Position in the Spotlight: Detroit

If nothing else, we can certainly say that Detroit IS the PitS. It's a depressing city, from the faltering economy to some pretty atrocious teams, like the Lions of the early 2000s Tigers. Don't make any mistake about it, though, this isn't a depressing town like, say, Cleveland. Detroit has a history of success. A RECENT history of success by some standards. Sure the Lions are bad, but the Pistons were the dominant force between Bird's Celtics and Jordan's Bulls, and just won the title again in 2004. They have the Tigers who were in the World Series this decade and won a couple in the 80s. No team, however, has been as successful as the Detroit Red Wings.
The best part about the Red Wings is that they do things the way most fans want a team to do it: good coaching, and players that have come through Grand Rapids and stayed in the Red Wings system. If you think back to all the best players the Red Wings have had, it seems like they have all begun their career in Detroit. They aren't often of the same position, but they all came up with the team. And this is why the Detroit Position in the Spotlight is the Red Wings' Homegrown Talent.
It goes back as long 1946 when a young winger Gordie Howe took to the ice for the Red Wings. He was 19 years old at the time, and didn't leave the team until he was the leader in goals, points and assists, titles he still holds. It only took 25 years. He took a year off, and then went to play in the newly formed WHA, and ended up playing until he was 51. The Wings should have known he still had good years left in him. He scored 100 points at age 40. He played all but one of his years with the Wings. Definitely a quality home grown talent.
On his same line in 1968 when he was the 40 year old dynamo, he was often assisted by Alex Delvecchio. Delvecchio was 7 years younger than Howe and certainly took advantage of all the time that he played with him. He ended up with over 800 career assists, all with the Wings, and has his number in the rafters at Joe Louis arena.
One of the most beloved hockey players by a fan base in my lifetime is Steve Yzerman. Stevie Y joined the Wings in 1986 at age 21 and spent the entirety of his career in Detroit. Like Delvecchio and Howe, he had a long career with the Red Wings and is among the team's all time point leaders, coming in at #2 on the list (between Howe and Delvecchio). Not only that, he brought the team back to prominence, winning three Cups, the first in decades for Detroit.
Even today, the best players the Red Wings have have been their for their entire career. The triumvirate of the ageless defensive stalwart Niklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have all come up with the Wings and are already on the all time lists for scoring, be it points (Lidstrom and Datsyuk) or  goals (Zetterberg and Datsyuk). They make the Wings a threat to win the title every season.
Now if only they could get a permanent goalie.

Honorable mention
Tigers outfielders: The outfield has a long, long history of talent, from the turn of the century on. How does Ty Cobb sound? Or Sam Crawford, Harry Heilman, Al Kaline or Heinie Manush, all outfielders wearing Tigers caps in the Hall of Fame. Of course, they haven't had a truly transcendental outfielder since Kaline who retired in 74. Bobby Higginson doesn't count.
Pistons bad boy: For whatever reason, the Pistons best players always have to be surly and/or arrogant. Bill Laimbeer, Isaiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman jsut to name a few. Even in their renaissance in the 2000s, they couldn't have done it without the ever charming Rasheed Wallace

It should be noted that the University of Michigan is near to Detroit, but it's very difficult to pick just one position there that can be spotlit. It's a very prestigious university with a prolific history.

Position in the Spotlight: Phoenix

The Position in the Spotlight series is back, and this weekend we are going to cover Phoenix, Arizona. This one hits a little closer to home for me because I currently live in the greater Phoenix area, so I have had the past 2 years to get a feel for the sports climate here....

Phoenix is a 4-sport market but doesn't quite have the history that most of the other cities that we will be covering that have all 4 sports in town. It all started in 1968 when the Phoenix Suns were reluctantly added to the NBA. Little did the NBA execs know back then that the population of Phoenix would explode throughout the 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's. The Phoenix metro area is now almost 4.5 times larger than it was when the Suns began play. The other sports took notice of Phoenix's steady population rise, and by 1998, they had all 4 sports in town. The St. Louis Cardinals NFL team became the Phoenix (now Arizona) Cardinals in 1988. The Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, and the Arizona Diamondbacks started as an expansion team in 1998. Considering the short amount of time these teams have been in town (and for some, their awful pasts) there has been some success enjoyed in Phoenix, but not nearly to the degree of the other 4-sport towns. The lone championship was won by the Diamondbacks in 2001, when they stunned the Yankees in the World Series. The Cardinals made a surprise run to the 2008 Super Bowl but lost, and the Suns have always been above average but never great, making it the finals in 1976 and 1993 but never winning. The Coyotes have yet to win a playoff series since moving the Phoenix 14 years ago. Phoenix also has Arizona State in bordering Tempe, who have enjoyed some success in baseball and football, and if we include Tucson, Arizona has won a national title in basketball.

Now onto my pick. There is something interesting about living here that is different than almost anywhere else. It is almost impossible to find someone that was born and raised in Arizona. Almost everyone you meet was born and maybe even grew up somewhere else. It's a lot like going away to college, where you meet people from all across the country and world. This leads to some problems with the sports teams. I think they are almost here as a novelty, with the hopes of being a "2nd favorite" team. Sports fans from all across the country moved here with their allegiances to their home town teams, and enjoy the fact that Phoenix has all 4 sports so that they can watch their favorite teams play as visitors. Having half the MLB here for Spring Training every year doesn't help the local teams either. Because of this, my position in the spotlight pick for Phoenix is All of the Other Cities' Position in the Spotlight Picks.

Yes, it really is that strange. People that enjoy sports and aren't there to see the visitors because they grew up loving them tend to pull for the home town team (I do this too), but once their childhood favorite comes to town, they immediately turn into the obnoxious visiting fan. However, its really not that obnoxious, because at almost every game I've been to, probably at least 40-50% of the stadium is doing the same thing. I remember wearing 49ers stuff to a Bears game in Chicago in 2001. Big mistake. I was a little worried about my safety in all honesty. I tried it again this year at a 49ers-Cardinals game. No problems at all. In fact, I was only 6 rows from the field but somehow surrounded by Niners fans. But what about the actual Cardinals fans there? I received no crap or trash talking from them at all. I think they are just used to having their home stadium invaded by visiting fans. I've seen the same happen at D-Backs games and although I haven't been to a Coyotes game yet, I think its very safe to assume the same thing happens there.

One other fun example was on Week 17 of the NFL season last year, I went to a sports bar in my subdivision and so no less than half of the NFL represented there. Yes, 16 teams' clothing being worn in one little sports bar in suburban Phoenix. This would not be too odd of a sight in a college town, but these were adults in the bar, not college kids lost from Tempe. I wrote the teams on a napkin for the day I'd eventually write this post. Here is the list in no particular order:
1. Cardinals 2. Colts 3. Patriots 4. Steelers 5. Saints 6. Browns 7. Jets 8. Ravens 9. Bears 10. Eagles 11. Lions 12. Packers 13. 49ers 14. Broncos 15. Cowboys 16. Redskins

This is not intended to be a knock to Phoenix, its just a different kind of city that is growing rapidly and hasn't developed the kind sports followings that other older cities have. Unless parents and grandparents still hold a strong sports influence over their kids, I think over time the Phoenix teams will become the majority's favorite team.

Proof of this is that it seems like 1 of the 4 teams does stand out as having more followers than the others, and that is the original team in town, the Suns. The Suns have been around long enough and have been competitive enough with hated regional cities like LA that they have a much more loyal following than the other teams in town. So to throw Phoenix a bone, my pick for native Phoenicians is Phoenix Suns (Point) Guard.

