Professional Sports
| Club | League | Sport | City | Established | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina Panthers | NFL | Football | Charlotte, North Carolina | 1995 | 0 NFL Championships, 1 Super Bowl Appearance/Conference Title, 3 Division Titles |
| Carolina Hurricanes | NHL | Hockey | Raleigh, North Carolina | 1997 | 1 Stanley Cup, 2 Conference Titles, 3 Division Titles |
| Charlotte Bobcats | NBA | Basketball | Charlotte, North Carolina | 2004 | none |
| Charlotte Hounds | MLL | Lacrosse | Charlotte, North Carolina | 2011 | none |
The Carolinas have three professional sports teams in the Big Four major leagues. Supported by the both states, the three teams are all based in NC, two in Charlotte and the third in Raleigh. All of the sports teams are fairly recent additions; the oldest team, the NFL's Panthers, was established in 1995, while the youngest, the Bobcats, was added to the NBA in 2004. Of all the teams, the Hurricanes are the most successful, being the only team with a championship. The New Orleans Hornets are the only former team in the big four leagues, playing in the NBA and were based in Charlotte from 1988 to 2002.
The Carolinas are home to a number of NBA superstars, such as Chris Paul, James Worthy, John Wall, and Michael Jordan (from NC) and Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal, Ray Allen, and Raymond Felton (from SC). Six of these players are All Stars, four are NBA champions, and John Wall and James Worthy were the Number 1 draft picks in the 2010 NBA Draft and 1982 NBA Draft, respectively. An abnormal amount of basketball players come from here, on par with the big cities like New York and Los Angeles. While the Bobcats do little to generate buzz in the Carolinas, they are home to three of the most successful collegiate men's basketball teams in the NCAA, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Duke Blue Devils. All three schools are fierce rivals who have combined to win 11 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships (UNC has 5, Duke has 4, NC State has 2).
Read more about this topic: The Carolinas
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or sports:
“The relationship between mother and professional has not been a partnership in which both work together on behalf of the child, in which the expert helps the mother achieve her own goals for her child. Instead, professionals often behave as if they alone are advocates for the child; as if they are the guardians of the child’s needs; as if the mother left to her own devices will surely damage the child and only the professional can rescue him.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)