ICBM
King Koopa
Didn't know we did status updates here now
Posts: 12,288
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Post by ICBM on Apr 3, 2016 10:16:15 GMT -5
Anybody mention Hartford yet? The Whalers played in a Mall. It was so quintessentially NHL. Small small market, rabid fans, unique arena. It was tremendous.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2016 9:44:04 GMT -5
Sorry for Expos fans but I'm glad they moved to DC. Not only did it give me a team to root for but DC had already lost two teams to Minnesota and Texas. They lost two teams because they sucked. (The teams, not the fans.) There's a reason the phrase "First In War, First In Peace, Last In The American League" is so well-known. You don't win, fans don't show up. (Unless the Yankees are in town.) In 1976, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was trying his damnedest to get Washington another team. With the whole lawsuit over Seattle (and a similar one being threatened by the Giants), Kuhn agreed to placate both groups by giving them expansion teams for 1977. He figured, "Well if we're expanding in the AL, the National League should expand as well." He wanted the Nation's Capital to have a team in the worst way. (I forgot where the other team was supposed to be, if it was brought up at all). The National League said no to expansion. So Washington would have to wait.
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Post by Duke Cameron on Apr 4, 2016 20:11:31 GMT -5
Sorry for Expos fans but I'm glad they moved to DC. Not only did it give me a team to root for but DC had already lost two teams to Minnesota and Texas. They lost two teams because they sucked. (The teams, not the fans.) There's a reason the phrase "First In War, First In Peace, Last In The American League" is so well-known. You don't win, fans don't show up. (Unless the Yankees are in town.) In 1976, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was trying his damnedest to get Washington another team. With the whole lawsuit over Seattle (and a similar one being threatened by the Giants), Kuhn agreed to placate both groups by giving them expansion teams for 1977. He figured, "Well if we're expanding in the AL, the National League should expand as well." He wanted the Nation's Capital to have a team in the worst way. (I forgot where the other team was supposed to be, if it was brought up at all). The National League said no to expansion. So Washington would have to wait. The team that became the Rangers were bad but not the team that would become the Twins. They were one of the heavyweights in the early days of the World Series going to 3 and winning 1. HOFer Harmon Killebrew was a Senator as was one of the greatest pitchers of all time and future HOFer himself Walter Johnson.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 9:54:50 GMT -5
They lost two teams because they sucked. (The teams, not the fans.) There's a reason the phrase "First In War, First In Peace, Last In The American League" is so well-known. You don't win, fans don't show up. (Unless the Yankees are in town.) In 1976, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was trying his damnedest to get Washington another team. With the whole lawsuit over Seattle (and a similar one being threatened by the Giants), Kuhn agreed to placate both groups by giving them expansion teams for 1977. He figured, "Well if we're expanding in the AL, the National League should expand as well." He wanted the Nation's Capital to have a team in the worst way. (I forgot where the other team was supposed to be, if it was brought up at all). The National League said no to expansion. So Washington would have to wait. The team that became the Rangers were bad but not the team that would become the Twins. They were one of the heavyweights in the early days of the World Series going to 3 and winning 1. HOFer Harmon Killebrew was a Senator as was one of the greatest pitchers of all time and future HOFer himself Walter Johnson. You can't compare the Washington teams of the 1910s/20s to anytime after that. By the late 1930s, the Sens were a laughingstock: they never finished above 4th place after 1946 (that followed a 2nd place finish in '45), the lone year they ever drew 1 million fans. They had a couple of good players: HOFers Rick Ferrell and Early Wynn played for them during this time. Attendance just dropped like a rock after that, and the movement of the St. Louis Browns to Baltimore to become the Orioles hastened that deteriorating attendance figure even further. From 1 million to 425,000 (in 10 years). And the Griffith family were not exactly the most open-minded (nor free-spending) people when it came to contracts. If you wanted something more than a per diem, chances are you were going to have to find it elsewhere (through a trade). By the time Killebrew was brought up, it was already apparent that the Senators were going to have to find another home if they wanted to keep going as a franchise. (Odd fact: Jim Kaat was the last of the "original" Washington Senators to keep playing. He retired in 1983.)
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Post by drjayphd (feat. Pitbull) on Apr 9, 2016 23:10:44 GMT -5
The fact that the Jets and the Hornets are more or less back as they were speaks volumes as to how bad of an idea the initial relocations were. Well, the Hornets moved to New Orleans because the entire city of Charlotte hated George Shinn. (I asked every single person. They all agreed.) If he wasn't going to let the team go, he had to move. Then sell the team for a pittance. And now he's... well, nobody gives a crap about him, and the Hornets heritage is where it belongs (mega-f*** the Bobcats era). Even if my loyalty is in New Orleans now.
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