The Suns have always based their play around a strong point guard, even in the days before there truly was a position called point guard. Let's start back in 1975 with Paul Westphal. After some success with Boston in the early 70s, Westphal came to Phoenix and helped lead the Suns to the 1976 NBA Finals against his former team. Westphal stayed with the team until 1980, when he was replaced by, this time, a future Boston Celtics star, Dennis Johnson. Johnson led the Phoenix offense until 1983 when he went on to greener pastures in Boston.

Following a return of Paul Westphal and a few years of Jay Humphries (who got indicted in a cocaine trafficking ring...oops....well it was the 80s.) The Suns traded for a rookie that became a franchise player (and the mayor of Sacramento), Kevin Johnson. Johnson was the Suns point guard from 1988-1998, leading the Suns to the playoffs every year but his first, the conference finals 3 times, and the 1993 NBA finals, where they ran into the Michael Jordan buzzsaw.

In 1997, the Suns replaced an aging Johnson with likely future hall of famer Jason Kidd, who led the Suns dynamic offense until 2001, leading the NBA in assists twice during that span.

Kidd was traded to New Jersey in 2001 for another star point guard, Stephan Marbury. Marbury was eventually traded to the Knicks in 2004, and led the NBA in assists that year.

It seems like it might be hard to top 3 great point guards in a row. The Suns outdid themselves again by signing their current face of the franchise, Steve Nash, as a free agent in 2004. Nash came in and electrified a Suns team that just came off an awful season, leading the Suns all the way to the 2005 Western Conference finals and winning the league MVP award in the process. In 2005-06, Nash repeated this act, again leading the Suns to the conference finals and again winning the MVP award. Nash has lead the NBA in assists 4 times since joining the Suns, including this past season, where he led the Suns to yet another Western Conference Finals appearance.

Nash is starting to get a little long in the tooth, but this season proved he still has something left in the tank. Based on an impressive 22 consecutive year run of point guards in Phoenix, Suns fans won't expect anything less than a great player to replace Nash when he eventually retires.

Honorable Mention
Arizona Diamondbacks Ace - The D-Backs have always had strong starting pitching in the front of their rotation. They acquired Randy Johnson in their 2nd year in the league and eventually added Curt Schilling to lead them to their first World Series title in 2001. After Johnson and Schilling left, Brandon Webb stepped up as the team's dominant ace until he was hobbled by injuries. Dan Haren seemed poised to pick up where Webb left off, but he was just traded last week. We'll see if Webb can pick up where he left off when he eventually returns or if the D-Backs can find someone else to lead their staff.

Arizona State Baseball Some Position - This is one of the few places where some people actually care about college baseball. I, however do not, so I don't feel like researching it.

Position in the Spotlight: Toronto

With the baseball playoffs, NFL season, NCAA tournament, and early baseball season predictions out of the way, it might finally be time to bring Position in the Spotlight back after a 7 month hiatus. In case you are a newer reader to the site, Ryan and I started writing alternating posts last summer about which position is the most meaningful to a city, and in-turn has the most pressure for someone assuming that role to succeed at. Some examples in the past include Baltimore Orioles shortstop, Oakland Raiders head coach, and Pittsburgh Steelers Linebacker. Click on the Position in the Spotlight link on the bottom of this post to see them all in their entirety (It only shows the last 20 out of 24 posts so far, so it begins in the April 2009 archives). I'm the one to blame for this long delay between posts for 3 reasons: 1. I got tied up doing NFL power ranks and NFL related posts for a long time. 2. I had to do Toronto next, which means I need to write about hockey. 3. I was disgusted by Ryan's dead-wrong pick for San Francisco.

So let's get into talking about Toronto. Toronto is the only Canadian city which we chose to cover for this series, because they have a team in 3 of the 4 major American sports leagues, including Canada's only baseball and basketball teams thanks to recent moves by the Grizzlies and Expos. The Toronto franchises, especially the most important one to any red-blooded Canadian, the Maple Leafs, have enjoyed a lot of success over the years, but the past 15 years or so have been rough. This 15 year span encompasses the entire history of the Raptors, but hey, Vince Carter made some nice dunks for a while. The Blue Jays started playing in 1977 and within 10 years had become a competitive team in the American League, ultimately leading to a few division titles and capping off their run of successful teams with back to back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993. The Maple Leafs are one of the original 6 NHL teams, and have won the Stanley Cup 11 times, but are currently suffering through a 43-year drought of winning the championship with no end to it in sight any time soon. However, Toronto citizens sure love hockey, and the obvious pick for Position in the Spotlight is Toronto Maple Leafs Center.

The Maple Leafs have a long and storied history that is almost a century old, so I'm going to limit my discussion to centers on their Stanley Cup Championship teams and since 1967 to keep this shorter. The Leafs won their first Stanley Cup in 1932, and their star center was Hall of Famer Joe Primeau, who led the NHL in assists 3 times and later coached the Leafs to a Stanley Cup. Primeau was replaced by the legendary Hall of Famer Syl Apps, who played for the Leafs from 1936-1948 and led the Leafs to 3 more Stanley Cups (he was off fighting in WWII during the 1944-45 cup winning season).

While Apps was away at war, another great center rose to the occasion by the name of Ted Kennedy. No, not the enormous-headed Senator (the Leafs hate the Senators!) but the NHL Hall of Famer. Ironically, the hockey player passed away last year, 11 days before the Senator with the same name. Kennedy was part of 5 of the Maple Leafs "dynasty" championships between 1945 and 1951. Max Bentley (yet another hall of famer), who was acquired from the Blackhawks to replace the retiring Syl Apps, was another center that contributed a lot to the final 2 cups in that run.

Those players eventually aged and the Leafs spent most of the 50s rebuilding. They developed Frank Mahovlich and Bob Pulford during this time, but were missing a center to round out their offense. They got their center in Hall of Famer (notice a trend?) Dave Keon. Keon spent 16 years with the Leafs, winning 4 more Stanley Cups from 1962-1967.

Then, the Maple Leafs sunk into their drought, but they had no shortage of great centers. Darryl Sittler is another Hall of Famer that was a top scorer for the Leafs in the 70s. In a changing league where no one stays on one team forever, the Leafs found centers in the form of Ed Olczyk, Vincent Damphousse, and Doug Gilmour in the 80's and early 90's, who were just passing through town.

The Leafs acquired Mats Sundin from the Nordiques in 1994 and he starred as the center on their team all the way until 2008. With 564 career goals, he is almost surely a hall of famer as well, continuing that Maple Leaf tradition. Sundin is now retired, and the Leafs are rebuilding once again. Can center and '09-'10 leading scorer Phil Kessel be the first piece of the puzzle that leads the Maple Leafs back to the Stanley Cup? In hockey-crazy Toronto, and with all of those hall of famers, those are some big shoes to fill...

Honorable Mention
Toronto Maple Leafs Goalie - Turk Broda was the goalie for 5 Stanley Cups, and then Johnny Bower won 4 more. Combined, they pretty much dominated the goalie position for about 35 years. More recently, they had a nice few years with Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph.
Toronto Blue Jays 1st Base or Right Field - At 1st, they had John Olerud and then Carlos Delgado. Current 1B Lyle Overbay is nothing to write home about. In RF, they had the legendary Joe Carter and a few good years from Alex Rios. In reality, the Blue Jays need to find a way to get out of the AL East so that they can be competitive again.

