Fandom by the numbers

A little while back, GeekSoapBox decided to look at the teams rooted fr over the years and how they've done, with some help from being a long-suffering Mets/Islanders/Jets fan. It was interesting to figure the overall winning rates and how credible the "long-suffering" description can be.

It seemed like an interesting idea, so I figured I'd write it up. Eventually. Like, now, perhaps.

My situation is a bit different, as I converted on all teams from my old home to my new home at almost the same time, but still good to review. I moved to Atlanta for school in 1995, but it wasn't until the early 2000's once I got married that I made the "official" conversions - and the fact that the NY team did something in each case to tick me off probably lent an assist as well.

So, let's see how we stack up in the four major sports:

1. Baseball

NY Yankees, 1985-2003: 1672-1332, .557; World Series Champs 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000; World Series 2001, 2003; Playoffs 1995, 1997, 2002
Atlanta Braves, 2004-2009, 507-464, .522; Playoffs 2004, 2005
Total: 2179-1796, .548; 4 World Series Titles, 6 World Series Berths, 11 Playoff Berths

Easily far and away the best record, but those Yankee records include a few down years in the early 90's when I went to the majority of my games. I still miss the bleacher creature days.

The big catalyst here for finally switching was a problem most people have with the Yankees: free-agent signings. Until this point I'd been comfortable with the players they signed, as they weren't necessarily bad guys to the general public. However, after the 2003 season, they signed A-Rod (ROID ALERT!), Gary Sheffield (mopey and a tendency to quit on games) and Kevin Brown (whiny, self-absorbed prima donna). I hated these signings a much of the popular 90's crew was fading out of the clubhouse, and finally switched to the Braves. While the Braves haven't been as prolific in the playoffs as the Yankees, it has been fun to root for the Braves and against the Yankees whenever they were on - which worked GREAT until this past October.

2. Hockey
NY Islanders, 1991-2000; 264-365-87, .421; Playoff berths in 1992, 1993, 1994
Atlanta Thrashers, 2000-2009; 288-378-101, .441; Playoff berth in 2007
Total: 527-732-185, .429; 4 Playoff berths

This one was hard to define. Atlanta did not have a team when I moved here. Switching to the new expansion team was quite simple and justifiable, considering the Islanders had been so inept in management (see Spano, John, Maloney, Don, and Milbury, Mike) and it was an expansion team that I switched to.

Between the woeful Islanders and the Thrashers' expansion pains, this is easily my worst winning percentage among the four sports. Surprisingly, neither of these teams has the worst record of teams I have rooted on. The Thrashers are currently seventh in the Eastern Conference, so they could get their second playoff berth this year as things may be on an upward slope.

3. Basketball
NY Knicks, 1985-2004, 822-704, .539; 2 Finals appearances (1994, 1999); 9 other playoff berths (1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001)
Atlanta Hawks, 2004-2009, 168-263; 2 playoff berths (2008, 2009)
Total: 990-967, .506, 9 playoff berths

I started following the Knicks after the Patrick Ewing draft, back when Knicks games were still available on local channels, before the MSG network even existed. Some dry years in the mid and late 80's became a strong run in the 90's which unfortunately happened at the same time as Jordan's ascendancy. Their best chance disappeared in 1994, with a Game 5 preempted by the O.J. chase and a Game 7 highlighted by John Starks' 2-for-18 shooting. The Riley years were fun; the Van Gundy years were somewhat entertaining but I tired of them during the tenure of Scott Layden and swore them off entire when Isiah Thomas came in to run the show during the 2003 season. I'm counting the entire 2003-2004 season for New York, though, and starting the Hawks' tally with a lovely 13-69 season in 2004-2005.

The Hawks "lead the way" with the worst winning percentage among all teams I've rooted for, sitting at .390 over 5 1/4 seasons.

Surprisingly, this may have the brightest future, as the often woeful Hawks are among the league leaders in many categories and have a 15-6 record a quarter of the way through the season.

4. Football

I save this for last, because it was the last team that I switched. And boy, what interesting timing that was.

New York Jets, 1986-2005, 141-177-1, .444; 2 division titles (1998, 2002), 4 wild card berths (1986, 1991, 2001, 2004)
Atlanta Falcons, 2006-2009; 28-32, .467; 1 wild card berth (2008)
Totals: 169-209-1, .447; 2 division titles, 5 wild card berths

Yes, I was a Jets fans when the Giants won Super Bowls XXI and XXV. Lemme tell ya, it doesn't beat the fun of the Joe Walton/Bruce Coslet/Pete Carroll/Rich Kotite coaching carousel!

