Suffering and Schadenfreude…the Long (Long, Long, Long) and Longest Waits

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

If I'd done that, I would be a Jets, Mets, Canadians & Celtics fan. Like, eww!

Mine should have been Packers, Cardinals, Maple Leafs, 76ers. Went with the Packers and Leafs but swapped 76ers with the Celtics (Irish thing) and never really followed a MLB team, no reason why just never settled with one. Packers and Celtics both took around 14 years to win a championship from when I started to follow them, Leafs still waiting, their overdue as early 90s I started following them.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by whifflebird

When the Lions won in 1957, there was no AFL. When the Vikings won, there was. But I never really gave it much thought and I can see an argument either way.

But there was an AFL between 1960 and 1965 but no game between the AFL and NFL took place.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

If I'd done that, I would be a Jets, Mets, Canadians & Celtics fan. Like, eww!

I'd be a Packers, Cardinals, Canadians and Celtics fan. I've disliked 3 of those teams all of my life with a neutral opinion on the Cards.

[monkeyman576]

For me it would be Boston Celtics, Cincinatti Reds, Montreal Canadiens, and the Dallas Cowboys

[thehef]

If going by that season's titlists, for me it would be Cards, Browns, Celtics, Maple Leafs. If going by who the champs were at the time I was born (since MLB & NFL champs weren't determined until later in the year), it'd be Dodgers, NY Giants, Celtics, Leafs... Started actually liking sports & teams in mid-70's. Liked Dodgers and LA Kings in mid-70's from quietly listening to two of the greatest - Vin Scully and Bob Miller - on AM radio after mom had told me to go to bed. Liked Celtics because my uncle, from Columbus, OH, was a big Havlicek (and thus Celtics') fan. Liked Miami Dolphins around the same time when I met my cousin, who had moved from Florida... So I guess I dodged a bullet on the Browns

Haven't changed any of my mid-70's allegiances. Despite some tough times in Miami over the last couple decades (the heydey years of Marino were fun, but no titles)... '88 for the Dodgers was amazing. And I have great recollections of the '81 win over the Yankees (after the painful losses of '77 & '78: CURSE that damn Reggie Jackson for leaning his fat azz into Bill Russell's throw!). But the drought since '88 has been ugly, especially after the Dave Roberts-induced chokes of '17 and '19... With the Celtics, the curses of injuries and occasionally death (not to mention incompetence - hello ML Carr and Rick Pitino) only lifted briefly in 2008, robbing the team of a few additional titles (namely '85, '87, '09, '10)... As for the Kings, with two relatively recent titles, can't really complain. Especially in the manner in which the '14 title was won...

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

I started following the Toronto Maple Leafs because they won a Stanley Cup the year I was born, I'm still waiting for another

never know when it will finally happen... before last season, the last time the Blues played a game in the Stanley Cup finals was the day I was born, so it was a long wait to actually see them get there with my own eyes

[Eric]

Did the original post get updated? Since the post was made before the 2019 world series, I'm surprised I don't see the Expos/Nationals on there.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by stl jason

never know when it will finally happen... before last season, the last time the Blues played a game in the Stanley Cup finals was the day I was born, so it was a long wait to actually see them get there with my own eyes

I wish they'd hurry up, I started following Wigan Athletic when they weren't even a professional team and they've won a major football (soccer) trophy in that time.

[Amazin69]

Okay, I missed my February date. Apologies to the Chiefs, who were actually in a bit of danger, having failed to win 49 consecutive Super Bowls. (V-LIII.)

This begs the point: should 50 failures put you on the list, or need we wait for 51? I've said things that indicate both possibilities, and if it is 50, then I owe an apology to the Expo/Nats, who went from 1969-2018 without a title. I'm actually of two minds…the idea that you get a solid block of 50 years before you start getting cited appeals to my sense of symmetry, but on the other hand, there's an argument for listing everyone whose legacy of failure has a number that starts with "5". I guess I'll separate out the "50" cases for now, but please feel free to cast your vote.

