Last week following the
Seattle Sounders won the MLS Cup I had written a post about Seattle championships and I
just realized that I did not save it but here is the best shot at what was in my original write up.
Now that the Sounders have
won the MLS Cup Championship a team from Seattle has won a championship in
every professional sport except for the Seattle Mariners. This list does not include college teams, minor league teams, semi-pro teams or leagues that only the most die-hard fan would know about (sorry women's soccer, rugby, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee and roller derby), only the leagues/teams that were accepted as "Professional" or top league at the time they won their championship.
The Seattle Mariners
were a MLB expansion team in 1976 and in the team’s 40 seasons between 1977 and
2016 they have gone to the playoffs four times, making it to the ALCS three
times but they have never made it to the World Series.
The Seattle Supersonics
were an NBA expansion team in 1967 and in the 40 seasons between 1967 and 2007,
when the team was stolen, they went to the playoffs 22 times. The team made it
to the NBA Finals three times; 1978, 1979 and 1996, winning the NBA
Championship in 1979.
The Seattle Storm were a
WNBA expansion in team in 2000 and in the 17 seasons between 2000 through 2016
they went to the playoffs 12 times making it to the WNBA Finals twice, winning
both times in 2004 and 2010.
The Seattle Seahawks
were an NFL expansion team in 1976 and in the 40 seasons between 1976 and 2016
they have gone to the playoffs 15 times. They have gone to the Super Bowl three
times, 2005, 2013 and 2014, winning the NFL Championship in 2013.
The Seattle Sounders were
a MLS expansion team in 2007 and beginning their first season in 2009,
this is not counting the team’s origin in the NASL in 1974 and USL time since. In
the 8 seasons between 2009 and 2016 they went to the playoffs each season. They
have gone to the MLS Cup Finals once, winning this year. In addition to this
championship they have been US Open Cup Champions four times and they won the Supporters’
Shield once.
Now you are probably
thinking “But Corky, how can a team from Seattle win the Stanley Cup? There isn’t
even a professional hockey team there”
Well the answer is the
Seattle Metropolitans, the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup in
1917, twelve years before the Boston Bruins won the Cup in the NHL.
The Seattle
Metropolitans were an expansion team in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA)
in 1915 and in the team’s 9 seasons between 1915-16 through 1923-24 they went
to the playoffs 7 times. They made it to the Stanly Cup Final three times in
1916-17, 1918-19 and 1919-20, winning in 1916-17 and tying in 1918-19 with the
Montreal Canadians. The Stanley Cup in 1918-19 was suspended with Seattle and
Montreal tied 2-2-1 due to the Spanish Flu outbreak.
I can also include
MMA/UFC fighters
Randy Couture is from
Everett and went to school in Lynwood, both about 20 minutes north of Seattle. In
his 14 year MMA career he was the UFC Heavyweight Champion three times, UFC Light
Heavyweight Champion twice, the UFC Interim UFC Light Heavyweight once, the UFC
13 Heavyweight Tournament Champion and is in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Benson Henderson grew up
in Federal Way (Where I lived half my life), about 20 minutes south of Seattle.
In his 10-year MMA career he has been the WEC Lightweight Champion once, the
WEC Interim Lightweight Champion once, UFC Lightweight Champion once and he
fought for both the Bellator Welterweight Championship and Bellator Lightweight
Championship in the last 8 months, losing both times.
How about a couple of
wrestlers from the Evergreen state?
Greg “The Hammer” Valentine
was born in Seattle and in his 37-year career wrestling mostly in the National
Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF/WWE) and
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) he won over 20 Heavyweight Championships, 16
Tag-Team Championships and a dozen or so various championships. He is also in 4
different Hall of Fames.
Daniel Bryan is from
Aberdeen, about 2 hours west of Seattle and is also the birth place of Kurt
Cobain. Bryan wrestled professionally for 17 years, which includes 6 years in the WWE, and he
won a number of championships. In the WWE he won the World Heavyweight
Championship once, WWE Heavyweight Championship three times, Intercontinental
Championship once, US Championship once and Tag-Team Championship once.
Seattle may not compare
to New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago or LA when it comes to championships but when you
consider that when Seattle teams have made it to their respective Championship
game/series they have gone a decent .545% (6 out of 11 chances not counting the 1918-19
Stanley Cup that ended in a tie). Occasionally the Emerald City teams can put up the big win.
