Choppy: DFW vs Boston Isn't Close, Except In Sports
Follow The Fan: Facebook | Twitter
It's fun to play the 'Us vs. Them' game! For instance, comparing Dallas/Fort Worth to Boston. But the fun goes away a bit because it wouldn't be a very close game.
We have better weather, better-looking people, and the better mindsets. The good folks of DFW don't wake up every morning looking for a reason to be offended by something.
But as much as we dominate them in every other aspect of life, including treating opposing fans with basic human decency and not habitually throwing peanuts at people as weapons, even I can't argue that when it comes to our sports teams being successful, Boston beats us, and beats everyone...like a drum.
With the Boston Celtics set to play in the Eastern Conference Finals (as the sacrificial lamb to Cleveland), our good friend Tony Massorotti at 98.5 Sports Hub in Beantown offers this nugget: Since the start of the year 2000, Boston has a combined 23 trips to the Semifinals of the Big 4 sports.
New England Patriots (11 times), Boston Red Sox (5 times), Boston Celtics (5 times), Boston Bruins (2 times).
That's tip-of-the-cap stuff, right there.
Good thing I didn't throw in "Cawlidge Hawkey," as they would say it, because that would rub salt in the wound.
I strained my brain trying to find our best stretch of Semifinal appearances, or better, in DFW. It wasn't a particularly difficult task considering we didn't get a fourth professional franchise until the early '90's.
Starting with the Stars in 1998 when they made the West Finals, and going all the way to the Rangers losing the World Series to the Cardinals in 2011 … well, that was our best stretch.
The Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999, and have made the Conference Finals four times in that span, the latest in 2008.
The Mavericks have three trips to the Conference Finals, 2003, 2006, and of course, 2011.
The Rangers, with back-to-back losses in the World Series, qualify as easily the most gut-wrenching, but also the most beloved, team in the group.
I count nine trips in that 13-year stretch. The lone team not making an appearance? The Cowboys, who haven't been to a conference title game since January of 1996.
New York had a great stretch between 1994 and 2003, which makes sense considering they have nine professional teams, but it still counts. 21 trips to the Final 4. Yankees (6), Devils (5), Knicks (3), Rangers (2), Nets (2), Mets (2), Jets (1).
Again, nine teams compared to four.
The San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose area is in a current stretch of great success.
The Giants have three titles since 2010. The Sharks finally broke through and made a nice run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2016, and two more trips to the West Finals in 2010 and '11. The 49ers went to three straight conference title games with a Super Bowl trip mixed in, and, of course, Golden State in the midst of their three straight trips to the West Finals.
That's 12 in seven years. Amazing production by any measure.
Still barely halfway to Boston.
It really is remarkable. I'm jealous. I'll admit it. I want the DFW teams to see the same success, the same parades, the same euphoria. And we will, someday soon, I hope.
Until then, to make myself feel better I looked at the weather forecast for Boston, and I smiled.
Enjoy your titles, Boston, because starting Monday your forecast calls for 10 straight days of rain.
