Metropolitan domination

I always enjoy Jayson Stark's column on random facts - this week he does the favour of pointing out that for all the NFL's supposed parity, MLB has had different champions every year since 2000, and in the last 8 years, 16 out of 30 MLB teams have made the LCS, almost identical to the 17 out of 32 NFL teams that have made the conference finals.

Stark also points out the four times a city's teams have won both the Superbowl and World Series in the same calendar year:

• 2004, of course (Sox and Pats)
• 1989 (49ers and A's - does the Bay Area count as one city for these trivia purposes? Well, there was no way the Bay Area wasn't going to come away with the World Series title in 1989, earthquake or no earthquake)
• 1979 (Steelers and Pirates)
• 1969 (Jets and Mets)

But while the Superbowl is held in January or February, it's the climax of a season that's largely played in the preceding year. So we could go with the following variation that we were talking about in the Boston Sports Media Watch forum: what city has won both the World Series and Superbowl for the same season? In which case the answers would be:

• 1986 season: New York Mets (ugh) and Giants (for Superbowl XXI, played in 1987)
• 1979 season: Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers
  
• 1970 season: Baltimore Orioles and Colts

And the Pats again have the chance to add to this list, with a win in Superbowl 39. Okay, I know I should say "XXXIX". But when you have to use these many letters for the Roman numerals, isn't it better to just switch to the Arabic numbers, instead of having something that looks like an obscure adult film category?


Posted by Daryl |  Email this post