A Renaissance Is Happening - It's A Great Time To Be A New York Sports Fan
The Good Times Are Coming Back...
Something special is brewing in New York right now.
For years, sports fans in The Big Apple have been forced to feed off scraps thrown to them by the sporting Gods.
Despite residing in the biggest sports market in America, despite having at least two teams in each of the four major professional sports - 12 franchises in total including the New York Liberty (WNBA), New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls (MLS) - New York sports fans have been starved of success for a substantial amount of time.
Other than New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021, the last championship team to majestically parade down The Canyon Of Heroes was the New York Giants in 2011.
Since the Giants won their fourth Super Bowl, however, New York hasn’t really come close to flirting with success or hardware. It has been a long, barren stretch with not a lot of hope, even less promise and a lot of losing.
So much losing, in-fact.
Even the storied New York Yankees, who are a lock to reach the postseason year after year after year, haven’t won a World Series since 2009. And despite building an entire organization on winning, one of the most famous brands in all of sports haven’t made it back to the biggest stage since their last triumph.
The New York Jets have consistently stunk the NFL out since winning a Super Bowl in 1969, the New York Mets have been a laughing stock since their last World Series win in 1986, the New York Knicks seem mired in awfulness having last won a championship in 1973, the Brooklyn Nets haven’t come close to winning despite building a super team that was quickly dismantled, the New York Rangers last lifted the Stanley Cup in 1994, the New Jersey Devils are a longtime removed from the glory days of the 90’s and the early 2000’s, while the New York Islanders haven’t sniffed a championship since their dynasty days in the early 80’s.
There have been tantalizing seeds of hope, of course. The Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022. The Islanders have made a couple of deep runs in recent years. The Yankees, as mentioned, can at least be relied upon to make it to the dance. The Nets threatened to dominate the NBA after forming a big three with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, before ultimately falling on their ass with nothing more than one measly playoff series win. And, of course, New York City FC did break the city’s lengthy championship drought in 2021, although it isn’t widely acknowledged with soccer not being considered one of the four major sports in America.
Overall, for all of the power, for all of the money, and for all of the stature that resides in New York City, its sports teams have collectively stunk a hell of a lot over the past few decades.
As I like to put it; being a New York sports fan recently has been like existing in a never-ending vortex of sucking.
It has been that bad.
However, tomorrow is a new day and the immediate future for New York sports looks pretty damn bright right now.
Of course, championships are what counts and, ultimately, that’s what every team, every franchise and every city will be judged on. And rightly so.
But there is no denying that this sleeping giant is showing noticeable signs of waking up from its slumber and, more than that, this promises to be an absolute dominant chapter in New York sports.
The Yankees are still firmly in their win-now mode and, with highly-regarded prospects Anthony Volpe and Jasson DomÃnguez on the cusp of joining Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole in the majors, they are well-placed to finally, finally slay that elusive dragon. Is the next Core Four on the horizon for the Yanks? Then, across town, the Mets are free from the shackles placed on them by the stingy Wilpons, and the world is now their oyster under fan and mega-rich owner Steve Cohen. With huge investments now being made on and off the field and with a roster that is ready to win now, baseball is on the cusp of being King again in New York.
When it comes to football, the Giants emerged from years of losing and embarrassment to turn a significant corner in 2022. Under first-year General Manager and Head Coach tandem Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll, they made the playoffs last year and proved that coaching really does matter in the NFL. While there should still be question marks over quarterback Daniel Jones, the Giants appear to be on the up and they should continue to be very competitive under Daboll. As for the Jets, they too overcame a major hurdle in 2022 after years and years of being the laughing stock of the entire National Football League. Boasting a championship caliber defense, a plethora of elite weapons on the offensive side of the ball and having seemingly found their Head Coach in Robert Saleh, the Jets were a quarterback away from making the postseason in 2022. While Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, appears to be a bust, the front office looked to atone for that mistake by going out and pulling off a swing-for-the-fences trade for sure-fire future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers. Although the trade has yet to be completed between the Jets and the Green Bay Packers, it seems a forgone conclusion that Rodgers will be bringing his talents to The Big Apple in 2023 and he should be able to take a very talented Jets team to the playoffs at the very least.