As for the seasons still technically in (arrested) progress, the NHL has officially said who has and who hasn't qualified for the playoffs, so if you're out, it counts against your total. In contrast, the NBA has yet to set a schedule for resumption, so for all we know the Suns could still win the title. (I wouldn't bet on it…for me, the key Phoenix question is "since Devin Booker is now 'dating' Kendall Jenner, does that mean he's gay, too?"…but it's still at least a theoretical possibility…). So all NBA teams are still at their previous marks.

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, 72 year drought.

Cleveland Indians—Last won in 1948, 71 year drought

(Rochester/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City[-Omaha]/) Sacramento Kings—Last won in 1951, 68 year drought

Detroit Lions—Last won in 1957, 62 year drought

(St. Louis/) Atlanta Hawks—Last won in 1958, 61 year drought

(Washington Senators [II]/) Texas Rangers—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought

Minnesota Vikings—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought

(World Series comes before Super Bowl, so that's why the listing is in this order)

(Houston/) Tennessee Oilers/Titans—Last won in 1961 (AFL), 58 year drought

(Los Angeles/San Diego/) Los Angeles Chargers—last won in 1963 (AFL), 56 year drought

Cleveland Browns—last won in 1964*, 55 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), 54 year drought

Atlanta Falcons—never won*, debuted in 1966, 53 year drought

(*-In other words, they haven't won during Dan Quinn's entire life. Due, in part, to Dan "who needs an easy FG and an 11-point lead? Swing passes never lose key yardage!" Quinn [Yup, still bitter.])

Toronto Maple Leafs—last won in 1967, 52 year drought

Cincinnati Bengals—never won, debuted in 1968, 52 year drought.

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.

And now, those on the cusp…

Buffalo Sabres—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

(The Sabres have been ruled out of the upcoming NHL playoffs, so that's 50. In contrast, the Vancouver Canucks still have one last shot, as do [presumably] the NBA's Buffalo Braves/San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers)

Thanks, and see you…mid-August? Whenever the Maple Leafs and the Canucks get eliminated, I guess. Or whenever the NBA says the Suns can set, perhaps.

[Amazin69]

Update! Still a bit miffed about the Canucks (I can't stand the Golden Knights) but Thatcher Demko is only human, after all. And now that Vancouver has met the same fate as the Leafs and the Suns (despite that valiant 8-0 bubble run), time to polish this up.

And correct the obvious omission that none of you spotted, anyhow.

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, 72 year drought.

Cleveland Indians—Last won in 1948, 71 year drought

(Rochester/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City[-Omaha]/) Sacramento Kings—Last won in 1951, 69 year drought

Detroit Lions—Last won in 1957, 62 year drought

(St. Louis/) Atlanta Hawks—Last won in 1958, 61 year drought

(Washington Senators [II]/) Texas Rangers—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought

Minnesota Vikings—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought

(World Series comes before Super Bowl, so that's why the listing is in this order)

(Houston/) Tennessee Oilers/Titans—Last won in 1961 (AFL), 58 year drought

(Los Angeles/San Diego/) Los Angeles Chargers—last won in 1963 (AFL), 56 year drought

Cleveland Browns—last won in 1964*, 55 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), 54 year drought

Atlanta Falcons—never won*, debuted in 1966, 54 year drought

(*-Previous anti-Dan Quinn note replaced by "Dan Quinn can still suck it!" in interests of brevity)

Toronto Maple Leafs—last won in 1967, 53 year drought

Cincinnati Bengals—never won, debuted in 1968, 52 year drought.

Phoenix Suns—never won, debuted in 1968, 52 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.

Here's the one I missed:

New York Jets—last won in 1968, 51 year drought.

(Again, World Series is before the Super Bowl, so that's why this order. Should have been up since February, at least. My bad.)

