Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been home to many teams and events in professional, semi-professional, amateur, college, and high-school sports.
Philadelphia has a long and proud history of professional sports teams. Of late, Philadelphia teams have been performing well, but have much more often than not missed championships by failing in the crucial stages. Some locals jokingly attributed this to the "Curse of Billy Penn." The city's teams have had recent success and saw its first major championship since the 76ers championship of 1983 when the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series. Also, the city's teams have lost championships during presidential inaugural years, beginning with the 76ers' loss in the 1977 NBA Finals,[1] and most recently in 2009, when the Phillies lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series.[1] During the spring that followed the Phillies loss in the World Series, the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. The losses by the Phillies and the Flyers clearly made evident a main reason why Philadelphia went 25 years without a championship until the Phillies won in 2008: it continued an interesting coincidence of the only years the city's teams played for championships during that span were during presidential inauguration years.[1] The loss by the Flyers was the first time since they themselves lost in 1987 that one of the city's teams lost championships in a non-presidential inauguration year.[1]
The Flyers Cinderella run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals made the city of Philadelphia the first city to have all four of its major-professional-sports-league teams play in the league championship finals at least once since 2000.[1][2][3]
On September 17, 2011, the Phillies became the first team in the city's major-professional-sports history to finish the regular season in first place in five consecutive seasons.[4][5] Two other teams finished first during four consecutive seasons: 1973-77 Flyers and the 2001-04 Eagles.[4] Five other teams finished first for three seasons in a row: the 1929-31 Athletics, 1947-49 Eagles, 1965-68 Sixers, 1976-78 Phillies, and 1984-87 Flyers.[4]
The Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, 76ers and Wings all play their home games in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex section of the city. The Eagles currently play at Lincoln Financial Field (commonly referred to as "The Linc"), built in 2003. The Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004. The Flyers, 76ers and Wings share the Wells Fargo Center, opened in 1996. The Philadelphia Union plays their home games at PPL Park in the suburb of Chester, about 13 miles south of Philadelphia. All three venues are within walking distance of AT&T Station on SEPTA's Broad Street Line. Philadelphia is one of a handful of cities, which include Atlanta, Chicago and Denver, where all of its teams from the four major sports play within the city limits.
In 1980, when Philadelphia had teams in only four major sports (baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey), it became the only North American city in which all four of those teams (Phillies, 76ers, Eagles, Flyers) played for their respective championships in one year. Only the Phillies, however, were able to win a championship, by defeating the Kansas City Royals in six games in the 1980 World Series. The Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV; the Flyers fell to the New York Islanders in six games in the Stanley Cup Finals; and the 76ers bowed to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals in six games.
Philadelphia has also been home to the Philadelphia Athletics (MLB, later the Kansas City Athletics and now the Oakland Athletics) and the Philadelphia Warriors (NBA, now the Golden State Warriors).
The city's sole existing Major League Baseball team is the Philadelphia Phillies. Founded in 1883, the team is the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports.[6] It competes in the National League East and has won the World Series twice, in 1980 and 2008. In 2010, Philadelphia sports fans picked both of the Phillies' World Series wins as the two greatest moments in Philadelphia sports,[7] picking the 2008 win as the greatest moment.[7]
Still in existence are the Philadelphia Athletics, though they are no longer in Philadelphia. The Athletics were founded in 1901 in the American League to compete with the Phillies. After playing their last season in Philadelphia in 1954, they moved to Kansas City and eventually—in 1968—to Oakland.
The first game in the history of Major League Baseball was played in Philadelphia, on Saturday, April 22, 1876, at the Jefferson Street Grounds. The Boston Red Caps defeated the Philadelphia Athletics (NL), 6–5, in the inaugural game of the National League of Base Ball Clubs. The Athletics were dropped as a team at the end of the season because they had failed to play a full schedule.[8][9]
Several other Philadelphia teams are now defunct. The Philadelphia White Stockings played in the National Association of Professional Baseball Players from 1873-1875. They renamed their franchise twice as the Philadelphia Pearls in 1874 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1875. The Philadelphia Centennials played in the National Association of Professional Baseball Players in 1875 but failed to complete a season before folding. The Philadelphia Keystones played one season in the Union Association in 1884. The Philadelphia Quakers played one season in the Players League in 1890. The Philadelphia Stars played in the Negro National League from 1934 to 1948.
