dbadefense1990

Just my opinion but I think the Devils will stay put in North Jersey. I still feel like the team that will move to Quebec are the Panthers. How that team has survived as long as they have in South Florida is beyond me. At least they're not like the Marlins: a joke of a franchise, insinuated on extending periods of misery and torture for other teams and fans (Cubs, Indians), all while being hellbent on financial and fanbase insolvency despite being world champions at some points. At least the Panthers have never won the Stanley Cup; otherwise, we'd get an argument of them staying because they won a title before.

In the case of Detroit, I tend to look at trends to when their teams (or any other team in any other city) suck. If the Red Wings enter a slump for the next couple of years, they'll still be drawing people into the Joe, and still have Red Wing fans drawing the turnstiles at other cities. If the Pistons proceed to a period of sucking and rebuilding (which they are in right now), you'll barely see people at the Palace, and they'll likely end up as a side story on the sports pages (also doesn't help that a drive to-and-from downtown Detroit and Auburn Hills is usually a one hour commitment). The Lions are the team up there I know the least about; I'd figure that after all the crappy years fans have endured (Eric Andolsek getting killed while mowing his lawn, Coach Mornhinweg deferring the ball and losing on their opponents' 1st possession in overtime, only one NFC title game appearance in 1992, Barry Sanders retiring early, 0-18), their fanbase would be minimal at best, that the majority of fans they've picked up the last couple of years are "Megatron" fans who are seeing him help the Lions be a winnable team right now.

This seems to be based on an erroneous assumption that people only care about one sport, which is ridiculous. True and (somewhat) false. Based on the people I've met who align themselves with Seattle sports, on seeing TV reports from news shows and sports-related media on YouTube, and on other sports blogs and forums I've read articles on, these are my rough estimations of what percentage of their pro teams people in the Northwest tend to show the greatest interest towards. Given the saga of the whole Sonics relocation and their (failed) efforts of acquiring the Sac Kings, I tend to believe Seattle is a basketball city (also helps that their only pro championship was won by their 1979 NBA team). There is so much anger and hostility those people have towards Stern, Bennett and Schultz for their treatment of their NBA team, that anything they do gets the attention of the local media and the people running the whole "Sonicsgate" campaign. The Seahawks are picking up steam with Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson running the show, while the Sounders have opened up the Northwest region as a very viable one for MLS and all of North American soccer (also the fact that the Sounders picked up casual fans distraught by the Sonics relocation in mid-2008 when their team was promoted to MLS status for the 2009 season). So they both have the next share of interest. The Mariners (as Kramerica or whoever else pointed it out) have been mostly an abyss for their franchise, who are the remaining AL franchise to have never won their pennant,* so they get the last share of attention. But the whole "people only caring about one team in multi-team cities" does have some validity. For example: -Detroit has four teams, yet it relies on the Red Wings first and foremost for success (although the Tigers come in a close 2nd). -Los Angeles is a Lakers/Clippers town; even with the Kings/Ducks and Angels/Dodgers, the talk of this city (especially of the media) is all related to basketball, from the absurd trade "proposals," to the drama off the court between the players, to the even-more ridiculous comparisons to legendary players (Kobe vs. Jordan/LeBron/Magic/Bird). -Dallas' allegiance is with the Cowboys first, followed by the declining Mavs, the Rangers and the scrappy Stars seeking attention. -In Miami, LeBron has transformed that city into an NBA city. All the sucking the Dolphins have done has alienated those customers, there's the screw job Loria has done with the Marlins, and who in Miami pays attention to the NHL's Panthers on a nightly basis? *I don't count the Astros in this factoid, since this is their first year in the American League. But even so, they do have a 2005 NL pennant, which means they have one more league championship flag than the Mariners

(Quebec City) would be the smallest market in North American pro sports Ahem... Quebec (Lévis) : 765,706 Green Bay Metro Area: 311,098 Source: www.citypopulation.de *I realize that the Packers have all of Wisconsin (6 million) behind them, but the Quebec City NHL team would have half of Quebec Province (and probably a sizeable portion of the Maritimes) on its side. That's at least 4 million potential viewers, which is enough of a market for an NHL team. Yes, there is the issue of exchange rates and corporate sponsorship, blah, blah - but most of the profitable teams in the NHL are north of the Canada-US border. Exactly. A city/region of a million people where 75% of the population cares about hockey, is much more valuable than a city/region of 3 million where 5% of the population cares about hockey. Another case of where "playing the percentages" overcedes raw numbers. In a city of 1 million, the Quebec City NHL team would be cared by 1 million people. In a city of 3 million, the Seattle NHL team would be cared by 150,000 people. The other 95% would be split by the Seahawks (25%), Sounders (25%), Mariners (10%) and Sonics* (35%). *Seattle is a basketball-first city, and despite losing the Sonics to Oklahoma City 5 years ago, they still have the largest sports-attention draw in the city

It's a Candian city. Yeah, now I'm starting to believe all the "Bettman hates Canada" conspiracy theories.

