De Blasio, first New York mayor without championship teams in 100 years

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It is the curse of Blas-bino.

As the Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs on Tuesday by his beloved Boston Red Sox, Mayor de Blasio has landed a dubious honor: the first New York mayor in more than a century who will not celebrate a single championship. by any of Gotham’s major sports. teams.

The previous 14 mayors of the Big Apple over the past 100 years have seen at least one of 49 NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL titles the city teams have won in that season. period.

An eight-year-old spell began once the New England native arrived at Town Hall in 2014 and openly began using his mayor’s chair to spring forth his unabashed love for the Red Sox and the New England Patriots. New York’s last champions were the Giants, who won the Super Bowl in 2012.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the 2012 Giants Super Bowl Parade.

While New York sports fans were left out during his tenure, the mayor was able to take advantage of Tom Brady leading the Patriots to three more Super Bowls and the Red Sox winning another championship in 2018.

The good news: The mayor’s bad mojo could end with Blasio’s departure at the end of the year.

“There is no doubt about it,” railed Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for this year’s mayoral race. “New York has to send it back to Boston – the same way Yankees fans hit the ball every time [ex-Red Sox slugger] Manny Ramirez hit a home run in the left field stands at Yankee Stadium.

But things could get worse. With de Blasio flirting with the idea of running for governor next year, New York teams in other parts of the state – the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabers and New York Islanders – could be in pain. of the curse of Blas-bino.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani the 1999 Yankees Championship Parade. — Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the 1999 Yankees Championship Parade.

Among the city’s mayors over the past 100 years, Fiorello La Guardia has seen the most championships with 9, Robert Wagner Jr. was second, with 7, and Yankees superfan Rudy Giuliani third, with 5. Even Joseph V. McKee, who served only as interim mayor for just four months at the end of 1932, was in office long enough to celebrate a Yankees World Series title that season.

While de Blasio openly encourages the Mets – despite Amazin’s miraculous victory over the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series – the Yankees’ infamous nemesis refused to set foot in Yankees Stadium to watch the Bronx Bombers play as mayor, only briefly putting aside his fandom in February to show up at an event there announcing that the stadium was designated a COVID-19 mass vaccination site.

Still, he found plenty of time during his busy schedule as mayor to fly away and watch his Red Sox game – whether heading to Florida for spring training games. or asking taxpayers to pay the tab to have its security details with it. when he watched the Sox play against the Angels in 2019 while in Los Angeles in the midst of his failed presidential bid.

City Councilor Bill Holden (D-Queens) said the city’s poor record in professional sports was just another foul against “Air Ball de Blasio”, adding “Thank goodness this is the last season “The Big Apple teams will suffer.

New York Mayor Ed Koch with the winners of the 1987 NY Giants Superbowl - Parade in NY — Mayor Ed Koch at the 1987 Giants Super Bowl Parade.

“From public safety to our economy, Bill de Blasio has always been written off,” he said. Everything around Blasio is failing, even our sports teams.

De Blasio spokesman Mitch Schwartz said town hall still kept “the faith” that teams that start their new seasons before the mayor leaves office, including the Knicks and Nets, will win it all – although the championships and ticker-tape parades would be celebrated in 2022 under de Blasio’s successor.

“These teams will all have started their seasons in a town led by the mayor of Blasio – a mayor who, among other things, has given these teams a boost by implementing leading COVID-19 safety measures like the key to New York, ”he said.