New York City has a long history of being the best team in the world. But, Bill de Blasio is not doing anything to help this tradition.
Bill de Blasio is the mayor of New York City, but no one has ever won in New York with this particular mayor.
Highlights of the article:
- During Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, no team from New York City has won a championship.
- The New York Giants were the last metro-area club to win a championship in 2012.
- From 1934 through 1945, Fiorello La Guardia presided over nine champions.
Bill de Blasio has nothing on John “Bluto” Blutarsky. In the 1978 film Animal House, the character portrayed by John Belushi had a 0.0 grade-point average. That’s difficult in any college, let alone a fictional one, but de Blasio has accomplished something even more remarkable: he will complete his eight years as mayor of New York City without hosting a victory parade for the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, or any of the metropolitan area’s professional sports teams.
De Blasio, who was first elected in 2013 and was re-elected the following year, will leave office in January 2022 without a single local NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, or MLS club winning a league title.
Without a major pro club from New York City or the metropolitan region winning a title, Bill de Blasio’s eight years as mayor will come to a close. | Getty Images/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress/Corbis
It’s the curse of the Blas-bino, as the New York Post called it.
While the responsibility for such a dismal statistic falls on Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, Knicks chairman James Dolan, and pretty much everyone else who has ever been connected with the Jets, de Blasio’s failure is mind-boggling. That’s because, since John Hylan over a century ago, every mayor of New York has presided over at least one title. Joseph V. McKee, whose four-month pinch-hitting stint in 1932 coincided with Babe Ruth calling his shot as the New York Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs, is on the list.
It’s also not due to a lack of opportunities. The main team sports franchises are aplenty throughout the metropolitan region. Since Eli Manning led the Giants to a 21-17 victory against the New England Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Feb. 5, 2012, they’ve all worn the collar. While being a Manhattan native, de Blasio has been an outspoken supporter of Boston clubs throughout the years, despite cheering for the Mets.
Take a look at the list of misses since Mayor Bill de Blasio entered office on January 1, 2014:
- During the de Blasio period, the NFL’s Giants and Jets, who are based in New Jersey but have always been a part of NYC sports, have each had one winning season and a combined one playoff berth.
- The New York Yankees are a regular in the MLB playoffs, although they haven’t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets were defeated in five games by the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 World Series.
- During de Blasio’s tenure, the Knicks have hardly showed a pulse, and the Nets have yet to reach a league championship series.
- The Rangers of the National Hockey League reached the Stanley Cup Final only months after the mayor entered office. The Islanders and Devils haven’t even come close.
- The two New York City teams in Major League Soccer have likewise came up empty.
It all adds up to a startling amount of emptiness in the Big Apple, leaving residents yearning for the days of Rudy Giuliani (the 1994 Rangers and four Yankees teams from 1996 to 2000) or Michael Bloomberg (the 2008 and ’12 Giants and the ’09 Yankees).
The pro sports scene in New York, on the other hand, was never greater than under Fiorello La Guardia’s mayorship. The Rangers won a Stanley Cup, the Giants won two NFL championships, and the Yankees won six World Series titles between 1934 and 1945.
So, when probable mayor Eric Adams takes over from de Blasio at the start of 2022, what can he expect? The Mets’ new free-spending ownership has created the potential of a subterranean World Series, and the Nets are still contenders despite the current Kyrie Irving turmoil.
Adams doesn’t have to bat over the Mendoza Line to be considered a success in athletics. He simply has to stay away from de Blasio’s Blutarsky.
On Facebook, follow Sportscasting. @sportscasting19 is our Twitter handle.
RELATED: How Long Has the New York Yankees’ Winning Streak Been?
Related Tags
- bill de blasio net worth
- bill de blasio real name
- new york post sports+
