Rhyming Slang - New York City's Junior Teams Quiz

Answer: Titans

Upon the foundation of the American Football League in 1959, a total of eight franchises were initially set up, with one planned for New York City as a rival to the NFL's Giants. At its launch, the AFL's New York franchise was named as the "Titans of New York", usually being referred to as the New York Titans. The team's original owner, Harry Wismer, explained the choice of name by saying simply that "Titans are bigger and stronger than Giants".

The Titans struggled right from the start; they progressively went from 2nd in 1960 to 4th in 1962 in the AFL Eastern Division, while financially the franchise's debts mounted, leading to the AFL having to take over operations from Wismer, before selling the team to a consortium led by Sonny Werblin in 1963. The new owners immediately made significant changes, obtaining the use of the newly built Shea Stadium, which they would share with the New York Mets, and changing the team's name to "Jets", as Shea was not far from LaGuardia airport, and the name reflected the modern approach the team would now take.

Answer: Baltimore Colts

Having been saved from bankruptcy, the Jets set about attempting to build on their salvation with success on the field, starting in the 1963 season, their last at the old Polo Grounds before their move to Shea, where they were in contention for the divisional title until December, while in 1965, they drafted Alabama Crimson Tide's star quarterback Joe Namath. Their new quarterback proved a game changer for the Jets, leading them to their first winning season in 1967, before getting to the AFL playoffs the following year, where they won the AFL Championship and qualified for Super Bowl III.

The Super Bowl had been established as a single championship game between the NFL and AFL champions as part of the agreement between the two leagues to merge by 1970. The first two games had been won by the NFL's Green Bay Packers, and no one saw any reason why the third matchup, between the Jets and the Baltimore Colts, should finish with anything other than a victory for the team from the senior league, given the Colts had a 13-1 record from the regular season. However, Namath confidently claimed that five AFL quarterbacks were better than the Colts' starter Earl Morrall, and that there was no way that the Jets would lose the game. The Jets eventually won the game 16-7, a first Super Bowl victory for the AFL.

Answer: Polo Grounds

When the New York Titans (as the Jets were originally known as) were founded in 1959, New York City had a lack of major outdoor venues suitable for football. The largest stadium in the city was Yankee Stadium, which was shared by the New York Yankees and their tenants, the NFL's Giants. The only other extant venues of any size in the city were Lewisohn Stadium, the former home of the City College of New York football program, and the now disused Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, the former homes of baseball teams the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, who had both decamped to California two years previously. Ebbets Field was scheduled for demolition in 1960, which left the Polo Grounds as the only venue suitable and available for the Titans to play in.

The Titans began play in 1960, with their first home game at the Polo Grounds a 27-3 win over the Buffalo Bills in September. Two years after the Titans moved in, they were joined by the newly formed New York Mets baseball team. As part of the deal forming the Mets, the city had agreed to build a new stadium to house them, which eventually became Shea Stadium. When the Titans were sold in 1963, which led to their being renamed as the Jets, the new owners agreed a leasing deal with the Mets to allow the Jets to use Shea Stadium. Both the Mets and the Jets moved in 1964, with the Jets' last game at the Polo Grounds being a 19-10 defeat over the Buffalo Bills in December 1963.

Answer: Continental League

In 1957, New York City's two National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, both departed to move to California, leaving the Big Apple without National League baseball for the first time since 1883. As the National League proved unwilling to expand, in November 1958 New York based lawyer William Shea made a proposal to form a new third major league. The new Continental League was officially announced in July 1959, with an initial five charter franchises (New York City, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis and Toronto), and plans to start three more by the time of the league's intended start date of April 1961.

In response to the Continental League proposal, both the National League and the American League announced plans to introduce two new teams each, thus heading off the Continental League plans in a number of markets. One of these was the National League's establishment of a new New York franchise, which was offered to the owners of the Continental League franchise. The establishment of the new team, which came to be called the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club (eventually shortened to the New York Mets), effectively killed off the Continental League plan for good.

Answer: Baltimore Orioles

Following their foundation, the Mets managed to achieve little on the field for most of their first decade, gaining an unwanted reputation as "lovable losers", and posting losing seasons every year from 1962 to 1968. The start of the 1969 season, the first in which the two leagues were split into divisions, initially indicated that there would be little change, but then a number of good winning runs put the team in third place in the NL East by mid-August, with a late surge through September taking them to the divisional title, and the team's first-ever post-season appearance.

In the first ever NL Championship series, the Mets faced the Atlanta Braves, over whom they had an 8-4 overall record during the regular season. The Mets ended up sweeping the best of five series 3-0 to reach their first ever World Series against the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (the first of three successive Fall Classics that the Orioles would reach). Although the Mets lost the first game 4-1, they went on to win the next four games by an aggregate score of 14 runs to 5 to win the team's first World Series, and the first for an NL team from New York City since 1955, being given the moniker of the "Miracle Mets".