Position in the Sporlight: San Francisco

I haven't taken on a PITS in some time, and it's time for me to get back in the game, taking a look at San Francisco. It may be easy to pick a role, depending on your favorite sport. If you are a football fan, than this is a slam dunk: 49ers quarterback. You could even make a case, perhaps for their wide receivers. If you are a baseball fan, however, the position is clearly that of the Giants and their all-star sluggers. How could someone turn their back on the likes of Joe Montana and Steve Young? Consider it the siren song on Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Barry Bonds. The Position in the Spotlight for San Francisco is the Giants Outfield.
When the Giants moved to San Francisco, they brought with them someone who would eventually become one of, if not the best, player in the history of the league, Willie Mays. Mays was the original 5 tool player, amassing a batting average of .302, 660 home runs, 338 stolen bases and 11 Gold gloves in his career, with most of those stats earned between 1958, when the team moved to the Bay, to 1972, when he was traded to the Mets.
The Giants of the early 60s were a promising team fraught with future Hall of Famers. Orlando Cepeda, a rookie of the year and eventual first baseman was labeled as a "Utility Player" on the 1961 version of the Giants, according to their Baseball-Reference page. Why? They have Mays in the outfield, Felipe Alou, a stud in his own right, mostly for his lead-off hitting, playing in right, and Willie McCovey, another 23 year old playing first. Cepeda would go on to have a HOF career, eventually transitioning from the outfield to first, taking over for McCovey. Cepeda hit almost 400 homers in his career, with a .297 average.
McCovey, too, would spend most of his career at first, but for a few glorious seasons in the Giants outfield. McCovey's lefthanded power stroke was so much that they named the body of water behind the right field fence at the Giants new AT&T Park "McCovey Cove". The other Willie in San Francisco spent almost the entirety of his career by the Bay, save for a couple seasons in San Diego and part of a year in Oakland. McCovey had 521 homers in his career despite only managing a .270 average for his career.
The Giants' outfield has always been a family affair. There have been multiple generations of Alous on the team, for example. The same was no different in the 90s, when Barry Bonds came to join the team that his father, Bobby Bonds, played for. In a Giants uniform, he broke the single season home run record, the career home run record and the hearts of a nation when he was implicated in baseball's ongoing steroid investigation. Despite the obvious blight on his record, there is no doubt that Bonds was one of the greatest hitters in the history of the league.
The Giants after Bonds hope there isn't a lengthy gap between future Hall of Famers in the outfield, though at this time, it doesn't appear they have that type of guy, which is too bad.
Something that should be noted is that all of the players I mentioned were either African American or dark-skinned Hispanics. Given the era in which many played, the Giants did an exemplary job employing minorities and bucking what, in the 60s, was still a trend of latent racism. Even today, Randy Winn and Fred Lewis continue the trend of African Americans in the Giants outfield in a period when baseball's popularity is waning among their race. Not only has the Giants outfield been breathtakingly skilled, but they have been progressive and culturally significant as well.

Honorable Mention:
49ers QB: Joe Montana and Steve Young are two of the best QBs in the history of the game. That said, the 49ers haven't really excelled at the position outside of those two. IT's hard to justify Jeff Garcia as the third best player at the position being spotlit given the alternative. Still, 5 rings between the two can't be ignored.
49ers WR: Jerry Rice and John Taylor helped Joe Montana immeasurably, while Terrell Owens made Garcia look better than he was. the team hopes to get the same production from Michael Crabtree in the near future.
Giants SP: How about Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Jason Schmidt, among the teams top strikeout leaders of all time, and they have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum to look forward to in the immediate future.

Position in the Spotlight: Pittsburgh

Steve and my friend AJ grew up in Detroit and now lives in Pittsburgh. A couple of months ago, he said he would enjoy writing a P.I.T.S. for those two cities. We said yes, because it's means an easy day for us. Today is Pittsburgh's turn. AJ's words are below and not in italics.

Picking the signature position for Pittsburgh is not as easy as you think. At first thought you would say it is simple, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker. But once you give it a little thought you realize that the city has a lot of really strong positions. Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson and Jeff Hartings are three of the best centers of all time. They are three consecutive generations of NFL Hall of Famers. For a team that is thought of as a smash mouth football, they have had three Wide Receivers named as super bowl MVPs, Lynn Swann, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. Half of all the Super Bowl MVPs who have been wide receivers were Steelers. Since this blog has a slight Purdue slant I would be remiss not to mention the defensive backs lead by Purdue’s own Rod Woodson, with guys like Mel Blount, Carnell Lake and Troy supporting him. Oh, and they have had three really good coaches, Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin who have all won coach of the year awards and at least one Super Bowl. I would list more, but my parents were wearing diapers last time one of those guys wasn’t coaching the franchise.

While the western Pennsylvanian world revolves around football, the city of Pittsburgh will quickly rally around any team that wins. Starting Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis in the late 80’s/ early 90’s and now with Sid the Kid, Geno Malkin, and Jordan Staal you could argue that no hockey team in the last 20 years has had more talent at the center position then the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For any other city any of these positions would be the signature position. For example the Steelers have had much better coaches than Oakland, or Nashville and as good as Green Bay. And while the Browns may have had strong quarterbacks, no area in the world can compare to the quarter backs that have played high school in the Pittsburgh area, Johnny Lujack, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Joe Montana are a who’s who list of great quarterbacks. While more recent stars like Gus Frerotte, Charlie Batch and Marc Bulger would make any city proud.

You could argue that the Pittsburgh area high school quarterbacks make the most impressive list, but most of them made their mark on the national sports stage after they left Pittsburgh. The Spotlight Position for Pittsburgh is still the Steelers Linebackers. Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Levon Kirkland, Joey Porter, Andy Russell, James Harrison, Larry Foote, LarMarr Woodley and James Farrior are the reason for the Steelers success. Most of these guys were not huge stars when they arrived in Pittsburgh, but they were when they left. James Harrison was an undrafted player from Akron who was cut from several teams, LarMarr Woodley fell to the second round of the draft because of his bad attitude and work ethic. Unlike most cities where the spotlight position is the spotlight position because of luck or chance, linebackers are the spot light position in Pittsburgh because that is what Pittsburgh wants its’ spotlight position to be. Pittsburgh sees it self as a city that needed hard work and grit to get everything that it has. These are the characteristics of a storybook linebacker. And that is why Pittsburgh embraces their linebackers, like not other city does to a single position.

Position in the Spotlight: San Diego

It's been a while since we've done a position in the spotlight, and it's my fault. Ryan got a little ahead of me in posting these, and he was waiting for me to catch up. Today's position in the spotlight city is San Diego, a city I went on a little vacation to about a month ago (which is when I planned to write this). San Diego might possibly be the most beautiful city in America, and is an awesome place to go for a vacation. It has mountains, beaches, and a perfect climate, so leave it to the sports gods to punish them somewhere. San Diego, despite being such a large city, does not exactly have a rich sports history. They have had the Padres since 1969, who have played in the World Series twice, but have more losing seasons than winning. The Chargers have been in San Diego since 1961. They won the AFL title in 1963 and went to the Super Bowl in 1994, but they too have had their share of disappointing seasons. San Diego actually had the NBA for a little while too when the Buffalo Braves moved to town and became the infamous Clippers. They stayed in San Diego from 1978-1984 before bolting to Los Angeles for a reason that I don't really understand (do they actually have fans, or are they just Lakers fans that can't get tickets?).

So where do we go with our position in the spotlight pick. After walking past Petco Park during a game on a beautiful night in the Gaslamp Quarter and seeing nothing but empty seats, and vaguely remembering the Padres game I went to in 1993 where Benito Santiago got a standing O (from a tiny crowd) after he was picked in the expansion draft by the Marlins, I'm going to rule out baseball. The Chargers have a lot of positions that can be chosen in my mind. They have had their share of great quarterbacks, running backs, linebackers, and coaches over the years. Even though the current Chargers offense revolves around a future hall of fame running back, I'm picking San Diego Chargers Quarterback.