Philadelphia has been represented in the National Basketball Association by the Warriors (now in Oakland, California) and the 76ers. Defunct teams include the Fusion of the American Basketball Association and the Fox of the Women's Professional Basketball League as well as the American Basketball League's Rage.
The Philadelphia Tapers played in the American Basketball League from 1962-1963.
The Philadelphia Fusion, formerly the Jersey Squires, was an American Basketball Association (ABA) team. The team folded in February 2005 with a record of 3-10.
The Philadelphia Rage moved from Richmond, Virginia in 1997 and played a year and a half in the American Basketball League before the league folded in mid-season in 1998.
Philadelphia has been the home of two National Football League teams, one Arena Football League team, one World Football League team, one USFL league team, and one Women's Professional Team.
The city's first NFL team was the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Originally a community athletic-association team in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia dating back to about 1900, the club became one of the early NFL clubs in 1924. The Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926. Its home field was Frankford Stadium (also called Yellow Jacket Field). The club disbanded in the 1931 season.
The Philadelphia Quakers (AFL) played one season in Philadelphia before folding, but managed to win the AFL Championship in 1926.
Two years after the Yellow Jackets folded, Bert Bell and Lud Wray bought the franchise rights and formed a new team, the Philadelphia Eagles. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Eagles have won three NFL titles (1948, 1949, 1960)and are the only NFL team to win back to back championships by shutout (7-0 v. Chicago Cardinals, 1948; 14-0, v. L.A. Rams, 1949). The 1960 Eagles are the only team to defeat the Vince Lombardi-coached Packers in a playoff game. They have made two Super Bowl appearances (in 1980 and 2004), but did not win either Super Bowl.
The Philadelphia Soul are an Arena Football League franchise founded in 2004. They played at both the Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum. The Philadelphia Soul won ArenaBowl XXII in 2008 before the league formally disbanded in 2009. The Soul returned in 2010 after the Arena Football League restarted its operations under a new entity.
Other teams in the city have folded. The Philadelphia Bell was a franchise of the World Football League, which operated in 1974 and for a portion of a season in 1975. It played its home games in JFK Stadium. The Philadelphia Stars were a football team in the USFL in 1983-84, after which they became the Baltimore Stars for their final season in 1985. They won the USFL Championship in 1984. The Philadelphia Bulldogs played in the Continental Football league from 1965-1967. They won the 1966 championship. The Philadelphia Quakers played in the American Football League in 1926 and won the championship in 1926. In 1902 the MLB owners of the Philadelphia Phillies, Athletics, and Pittsburgh Pirates created 3 football teams with the same names and called it the National Football League. Pittsburgh was declared the champion after one season of play.
The city's first women's tackle football team was the Philadelphia Liberty Belles. Founded in 2001, they won the first Women’s National Football Championship in the league’s inaugural season. The club disbanded in the after the 2004 season. The Liberty Belles have reformed for the 2009 season and have joined the new Women's Football Alliance.
The Philadelphia Quakers were a National Hockey League team that played only one full season, 1930–31, at the Philadelphia Arena. They were the successors of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Philadelphia Flyers were part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the league's first. They have won two championships, the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cups.
The Philadelphia Union is a Major League Soccer team, which began play in 2010. Its first two home matches were at Lincoln Financial Field. On June 27, 2010, it played its first match at its newly built stadium, PPL Park, located in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Women's Professional Soccer will also be placing an expansion team in Philadelphia beginning in 2010. They will play at Widener University's Leslie Quick Stadium beginning in the 2011 season.
