Disagree or agree with this weekOs sharpest point?
Sports franchises have been changing locations from city to city faster than McRib groupies these days, so it's up the The Spectrum Sports Editors to decide which lost franchise was the best of all for this week's The Sharpest Point.
This week's question: Which defunct sports franchise is missed the most by society?
Jim Byrne (6): By no means do I consider myself to be knowledgeable about the sport of hockey or the National Hockey League in particular, but I do watch, and I have realized that no league has been raped of quality teams like the NHL has.
From the Winnipeg Jets to the Quebec Nordiques, the NHL has been losing classic teams left and right only to be replaced by schmoe teams like the Phoenix Coyotes and Atlanta Thrashers.
But the greatest loss of all has to undoubtedly be the Hartford Whalers. A team from Connecticut, could we really ask for more? Besides Shane McMahon's Mean Street Posse (featuring jobbers like Pete Gas and Joey Abs) and that schnazzy Foxwoods Casino theme song, Connecticut has never really had anything going for it.
Except for those wonderful, wonderful Whalers. And now they are long gone.
The team was generally a lovable loser type, known for hardcore sucking and that nifty whale tail on their jerseys, making it pretty hard to dislike "the Whale."
The Whalers were so cool that they were even mentioned in the movie "Mallrats."
I shed a tear like the Native American guy in that "don't pollute" public service announcement every time I think of that poor franchise that is now called the Carolina Hurricanes. We miss you Whalers.
John Norman (3): I offer you two now defunct teams for the price of one: the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. Each of these teams had a richer history in New York than any other contracted or moved team I can think of.
In New York the Dodgers played at one of the greatest ballparks of all time - Ebbetts Field. They were the first team to break the color barrier. Oh, and they won - a lot. They won one World Series, the 1955 series, which is regarded by many as one of the best ever, against the Yankees. They won eight other National League Pennants, but mostly lost to then cross-town rivals the Yankees. The Dodgers and Yanks had one of the best rivalries of their time, playing in the World Series seven times between 1941 and 1956. Great players like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider all played for the Dodgers during their Brooklyn days.
The Giants had even more success than the Dodgers during their stay in New York. The New York Baseball Giants won 14 National League Pennants and five world series titles. As two national league teams in the same town the Dodgers and the Giants had an intriguing rivalry. And then, there was the natural post-season rivalry with the team from the Bronx.
Darren Riethmiller (3): When deciding on a team for this category I was fazed by the 43,646 teams that do not exist anymore or have been relocated. However, since the name of the category is best defunct team, I am going to have to select the Syracuse Nationals.
NY seems to be in this trend of getting robbed of its pro sports. Especially with all this talk in the last eight years or so of the Bills moving to Toronto (God help us) and the Sabres going to Portland.
Anyways, the Nationals, better known as today's Philly 76ers, had 14 playoff appearances in their 17 years as a pro basketball team. In those 14 playoff appearances, the Nationals went to the Division Championships nine times, winning three of them. Syracuse went to the NBA Finals three times (1950, 1954, and 1955) and was crowned the NBA Champions in 1955. Not too shabby.
Their best year was in '49/'50 when they went 51-13. The team itself currently has seven members in the hall of fame, led by Dolphe Schayes.
Corey Griswold (X): Brooklyn Dodgers. I say that because I've seen the pain. My fianc?(c)e was born on Long Island, and moved here when she was still in grade school. Her father was born in Brooklyn. For his birthday a few years back she bought him a Brooklyn Dodgers clock and 1955 World Champions pennant. He was so moved he became teary.
He was very young at the time the Dodgers won the pennant, but it symbolized more than that. It was his past, and a part of his life that he was fond of, but lost. At once I had seen all of the memories and all of the joy he had in his childhood, in a place that really didn't exist anymore. Brooklyn is a different place now, no less a ground for memories for others, but different.
His Brooklyn will never return. For a lot of his generation, the Dodgers symbolize that.
The Verdict (By Special Guest Judge Keith Morrissey): While John Norman and Corey Griswold made very strong cases for the Brooklyn Dodgers and N.Y. Giants, I'd have to say Jim Byrne made the sharpest point for this column. The Whalers were a great team, and I really did not know anyone that disliked them. Bonus points for the comment on the Foxwoods' theme song. What took away from Norman and Griswold was that no one in our generation was alive for those two baseball teams. As for Darren Riethmiller, who cares about Syracuse?
This Week's Victor: Jim Byrne