Thankfully, the dark times were replaced by good times under Bill Parcells, with two division titles and two other wild-card berths thanks to the players brought in - even though he left in 2002 and Herm Edwards took over, most of the players were from that time, when the team was actually halfway decent. Plus, it was much more fun to watch Vinny Testaverde and Curtis Martin that it was to watch Ken O'Brien/Browning Nagle/Boomer Esiason/Neil O'Donnell.

I was starting to get tired of the relapse to the "same old Jets" and when the Jets screwed up their draft in 2006 after another losing season (following a couple seasons of schizophrenic results) I swore them off forever and switched to the Falcons - just in time to have one sub par Falcons season and the eruption of the Vick scandal.

So there you have it - a lot of playoff berths, in both cities, but only the four titles of the Yankees' late-90's dynasty. Thankfully, all of the teams I root for now either have good prospects for the future or are already contending for playoff spots. It really is getting to be a better time to be an Atlanta sports fan - the Braves contended for a wild-card spot until there was one week left in the season, the Falcons sit one game out of a wild-card spot, and the Hawks and Thrashers would make the playoffs is their seasons ended today.

Meanwhile, the teams I left have not won any titles either, up until about 2 months ago. I don't think I have ever rooted so hard for the Phillies in my life. Hopefully the Yankees' 2009 title won't be the start of another dynasty of titles but will just be a blip on the screen.

If nothing else, this was a fun little trip down memory lane. For the most part, it hasn't been very much long-suffering as much as a long parade of mediocrity with wild swings between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Get your degeneracy on

I'm just doing a straight re-post on this from Dr. Pauly, but some folks here who enjoy gambling (check) and fantasy football (check) might be interested.

Sundays with Dr. Pauly returns next Sunday on Fantasy Sports Live.

FantasySportsLive.com is proud to announce our annual Sunday's With Dr. Pauly promotion with $750 in free bonus cash added. Compete at fantasy football against one of the top gaming bloggers in the country, Dr. Pauly, and earn some free cash for your efforts. Last year Dr. Pauly had a rough time and it was pretty easy to get bonus cash with about 25 different winners. This year we expect him to snap back, and make it a bit more profitable for those out there who can consistently beat his score. Simply enter weekly $11 fantasy football leagues named "Sundays w/Dr Pauly" and compete for all of the free bonus cash shown below in addition to our normal 91% and higher cash prize payouts.


$500 in Free Bonus Cash Available to all FSL Users


1) Beat Dr. Pauly's fantasy football score for three straight weeks at any point in weeks 1-15 and gain entry into a season ending tournament of champions in week 16. $125 in bonus cash will be added to the TOC and anyone who beats Dr. Pauly's score in the TOC will get a prorated share based on the number of points above Dr. Pauly's score.


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3) Score a top three highest individual fantasy football score at any point in the series and win free bonus cash. The top three scores will earn a free bonus of $100/$50/$25.


$250 in Bonus Cash Available to FSL Users with a Sports or Gaming Blog for 1 Year


Eligible bloggers can compete for all of the prizes shown above and are also eligible for the for $250 in additional bonus cash.


1) Score a top three highest blogger individual fantasy football score at any point in the series and win free bonus cash. The top three scores will earn a free bonus of $75/$50/$25.


2) Gain entry into the Blogger Battle TOC and compete for $100 in added cash with $75 for first place and $25 for second place. Beating Dr. Pauly's score for three straight weeks, having the highest blogger score in a five week series, having the top individual blogger weekly score over the entire series, or ending in the top 5 in blogger points overall for the 15 weeks gets you in the the Blogger Battle TOC.


Bonus Cash Summary


All Users


TOC - $125 Added Cash
Super TOC $125 Added Cash
Highest weekly score $100 Added Cash
2nd highest weekly score $50 Added Cash
3rd highest weekly score $25 Added Cash
Week 1 Series Winner $25 Added Cash
Week 2 Series Winner $25 Added Cash
Week 3 Series Winner $25 Added Cash


$500 in total added cash


Bloggers


Blogger Battle TOC $100 Added Cash
Highest weekly blogger score $75 Added Cash
2nd highest weekly blogger score $50 Added Cash
3rd highest weekly blogger score $25 Added Cash


$250 in total added cash


Results and standings will be updated weekly here at the FSL blog. OK, now that I have explained all this, go out and get yourself some free cash already. .