And now, those on the cusp…

Buffalo Sabres—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

Vancouver Canucks—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

(The 'nucks are 0-3 in the Stanley Cup finals. Their last two tries saw them fall to the only Rangers team to win the Cup in the past 80 years, and the only Bruins to win in the past 50. So perhaps karma points for helping a pair of "Original Six" teams avoid Vancouver's own fate?)

Will the Clippers join the 50 club? Or can Kawhi keep them off of this list? Keep watching and see, I guess.

[Westheim]

At least the Mets aren't gonna make it up that list until I'm 50, too ...

[Boomcoach]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

GLORIAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile, we now have another contender for "all-time greatest sports story season", IMO. I rank them

1. 1969 Mets
2. 1999 Rams
3. 2018-2019 Blues

…but I don't know where to put 2015-2016 Leicester City, exactly. Yes, 5000-1 odds, but those are only odds, after all. And the fact that there's no post-season in the Premiere League takes away the "last, hardest hurdle" element, IMO. Remember the Mets were still considered hopeless against the Orioles, the Blues were underdogs to Boston, and the Titans had already beaten the Rams once that season. (And had their own "Music City Miracle" to claim the Mantle of Destiny, had Dyson been able to reach One Yard More.) Thoughts?

I consider Leicester City's championship MORE impressive because there is no playoff. They didn't have the opportunity to go 9-7 and then have a hot month, capped with a catch on the top of the head. They played everyone home and away and were the best team, flat out. Championships without a playoff can have some anti-climactic finishes, but they also show you who the BEST team is, especially with a balanced schedule.

[dkgo]

Exactly. American sports use playoffs to be an entertaining crapshoot, not a method of determining the best team.

It is far more impressive to have to be the best performing team against the exact same schedule as everyone else over the course of the whole season than getting lucky in a few series.

A 38 game hurdle is a lot harder than just needing to win 4 out of 7 as a 3-1 dog or whatever.

[Ragnar]

Just curious, there's no loser pool this year for the NFL?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

Just curious, there's no loser pool this year for the NFL?

Looks like none of you reminded me to open a thread

I didn't even know the season was starting.

It's alright. We can still start with Week 2.

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

GLORIAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

In celebration, time for an update, a record of who really needs to find a Laura Branigan song to make the difference. (Did you both "Gloria" and "Self Control" were translated versions of Italian pop hits? It's true.)

Nothing personal for me, since the Mets and Raiders are "merely" suffering through 32- and 35-season dry spells, respectively (and Mark Davis is making me turn in my silver-and-black affiliation; I'm a "free agent" now, I guess) and the Clippers still have next season before they go on this list. (Hey, all we need to do is sign Kawhi and Malcolm Brogdon and get REALLY lucky…)

Current as of today. 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, 70 year drought

(Rochester/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City-Omaha/) Sacramento Kings—Last won in 1951, 68 year drought

(yeah, if I'm going to jump the gun and give the Suns "credit" for not winning this season's NBA title [see below], I should do the same for everyone. Okay, then.)

Detroit Lions—Last won in 1957, 61 year drought

(St. Louis/) Atlanta Hawks—Last won in 1958, 61 year drought

(As before, since the 2019 NBA title won't go to the Hawks but the Lions could [theoretically] win Super Bowl LIV, 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, 58 year drought

Minnesota Vikings—never won, debuted in 1961, 58 year drought

(Houston Oilers/) Tennessee 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

(*-hey, Dan Quinn, how about you run into the line a couple of times and let Matt Bryant kick the 40-yard FG to go up by 11? No? Okay, then…)

Toronto Maple Leafs—last won in 1967, 52 year drought

(And congratulations to Tyler Bozak, who just won the Cup with St. Louis after having spent his entire previous 9-season career with the Maple Laffs. [Er, Leafs] I'm sure he got a few "out of the frying pan, into the fire" texts when he chose to sign with St. Louis, but who's laughing now?)

Phoenix Suns—never won, debuted in 1968, 51 year drought.

Either the Buffalo Sabres or Vancouver Canucks will be here come mid-2020, as they both can't win the Stanley Cup next season. And, as noted Buffalo Braves/San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers just need to go all the way next season, and they're home free. (Ulp! Go, Clips!)

