(Author’s Note – This was originally written in 2005 as 100 Years, 100 Championships, but since I’m not a professional sports writer could not get anyone to publish it).

New York, New York, You’re A Helluva Sports Town … and you’ve got the record to prove it. Next week, when the New York Mets go to the World Series, it will mark the 105th time in 110 years that the New York City metro area will send one of its professional sports teams to a national championship (and yes, that includes the Giants, Jets, Nets and Devils, even though they somehow wound up in New Jersey).  This is more than the next two closest cities, Boston (62 appearances) and Los Angeles (42 appearances) combined.  (Note – This count includes only the World Series starting in 1903; the Stanley Cup starting in 1927; the NBA Championship starting in 1947; the Super Bowl starting in 1967).

The Mets’ appearance in the World Series follows a six year absence of New York team from the Fall Classic, a tie for the second-longest such period in baseball history. However, thanks to the Giants, Rangers and Devils, New York sports fans have at least had something to watch in the interim (hell yeah 2012 Giants!)

Overall, the twelve professional sports teams that have represented the New York City area have a collective championship record of 53 wins and 51 losses. The first win was by the New York Giants in the 1905 World Series.  The most recent win was by the New York Giants in the 2012 Super Bowl.  New York’s best streak took place from 1949 to 1958, in which at least one New York team played in a championship game each year.  They also won at least one championship in each of these years, with the exception of 1957.

There have been seven years where at least three of New York’s teams have gone on to their championship game. 2000 was New York’s overall best year, when three teams appeared in championship games, including America’s most recent ‘Subway Series’, and two won (the Yankees defeated the Mets in the World Series and the Devils took home the Stanley Cup).  There were three other years in which New York claimed two victories: 1928 (Yankees & Rangers), 1933 (Giants & Rangers) and 1969 (Mets & Jets).  The most disappointing year was undoubtedly 2001, when three teams (Yankees, Giants & Devils) played in the championship and lost.  New York has also seen fourteen subway series, all involving the Yankees (seven against the Dodgers, six against the Giants, and one against the Mets).  Following is New York’s collected professional sports record:

Team               Record

Yankees             27-13

Giants (BB)       5-9

Rangers             4-7

Dodgers             1-8

Knicks                2-6

Giants (FB)*     4-1

Islanders            4-1

Devils*                3-2

Mets                    2-2

Nets*                  0-2

Jets*                   1-0

Total                53-51

The overall top ten metro areas are:

City                 Record

New York        53-51

Boston             35-27

Los Angeles     22-20

Detroit             18-22

Chicago           18-19

Montreal**      23-8

Philadelphia     13-21

St. Louis          13-16

San Francisco  16-10

Toronto**        13-8

*Technically New Jersey. You gotta problem with that?

**Technically Canada. Friggin’ Canucks messing up my awesome list.

LET’S GO METS!!!!!!