In February, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers played in the area's first Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

North Texas recently completed what was arguably its greatest sports year, with the caveat that it was spread over two calendar years.

Dallas or Arlington hosted the Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals in a 7½-month stretch from fall 2010 to summer 2011. With the Texas Rangers’ defeat of the Detroit Tigers, that asterisk can be erased as the World Series prepares to return here Saturday.

Sportscaster Pat Summerall, a Southlake resident, said this isn’t just a great year for the Dallas area. It’s as good as he’s seen since his playing days a half century ago when his New York Giants competed for football’s championships the same years that the New York Yankees won World Series.

“I’ve seen it happen before, but it’s a thrill to be able to go to your choice of whatever you want and see a championship,” Summerall said. “This has to be the No. 1 sports area.”

Although the 81-year-old has seen plenty of championships in his broadcasting career, attending those games required plane flights or road trips rather than short drives down the freeway.

Since the creation of the Super Bowl nearly 45 years ago, no city or region had hosted championship games from the nation’s three biggest sports in a single year.

Only one other area — Los Angeles — accomplished a split-year trifecta, and that happened in 1966 and 1967 with Super Bowl I.

Thanks to those 2010-11 accomplishments, The Sporting News recently named Dallas-Fort Worth the nation's Best Sports City. That honor — the first for this area — came even before the Rangers clinched back-to-back American League West pennants and squelched lingering worries that 2010 was a fluke. These days, World Series champions San Francisco Giants, who missed this year's playoffs, now look like last year's fluky baseball story.

‘It’s phenomenal’

Eager to seize bragging rights whenever possible, the head of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame described this as a historic moment. Steve Fallon, the Waco museum’s executive director, said he plans to talk to his staff about creating a temporary exhibit commemorating this run.

“The fact that this hasn’t happened anywhere else in the country makes it especially sweet,” Fallon said.

Although he hasn’t looked for comparisons, Fallon said he couldn’t immediately think of any Texas sports years to compete with 2011.

Jim Dent, author and former sportswriter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Times Herald, said this is unquestionably the region's greatest sports year. He said Dallas area hasn't been a place accustomed to this.

“It’s phenomenal for an area that’s not really known for producing that many championship teams, other than the Cowboys,” Dent said. “We haven’t enjoyed an overage of this kind of success.”

The Cowboys have appeared in eight Super Bowls and won five, but none since 1996. The Rangers and Dallas Mavericks have combined for four championship series appearances with only one win. When the Dallas Stars are included, the numbers increase to six championship series and two wins.

Those numbers are unlikely to impress sports fans in New York, Los Angeles or Boston.

Still, Fallon said many Texas sports fans expect championships because of past success from the state’s teams and athletes — professional and amateur.

“I can’t think of a time when we’ve had a miserable year in sports,” Fallon said. “If one of your favorite teams in one sport isn’t winning, the other one usually is. I think we’re spoiled. That’s not a bad thing.”

Change in the lineup

This new golden age of sports could be facing trouble. Only the Rangers seem poised to keep expectations high in the upcoming year.

With a labor dispute and cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, it’s not certain whether the Mavericks will even get a chance to defend their title. The Dallas Cowboys have been shaky so far, and odds makers have been steadily downgrading the team’s chances of winning the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars have missed the past three playoffs. Despite predictions of more of the same for this year, the hockey team has gotten off to a stronger start.

Even the luster seems to be off college football. Texas Christian University won this year’s Rose Bowl and finished second in the nation. But with a 4-2 record this season, the Horned Frogs have dropped out of the top 25. With its 4-1 record SMU looks like the best college team in North Texas.

Although Cowboys Stadium will host the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four, that won’t happen until 2014, with the regional arriving in 2013. Another Super Bowl in Arlington couldn’t be held any earlier than 2016, and it’s not clear whether that venue is even a contender for Super Bowl L.

Summerall said he hopes North Texas sports fans appreciate what they’re seeing while they have the opportunity. He said there’s a large section of the Dallas-area fan base that expects success, which is often perceived in other states as arrogance.

But even great sports cities have their faults. Summerall recalled the fans in New York, where he worked and played.

“It’s sort of a blasé attitude in New York. They just take it for granted their teams are going to win,” he said. “The attitude around here is, ‘Hey, let’s take advantage of it.’”

Dent said what makes 2011 even more amazing and somewhat surprising is the state’s most famous team — the Cowboys — played only a supporting role in a historic sports year. The team was out of the playoff picture early in the season, leaving the spotlight shining on the stadium, for better or worse.

He wondered whether this is a transformative time for the local sports landscape. While there are plenty of lifelong Cowboys fans here, he said the region is filling up with transplants who weren’t living the Dallas area during the glory years of the 1970s and 1990s. Dent said many newcomers are embracing their adopted hometown winners, and those are the Rangers and Mavericks these days.

“If I was [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones, I’d be looking over my shoulder,” Dent said.

Timeline: Best sports year

Jan. 1: TCU defeats Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and finishes No. 2 in the nation.

Feb. 6: North Texas hosts its first Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

June 12: The Dallas Mavericks defeat the Miami Heat for the team's first NBA title.

Saturday: The Texas Rangers defeat the Detroit Tigers for the American League Championship, securing their second straight World Series trip.