The Greater Boston area has been going through a sports renaissance of late. After 15 years in the championship-deprived wilderness, without warning we have been blessed with a glittering trophy from the NFL plus the potential for more — a trend kicked off on that magic day back in February when our Patriots changed everything. Since then, we have come around to believing that the Bruins (mistakenly), the Celtics (surprisingly), and the Red Sox (just maybe) are also of championship caliber. All of a sudden, Boston has begun its return to the pinnacle of sports, as it did in 1986 when we saw the Pats streak to the Super Bowl, the Celtics capture their 16th banner, and the Red Sox come a Stanley steamer away from their first World Series victory since World War I. All of our sports teams are doing us proud, and could even spoil us with another championship before another year goes by. Who knows? Could happen. After all, just last September we were preparing for the Bruins, Patriots, and Celtics — all in playoff droughts and coming off last-place finishes, or practically so — to begin their seasons, all the while watching the once-resilient Red Sox crash and burn in one of the great collapses of all time. Oh yeah, it was bad. You remember.

However, thanks to the Pats’ Super Bowl triumph and the rejuvenation of the other three franchises, our little corner of the world is bright again.

Waiting a seemingly interminable decade and a half for the opportunity to run around like maniacs and be the center of the sports universe was definitely hard, but while we bask in the glow of having Boston back on the title map, let’s take a look (alphabetically) at some of the other cities around this big country of ours and see whether they’re as optimistic as we are, or moping around like we were a year ago. Not that we’re gloating or anything. After all, we know how gauche crocodile tears would be.

• Atlanta: The city that was home to Rhett and Scarlett is in a dismal sports slump. Slump? The city’s won one championship since the Civil War! The NFL Falcons were in the Super Bowl just three years ago, but their star running back that year has been hurt ever since, and they haven’t come close to returning to contention. Baseball’s Braves, the team of the ’90s, won only one World Series that decade despite making the playoffs nearly every year. The expansion Thrashers barely made a dent in the NHL during their three years of existence, although rookie Dany Heatley is a favorite for top rookie honors when the league announces its awards next month. The Hawks, Atlanta’s NBA franchise, stink, and have for years. Hopes for the future: the Braves look pretty good again, but we say that every year. Michael Vick could emerge as a future Falcons’ star, but they’re still years away from glory, as are the Thrashers and Hawks.

• Baltimore: It wasn’t that long ago that Camden Yards sold out every game, but the Orioles have had lousy management in recent years and haven’t been within a mile of the playoffs since ’97. With Cal Ripken finally gone, there's little reason to come to Oriole Park other than to see the beautiful stadium: the club Iron Cal left behind is pretty awful. The NFL Ravens are just a year removed from their surprising Super Bowl title, but salary-cap problems and questionable personnel decisions have resulted in the loss of a lot of their talent, and the team should continue its decline this year. The closest Baltimore has to NBA and NHL franchises are the nearby DC-based Wizards and Capitals, respectively. The Wizards will be lost if Michael Jordan doesn’t play again, and the Caps missed the playoffs last season despite acquiring superstar Jaromir Jagr. The outlook for all of the area’s teams is bleak.

• Chicago: We complain about our baseball team, but imagine if a city had two, and neither one ever won? Such is the plight of the city by Lake Michigan, as the Cubs have not won the World Series since a decade before the Red Sox, and they haven’t even been in the Fall Classic since 1945. That is one loo-oo-ng string of futility. It took the cross-town White Sox 40 years to return to the Series after the 1919 Black Sox scandal, and their six-game loss to the Dodgers in 1959 was the last time the Pale Hose have had even a sniff of the World Series. Cubs fans love baseball and still pack Wrigley, but they have long given up on any realistic expectation of their first title in a century. The White Sox are usually pretty good, but their " new " stadium is as boring as the old one, and only when the team does really well do the fans rally around this club. In football, da Bears are revered by their multitude of fans, but until this past season, they haven't had much to roar about since their only Super Bowl title, in 1986. This year’s team was, like the Patriots, a complete shock to the fandom and a tremendous success, but they lost at home (after a bye week) in the second round of the playoffs, and will still need a real QB to do any real damage. The NHL Blackhawks, under former Bruins coach Brian Sutter, were one of the surprise teams of the league this season, but they too failed miserably in the playoffs. And finally, Chicago’s Bulls were the toast of the NBA during the ’90s, winning six titles behind Jordan and his supporting cast. Since then, however, with MJ’s " retirement " and the hangover of the fiscal free-for-all that management employed during those glory years, the Bulls have become the NBA’s worst team for four years running. Outlook: dismal for the Cubs and Bulls, promising for the Blackhawks, and positively glowing for the Bears, although they will be playing their home schedule in a college stadium in Champaign this season while Soldier Field is being renovated downtown.

