What is the "coolest" franchise in sports?

Might have been a few years ago. You could look it up.
Texas Rangers Uniform and Team History | Heritage Uniforms and Jerseys

 

I'm basing this on one thing - what's the coolest mental image I can picture of a championship?

It's the Canadiens hoisting the Cup in Montreal.

 

Pittsburgh Pisces

 

What's cool about Green Bay is that the community owns the Packers. They will never ever up and go. Green Bay would never let that happen.

"The Frozen Tundra" is deeply embedded in American sports lingo and we'll forever have images of Lombardi on the sideline.

Even the name "Green Bay" has a charm about it when just about every other pro franchise lives in a big city: L.A., Chicago, Boston, Phila, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Miami, Denver, New York, San Fran, Nashville, Cleveland and so on and so on. I put Winnipeg in the same boat -- which has 40,000 fewer people than Green Bay (104K to about 664K). Love that the Winnipeg Jets came back.

Story on Green Bay ownership: L.A. should follow the cheeseheads - latimes

The crisp home whites of the Dodgers are cool -- and unrivaled -- and they have the coolest prettiest simplest stadium in baseball, with all due respect to Fenway's history.

And let's face it: there *is* a cool factor about the Lakers, or was when Buss cultivated it, and especially at home games.

Pound for pound, though, I'd go with the Green Bay Packers. They're the cool little American sports town. Title Town.

 

My preference for cool franchises are all the minor league baseball teams with unique names.

Albuquerque Isotopes come to mind first, but there are probably a dozen or two that I think are cool names.

And there is the charm of watching athletes, most of whom are not mega-rich yet. To me, I can identify with them more, like watching the common man try to strike it rich and hit the big time.

Plus, in game promotions like who has the dirtiest car in the lot winning a free car wash are cool too.

 

I was always disappointed my high school (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) didn't call itself the Isotopes or Protons or Atoms or some such. Instead, they went with the million-times-used "Wildcats."

 

And, really, those five letters pretty much trump everything else on the cool scale ...

 

I really figured you to be a big supporter of these guys:

 

I grew up a Celtics fan and hated the Lakers, still mostly do.

I went to a mid season game a few years ago for business. Guy I went with does quite a bit of work with pro teams so I got the insiders tour of all things Staples and all things Lakers.

From the low key but super cool cylinder projection screen for intros to the live band and lack of goofy timeout promos, just the Laker girls, it was definitely a cooler experience than any of the other handful of NBA games I have been to.

The camera was flashing different people wearing green because it was St Pats day. The camera lingered on Jack Nicholson who looked non plussed until he pulled his pant leg up to reveal green socks, huge pop from the crowd.

Growing up you always knew the Lakers were cool, Hollywood, Magic, the stars. I think one of the reasons I gravitated away from the Lakers is that as a kid I recognized they were everything I was not.

Even though I wish them no success and Kobe will always be a douche bag tree jumper, Lakers will always be a cool team.

 

I've loved the Blackhawks since the Bobby Hull/Stan Mikita era and consider their uniforms iconic. But if a truly glorious history is one of the criteria for coolness, I'm not sure I could vote for them -- although I agree that they are climbing in the coolness rankings. Based on recent success, yes. But even after winning three Cups in six seasons, they still rank behind the Canadiens, Maple Leafs and Red Wings in championships. And don't forget that before Kane and Toews came on the scene, you could walk up to the United Center 15 minutes before a game and have about 12,000 unsold seats to choose from. Bill Wirtz was most definitely uncool.

 

I'll nominate the Washington Nationals. They have two of the best young players in Harper and Strasberg and a cool logo. They also have the Expos connection.

The negative was shutting down Strasberg a couple years back during the pennant drive. I fear that will be their trading Babe Ruth or Billy Goat Jinx for decades.

 

I grew up a Mets fan and hated the Cardinals. Still mostly do. But I have a lot of respect for the franchise and its history. Was thinking of arguing on behalf of the Cardinals and their fans after catching parts of their home game last week. Really like the left-field wall with all the retired numbers and Stan the Man. But then the hacking thing hit, and I thought the timing was off.
When my sister, who is a Cards fan, lived in St. Louis we went to Busch a few times. I also have been to countless Cardinals spring training games. I know the BFIB thing is totally overplayed and annoying to non-Cardinals fans, but I hate to admit it's pretty much true. Fans flock to the games in all parts of Florida during the spring, and no matter where I have seen them play, most everyone around is talking baseball and prospects and really paying attention to the game. Fans do some of that everywhere, of course, but not to the degree of Cards fans. Baseball is more of a social event to a lot of fans, but I don't think to the same degree.

Packers, Celtics and Lakers are all pretty good choices, but Kobe also ruins it for me. And the Knicks were cool at one time, and I hope they one day will be again.