The Chargers have more or less had one thing over their 50 year existence that most teams don't, consistency at quarterback. Except for some rough patches in the late 80s and late 90s, the Chargers have pretty much always known that their starter would produce. It all started with their first quarterback, recently deceased and former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. Picked up from the NFL scrap heap as the AFL was just getting started, Kemp was perfect for the new league full of high scoring offenses and tons of passing, leading the Chargers to losses in the AFL Championship game in each of their first 2 seasons in existence, 1960 (in Los Angeles) and 1961. After breaking his middle finger in 1962 he was waived by Sid Gillman to free up a roster spot, and he was claimed by the Bills. This left the team to rookie John Hadl, which had disastrous results.

Seeing that Hadl was not yet ready to lead the team, heading into 1963 the Chargers signed veteran Tobin Rote, who had led the Lions to the 1957 NFL title, but had been out of the NFL for a few years, to lead the team. Rote delivered, leading the team to a 11-3 record and their first and only AFL Championship. The championship made Rote the only QB to ever lead a team to both an AFL and NFL title. Rote won the AFL MVP that year as well.

In 1964, Hadl and Rote platooned at QB and led the Chargers to another AFL title game loss. This loss was especially painful because it was to former QB Jack Kemp's Buffalo Bills. In 1965, Hadl took over the starting job full time and lost once again in the AFL title game to Kemp's Bills. Hadl continued to put up huge numbers in the AFL, leading the league in yardage 3 times, touchdowns twice, and unfortunately, interceptions twice during his career with the Chargers. He also made the "pro-bowl" (AFL all-star game in the AFL) 6 times. He was traded to the Rams before the start of the 1973 season to make room for a youngster and a very old man...

The Chargers turned to rookie 3rd round draft pick Dan Fouts in 1973, but also traded for decrepit legend Johnny Unitas to split time with him. The combination of Unitas being completely washed up and Fouts being a youngster was a disaster, leading to a 2-11-1 season. The Chargers entered 1974 with Fouts still splitting time with another rookie and a new head coach. The pair put up pedestrian numbers for some below average teams over the next few seasons, but that was all about to change.

The Chargers brought in "Air" Coryell and his crazy pass-happy offense in 1978 and Fouts flourished, passing just 1 yard short of 3000 yards. The Chargers offense exploded in 1979, with Fouts throwing for over 4000 yards, breaking the single season yardage record, leading the team to a 12-4 record, and making his first pro bowl. In 1980 Fouts shattered his own record, throwing for over 4700 yards and leading the Chargers to an AFC title game loss. In 1981, Fouts did it again, breaking the yardage record for the 3rd year in a row, and losing the AFC title game to the Bengals in the Freezer Bowl. Fouts led the league in passing for a 4th time in strike-shortened 1982, but the Chargers lost once again in the playoffs. Fouts continued to put up big numbers over the next few years, despite some pretty bad seasons by the Chargers. He eventually retired after the 1987 season and was elected to the hall of fame.

After Fouts, the Chargers used a bunch of QBs under head coach Dan Henning from 1988-1991 like Mark Malone, Jim McMahon, Billy Joe Tolliver, and John Friesz. When Friesz got injured before the 1992 season, the Chargers traded for Redskins backup, Stan Humphries. Humphries made an immediate impact, leading the team to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Humphries' success continued in 1994 when he led the Chargers to their first and only Super Bowl appearance, which they lost to the 49ers. Humphries was forced to retire after the 1997 season after multiple concussions.

The Chargers horrible 1997 season set them up perfectly to get one of the top QBs in the 1998 draft. Either Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. The Colts had the first pick, so the Chargers were getting whoever the Colts didn't take. Unfortunately for them, the Colts took future hall of famer/super bowl champion/multiple time MVP/record breaker Manning, and the Chargers got interception machine/childish/failure/retired Ryan Leaf. The team struggled mightily without a solid starting QB, resorting to guys like a washed up Jim Harbaugh, future XFLer Craig Whelihan, and an ancient Doug Flutie, but things started to turn around for them after a 1-15 season in 2000.

In the 2001 draft, the Chargers had the #1 pick and seemed to be a lock to draft Michael Vick with that pick. Instead, they traded down and picked LaDainian Tomlinson in the first round and record breaker from Purdue Drew Brees in the 2nd. Brees struggled adjusting to the NFL in his first 3 seasons at QB, and the Chargers were just a bad team with a good RB. The Chargers earned the #1 pick in the draft yet again in 2004 and drafted Eli Manning. When Manning (and his dad) refused to sign with the team, claiming that the franchise had no future, they traded him to the Giants for their first round QB pick, Phillip Rivers. The plan was to have Rivers sit for a while and learn under Brees in 2004, and eventually took over the team. Brees felt the heat of having a young prospect under him and exploded in 2004, throwing for over 3000 yards, 27 TDs and only 7 Ints and leading the Chargers to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Brees had another solid season in 2005, but was allowed to leave for New Orleans (where he has now become arguably the best QB in the NFL) to make room for Rivers.

Phillip Rivers took the reigns of a talent loaded Chargers team to start the 2006 season and didn't disappoint, throwing for over 3000 yards and leading the Chargers to their best regular season record ever, 14-2. However, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Rivers bounced back in 2007, leading the Chargers to the AFC title game before losing to the 16-0 Patriots. In 2008, he had his finest individual season yet, cracking 4000 yards and tying for the lead league in TD passes with the man he used to back up, Drew Brees, but the season ended in another playoff loss. Rivers has proven he can lead the Chargers and put up huge numbers, but can he be the first QB to lead the Chargers to a Super Bowl title?

Honorable Mention
Chargers linebacker - The Chargers had Junior Seau as their defensive leader for many, many years, and he has been succeeded by another great player, Shawne Merriman. I could have picked this, but I didn't feel like writing about Tila Tequila.
The Gwynn Family - Tony Gwynn pretty much IS the Padres history, and now his son plays for the team with some big shoes to fill
The UFC - When I was in San Diego, it was incredibly quiet around Petco Park, but the bars in the Gaslamp Quarter erupted when Anderson Silva knocked out Forrest Griffin. Cage fighting is extremely popular out west, to the point where it is almost as popular as the local teams in not-so-great sports towns.

Position in the Spotlight: Seattle

Seattle's sports reputation is similar to the reputation of the city on the whole. From grunge music to coffee shops, Seattle gives the impression of being trendy and almost European. In their sports, this is reflected easily from the Seahawks' metallic green uniforms to the popularity of the new soccer franchise, the Sounders, to retiring the number 12 in honor of Seahawk fans, a trend now seen across the league in many sports.
Seattle sports are fan friendly endeavors. Only the Mariners of late have seemed to feel the pressure to win more than to show Seattlites a good time or to constantly assert that every fan is a valued member of the team. Certainly, Safeco Field is an enjoyable place to watch a game, a fact appreciated by residents of Puget Sound, I'm sure.
Seattle's secluded corner of the country means only so many names get to the mainstream for coverage, and Seattle has certainly introduced the world to some great characters and athletes, particularly from the Mariners' outfield. Mariners' centerfielder is the Position in our Spotlight.
The Mariners were a terrible team for many years. Things started looking up in the late '80s when a young son of another Major Leaguer broke into the league. Ken Griffey Junior was an absolute magician early in his career. He started winning Gold Gloves in his second season in the league, and won it every season until he left for Cincinnati in 2000. If it wasn't for his explosive bat, this fielding might have made more headlines. He lead the league in homers 4 times, including consecutive seasons of 56 and won the MVP in 1997. For much of the 90s, Griffey was the American League's best player.
Griffey was eventually replaced by another Gold Glover, Mike Cameron. Cameron came over as part of the trade that sent Griffey to the Reds. He was never the hitter Griffey was, but he did carry on the torch of elite fielders in center. Cameron picked up two more gold gloves for the M's.
The period followng the Cameron era in Seattle has been rather fluid. For one glorious year, however, Ichiro, the Japanese sensation, played 155 games in center in 2007. It was his second best season in terms of batting average, hitting .351 for the year. Believe it or not, he won the gold glove there too. And this is just the one season that he played at center field.
The centerfield position may be reaching it's end as a position of great importance, or at least, the Mariners are getting less lucky with their centerfielders. All you need to do is look at the Orioles and see the all-star centerfielder they traded to Baltimore for Eric Bedard. Adam Jones would have fit in perfectly with the history of Seattle

Honorable Mention: Mariners' Corner Outfielders - The Mariners defintiely had a few notable guys playing the corners, including Ichiro, Mariners legend Jay Buhner and more recently Raul Ibanez and Randy Winn. No other shoe-in hall of famers, however.