If the Clippers were still the Braves, it might be a rough year for Buffalo. They're not Cleveland, but they can see it from there…

Meanwhile, we now have another contender for "all-time greatest sports story season", IMO. I rank them

1. 1969 Mets
2. 1999 Rams
3. 2018-2019 Blues

…but I don't know where to put 2015-2016 Leicester City, exactly. Yes, 5000-1 odds, but those are only odds, after all. And the fact that there's no post-season in the Premiere League takes away the "last, hardest hurdle" element, IMO. Remember the Mets were still considered hopeless against the Orioles, the Blues were underdogs to Boston, and the Titans had already beaten the Rams once that season. (And had their own "Music City Miracle" to claim the Mantle of Destiny, had Dyson been able to reach One Yard More.) Thoughts?

I'm also taking alternative nominees, but no Bulls, Yankees, or Warriors…dynasties crushing everyone have their own charm, but IMO the Greatest Sports Stories have the "unlikely heroes" aspect working for them, as well. A joke team that had never been higher than ninth, the worst team of the entire decade (allegedly built to lose so the League would let them out of Anaheim), and dead-last-on-January-3rd (and then the goalie who couldn't even get starts in the minors is golden) have a special magic that even the '86 Mets don't, because those 116 wins were more "it's about time!" than "it's a miracle!" IMO.

Seeing the Oilers on the list makes me think of that crazy Frank Reich AFC Championship comeback game in Buffalo. Offensive machine they had, but Oilers are up something like 35-3 at the half, & not Jim Kelly, but Frank Reich leads them back...only so Kelly can lose ...I'm not sure which Super Bowl, but the Oilers were in very good shape until that storm.

Edit: (Oilers 35, Bills 3 Halftime. Oilers 38, Bills 38 End of Regulation. Oilers 38, Bills 41 F/OT...Not 100% sure but I think this led to the Bills' 2nd of 4 consecutive SB losses in 1992 to the Redskins.) (Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, Cowboys)...EDIT 2: Yes, it was that season they lost to the Redskins but this was actually in the first round of the playoffs...memory...I remember watching the whole game, but forgot that part.

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

It works just fine. We're counting "championships not won", not calendar years.

The Bills won the AFL championship in 1965. From 1966-2018 they failed to win a championship, thus 53 years. (The Super Bowl gets played the following calendar year, of course, but that's 53 seasons since Buffalo won all that it could win.)

The Falcons joined the NFL the same season that they started playing Super Bowls. They haven't won any of those 53 Super Bowls (got their butts beat once and gave another away), so that's the same 53 failures the Bills have to their record.

The Leafs and the Blues failed to win the Stanley Cup from 1968-2018 (the Blues having just remedied that), so that's 51 Cup-less campaigns.

The Suns failed to win the NBA championship from 1969-2019 (I know we still don't know who does win the 2019 NBA title…but it's not the Suns), also 51 seasons.

The current standings are now:

Leafs: 52 failures
Blues: GLORIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Suns: 51 failures

Clearer, now?

mmmhmm, Yeah, that clears everything up!

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by dkgo

Exactly. American sports use playoffs to be an entertaining crapshoot, not a method of determining the best team.

It is far more impressive to have to be the best performing team against the exact same schedule as everyone else over the course of the whole season than getting lucky in a few series.

A 38 game hurdle is a lot harder than just needing to win 4 out of 7 as a 3-1 dog or whatever.

Americans play soccer, football or futbol (world version) for fun when they are kids but play all the other sports, too...There's the MLS but sometimes baseball, the NBA or the NFL just grabs you as you mature and you follow these sports instead of futbol. World football still has a big place in my heart but it's much harder to ignore the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL living exclusively in N.America ...(possibly especially when you remain sort of "happy" with soccer, anyway.)...While the world takes the professional competitions in the sport much more seriously.

In my experience...