OITGMFSABAPOSSOABMFGFDNHL.

At this point, Bettman and the legislators are throwing b#tch slaps at Quebec. How did Seattle jump to the forefront of NHL relocation?

Get rid of that "Atlanta" lineage along the sleeve and this is passable for me.

No one should live in the Southwest, period. It's been a failed hodgepodge of overdevelopment, speculation and water overuse. Phoenix, Vegas, San Diego, hell even here in LA...all these cities shouldn't exist because of the droughts, heat waves and other environmental calamities waiting to be ensued in this death trap of a region. And this doesn't even address the moronic politicking between the Coyotes, Bettman and Glendale.

If only FOX kept this particular style a little longer, and not gone with that craptacular chrome finish to these graphics in 2006 and 2007. That being said, I also wished FOX didn't kill off their 2008 package so quickly (as I remember how Dodger Stadium looked in horror after Matt Stairs' nightmarish home run), and gone with that vomiting look for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

I thought the Cardinals haven't had a blackout in their new stadium. Although, if they repeat last years' horror show on offense, then that will happen sooner or later. The key is that the Cardinals play virtually once every other weekend, so there's less impact on fans going to Glendale. But there are issues when the Coyotes seek fans who have to travel 10+ miles to-and-from per game, hyperbolized to 2-3 games a week, to see their games.

After these last couple of years? Phoenix is a basketball city, first and foremost, and those fans have been through worse than this current Suns slump (the 1987 cocaine-possession arrests of some of their players).

vs. While there's too much gold in the above ring, there's something about the Lombardi Trophies in the below one which skews the whole look.

The Phoenix Coyotes saga ending or L.A. getting an NFL team. What are the odds? I'd count on the Coyotes relocating to Quebec, Seattle, Hartford and Des Moines, all in that particular order, before the NFL has a team in Los Angeles.

So what happens to that 2004 USC ring (from the team that won the 2005 Orange Bowl vs. Oklahoma and got their NC stripped)? Is it a rare ring whose value shot up because of the title stripping, or is it only worth its scrap value?

NBA fans from the cities of... -Portland, OR -Phoenix, AZ -New York City, NY -Seattle, WA -Salt Lake City, UT -Atlanta, GA -Orlando, FL -Cleveland, OH -Indianapolis, IN -Philadelphia, PA -Sacramento, CA and -East Rutherford, NJ ...cringe in terror when looking at this picture.

2162-63 Season Sounds about right. The "Star Wars" future could happen, Tattoine could have been blown up, Naboo and Hoth could be under siege by imperial fighters, Cloud City could be the only livable city left in the galaxy, the Death Star could be the most powerful battle station in all mankind... ...and yet, throughout all this, there will still be a Phoenix Coyotes franchise.

With the new realignment coming in next season, the league isn't that stupid to chop down a team, figure out a logistical formula to schedule 29 teams, then come back the following year with a new team and then figure out a logistical formula to schedule 30 teams again. This also takes into account the legal battles which could, and probably will, ensue. They're not that stupid. Are they?* *this can be addressed as a rhetorical question

Looks like a 7.

Yeah...I kind of realized it a minute after Waltere's post was up, so "black-black-no-trade-backs" on my post. The way Gothamite said "uh oh" made it appear as if there was breaking news that the Coyotes were staying put. And the symbols he put up made it appear as we all expected the Quebec story, then he put a pic representing, "stop the presses, there's bad news coming." It took me a while to realize what the pic actually symbolized.

Is it some news we should all be terrified of (i.e. Coyotes staying)?

Obviously the MLS isn't what the Premier League is to England or what La Liga is to Spain, so I think it's safe to say that the MLS has failed by virtue of the fact that it hasn't brought widespread interest of soccer to the general American populace. Did you really think that soccer would be a mainstay sport in America in less than 20 years? You do realize all the sports MLS has to compete with for attention, especially the NFL. The fact is that Major League Soccer's growth has been sustainable and under their terms. They know how to grow and cater their sport, unlike other failed soccer leagues, which were grown too quickly and without plausible expansion plans. The real test of MLS's loyalty will be how the kids of the league's original fanbase carry the sport. When the league began, it was catered as a cool, hip sport to follow and prosper. It was catered to Gen X and their styles in the 1990s. Even some of the adaptations of Americanizing soccer were to lure these fans (backwards clock, NHL-style penalty shootouts), albeit those were phased out overtime to more traditional customs. Now these people have their own kids, Gen Z (roughly those who are high school seniors and younger), and it'll be interesting to see if their parents have nurtured their children enough about MLS to become fans.

I would actually be embarrassed to have a ring like this. A ring that actually defines you're undefeated, then you tell your kids and/or grand kids that being undefeated didn't count for anything, in the most serious and unfortunate reason (bowl bans rather than simply being out-polled by other undefeated teams). I don't know if this ring screams "desperation" more than "arrogance," but I think that's the case.