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Tampa Bay joins elite company with second pro title in a year

Only seven metro areas have won multiple major championships in the same year.
Tom Brady and the Bucs have been a key part of this special year in Tampa Bay sports.
Tom Brady and the Bucs have been a key part of this special year in Tampa Bay sports. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]
Published Feb. 8, 2021|Updated Feb. 8, 2021

TAMPA — The Bucs’ Super Bowl 55 triumph over the Chiefs has given the area a new nickname: Champa Bay.

Add the Bucs’ NFL championship with the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup, and Tampa Bay is one of only seven metropolitan areas to claim multiple professional championships during the same season (which may or may not be the same calendar year).

Related: How Todd Bowles and the Bucs’ defense shut down Patrick Mahomes

Los Angeles

The Dodgers kept Tampa Bay from celebrating yet another title this year.
The Dodgers kept Tampa Bay from celebrating yet another title this year. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

The other set of world champions this year. The Dodgers beat the Rays in six games to win the World Series, and LeBron James’ Lakers beat the Heat in six games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports to earn the NBA title.

Those same teams accomplished the same feat in 1988, when the “Showtime” Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar beat the Pistons to repeat as NBA champs and Kirk Gibson hit his legendary home run to help beat the A’s in five games.

The Lakers’ three-peat with Kobe Bryant/Shaquille O’Neal culminated with the 2001-02 NBA title a few months before the Angels beat the Giants in seven games to take the World Series.

Boston

Boston has had plenty of titles to celebrate over the years, including the Red Sox winning the 2018 World Series.
Boston has had plenty of titles to celebrate over the years, including the Red Sox winning the 2018 World Series. [ CHARLES KRUPA | AP ]

The Red Sox finally snapped their curse by winning the World Series in 2004. Sandwiched around that historic 86-yard drought: a pair of Tom Brady-led Super Bowl triumphs for the Patriots.

In 2018-19, New England celebrated one more Patriots-Red Sox double title. It ended up being Brady’s sixth and final ring with the Patriots.

Pittsburgh

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, right, and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw put their arms around each other as they leave the field after Super Bowl XIII, Jan. 21, 1979 in Miami. The Steelers defeated the Cowboys, 35-31.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, right, and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw put their arms around each other as they leave the field after Super Bowl XIII, Jan. 21, 1979 in Miami. The Steelers defeated the Cowboys, 35-31. [ SUZANNE VLAMIS | Associated Press (1979) ]

Terry Bradshaw’s Steelers won back-to-back Super Bowls (13-14) beating the Cowboys and Rams. In the middle, Willie Stargell’s Pirates knocked off Baltimore in seven games in the 1979 World Series.

Baltimore

Tight end John Mackey's score helped make for a special year in Maryland.
Tight end John Mackey's score helped make for a special year in Maryland. [ HAROLD VALENTINE | AP ]

The 1970 Orioles won 108 games during the regular season on their way to a World Series triumph over the Reds. Three months later, the Colts topped Dallas 16-13 in Miami to win the Super Bowl. One thing Baltimore didn’t win that year: the Super Bowl MVP. That honor instead went to Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley, despite his team’s loss.

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New York

The 1969 mets leave the field after a pre-game ceremony to honor them before a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Saturday, June 29, 2019, in New York.
The 1969 mets leave the field after a pre-game ceremony to honor them before a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Saturday, June 29, 2019, in New York. [ FRANK FRANKLIN II | AP ]

NYC has had plenty of chances to celebrate this accomplishment. In 1969, the Miracle Mets beat the Orioles in five games and Joe Namath made his famous (and successful) guaranteed win over the Colts in Super Bowl 3. There was also 1986 (the Mets winning thanks to Bill Buckner’s infamous error for the Red Sox and the Giants’ win over the Broncos in Super Bowl 21), 1956 (the football Giants and the Yankees), 1938 (the football Giants and Yankees, again), 1933 (the Rangers and baseball Giants), 1928 (the Rangers and Yankees) and 1927 (the football Giants and the Yankees, one of the best teams in baseball history).

Detroit

The Red Wings were part of a historic 1952 for Detroit.
The Red Wings were part of a historic 1952 for Detroit. [ ASSOCIATED PRESS ]

Tampa Bay couldn’t match Detroit’s 1935-36 run. Led by Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane, the Tigers beat the Cubs in the 1935 World Series. The Lions followed by knocking off the Giants to win the NFL championship (in the pre-Super Bowl era), and the Red Wings topped the Maple Leafs the next April for the Stanley Cup.

Detroit only celebrated two titles in 1952: the Lions’ NFL championship and the Red Wings sweeping Montreal for the Stanley Cup.

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Tampa Bay Times Super Bowl 55 coverage

SUPER BOWL CHAMPS: Bucs are world champs, and there may never be a better tale to tell

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