The Philadelphia KiXX were an indoor soccer team in the National Indoor Soccer League. They were part of the Major Indoor Soccer League They won the championship in the 2001-2002 and 2006-2007 seasons. The KiXX suspended soccer operations before the 2010/2011 season.
The Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League play at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. The Wings have won the NLL title six times, in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1998, and 2001. They are currently the longest-tenured team in one location in the NLL.
Championships won by Philadelphia teams in the four major leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL):
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Due to their geographic locations, Philadelphia has an intense sports rivalry with the cities of New York and Pittsburgh. There are also intense rivalries in Philadelphia between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys and between the Flyers and the New Jersey Devils. The rivalry with the Devils is also due to geographic proximity.
In each of the four sports leagues, there is intra-division competition between teams from New York City and Philadelphia, as seen in the rivalries between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League, and the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League.[11] There is also a rivalry between the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, although it is not as intense as the other three rivalries.
With Pittsburgh, there's an intense intra-division rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL which started at the genesis of both franchises being part of the league doubling in size with the 1967 expansion, at the time and for decades after (Without franchises in New Jersey, Washington, Long Island, Columbus or Buffalo) making both the sole geographic rivals. [1] For the first few decades this rivalry was bested and then dominated (mid 1980's) by the Flyers, but heated up for both fans with the arrival of Mario Lemieux and continued to heat up when the lockout season was over.[12]
There is also a spirited rivalry between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia teams at both the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University due to the fact that there are many students from both cities at each school.
Although not major rivals since the 1994 realignment the Pittsburgh Pirates and Phillies had historically been heated rivals in the all-one-division National League. Throughout most of their franchise histories the rise of Phillies eras was inverse to the rise of the Pirates, however in the 1970's through the early to mid 1980's the two teams, and cities enjoyed perhaps the bitterest and hottest rivalry baseball has seen, with the two teams trading National League East division titles during the 1970s. The Pirates capturing five division crowns from 1970-75 followed immediately by the Phillies capturing three in a row, each of them contested to the bitter end of the season by Pittsburgh, with both teams exchanging not only the division crowns but the pennant and World Series victories the next two years. The rivalry and pennant races continued through 1984 with the Phillies prevailing all the way to the 1983 World Series. The Pirates revival from 1988-1993 also heated the rivalry, the Pirates winning the division three years in a row 1990-92 with the Phillies following the very next season and reaching another World Series in 1993. Although both teams still play regularly during the season, realignment has cooled the competitions in that no pennant races are possible.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have historically had natural rivals in the Eagles both teams having come into the league in the 1933 season. The two teams actually contested in the equivalent of a modern conference championship playoff game in 1947 (the Steelers only playoff berth until it's 1970's Super Bowls era). It was a unique rivalry, that despite being heated and competitive in the modern standards of a division rivalry, both teams actually merged during the player shortages of World War II to form the Steagles, and shared a common owner for many years in future NFL Commissioner Bert Bell. Although the teams still play regular season games every four seasons and regularly play pre-season exhibition games, the rivalry for titles, playoff berths and divisional championships of the 1930's up through 1970, similar to the once division induced Pirates-Phillies rivalry of the 20th century, has ended.
Since the 1960's and the rise of the Cowboys as "America's Team," there has been an intense passionate rivalry amongst Eagles fans against the Dallas team. The rivalry is often explained as a result of the two teams being NFC East division rivals. However, other theories and folk legends regarding the rivalry have arisen throughout the years.[13][14]
Since the New Jersey Devils moved from Colorado in 1982, the Flyers have had an intense rivalry with the Devils, with both teams being in the Atlantic Division and having fans in New Jersey, with most of the Devils fans in the northern half of New Jersey, while the southern half is the Flyers fan base. The rivalry has been pretty fierce since the 1993–94 season, with the two teams trading division titles every year, except in 1993–94, when the New York Rangers, cross-river rivals of the Devils won the Stanley Cup and in 2008, when the Pittsburgh Penguins went to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Philadelphia Phantoms were a minor-league hockey team from 1996 to 2009 that played at the Spectrum. The franchise won two Calder Cups, in 1997-98 and 2004-05. After the 2008-09 AHL season, the team relocated to Glens Falls, New York due to the closing of the Spectrum.