Olympics

Prepare for six hours of listening to Bob Costas making you want to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil.

H/t Unmotivation. Where there are many, many, many funny posters.

Tragic

With all the news about the local tragedy of Chris Benoit's family this past weekend, a bizarre link showing all of the wrestlers since 1985 who have dies prior to age 65.

It's so long you'll need to scroll down a few times. Saw it this afternoon when I clicked into an ESPN Chat because, well, it was almost time to go for the day and my work was done.

Wow.

Good day for Atlanta sports

Well, let's see:

1) We had the Final Four without massive gridlock or too many shootings (a couple, but at least no NFL players were involved)

2) The Braves won their first game to re-take first place in the NL East with a mighty 1-0 record. Four scoreless innings from the bullpen is a very nice way to start by beating the Phillies on the road, 5-3.

3) Last, for the first time ever, the Atlanta Thrashers are heading to the playoffs. Thanks to a Toronto loss yesterday, the Thrashers clinched a playoff berth. They have not yet clinched the division, but are three points up on Tampa with three games left. As of right now, they would face the Rangers in the first round - who knows, it might be fun to root against the Rangers again.

The Hawks, however, can't even lose right, as they'll lose their lottery pick if it is outside the top 3 and they currently have the fourth-worst record behind Boston, Milwaukee, and Memphis. Hopefully, they can learn to suck just a little more over the last couple weeks to get a better shot at a top-3 pick and either Oden, Durant, or Joakim Noah.

Bracket Busting

Well, March Madness is underway.

So I might as well throw out who I picked.

For once, it was not Kentucky. I actually picked them to lose in the 1st round to Villanova.

Today, I went 13 of 16. Not too bad. The only ones I missed were Butler (Old Dominion), Vanderbilt (George Washington), and Texas Tech (Boston College).

At least I was right about VCU over Duke.

As for games tomorrow, I picked a few upsets. Miami (OH), Winthrop, Arkansas, Villanova (9), and some little state school in upstate NY. 5 lower seeds out of 16.

Sweet 16 picks: I lost George Washington, so here are the other 15:

Florida
Maryland
Winthrop
Wisconsin
Kansas
Virginia Tech
VCU
UCLA
Nevada
Texas A & M
Ohio State
That school in NY
Georgetown
Texas
UNC

Final Four: UCLA over Florida, Ohio State over Texas
Final: UCLA over Ohio State

I can't believe I'm picking UCLA to win it all.

So far, I'm running second in my pool, so hopefully I can stay there and continue my run of good luck.

The end of the search

We looked through a bunch of stores, but couldn't find anything decent.

Finally, earlier this week we started looking at sites likes craigslist to see if there were any good deals.

Yesterday, we got our deal. A 32 inch Panasonic flat-screen TV, with HD. We were also able to get a DVD player and a small entertainment stand included as well. We bought from a very nice family who is moving to Qatar, and it's probably pretty hard to bring a big TV and stand several thousand miles to the Middle East.

We got it hooked up to the dish and DVD last night, and it's working quite well. We still need to figure out how to get the VCR hooked up as well as possibly order a new tuner to take advantage of the HDTV.

And just in time for March Madness, thank goodness.

The Great American Race

This Sunday is the Daytona 500.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch it this year, as ironically, I will be driving. Listening to the race on the radio isn't exactly my idea of a thrill.

Anyway, with that in mind, here's some fun video for you.

First, the largest wreck in NASCAR history, taking out 37 vehicles (with no injuries!)



Second, a tribute to Dale Earnhardt, set to Big & Rich, since Sunday would also be the six-year anniversary:



And last, a clip from the movie Cars. For the kiddies:

Idiot of the day

Today, the honor goes to Skip Bayless, who amazingly tries to lay the blame for Maurice Clarett's shenanigans at the feet of the NFL.

Sure. I mean, it's not like he had previous problems. You know, like preferential treatment while in school, academic misconduct, then turning on everyone at Ohio State, falsifying theft reports, getting kicked out of school.......and that's before the robbery at gunpoint.

When pulled over, it's being speculated that he may have been on the way to one of the witness' homes, with those guns, booze, and a hatchet while wearing a bulletproof vest.

But it's the NFL's fault.

Riiiiiiight.

And Bayless is one of the faces ESPN loves to trot out every chance it can - Around the Horn, Cold Pizza, etc.

F**king schmuck.