winnipeg simply cannot be taken seriously.

I did not envision Winnipeg as a viable market as their current stadium doesn't have sufficient seating capacity. That, and there are grumblings on the message boards that the club might move to Phoenix.

MLS 2020:

1. Atlanta Silverbacks (expansion club, 2020; club owned by Fulham FC)
   
2. Boston Minutemen (New England Revolution rebrand)
   
3. Chicago Fire SC
   
4. Colorado Rapids
   
5. Columbus Crew
   
6. Dallas Sidekicks (FC Dallas rebrand)
   
7. DC United
   
8. Houston Dynamo
   
9. Kansas City Wizards
   
10. Los Angeles Galaxy
    
11. Barca Miami (expansion club, 2016; club owned by FC Barcelona)
    
12. Minnesota Thunder (expansion club, 2020)
    
13. Montreal Impact (expansion club, 2012)
    
14. New York Cosmos (Red Bull New York rebrand)
    
15. Philadelphia Union
    
16. Portland Timbers
    
17. Real Salt Lake (club owned by Real Madrid)
    
18. Saint Louis United (expansion club, 2012; former AC St. Louis)
    
19. CD San Diego (CD Chivas USA rebrand and relocation; club owned by Toluca)
    
20. San Jose Earthquakes
    
21. Seattle Sounders FC
    
22. Tampa Bay Rowdies (expansion club, 2016)
    
23. Toronto FC
    
24. Vancouver Whitecaps
    

MLS: Single table League Standings. Top 8 clubs advance to MLS Cup Playoffs.

MLB:

AL East: Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, New York Yankees, Toronto, Washington.

AL West: Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Texas.

NL East: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Florida, New York Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay.

NL West: Arizona, Chicago Cubs, Colorado, Houston, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco.

NHL:

Prince of Wales Conference:

Adams: Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, NJ Devils, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Ottawa, Toronto.

Patrick: Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington.

Campbell Conference:

Norris: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis,

Smythe: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.

1. Pitt

2. Iowa State

3. Syracuse

4. Missouri

5. Rutgers

then you would hate these new banners hanging from Verizon Center.

Beat you to it on the previous page (although they are shots from me )

It's weird seeing the recolored banners having fresh creases in them, especially when the feats were accomplished ten to twenty years ago.

As a fan of a rival team, that's very impressive work you've done there. Fantastic job!

As promised, here are the redone Caps banners at the Verizon Center photographed by me (might explain the quality ):

Retired Players:

Championship Banners:

Here are the LA Clippers Banners at the Staples Center.

I'm still looking for Clipper banners at the LA Sports Arena...

The Capitals have updated all of their banners, the Eastern Conference Champions (when they had the sky blue/bronze/black color scheme), Division Champions, and Retired Player Number banners to a Red/White/Blue color scheme:

Old:

New: (Will upload photos later)

Old:

New:

Before I get crucified analyze the pictures:

-Dan

The first is Sakic at the beginning of his career. Had to wait for a teammate to retire to revert to the preferred #19.

Dan Blackburn

And another Ranger forced to quit due to a damage nerve in his left shoulder.

Martin Straka

This one left for Russia.