The Philadelphia Firebirds were a minor-league hockey team from 1974-1979. They played in the defunct North American Hockey League from 1974–1977, winning the league championship in 1976. When the NAHL folded in 1977, they joined the American Hockey League, where they played from 1977-1979. In 1979, the team moved to Syracuse, N.Y. They played their home games at the Philadelphia Civic Center, razed in 2005.
Media Rugby Football Club
Media Rugby is a Division 1 Rugby Union organization, founded in 1978 and consistently ranked as a Top 20 rugby team in the United States for the past 15 years. It exists to play and promote the sport of Rugby Union and to further the growth of the sport in the Philadelphia area. Media Rugby is a member organization of USA Rugby and the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Union.
Media Rugby's record of excellence is as follows:
The Schuylkill River Exiles Rugby Football Club are a Division 1 Men's Rugby Club based in Philadelphia. The team plays matches on public fields in Fairmont Park. The Exiles are members of and compete in MARFU, The Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union, and are also members of USA rugby. The team competes against various other local area teams and plays matches against teams from Boston to Charlotte and out to Pittsburgh.
Schuylkill River Exiles Rugby Club was founded in 1995 and is the only Men´s Division I club that trains and plays in Philadelphia. Since its inception in 1995, the club’s accomplishments are a source of pride and the foundation on which it builds its future.
The legacy began in 1999, with the club securing the EPRU Division III championship and advancing to the final 8 in the Division III national playoffs.
In the fall of 2000, the club’s first season in Division II, the club won the EPRU Division II Championship, and once again advanced to National play-offs, getting as far as the Division II Sweet 16.
This sequence of back to back Divisional Championships, gave Schuylkill a unique status in USA Rugby, as one of the few teams to advance from Division III to Division I in a two year span.
2001 saw Schuylkill competing in the Division I Championship Division and surprising many by earning a second place finish. The following spring of 2002, Schuylkill focused on competing with primarily Division I clubs. The clubs strong showing and fierce competitive spirit sent the message that the club was for real and intending to stay in Division I. An unfortunate one-point loss in MARFU play-offs stopped the club from advancing to Nationals for three consecutive years, in three different divisions.
Fall 2002 introduced Schuylkill to a tougher Division I comprising MARFU Division I and Rugby Super League clubs. Since that time, the club has aspired to compete at the highest levels of domestic rugby, and has an ongoing goal of returning to the National Championship playoffs
Currently, the Exiles are looking to rebuild their glory days. With their group of experienced veterans and a newly found consistent flow of youth, the sky is the limit.
The Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC is a division 3 rugby union team in Philadelphia. The team was formed in 1985, due to the merging of the Philadelphia and Whitemarsh clubs.
There are 3 semi professional rugby league teams in the Philadelphia area, The Aston Bulls and Bucks County Sharks are both competing in the AMNRL and the Philadelphia Fight participate in the USA Rugby League. Aston, Pennsylvania is considered as the birthplace of rugby league in America.[15]
Cricket has a long history of play in Philadelphia and is arguably the hotbed for cricket in the US.[16] It was the center of the "golden age" of American cricket in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Philadelphia Cricket Club was founded in 1854.[17] Greats such as Bart King, Percy Clark and Christie Morris played for the team in its prime. Though it was disbanded in 1924, it was revived in 1998. There are also cricket clubs in Germantown and Merion.
Since 1993, the city has been home to the annual Philadelphia International Cricket Festival, held during the first weekend in May, benefiting the Inglis Foundation. Each year, twelve teams, including five from the area and seven from across the United States or guest international sides, are invited to participate in the Festival.