Seahawks' Quarterback - There is a well known name in there, Jim Zorn who coaches the Redskins now, the long time, hall of fame QB in Dave Krieg, and the NFC Champion Matt Hasselbeck. Of course, there is also Rick Mirer.

Position in the Spotlight: Twin Cities

In 1960, the Lakers left Minneapolis for Los Angeles. The cities only professional sports franchise was gone. Minnesota was left with no professional teams to follow. Fortunately, the the vacancy would be filled in 1961, as the NFL's Vikings were founded, and MLB's Washington Senators were moving to Bloomington to become the Twins. 6 years after that, the NHL expanded, placing the North Stars in Blooomington. The NBA would arrive again in 1989 when the expansion Timberwolves came to town. The cities that were sportsless in 1960 now had all four major franchises. Except for the gap between the North Stars departure in 1993 and the arrival of the Wild in 2000, the Twin Cities have been a 4 sport community ever since.
Minnesota, perhaps more than any other state in the union, is dedicated to hockey. Of course, the NFL is the most popular sport in the country, and things aren't that different in the Twin Cities, where folks are obsessed with the Vikings. In Minneapolis especially, the Timberwolves are regaining popularity. The popularity of the state's only Division 1 school, the University of Minnesota, can't be understated either.
The hearts of Minnesota are drawn to many players. Fran Tarkenton, Kirby Puckett, Lou Nanne and on and on. The quirky thing about the Twin Cities, and perhaps I just notice because I live here, is that we Minnesotans like to attach our stars to rather mediocre players. Lew Ford, Mark Madsen, Derek Boogaard, Bob Lurtsema. If there is one position that has featured guys that endeared themselves to Minnesotans and has featured incredibly talented players. That position is the Twins First Baseman.
When the Twins first came into being, they came with a hall of famer manning first base. Harmon Killebrew was 25 and in his 7th season, his third full year. He would spend 13 more seasons in Minnesota before ending his career in Kansas City. He was the first Hall of Famer the Twins had, thanks to his 573 career home runs and his outgoing, fan friendly attitude. Interestingly, it took until April 30th before Killebrew played his first game in Minnesota. Don Mincher was the regular first baseman through May before he was injured and Killebrew took over.
In the late 1976, pure hitting Rod Carew moved from 2nd base to 1st. His 2nd year there, he hit .388 and won the MVP. He was always a .300 hitter, but the 1977 was his best. After this, he would always be a first baseman, even after he left for California.
In the early 80s, the Twins were really bad. They had a young core, however, featuring third baseman Gary Gaetti, a center fielder in Kirby Puckett, a right fielder named Tom Brunansky and a home town kid at first base named Kent Hrbek. Hrbek was only an all-star in his rookie season, but was what many Minnesotans came to believe a clean up hitter should be. Upright at the plate with a strong swing. He was part of two world series wins and provided the most memorable plays in each, from his grand slam in 87 to the Ron Gant play in 91. He still remains a figure in the Twin Cities, with his own weekly outdoors show. A Minnesotan through and through indeed.
After Hrbek retired, the Twins slumped in the standings and at first base (Scott Stahoviak?). Things started to come around in the early 2000s thanks to a new crop of Twins, like slick fielding but light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz. He provided just the personality the team needed to go along with the new found success. The upstart team quickly outgrew the need for a solely defensive 1b, but his huge year in 2001 was one of the impetuses for the Twins turning it around.
He was replaced by the Canadian Crusher, Justin Morneau. Morneau has already become a prennial all-star, winning the 2008 Home Run Derby and most notably the MVP in 2006. Though Joe Mauer might be the star on the team, Morneau is continuing to carry the mantle of the Twins Position in the Spotlight. In a way, Mauer is the Kirby Puckett to Morneau's Hrbek in that regard.
There have been, in the return history of Minnesota sports, many larger than life characters. Only one position has a history of those characters. The measure of the Minnesota Twins can be seen at first base.

Honorable mention
Twins hometown hero - Since the 80s, the Twins have done an excellent job luring baseball luminaries to the hometown team. Hrbek spent his career with the Twins, then future hall of famers Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield spent there twilight years back in Minnesota. Even Terry Steinbach came home to be the first home town catcher. It's safe to say that Joe Mauer definitely fits with this category as well.
Gophers big man -The Gophers basketball team has generally done a good job finding it's share of cord fed burly centers and power forwards from outstate Minnesota. and beyond Joel Pryzbilla, Rick Rickert, Kris Humphries and John Thomas were all of Minnesota stock. Mychal Thompson, perhaps the most famous was from Miami.
Vikings wide receiver -I would be remiss if I didn't include something from the Vikings here. It's tough to decide though. Quarterback? Tarkenton yes, Wilson and Kramer no. Running back? Peterson and Foreman yes, Nelson no. So I will go with wide receiver for the boon in the 1990s, from Anthony and Cris Carter to Jake Reed and Randy Moss.

Position in the Spotlight: St. Louis

Let me start this off with a huge disclaimer, this position in the spotlight stop is by far the hardest one I have attempted so far. We struggled a little with some of our past cities due to a lack of history, but trying to find a position for St. Louis is pretty much the exact opposite situation. It's easy to narrow things down. St. Louis is a baseball town, quite possibly the most dedicated baseball town in the country, so sorry, Rams and Blues, you aren't getting talked about here. Since they first became a serious contender back in 1926, the Cards have won 17 NL Pennants and 10 World Series titles, beating the mighty Yankees in 1926, winning 2 more in the 1930's, being the team of the 40's (or at least the team of World War II), winning 3 more, 2 more in 60's, 1982, and most recently, their improbable 2006 world title after playing so poorly in the regular season compared to their 2004 and 2005 teams.

So the problem I have with picking a position for St. Louis is that they have had too many good players at too many positions. In the Cardinals organization, you can make a strong case for 1B, 2B, SS, LF, SP and manager as the most important position in franchise history. So, I'm going to go with a bit of a cop-out, instead of picking the usual defensive position for the position in the spotlight, I'm going with an offensive position, St. Louis Cardinals #3 Hitter.

Let's head way back in time to 1920's to get this started. The Cardinals #3 hitter from 1916 to 1926 was the legendary hall of famer, Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby was an absolute offensive beast, hitting over .400 3 times (.424 in 1924!) in career, winning 2 MVPs (1 with the Cubs, and probably would have had more if the award existed early in his career), and leading the league in HR twice and RBI 4 times. Hornsby won the triple crown 2 times, hitting .401 with 42 HR and 152 RBI in 1922 and .403 with 39 HR and 143 RBI in 1925. Babe who? Hornsby helped lead the Cardinals to their first world title in 1926. Hornsby was traded to the New York Giants after 1926 after he demanded and was denied a 5-year $50,000 contract. Just think about that....how much would a 2 time triple crown winner that hits over .400 for a world champion team make today?

