Which sports division/conference has the perfect alignment?

[Wings]

This probably belongs more in the pointless realignment thread but the possibility of coming up with an 32 team NFL alignment of this what if scenario:

 

-Rams & Raiders stay in LA

-Original Browns stay in Cleveland 

-Oilers stay in Houston

-Chargers stay in San Diego

-Expansion teams in Charlotte, Jacksonville, Baltimore & St. Louis

[The_Admiral]

35 minutes ago, Wings said:

This probably belongs more in the pointless realignment thread but the possibility of coming up with an 32 team NFL alignment of this what if scenario:

 

You're an Oakland, Baltimore, and St. Louis short of proposing what the federal government proposed when it allowed the leagues to merge, namely that teams would not be allowed to relocate, in which case there would be expansion to Phoenix and Charlotte for sure, and then two of Nashville, Jacksonville, and Indianapolis.

 

I generally agree that no relocations should have been permitted under the antitrust exemption, with the exception of the Cardinals to Phoenix, because it's funny when bad things happen to St. Louis.

[The_Admiral]

Here's another question: are we better off having had the storybook demise of the Baltimore Colts? All the Mayflower stuff and drunken Irsay tirades make for great lore, Baltimore got football back in the end* and arguably came out an inch ahead (two world championships and Ray Lewis versus one championship and Peyton Manning), but ultimately, teams shouldn't move.

 

*Which sets off another domino, are we better off having had the storybook demise of the original Cleveland Browns?

[Maroon]

On ‎9‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 7:29 AM, McCarthy said:

 

The entire AFC South feels like a team in the wrong division. That might be the worst division in sports. The Colts fans I talked to in Indianapolis last year said they don't feel like they have a division rival because they automatically won the division for like 10 years there, but they like being in the division because the other 3 teams are sh***y more often than not. I'd take that deal too. 

 

Perfect geographical alignment puts Baltimore in the East, Miami in the South, Indianapolis in the North, but Baltimore works so well with being the evil descendant of the Browns and they seem to have no trouble beating the Steelers regardless of their record so I'm okay with it. 

 

As a Colts fan, I can tell you that I have no animosity towards the Texans, I hate the Jaguars but that's mostly because I hate the hype they get every year before actually being terrible, and I am apathetic about the Titans. In fact, I live in Missouri (which borders Tennessee) and I think I've met exactly one Titans fan in my entire life, and he was someone from Missouri who was a Titans fan because he has family in Nashville. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met them.

 

Texans are hard to hate for me, because after being terrible for so long they got good with players like JJ Watt, Andre Johnson, and DeAndre Hopkins, who are just dang likeable people. But I do think that part of it is, as this thread is discussing, that none of these cities are natural rivals with Indianapolis. Maybe Tennessee could be geographically, but Houston and a city in Florida? Nah. Rivalries with teams from Ohio or Pennsylvania would be much easier to cultivate if they were in the same division.

[Red Wolf]

1 hour ago, Maroon said:

 

As a Colts fan, I can tell you that I have no animosity towards the Texans, I hate the Jaguars but that's mostly because I hate the hype they get every year before actually being terrible, and I am apathetic about the Titans. In fact, I live in Missouri (which borders Tennessee) and I think I've met exactly one Titans fan in my entire life, and he was someone from Missouri who was a Titans fan because he has family in Nashville. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met them.

 

You mean that one time that happened last year?

[Maroon]

18 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

 

You mean that one time that happened last year?

 

Oh, the Jags have been getting hyped as the next breakout AFC team since Cecil Shorts broke out in 2012. Then he regressed and Justin Blackman was supposed to be the new best WR ever, and then he was terrible, and Allen Robinson and Marquise Lee were supposed to be the best WR corps in the division to finally give Gabbert the weapons he needed to assuredly lead them to the playoffs.

 

And apart from the fluke year in 2017, it was all a bunch of bull.

[The_Admiral]

20 hours ago, Maroon said:

But I do think that part of it is, as this thread is discussing, that none of these cities are natural rivals with Indianapolis.

 

Another argument for the St. Louis Jaguars

[Red Comet]

35 minutes ago, the admiral said:

 

Another argument for the St. Louis Jaguars

 

Boring town>Dangerous scheissehole

 

Been to both places, I'd stick with the place that Escape From New York wasn't filmed in.

[sky1324]

For me, I'd say the NFC & AFC North as well as the NFC South are perfect, in regards to location and rivalries. The NFC North has super historic franchises that hate each other, the AFC North has the Browns and their bizarro version Bengals, as well as the Browns' alternate world version where they're actually good in the Ravens, as well as their hated rival the Steelers. The NFC South works because Charlotte & Atlanta hate each other (Charlotte has a bit of an inferiority complex regarding ATL), and New Orleans and Tampa Bay fit geographically into it. Also, I nominate the NBA's Central division for literal geographic perfection.

[The_Admiral]

4 hours ago, Red Comet said:

 

Boring town>Dangerous scheissehole

 

Been to both places, I'd stick with the place that Escape From New York wasn't filmed in.

 

Yeah, I was just kidding, Jags to St. Louis would not be good for either party. It is pretty remarkable how Jacksonville was on death's door as an NFL market about ten years ago  and then pulled itself back together as if nothing happened. Like, they had every game blacked out and the team was for sale. It looked real bad. The L.A. Jaguars -- and how's that for wonky AFC South alignment -- felt not implausible.

[Red Wolf]

I like making fun of St Louis as much as anybody, but giving them the Jags after their previous NFL luck would just be cruel.

[goalieboy82]

6 minutes ago, Red Wolf said:

I like making fun of St Louis as much as anybody, but giving them the Jags after their previous NFL luck would just be cruel.

and thus violating the Eighth Amendment.  

[MilSox]

On 9/25/2019 at 11:42 PM, the admiral said:

Here's another question: are we better off having had the storybook demise of the Baltimore Colts? All the Mayflower stuff and drunken Irsay tirades make for great lore, Baltimore got football back in the end* and arguably came out an inch ahead (two world championships and Ray Lewis versus one championship and Peyton Manning), but ultimately, teams shouldn't move.

 

*Which sets off another domino, are we better off having had the storybook demise of the original Cleveland Browns?

 

Here's a what if that never comes up. Say the Colts stay in Baltimore... we most likely end up with the Indianapolis Cardinals.

 

This is interesting for a few different reasons. For one, the Cardinals' three home cities are all less than 300 miles from each other. St. Louis is also equidistant from Indy and Kansas City. So what becomes of the Downstate IL/Eastern MO fans? Do they stick with the Cards throughout all the moves? Or does the IL/MO border become a hard boundary between Cardinals and Chiefs territory?

 

Also, after Bart Starr was fired by the Packers following the 1983 season, he became part if a group who were seeking an expansion team in Phoenix. This was thwarted by the Cardinals move to Phoenix. But if the Cardinals are in Indy, can we assume that the expansion slot that eventually went to Jacksonville goes to Phoenix instead?

 

This leads to yet another interesting what if.... do the Browns become the second NFL team to leave Cleveland for LA? Or do we have another odd scenario where St. Louis ends up with another football team that shares its name with a local baseball franchise in the St. Louis Browns? Or are these considered lateral moves and buy time for a deal to be reached for the Browns to remain in Cleveland?