The year is still young, yet 2009 is turning into a great one for Chicago sports. The Blackhawks are in the playoffs for the first time since 2002, the once-laughable Bulls are making a spirited playoff run, the Bears pulled off a franchise-changing trade for quarterback Jay Cutler, and the Cubs are expected to contend for a pennant. How good would this year have to be to measure up to the best years for a city of all-time?
L.A. 1988-89
L.A. has amazing weather and half the nation’s attractive people, and to add to the mystique, the city ruled sports at the end of the ’80s. The Lakers beat the Pistons for their second straight NBA title in ’88, the Dodgers upset the A’s in a classic World Series (Kirk Gibson’s homer, remember?), the Kings traded for Wayne Gretzky and began a long playoff run, and USC and UCLA played in New Year’s Day bowls.
Philadelphia 1980-81
After the Phillies won last year’s World Series, it was heralded as the end of the City of Brotherly Love’s drought. Well, yeah, because Philly used up all its mojo in 1980 and ’81, when all four of the city’s major teams reached the finals in their sports.
Boston 2007-08
This is the year Boston transformed from lovably cursed sports town to insufferable bully. The face of new Boston was Tom Brady, the guy with the good looks, the supermodel girlfriend and the team that couldn’t lose. Well, until the Giants came along. Despite the Super Bowl defeat, the Celtics won the NBA title, and the Red Sox swept their way to the World Series title. Ah, the luck of the Irish.