Hornsby wasn't traded for nothing, as the Cardinals acquired hall of famer Frankie Frisch and immediately inserted him in the #3 spot in the batting order. Frisch brought the Cardinals speed and a high batting average, but not the power numbers that Hornsby had. Frisch helped lead the Cardinals back to the World Series 4 times, winning in 1931 and 1934. He also won the MVP in 1931.

After Frisch retired, the 3rd spot in the lineup was taken over by yet another hall of famer, Enos Slaughter. Slaughter was a 10-time all-star and helped lead the Cardinals to their 4th World Series title in 1942 before leaving for 3 years to go fight in World War II. He returned in 1946 just in time to grab another World Series ring with the Cards.

The man that replaced Slaughter in the 3rd spot in the lineup is quite possibly the most famous Cardinal of all-time, hall of famer Stan Musial. Musial was a 3-time MVP, a 20-time all-star, and led the league in countless statistical categories over his career. He helped lead the Cardinals to 4 World Series, winning 3 of them in 1942, 1944, and 1946.

The 3rd spot in the lineup was a moving position throughout most of the 50's and early 60's, but it was traded off between a bunch of great players. First you had Musial, who was discussed above, and then you had Red Schoendienst, yet another hall of famer who played 2B for the Cards from 1945-1956, and again from 1961-1963, and also Bill White, who played for the Cards from 1959-1965, who was a 5-time all-star and 6-time gold glove winner. Surrounded by other youngsters at the time Lou Brock and Curt Flood, along with recent acquisition Dick Groat, the Cardinals won another world series in 1964, the year after both Musial and Schoendienst retired.

Before the 1967 season, the Cardinals acquired Mr. 61 himself, Roger Maris, who was on his last legs, and inserted him 3rd in the lineup. The solid Cardinals won yet another World Series title in 1967, and went back to the World Series and lost to Detroit in 1968.

Throughout the 70's and early 80's, the #3 spot in the order was tossed around between a few different people, including 1971 MVP Joe Torre, Tim McCarver, and Keith Hernandez. Hernandez was the #3 hitter in 1982, when the Cardinals won another World Series. In the modern dead ball era known as the mid-80s, Tom Herr batted 3rd in the lineup, and the Cardinals went back to the World Series in 1985 and 1987. The Cardinals, who were already experiencing a large power vacuum during this time, resorted to having great players, but not neccesarily the kind of skills you look for in a #3 hitter, hitting 3rd, such as Willie McGee, hall of famer Ozzie Smith, and Terry Pendleton. That all changed half way through 1997.

In the late 90's, the #3 hitter on the Cardinals was America's position in the spotlight, as Mark McGwire blasted a ton of home runs, breaking Roger Maris's record by hitting 70 in 1998, and then again hitting 65 in 1999. McGwire finished his career with 583 HR, and was a 12-time all-star. His numbers today though are seen as tainted by the steroid era.

After McGwire retired, the #3 spot was filled in by J.D. Drew and borderline hall of famer Jim Edmonds, who was another great 5-tool player. The cleanup hitter during those years would eventually ascend to the #3 spot in the order, and become St. Louis's new object of affection, Albert Pujols. So far, at only age 29, Albert Pujols has put up some impressive numbers. He is a 2 time MVP, 8 time all-star, has a career .334 batting average, and 353 HR. He also has a great shot at winning the triple crown this season. Pujols has also led the Cardinals to 2 World Series, winning in 2006.

Pujols looks to be the #3 hitter in St. Louis for quite some time, and it looks like the prestige of this position is now back after some down years in the 70's and 80's.

Honorable Mention: St. Louis Cardinals Manager - The Cards have had some great managers over the years too: player managers Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch, Billy Southworth, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre, and Tony LaRussa

St. Lous Rams Running Back - The Rams offense has revolved around its running back since moving to St. Louis, from Jerome Bettis to Lawrence Phillips (before he went crazy) to Marshall Faulk and now to Stephen Jackson.

Position in the Spotlight: Tampa

If Tampa of the 80s amd most of the 90s was known for anything, it was as an area for good sports to go to die. The Buccaneers never won and wore Creamsicle Orange. The Devil Rays wore teal and and were awful. The Lightning were a laughing stock as well, and in many ways, they weren't even the best hockey team in Florida. Up until about 10 years ago, Tampa sports were awful.
The last city that had such a brief history of success was Nashville. Even so, there's was a problem with brevity. They didn't have enough historical context. It's very clear that their glory position was going to be more apparent in the next 10 years or so. In Tampa, however, pro sports have been around long enough that you have to think a position would have emerged by now.
The franchises, however, even after they came into their own on the field, saw their greatest success as complete team units. That being said, I can't pick any single visible position that contains any extra pressure. I can say, without equivocation, however, that the change from doormat to perennial contender for all three of these franchises began with a change in their attitude and their image. Yes, the Position in the Spotlight for Tampa is the Tampa area Front Offices, namely, the marketing departments.
The Buccaneers were stuck with the Creamsicle orange uniforms and players like Trent Dilfer all the way through 1996. They didn't win very much either, earning a winless season in 1976. Before the jersey change, they had two seasons with more than 7 wins. Immediately following the change in image, the Buccaneers went 10-6 and made the playoffs. By the 2002 season, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. Since, it's been a surprise if they weren't a success, rather than if they were.

The team now known as the Rays came into being as the Devil Rays, a technicolor monstrosity that featured high priced and ineffective veterins, as weill as losing season after losing season. Last year, they dropped the "Devil" cleaned up the uniform and made it to the World Series.
The Lightning didn't have a drastic overhaul in their image. If anything, this underscores the fact that it really wasn't the change in image that changed the fate of sports in Tampa, but rather the change in strategy. Collectively, the teams started drafting better, hiring better coaches, and making better free agency decisions. A more effective organization, Tampa proved, was the key to overall success for winning teams.

Honorable Mention:
Buccaneers Head Coach: The tide turned with Tony Dungy. John Gruden was essentially traded for, and he led the team to their Super Bowl victory. Now, Raheem Morris has a the eyes looking at him.
Rays Manager: The first big name hire at manager was Lou Piniella, one of the most famous in baseball. It was Joe Maddon, however, who guided this team to the World Series.
People named Vinny: Vinny Testaverde was the only good player the Bucs had for in their first 20 years. His talent was lost in a sea of orange mediocrity. Vinny Lecavalier was the first stud the Lightning had. He preceded Marty St. Louis and the awaited Steven Stamkos as prolific scorers for the Lightning.

Position in the Spotlight: Denver

A Denver area legend retired yesterday. Joe Sakic, one of the three Hall of Fame players that was part of the Avalanche's glory days of the mid 90s. Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg and Sakic were the core of a team that dominated the NHL for about a dozen years. Of course, the Avs have only been in Colorado since 1995. The baseball team in town, the Rockies, have only been around since 1993, and I have a serious problem with basing a town's history on Dante Bichette. The two teams that have been there for longer are the NBA franchise, the Nuggets, and the NFL squad, the Broncos. Before Carmelo Anthony came to town, the best player in Nuggets history might have been Robert Pack.
This means, of course, that we have to turn our attention to the Broncos. Their history centers around one player in particular, the starting quarterback for 15 years and winner of Denvers two non Cup championships, John Elway. Ever since his departure, every Bronco QB since has been held up to Elway's standard, and frankly, have not measured up. That doesn't mean there isn't undue pressure.
Elway, of course, had an incredible career, third all time in yards and 5th in touchdown passes. More notably, he took the Broncos to 5 Super Bowls. Of course, he lost in his first threee attempts, but managed to win a pair in the mid to late 90s. In a city that has a history of developing superstars (Elway, Sakic, Anthony, for example), Elway's surely shines the brightest.
Perhaps the greatest effect Elway left on the franchise is that every quarterback since has been held to his standard, and every QB previously has essentially been forgotten. Quick, everyone outside the city of Denver, name the first quarterback to take the Broncos to the Super Bowl.
I'm going to guess you had to look it up. Not many people remember Craig Morton. What people do remember is what failures, comparitively, all the quarterbacks since have been miserable failures. Brian Griese, Jake Plummer, Jay Cutler. It didn't help that these QBs aren't blessed with the highest mental fortitude, because the pressure they felt was incredible.
There aren't many positions that receive the attention based on one person, but Denver and John Elway have certainly earned this acclaim.

