Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
In the 163-year history of the America’s Cup, a team from the country after which the match races are named has won a vast majority of the time. In fact, 29 of the 34 America’s Cup winners are from the U.S. and that includes a winning streak of 25 consecutive match race victories by a team from the New York Yacht Club beginning with the first match race back in 1851. So after four straight match races that saw a winner outside the U.S., a team from the Golden Gate Yacht Club is in prime position to win its second straight America’s Cup in 2013 at the San Francisco match races.
The city that features the Golden Gate Bridge was the only city in the U.S. that was considered to host the 34th America’s Cup. After Oracle Racing‘s big win in Spain at the last America’s Cup in 2010, the team from the Bay Area is looking to win back-to-back cups after the tragedy earlier this year.
Olympic gold medal winner Andrew “Bart” Simpson lost his life while trapped under the wreckage of a capsized sailboat during a training run in March in the San Francisco Bay. That’s obviously a stickler since Oracle chose that as the site to defend the cup this year. However, it should give Oracle an emotional advantage.
The 11-man team that will be manning Oracle’s boat should be racing in memory and in honor of Simpson, so one would think those team members would give their absolute all in this race, which should result in a win. Of course, what should happen and what does happen are often two different things in sports. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs.