• Dallas/Fort Worth: The Rangers’ baseball club has the third-highest payroll in the majors, but is still rotten to the core. Despite having superstars Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmiero, and Chan Ho Park on the roster, the Rangers are in last place in their division. Outlaws Carl Everett, John Rocker, and Ruben Rivera cannot be adding anything to team chemistry, and the team has already admitted that it will soon have to start cutting costs. The Cowboys, once a veritable NFL dynasty, have gone through tough times, strangled by salary-cap woes and the fading fortunes (along with incarcerations and drug suspensions) of their veteran talent. Their glory days are way, way in the distant past, and it will take them a long time to return to their once-prominent status. The Mavericks basketball team is certainly an up-and-comer, and down the stretch the team had visions of an NBA championship. Instead, the Mavs wilted in the playoffs, losing a five-game semifinal series — including both games at home — to the Sacramento Kings. Despite its disappointing finish and the inane antics of eccentric owner Mark Cuban, Dallas’s future is very bright, as long as Cuban keeps doling out the dough. The Stars, Dallas’s NHL club, won the Stanley Cup just three years ago, but has not aged well and has parted with most of the talent that brought them to Olympus back in ’99. They’re coming off a promising season, but their 36-28-13-5 record was only good for tenth place in the conference, and the Stars missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Outlook: the Cowboys will continue to struggle, and the Rangers will probably need a complete overhaul to become a winner. The Mavs are one of the NBA’s franchises-on-the-rise, and could be in the league finals a year from now. The Stars are probably in rebuilding mode, and will need drastic changes to become a factor anytime soon.

• Denver: The Rockies baseball club got off to such a dismal start this season that it changed managers in the first month. Nonetheless, it remains in last place in the NL West. The Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls in the late ’90s, but lately they’ve been fading slightly, and missed out on the NFL playoffs this past season for the first time since 1995. Since John Elway retired and Terrell Davis’s unending string of injuries began, Denver has been just good enough to be feared — particularly at home — but not deep enough to go all the way. Whether or not Brian Griese is proficient enough to lead the Broncos back to their once-lofty status is up for debate, but the team seems to be taking the escalator down rather than up. The Denver Nuggets continue to be one of the NBA’s laughingstocks, and they realistically cannot get any worse in the coming years. They’ll have the fifth pick in the upcoming draft, but no one would be surprised if they manage to screw it up again. The area’s hockey team, the Colorado Avalanche, has been the area’s main source of pride in recent years, with the Ray Bourque–themed championship last year bringing the former Quebec franchise its second Cup in six years. It is currently playing for a return trip to the Cup Finals. But when you get right down to it, this mile-high region is primarily interested in the fortunes of the Broncos, and every other team is a distant second in the hearts of Denver fans. Outlook: The Rockies and Nuggets have a long way to go to reach a level of respectability, the Broncos are heading into a critical season, and the Avalanche are in pretty damn good shape again — they'll probably be champs again if they can get past the Detroit Red Wings in this round.

Five cities down, and Boston’s fortunes still appear to be the brightest. But we have a few more stops along the way before we can crown this town America’s current sports heartland. Next up to test the locals' mettle: the Yanks and Nets, New York's (and New Jersey’s) finest, come to town this weekend.

To be continued. . .

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com.