We all know New York is a basketball town and nothing gets the juices flowing in the Concrete Jungle like some good old Hoops talk. Unfortunately for New Yorkers, the conversation has largely been negative when it has come to basketball in the city. The Knicks have been unable to get out of their own way for decades now, undermined at every turn by Jim Dolan, the ultimate villain of sports owners. The recent past has been defined by the franchise swinging and missing at almost everything, whiffing on every big free agent that has come their way and attracting headlines for all the wrong reasons. However, under old school Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks have begin to stablize over the past few seasons, making the playoffs in 2021 and making Madison Square Garden a happy place to be again. Plus, with Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson joining forces to make a formidable team, the good times are back at MSG this year and, while they are still a couple of legit pieces away from being real contenders, the Knicks at least look ready to become a consistent playoff team and make some noise once they are there.
What about the Nets? As we mentioned earlier, the whole Big Three experiment couldn’t have imploded in a more spectacular fashion, with Durant and Irving driving the entire franchise off a cliff having been handed the keys. While Durant played at an MVP level for much of his time in Brooklyn, Irving was absent for more games than he played in and Harden was also a disaster. With the trio having moved on without getting even close to a NBA Finals appearance, GM Sean Marks is now attempting to rebuild this team on the fly and rediscover the all-in, tough out and fun to watch ethos that was their identity before the superstars flew into town and blew things up. Are they anywhere close to competing for a championship? No. But the Nets should be competitive and an entertaining watch at the very least.
Things are also bubbling away nicely with New York’s hockey teams. While the NHL gets slept on a lot in the national media, it is a sport that still very much matters and still means a hell of a lot to blue collar New Yorkers. And, after decades of futility, winning appears to be on the horizon. It all starts with the Rangers, an Original Six franchise and an iconic brand. Already boasting an impressive core featuring the likes of Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin, the front office went all out at the NHL Trade Deadline by acquiring not one, but two superstar top six forwards in Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane. The Blueshirts are pushing all their chips into the middle of the table to maximize their Stanley Cup window right now, and you could make a good argument that they are the most likely New York team to next win a championship.
Having made deep postseason runs over the last few years, the Islanders seemed to be regressing substantially, but their moves at the Trade Deadline suggest they are still committed to winning. These Isles are as tough an out as you can get, and they are built to go the distance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Then there’s the Devils. Seemingly mired in a never-ending rebuild for well over a decade now, New Jersey is starting to see the fruits of its labor. Jack Hughes is developing into a uber-talented superstar in the NHL, Nico Hischier is one of the most underrated players in the league, Timo Meier was a really nice addition at the Deadline and there’s talent up and down that roster. They are going to be a Playoff team this year and, once they’re in, anything is possible given the firepower they possess.
It would not be surprising if New York celebrates a WNBA championship in the not-too-distant future, either. The Liberty, formed in 1997, have built an absolute super team. With phenom Sabrina Ionescu the centerpiece, the Liberty added Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot this offseason, and they looked poised to compete for a ring both in 2023 and beyond. Given the array of talent they have assembled, the Liberty are going to be the main draw of the WNBA this year and they should attract new supporters to what is an already impressive but rapidly growing league. They are going to be a lot of fun to watch on a nightly basis, that’s for sure.
With both New York City FC and the Red Bulls owning strong squads - not to mention that the former will soon have a brand spanking new, state-of-the-art stadium to call home in Queens - the odds are very, very strong that New York’s decades long championship drought will not only end very soon, but that the city could also be on the cusp of welcoming in a glorious new era of winning.
With so many of its teams in win-now windows at the same time, it does appear that The Big Apple is about to enjoy a sports renaissance for the ages.
It’s no less than what hardcore New York sports fans deserve.
Of course, it is all well and good appearing like contenders on paper. We’ve witnessed so many false dawns before where teams have all the pieces in place, but just haven’t got the job done.
But this just feels different.
It does truly feel like New Yorkers are about to witness a real resurgence from their sports teams, and we could be treated to an absolute avalanche of success all at once given that more than half of the 12 professional franchises in The Big Apple look ready to win now.
Championships aside, though, being a New York sports fan is now going to be a hell of a lot of fun. From watching Kane try and push the Rangers over the top in their quest for a Stanley Cup, to watching Rodgers do Aaron Rodgers thing in a Jets uniform, to witnessing the Yankees and the Mets slug it out for the status of top dog, to seeing if the Knicks can finally acquire a legitimate star in order to finally be able to dine at the top table with the rest of the NBA powerhouses, to seeing if star power translates to hardware for the Liberty, there should be a lot less sucking and a lot more winning to enjoy.
And that hasn’t been the case for a long, long time.
After being used to what has felt like an eon of losing as a New York sports fan, we’re about to witness a true revival in the greatest sports market on the planet.
And it’s going to be an absolute thrill ride.
Bring it on.