[BBGiovanni]

Yet another thread with Jets fun! I might have to actually watch them again although I won't pay extra $ to the NFL to do it.

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

If I'd done that, I would be a Jets, Mets, Canadians & Celtics fan. Like, eww!

When I moved to NY I remember having a chat with a native (football) Giants fan about sports generally, and he said something nice about the Jets like "well, Jets fans tend to be older..." And that was in 1991! At least the older folks have memory of the Jets actually being in NY and their own stadium.

[Amazin69]

Okay, I've been dragging my feet, but it's time. I could wait until the Padres crap out, so I have all the MLB teams up to date, but eh. I'll get them next time. It's a different bunch of (ex-)San Diegans that "deserve" "recognition" right now.

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, 72 year drought.

Cleveland Indians—Last won in 1948, 72 year drought

(Once again "tied" for a few months, until/unless Kyler breaks the Curse of the Bidwills. We Bidwill see, I guess.)

(Rochester/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City[-Omaha]/) Sacramento Kings—Last won in 1951, 69 year drought

Detroit Lions—Last won in 1957, 62 year drought

(St. Louis/) Atlanta Hawks—Last won in 1958, 62 year drought

(And the Hawks have "caught" the Lions again! Yay?)

(Washington Senators [II]/) Texas Rangers—never won, debuted in 1961, 60 year drought

Minnesota Vikings—never won, debuted in 1961, 59 year drought

(Rangers' chances are over for the season; Vikings are TOTALLY going to win SB LV, so Texas pulls "ahead"…for now.)

(Houston/) Tennessee Oilers/Titans—Last won in 1961 (AFL), 58 year drought

(Los Angeles/San Diego/) Los Angeles Chargers—last won in 1963 (AFL), 56 year drought

Cleveland Browns—last won in 1964*, 55 year drought (1996-1998 failure to win excusable, as no team existed then)

(*—blah, blah, I despise Art Modell and Ray Lewis, eternally, etc, etc…)

Buffalo Bills—last won in 1965 (AFL), 54 year drought

(Can Josh Allen…nah, too soon to speculate. BTW, "The Comeback" was only 28-3 Houston at half; Reich threw a ball that went through his tight end's hands and into Bubba McDowell's for a pick-six to start the 3rd, and then the fun began.)

Atlanta Falcons—never won*, debuted in 1966, 54 year drought

(*-Previous anti-Dan Quinn note replaced by "Dan Quinn can still, STILL suck it!" in interests of brevity)

Toronto Maple Leafs—last won in 1967, 53 year drought

Cincinnati Bengals—never won, debuted in 1968, 52 year drought.

Phoenix Suns—never won, debuted in 1968, 52 year drought.

(Seattle Pilots)/Milwaukee Brewers—never won, debuted in 1969, 52 year drought.

(Bud's Suds are already out whereas the Padres are still alive…pause for laughter…so they go to the head [pun!] of the Class of '69, for now.)

San Diego Padres—never won, debuted in 1969, 51 year drought.

New York Jets—last won in 1968, 51 year drought.

(Again, World Series is before the Super Bowl, so that's why this order. It'll all be moot when Gase and Darnold lead the J-E-T-S to glory, right?)

And now, those on the cusp…

Buffalo Sabres—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

Vancouver Canucks—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

And welcome…
(Buffalo Braves/San Diego/) Los Angeles Chokers, er, Clippers—never won, debuted in 1970, 50 year drought.

(Let's remember, the Clips have never even reached a semi-final. You need to win four series to win the title…the Clippers have never even managed two.

This "you can't even get half-way there!" incompetence is greater than the next two on that list [Hornets/Pelicans, 30 years without getting a sniff of a sniff; Bluejackets, 19 early exits] COMBINED. LA is about as much Kawhi's city as it was Chris Kaman's when Reggie Evans grabbed his junk, Swaggy P's when Memphis went to sleep, or DeAndre Jordan's when he sent Mark Jackson into broadcasting. Lovely memories, all. But still.)