Honorable Mention
Colorado Avalanche Captain: Joe Sakic will undoubtedly leave some big skates to feed.
Colorado Rockies First Baseman: The first player added to the Rockies was Andres Gallaraga. Since, the Rockies have only had one regular 1b, prennial all-star Todd Helton
Broncos Running Back: How much of this position is due to the scheme, and how much is due to the talent of the running backs?

Position in the Spotlight: Cincinnati

It's my turn to try to catch up on these Spotlight pieces, and I will get to take a look at the Queen City, Cincinnati. Cincy, first and foremost, is a baseball town. The Bengals have been so bad, they have earned the disparaging nickname "the Bungles", while their basketball experience focuses on the mid major schools Xavier and the Universty of Cincinnati, though the Bearcats have recently moved to the Big East. The Reds, on the other hand, have a great deal of history, almost as long as that of baseball itself. Over the past 40 years or so, the Reds have a more clear cut position that needs to be highlighted.
It all started with the Big Red Machine years of the 70s. The Reds had several positions filled with magnificent players, especially in the infield. Johnny Bench behind the plate, Tony Perez at 1st, Joe Morgan at 2nd, the embattled Pete Rose at 3rd. It was an incredible team. Joe Morgan has lobbied for Dave Concepcion, the shortstop on those teams, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He hasn't been yet, but I will respond by naming the Reds Shortstop the Position in the Spotlight.
We'll start with Concepcion, who had the incredible distinction of playing 18 years, all with the Reds. They weren't bad years, either. He was a fixture on All Star teams from 1973 to 1982, even earning the games MVP award in 1982. He was mostly lauded for his slick glove, winning the Gold Glove annually right up until Ozzie Smith started nabbing them. He was also one of the better hitters at the shortstop position during his 18 years with the Reds. Of course, that's the most impressive statistic. Eighteen years!
After Concepcion, the Reds didn't take long to find their next stalwart short stop. Barry Larkin came to the team in 1986 and was a regular in the All-Star game through the 90s. More notably, he was the NL MVP in 1995, and was on the World Series team of 1990. Larkin was a much better hitter than Concepcion, with a .295 career average and a couple years with big homer numbers. Larkin was on the Reds from 1986 to 2004. Thats 18 years as well. The Reds should just retire the number 18. (They did, for Ted Kluszewski)
Well, that's 36 years of shortstops locked up in those two players. Before them, the Reds had 4 time All Star Leo Cardenas, who Cincinnati traded to the Twins in '68 after a pedestrian 8 years with the Reds. Before him, Roy McMillan was the fixture at short for 10 years, appearing in two All Star Games himself and winning a pair of Gold Gloves.
Usually at this point, I would note some other guys who have filled the role, but with Larkin and Concepcion gobbling up 36 years at the position recently, there hasn't been much else to discuss. It's worth noting, however, that since Larkin has retired and the Reds continued to spiral towards obscurity, the team has featured three different "every day" shortstops in 5 years.

Honorable Mention
Reds Manager: Sparky Anderson and Lou Piniella led the team to the World Series, but big names like Rogers Hornsby, Christy Matthewson and Pete Rose have also had the reins to the Reds.
Bengals Quarterback: Boomer Esiason is probably the most famous player people readily associate with the Bengals, and now Carson Palmer is, when healthy, one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Position in the Spotlight: Baltimore

Our next stop on the Position in the Spotlight tour is Baltimore. Baltimore has had a lot of success in the world of pro sports, but it has a bit of a disjointed history with its franchises. It's first pro team, the Baltimore Orioles, were one of the original American League teams to join the league in 1901. After only 2 years, they moved to New York to become the Yankees, and the rest is history. They also had one of the original NBA teams, the Baltimore Bullets, which won the 1948 title. However, this isn't the team that we know today as the Washington Wizards. This Bullets team actually folded in 1954. The current Wizards played in Baltimore from 1963-1973, and the city hasn't had an NBA team since. Baseball returned to Baltimore in 1954, when the St. Louis Browns found a new home, and the Orioles are still playing in Baltimore 55 years later. In football, they have had 3 franchises over the years. The original Baltimore Colts played in the AAFC and were merged into the NFL in 1950 with the Browns and 49ers, but folded after only 1 year. The NFL started a new Baltimore Colts franchise in 1953, which quickly became a dominant team, winning 4 NFL Championships, including a Super Bowl, by 1970. However, the Colts were lured away by Indianapolis in 1984, in one of the most infamous moves of all time. Football did return to Baltimore though in 1996, in possibly an even more controversial move, as the Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens quickly won a Super Bowl in 2000 and have been a better than average NFL team since.

So where do we go for our position in the spotlight? Because the Ravens and Colts feel like very different entities (especially since the Colts name and logo are still around), its hard to stretch any kind of football history between the 2 teams. The NBA is long gone, so the only constant in town for quite some time is the Orioles. The Orioles have had a lot of success, winning 3 World Series and 6 pennants since moving from St. Louis. Not being brushed up on my history from before I was born, I thought this was a slam dunk with Orioles shortstop, thanks to Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr....then I realized Robinson was 3B. That led to a tough decision...the legacy of the Vacuum Cleaner or the Iron Man (Ripken did end up switching to 3B late in his career). After looking at some of the other guys that filled those positions, I decided to go with Baltimore Orioles Shortstop.

As the O's tried to shake the miserable legacy of the St. Louis Browns, in the late 50's, they had Cuban-born Willy Miranda as their starting SS. Miranda was known for a his great fielding but was absolutely horrible as a hitter, batting around .200 each year he started for them. Miranda was eventually replaced by former White Sox All-Star Chico Carrasquel in 1959, who was on his last legs as a major leaguer at that point.

The Orioles went young in 1960, making Ron Hansen their full time starter. It paid off, as Hansen belted 22 HR and was voted Rookie of the Year, leading the O's to their first winning season after moving to Baltimore. Hansen wound up playing in Baltimore for 2 more years before becoming part of a blockbuster trade.

I'm writing about the history of Orioles shortstops, not White Sox, I swear. In 1963, the Orioles traded Hansen to the White Sox for eventual Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio. Aparicio was an amazingly good fielder, winning 9 gold gloves in his career (2 in Baltimore), and a speed demon, leading the league in stolen bases 9 consecutive years to begin his career (1956-1964). Paired with Brooks Robinson, the O's had an impenetrable left side of the infield. After also trading for Frank Robinson to add some power, it all paid off in 1966, as the Orioles captured their first World Series title.

Aparicio was traded back to Chicago in 1968 and he was replaced by a youngster, Mark Belanger. Belanger kept the Orioles SS tradition alive of being an excellent fielder and a poor hitter. He won 8 gold gloves himself from 1969-1978 and was the starting SS in 4 World Series in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1979, winning in 1970. He left the Orioles after the 1981 season, making room for another legend....

