Would a Soul title end championship drought?
It's a suggestion heard on Philadelphia airwaves: A Soul championship in Sunday's ArenaBowl in New Orleans would end the city's 25-year sports drought.
It's a suggestion heard on Philadelphia airwaves: A Soul championship in Sunday's ArenaBowl in New Orleans would end the city's 25-year sports drought.
As Sixers announcer Tom McGinnis would say: Are you kiddin' me?
A title would be nice. A parade would be a party. But the Streak That Makes Us Freak applies only to the Big Four franchises - the Eagles, Sixers, Phillies and Flyers.
Recent interlopers in lesser leagues need not apply.
Sorry, Soul fans.
Go ahead, extol the indoor football franchise's star power - rock-star owner Jon Bon Jovi and ex-Eagles quarterback/Soul president Ron Jaworski. Applaud its games as exciting, high-scoring affairs - a brand of ball well-suited for this action-oriented city.
Feel free to argue that, hey, the Soul's a pro football team, sort of just like the Eagles.
Ahem, anybody remember a parade for the Philadelphia Stars? They won a United States Football League title here in 1984.
The very next season, the Stars played in Maryland, that's how treasured they were here.
Sorry, but the truth is, if other local teams count, there's no streak at all.
In basketball, Villanova University won an unforgettable NCAA title in 1986.
In pro hockey, the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers minor-league affiliate that plays at the Spectrum, won its league in 1998 and 2005.
Anybody count those against The Streak?
Count other sports, too, and, golly, Philadelphia's a City of Champions.
Indoor pro soccer: The Kixx were crowned twice, in 2002 and 2007.
Pro tennis: The Philadelphia Freedoms, which has featured stars like Wimbleton champ Venus Williams, won World Team Tennis titles in 2001 and 2006.
Indoor lacrosse: The Wings have won six titles - 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1998 and 2001.
Outdoor lacrosse: The Barrage took titles 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Boxing: Bernard Hopkins won middleweight title bouts every year from 2001 to 2005, and light heavyweight title tilts in 2006 and 2007.
Horse racing: Smarty Jones, and Barbaro, both of Philadelphia Park, may have failed to win the Triple Crown, but they did win the Kentucky Derby.
Look at those years: 1984, '85, '86, '89, '90, '94, '95, '98, 2001, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06 and '07.
That's not parched earth, that's lush pasture land.
So, sorry, Soul.
If you count, there's no drought to break.
Of course, if the Soul wins, we'll all party, right?
