A decade of success puts city at the top

We're No. 1 - sort of.

Now that the Flyers have reached their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1997, Philadelphia has achieved a unique sporting distinction.

These 2009-10 Flyers, the 2000-01 76ers in the NBA Finals, the Eagles in the 2005 Super Bowl, and the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series have gotten there.

Overall, though, there are 12 cities or metropolitan areas with teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, and football. The New York-New Jersey metro area has made it to all four title rounds in this decade, with the Giants, Yankees, Nets, and Devils reaching the finals.

However, the Devils, Giants, and Yankees took home post-2000 championships, but only the 2008 Phillies have done so here.

Three other sports-sated cities or metro areas have had multiple championship parades since 2000 - Boston (six), Detroit (three) and Miami (two). None of the four has won titles in all four sports.

Los Angeles, which doesn't qualify since - incredibly - the nation's second-largest city has no NFL team, also has won six championships in that span, when the Anaheim Angels and Mighty Ducks are included.

Chicago, the city matched up with Philadelphia in these Cup Finals, has just a single title in the 2000s, won by the 2005 White Sox.

The Windy City's only other championship-round participant in this decade was the Bears, who lost to Indianapolis in the 2007 Super Bowl.

But unlike our city, which still needs a Super Bowl to complete the modern championship cycle, each of Chicago's current five teams - the Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs, Bears and Bulls - have won it all, though it's been more than 100 years since the Cubs' last World Series triumph.

The 12 cities/metro areas with teams in all four sports are: Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-New Jersey, Phoenix, and Washington.