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Everybody has a favourite team. We suffer with them when they lose and rejoice when they win. The trouble is some teams never seem to win. Of the 30 teams in Major League baseball, eight have never won the World Series. In the American League, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Texas and Houston have never celebrated victories in the Fall Classic, but at least the Rays, Rangers and Houston got that far. Seattle, the Blue Jays expansion cousin, never has. In the National League, Washington/Montreal, Milwaukee, Colorado and San Diego have never emerged victorious, though all but the Nationals/Expos have made it to the World Series. Washington and Milwaukee have actually tasted victory, but with other franchises in the past - the Senators and the Braves. All of this made me wonder how the other "Big 4" sports compare. In the NHL, 12 of the current 30 teams have never won, though Ottawa and Vancouver did capture Cups in the early 1900s. Still, essentially that is 40 per cent of the teams that have never reached the "promised land." In the NFL, 14 of the 32 teams have never won the Super Bowl, though I must add some of those 14 teams won titles in the old AFL, or in the NFL before the merger.Still, thats just over 43 per cent who havent been Super Bowl Champs. The NBA has the worst percentage of all. 16 of 30 teams have all been also-rans for their entire current existence, or just over 53 per cent. I dont really know what any of this means. Someone once told me, its all about the journey and not the end result. The emotional ups and downs make sports what they are and why they are so compelling. The debate over the Washington Redskins name and whether it should be changed has pretty much reached the boiling point now. Im in the camp that believes it should be changed, but its interesting how the name came to be and its baseball connection. Washington wasnt the original home of that NFL franchise. They began in Boston in 1932, as the Braves. They played in the home park of Bostons National League franchise, the Braves, so owner George Preston Marshall figured it was best to stick with the same name. The following year, though, he struck a better deal and moved the team to Fenway Park; the home of the American League Red Sox. To pay homage to the Bosox, he wanted to include the word Red in the teams new nickname. It also so happened that his coach, William "Lone Star" Dietz, had a mother of Indian heritage. That lead Marshall to combine the colour with a rather strange tribute to his coach, who eventually wound up in the College Football Hall of Fame. None of that justifies the name; its just interesting to find out how it came about. There was a special anniversary this week. November 7th marked 50 years since the Yankees Elston Howard won the American Leagues Most Valuable Player Award. The Yankees have had so many great catches over their history; from Bill Dickey to Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson and Jorge Posada, that at times Howard gets pushed into the background. But he occupies a special place in Yankees history. He was the first African-American player to suit up with the Yankees in 1955. That was a full eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was to the Yankees shame that it took that long for them to employ a black ballplayer. Jackie Robinson played his first season in the Dodgers organization at Montreal with the old Royals. Elston Howard too had his Canadian connection. He was an all-star with the Pennant-winning Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1954 - the year before joining the Yankees. In addition to the MVP honours, Howard won four World Series rings with the Yankees. He was also with the Red Sox in 1967 for their miracle run under Dick Williams, which ended with them losing the Fall Classic with St. Louis. That Boston club was the parent team of the Maple Leafs. Baseballs offseason activity is really going to start to percolate next week. The 13 players who were offered those $14.1 million qualifying offers will have to decide by November 12 whether to accept or reject them. At the same time, the general managers will be meeting in Orlando, Florida from November 11-13. Remember, the GMs meetings were a couple of days earlier a year ago and that is where the genesis of the mammoth 12-player deal began to evolve. That deal was completed on November 13 and was finally approved by commissioner Bud Selig on Monday November 19. Im not saying the Blue Jays are going to pull off anything close to a deal of that scope, but they have to be active; they must improve. The next week or so should be very interesting. Jeff Carter Team Canada Jersey . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Jack Johnson Team USA Jersey . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.nhljerseysofficialonline.net/Team-USA-Dustin-Byfu glien-Jersey/ . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Paul Stastny Team USA Jersey . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Guy Lafleur Team Canada Jersey . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career.New York, NY (Sports Network) - Alabama remained the top team in the latest Associated Press college football poll, but a pair of powerhouse programs -- Texas and USC -- both dropped out after losses on Saturday. The Crimson Tide had the week off with a marquee matchup against Texas A&M set for next Saturday. Alabama received 57 first-place votes, one fewer than last week, and a total of 1,494 points from a nationwide media panel. Texas was 15th last week, but surrendered 550 rushing yards in a 40-21 loss at BYU on Saturday. Southern California was 25th and dropped a 10-7 decision at home against Washington State. Miami-Florida and Ole Miss entered this weeks rankings. The Hurricanes, after a 21-16 victory over Florida, moved into the poll at No. 15 and are ranked for the first time since November 2010. Ole Miss is 25th. After Alabama, its Oregon, Clemson, Ohio State and Stanford. Ohio State, despite a 42-7 win over San Diego State, dropped for the second straight week. The Buckeyes were rranked second in the preseason and dipped one spot last week after a 40-20 season-opening win over Buffalo.dddddddddddd Clemson moved up one spot from fourth. Texas A&M also moved up one spot to sixth after a rout of Sam Houston State and is followed by Louisville, LSU, Georgia and Florida State. Georgia rose two places from 11th after a 41-30 win over South Carolina, which dropped from sixth to 13th. The second 10 consists of Michigan, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Miami-Florida, UCLA, Northwestern, Florida, Washington and Wisconsin. Michigan vaulted six places from 17th after its 41-30 victory over Notre Dame, which dropped seven places to 21st. Florida tumbled six spots from 12th after its loss to Miami. After Notre Dame, the last four teams ranked are Baylor, Nebraska, TCU and Ole Miss. In addition to the titanic SEC clash between the Crimson Tide and Johnny Manziels Aggies, next weeks schedule also includes one other ranked matchup as UCLA visits Nebraska. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '
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