Cal Ripken starting playing SS for the Orioles in 1982, every single day. He just didn't stop. Ripken played SS every game until he was eventually switched to 3B in 1997. By that point, he had broken the seemingly unbreakable consecutive games played record that was held by Lou Gehrig. Ripken brought a completely different element to the position. He was a decent fielder (1991 and 1992 gold gloves) but a fantastic hitter. Ripken hit 431 HR in his career, won the 1982 rookie of the year, was American League MVP in 1983 and 1991, and was selected to the All-Star team a mind-boggling 19 times. Ripken led the Orioles to the 1983 World Series title, but the team kind of disintergrated around him in the late 80s. They regained some ground and were a contender in 1996 and 1997, but a bunch of bad free agent signings eventually derailed the team.

The man stuck with the task of filling Ripken's massive shoes at the position in 1997 was Mike Bordick. Bordick was signed to replace Ripken's waning defensive ability. Like many Orioles SS in the past, Bordick was a good fielder but a lousy hitter. Luckily for him, after 1997 the team was pretty lousy too, and other than a brief trade to the Mets in 2000, started at SS through 2002.

After a brief encounter with Deivi Cruz, the Orioles went back to the big money well, signing power-hitting and former AL MVP Miguel Tejada away from Oakland. Tejada didn't disappoint, leading the league in RBI in 2004 with 150 and also winning the Home Run Derby that year. Tejada continued to put up huge numbers through 2007. In a steroid era, things seemed a little murky around Tejada, and he was traded to the Astros before 2008, only to be named in the Mitchell Report days later.

After a year of light hitting Juan Castro in 2008, the current Orioles SS is Cesar Izturis, who won a gold glove with the Dodgers in 2004. Is Izturis the next great Orioles SS? Probably not, but time will tell. With the great farm system the Orioles have shown in recent years, its possible they have someone waiting in the wings.
Honorable Mention:
Baltimore Ravens Middle Linebacker: Ray Lewis has been there since day 1, and he'll leave some big shoes to fill.
Baltimore Orioles Ace: The Orioles have had some good starting pitchers over the years, ranging from Milt Pappas to Jim Palmer to Mike Mussina
Baltimore Orioles 1B: The Orioles have also had a lot of great hitting 1B to compliment thier good defensive infielders like Boog Powell, Eddie Murray, and Rafael Palmeiro

Position in the Spotlight: Cleveland

Cleveland. It quite possibly ranks higher on the sports misery scale than any other city in America. They have 3 major sports teams, the Indians in baseball, the Browns in football, and the Cavaliers in basketball. They used to have a 4th, the NHL's Cleveland Barons, but they will be remembered as the last of the 4 major sports leagues' teams to completely fold and disappear from the league, and no one can forget the original Browns bolting to Baltimore in 1996. Cleveland has not enjoyed a championship since the Browns won the 1964 NFL title, and this was during the time period where the AFL was also playing games but there was no Super Bowl, so technically, they have not enjoyed an "undisputed" championship since the Browns won the 1955 NFL title. The Indians have only won 2 world titles in over 100 years of existence, and if it wasn't for the Cubs they would have the longest World Series drought of any team, last winning in 1948. LeBron James and the Cavaliers are the shining hope for the city right now. He led them to the finals in 2007 and has a chance to do it again this year, but before James was drafted, the Cavs only made it as far as the Eastern Conference finals twice since they joined the league in 1970. Not much history there....

So which direction should we go for position in the spotlight? The Browns have had the most success of the 3 franchises, and are also probably the most popular team in town. They are also known for having arguably the greatest running back of all time, Jim Brown. So running back is an easy choice here, right? I don't think so. Jamal Lewis is a very good running back, but I don't really think any Cleveland fans watch him with the expectation of filling Jim Brown's massive shoes, and they haven't really had a solid running back that was with the team for several years since the early 90s. So, for my position in the spotlight pick, I'm choosing a position that many highly touted college players have attempted, but few have enjoyed a large amount of success at. That position is Cleveland Browns Quarterback.

The bar was set high for the Browns when they started play in the AAFC back in 1946 with their inaugural Quarterback, Otto Graham. Graham was actually a star tailback at Northwestern before being drafted by the Lions (4th overall in 1944), but after a term of service in the coast guard and a new contract from the Browns, he switched to quarterback. Graham turned the brand new franchise into the most feared team in football and won 4 consecutive AAFC titles from 1946-1949 before the league merged with the NFL in 1950. As one of only 2 teams (49ers were the other) to actually join the NFL in the merger, their AAFC titles were looked down upon by the rest of the league, but Graham shut up the detractors and won the 1950 NFL championship. He then led the Browns back to the NFL championship game in 1951, 1952, and 1953, where they lost, but then won the NFL championship in 1954 and 1955 before retiring. In total, he won 7 championships and 10 title game appearances in 10 years of play, and has the best winning percentage of any quarterback to ever play.

Filling in for Graham was Tommy O'Connell, who led the Browns back to the title game in 1957, which also happened to be Jim Brown's rookie year. After a few mediocre seasons with Milt Plum, Frank Ryan brought some balance back to the team, leading the NFL is passing TDs in 1964 and winning another NFL title for the Browns. The Browns also returned to the NFL title game in 1965 with Ryan, which was Jim Brown's last season. The tandom of Bill Nelsen and hall of fame RB Leroy Kelly, resulted in 2 more trips to the NFL title game for the Browns in 1968 in 1969.

Shortly after the merger the Browns began to sink, and taking over for Bill Nelson was highly touted college prospect Mike Phipps, who the Browns drafted 3rd overall in 1970. Phipps enjoyed a nice first season as starter in the record books, but not with his individual stats. The retirement of Leroy Kelly and Phipps' high number of interceptions quickly dropped the Browns to one of the worst teams in the league, and backup QB Brian Sipe wasn't providing much help. Sipe eventually became the starter in 1976, and the Browns wallowed in mediocrity (except in 1980) until Sipe retired in 1983.

After a year of former backup Paul McDonald in 1984, the Browns grabbed Miami's Bernie Kosar with the first pick of the 1985 supplemental draft (because there were issues with his eligibility during the actual draft) and was named starter after a few games. Kosar helped turn the franchise around, leading the Browns to 3 AFC title games in the late 80s, but he couldn't get over the hump, losing all 3 to the Broncos. Kosar started to fade in the early 90s, eventually being released in 1993 after being replaced by Vinny Testeverde. Testeverde was another highly touted college quarterback from Miami, drafted #1 overall by the Buccaneers. He basically did what he does best, play mediocre.

When the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, the were given the 1st pick in the NFL draft. Coincidentally, 1999's quarterback class was being compared at the time to 1983's, with 5 quarterbacks being selected in the first round. The Browns went with Kentucky's Tim Couch. Couch failed to live up to expectations and the Browns struggled with him. The Browns struggled to find a decent replacement for Couch after releasing him, and returned to the draft well once again in 2007, picking up Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, who slipped dramatically in the first round, giving the Browns the chance to pick him up. The Browns cut Charlie Frye after only one game in 2007 and promoted Quinn to backup behind another youngster, Derek Anderson. Anderson then proceeded to come out of nowhere and have a great season, leaving Quinn on the bench, and raising Cleveland's fans hopes that Anderson might be "the one." Unfortunately, Anderson came back down to earth last season and injuries destroyed the team. It seems likely Quinn will win the starting spot this year, and he will try to buck the nearly 40 year trend of top quarterback prospects failing to lead the Browns to the promised land.

Honorable Mention: Cleveland Browns running back: The Browns started their existence with 3 excellent hall of fame running backs, Marion Motley, Jim Brown, and Leroy Kelly. Since then they have had some other good running backs in Greg Pruitt, Kevin Mack, and Earnest Byner, but haven't had a consistent running back since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Whoever ends up replacing Lebron James as the Cav's star player: He won't be as good as LeBron. Fans won't like him. I promise, I've seen it happen with my favorite team, the Bulls.
I couldn't think of a good single position for the Indians. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments.