Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnar
Then who were the champions of all American football from 1960 to 1965? The AFL champion or the NFL champion?
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An excellent question, and subject to dispute. Hence the merger and the Super Bowl to decide such things.
Again, just because a game is called a "championship game", doesn't make it so. No more than calling some British mediocrity Taylor Swift's "boyfriend" makes her any less gay.
Yes, the 1969 Vikings were supreme in the NFL, by dint of winning that circuit's final game as an independent league. But those 16 teams were challenged by the 10 in the AFL, and they lost the opportunity to beat the AFL's champions. Whereas the 1957 LIons were kings of the jungle, undisputedly.
Anyway, now that the Expos/Nationals are safe from the list (after never actually being on it…50 years without winning? Pikers!), it's time for an update, methinks. So here we go:
Remember it's "championships not won", which doesn't care if there was no championship to win, due to strike/lockout/Art Modell-stole-the-team-for-three-seasons issues.
(Chicago/St.Louis/Phoenix/) Arizona Cardinals—Last won in 1947, 71 year drought.
Cleveland Indians—Last won in 1948, 71 year drought
(Yes, it's been longer since the Cardinals' December, 1947 triumph than since the Tribe's glory from October of 1948. But we're only counting failures here…Kyler and the Cards still have a chance at SB LIV, whereas we know these indians failed just as much as the ones who sent Charlie Lupica up a pole, and all those since. So they're tied…for now.)
(Rochester/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City-Omaha/) Sacramento Kings—Last won in 1951, 68 year drought
Detroit Lions—Last won in 1957, 61 year drought
(St. Louis/) Atlanta Hawks—Last won in 1958, 61 year drought
(As before, the drought is the same, even if the Hawks' last win was the more recent one.)
(Washington Senators [II]/) Texas Rangers—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought
Minnesota Vikings—never won, debuted in 1961, 58 year drought
(Again, the Rangers didn't win anything this season, but the Vikes still might. So a few more months before they're "tied" again.)
(Houston Oilers/) Tennessee Oilers/Titans—Last won in 1961 (AFL), 57 year drought
(San Diego/) Los Angeles Chargers—last won in 1963 (AFL), 55 year drought
Cleveland Browns—last won in 1964*, 54 year drought (1996-1998 failure to win excusable, as no team existed then)
*—blah, blah, I despise Art Modell and Ray Lewis, see previous posts
Buffalo Bills—last won in 1965 (AFL), 53 year drought
Atlanta Falcons—never won*, debuted in 1966, 53 year drought
(*-Dan Quinn just cut Matt Bryant, perhaps because he could no longer stand being reminded of his throwing SB LI away because he didn't trust one of the League's most-reliable kickers.)
Toronto Maple Leafs—last won in 1967, 52 year drought
Cincinnati Bengals—never won, debuted in 1968, 51 year drought.
(Should have already been the list, as they've failed to win SBs III-LIII, inclusive. My bad.)
Phoenix Suns—never won, debuted in 1968, 51 year drought.
San Diego Padres—never won, debuted in 1969, 51 year drought.
(Seattle Pilots)/Milwaukee Brewers—never won, debuted in 1969, 51 year drought.
(It's a good thing Jim Bouton isn't alive to see this, dudes! If you were gonna choke like that in the post-season, you could have lost a few more games in September and let the Mets in, instead. [Except that would have saved Mickey Calloway's job, so…never mind.]
R.I.P., Ass Eyes. Miss you.)
See you in February!