Answer: Queens

The origins of the facility that eventually came to be Shea Stadium began with an effort to build a new ballpark for the Brooklyn Dodgers, whose owner was adamant that any new stadium be in Brooklyn, while the city preferred that it be in the Flushing area of Queens. Following the departure of both the Dodgers and New York Giants for California in 1957, it was four years before a National League team, in the shape of the New York Mets, was established. Part of the agreement in the establishment of the team was the construction of a purpose-built stadium to house them.

In October 1961, the Mets signed a 30-year lease on the new facility, which was to be built in Flushing Meadows Park, a public park in the north of Queens between the Corona and Flushing neighbourhoods. Construction began that month, with the Mets eventually moving in in April 1964, having spent their first two seasons at the dilapidated Polo Grounds in Manhattan, the former home of the Giants. Initially named the "Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium", prior to its opening a campaign was successful in having the stadium named in honour of William Shea, who had successfully brought National League baseball back to the city.

Answer: Julius Erving

In 1967, the American Basketball Association was founded as a rival to the NBA, with charter members in 11 cities, including New York City. Initially named as the New York Americans (being renamed as the New York Nets in 1968, to rhyme with Jets and Mets), the team's membership of the ABA was significantly pressured due to the presence in the same market of the New York Knicks of the NBA, who made significant efforts to disrupt the establishment of a rival team. However, the team began to make headway from 1973, when they acquired small forward Julius "Dr J" Erving from the Virginia Squires. With Erving in the team, the Nets went on to win two ABA titles.

In 1976, the ABA and NBA agreed terms to a merger of the two leagues, which saw four of the remaining six ABA teams accepted into the newly joined competition. However, under the terms of the merger, the ABA teams, which included the Nets, would be regarded as expansion franchises, with their owners forced to pay a $3.2m fee to the league for the right to take part. Additionally, the Nets, as the only one of the four in a market with an existing NBA franchise, were also forced to pay a $4.8m compensation fee to the Knicks. The payment of the expansion fee had left the team owner, Roy Boe, short of money, and so the money owing to the Knicks was raised through the same of Erving's contract to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Answer: Los Angeles Lakers

Following their entry into the NBA, the Nets first made the playoffs in 1979, with modest success in the following years, including five successive post-season appearances between 1982 and 1986. However, aside from 1984, when they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semi-final, the team didn't pass the first round until 2002. This coincided with a refresh of what was at that point an ageing and comparatively low scoring team. Having won their division for the first time, they eliminated the Indiana Pacers, Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics to triumph in the Eastern Conference final, reaching their first championship series since the 1976 ABA Finals against the Denver Nuggets.

In the NBA Finals, the Nets faced the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers who, having suffered a slump during the 1990s, had re-established themselves as one of the NBA's top teams following the acquisition of center Shaquille O'Neal and the drafting of shooting guard Kobe Bryant in 1996. The teams had played each other twice in the regular season, with one win apiece, but in the finals it was the Lakers, going for a third successive championship, who powered to victory, winning the best-of-seven series in just four games. Although the Nets returned to the NBA Finals the following season, losing to the San Antonio Spurs, up to the end of the 2022 season they had yet to make another Conference final.

Answer: Newark

Throughout most of their history, the Nets' home arenas had been on the other side of the Hudson River in New Jersey, which led to their being named as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 onwards. Having played their first season in Teaneck, the team had moved to Long Island in 1968, and remained there until falling attendances led to their making a move back across the Hudson, playing four seasons at the home of Rutgers University's basketball team until the completion of their brand new arena next to Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford.

In 2004, the team was purchased by real estate developer Bruce Ratner, who had plans for the construction of a new arena in Brooklyn, which ownership of a major sports team would help. In 2010, construction of what would eventually become Barclays Center began, with the Nets intended to be the primary tenants. At the same time, the Nets moved out of the Meadowlands Arena, signing a two-year lease to use the Prudential Center in Newark while waiting for the completion of their new home. The Nets finally moved back to New York City in October 2012, when they played their first pre-season game at Barclays Center. At the same time, the team took the name Brooklyn Nets, the first major sports team in the city to use Brooklyn's name since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.

Answer: Nets

The Jets and the Mets have existed almost symbiotically during their early histories, with both being founded around the same time, both having experienced difficult periods in their respective leagues to begin with, and both gaining their first major titles in 1969, with the Jets winning Super Bowl III on 12 January, and the "Miracle Mets", triumphing in the World Series between 11 and 16 October. By this time, the Nets had been founded and begun play in the ABA, and followed a similar pattern, with the difference being that, despite consistent losing seasons, they were able to get to the playoffs.

By 1974 and the recruitment of Julius Erving, the Nets turned into one of the dominant sides in the ABA. They reached their second ABA Finals series (having lost their first in 1972) and defeated the Utah Stars by four games to one, while two years later they won the ABA title for a second time, this time triumphing 4-2 over the Denver Nuggets. However, the terms of the merger between the ABA and the NBA made clear that the ABA teams entering the league were expansion sides, and thus not considered by the NBA to have any history prior to 1976. The Mets' second World Series title came in 1986, when they beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in the seven game series, while up to the end of the 2021 NFL season, the Jets had yet to return to the Super Bowl.