Penn Jersey Roller Derby, or PJRD, are a Philadelphia-based co-ed banked track and flat track roller derby league, founded in 2005. PRG broke off of the original PJRD. PJRD were coached by Philadelphia Warriors All Star Judy Sowinski. They are the founding league of the Old School Derby Association (OSDA).[18]
The Philly Rollergirls, or PRG, are a Philadelphia-based women's flat-track roller derby league, founded in 2005.[19] The PRG are a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, and have been host to the WFTDA East Coast Derby Extravaganza tournament since 2007.[20][21]
Several events are competed in Philadelphia on a regular basis.
The Manayunk area of the city is home to the annual Philadelphia International Championship bike race. The main feature of the race is the "Manayunk Wall", an inclined street including all of Levering Avenue and a few blocks of Lyceum Avenue. The race has been largely credited with the economic revival of the neighborhood, and cycling is a prominent theme of many of the shops and restaurants in the area.
Competed at the same time and over the same course is the women's Liberty Classic.
Philadelphia hosts the annual Penn Relays, held at Franklin Field, the largest early-season track and field meet in the U.S.
One of the busiest streets in the city, Broad Street, is closed to traffic for the annual Broad Street Run, a 10-mile race contested since 1980.
The Philadelphia Marathon (aka the Philadelphia Independence Marathon), founded in 1954, is an annual marathon sporting event held on the third Sunday of November.
Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, PA hosted the 2010 AT&T National and will host the event again in 2011.
While Philadelphia does not currently host any professional automobile racing, midget car racing was popular during the 1930s and '40s. The two major tracks were Yellow Jacket Speedway, which closed in 1950, and National Speedway, which closed during World War II as a result of fuel rationing. Races were sanctioned by the American Automobile Association.[22]
In 2005, the Champ Car World Series began negotiating with the city to organize a race. Several locations for a street course were discussed including the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Fairmount Park, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, but no agreement could be reached.[23]
Philadelphia is in close proximity to Dover International Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and the defunct Langhorne Speedway, Nazareth Speedway and Flemington Speedway.
Philadelphia has a rich history in boxing, being home of the former world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. The city is home to The Blue Horizon, which is considered one of the finest boxing establishments in the world. The Arena was named 2006 Venue of the Year by ESPN2 boxing program Wednesday Night Fights.
Originally a native of Beaufort, South Carolina, former world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist, Joe Frazier, currently resides in Philadelphia having lived there for most of his career. He currently owns and manages a boxing gym.
Philadelphia native Bernard Hopkins is a former world middleweight champion. Hopkins defended the Middleweight Championship a record 20 times losing via split decision to Jermain Taylor. He is also the oldest middleweight champion. His career remains active in the light heavyweight division, which is the division he debuted.
The Army-Navy football game — an annual football game between the rival service academies, the United States Military Academy (West Point) and the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) — has been held more often in Philadelphia (which is located approximately midway between the two schools) than in all other locations put together. Eleven of the past fifteen Army–Navy Games have been held in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia-area school with a Division I football team is Temple University. However, many Philadelphia residents are fans of the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions Division I Football team, and the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights Division I Football team.
Since 1955, Philadelphia has been home to the Big Five, a unique basketball rivalry among five local Division I universities: Temple, St. Joe's, Penn, Villanova, and La Salle. The Big Five have played many of their games at the Palestra, Penn's venerable gymnasium. The Big 5 rivalry is unique because each of the schools has a rich basketball history and each school is located within a fifteen mile radius of all of the others.
Drexel University also fields a Division I team and makes up the City 6 in extramurals with the Big 5.
In addition, Division II teams are fielded by Chestnut Hill College, Holy Family University, Philadelphia University (men and women), and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia hosts numerous local and collegiate rowing clubs and competitions, including the annual Dad Vail Regatta, the largest intercollegiate rowing event in the U.S., and the Stotesbury Cup Regatta [2], both held on the Schuylkill River. Boathouse Row is a symbol of Philadelphia's rich rowing history. Each Big 5 member has its own boathouse.
In 2005, the Public League joined the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, as District 12. The first state championship won by a Public League team was the Preparatory Charter High School basketball team, winning the AA state basketball championship in 2006.
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