Philadelphia - Really the Most Cursed Sports Town?

It's been 4 days since I watched those feisty Dallas Stars get adroitly dismissed in game 6, after showing signs of perhaps being only the 2nd team in a million to force a game 7 after being down 0-3 in a series (I'm too lazy to actually look up the numbers, but it's safe to say that this guy has a better chance of winning American Idol than the Stars had to come back and win that series.) So, after having this song rattle around my beer-soaked brain for a few days, it's time to shift focus to other goings on.



When the Flyers lost in the Eastern Conference finals to Pittsburgh last weekend, a clever columnist claimed that Philly was now officially 100 years old - as in it's been at least 25 years since any of their four major sports teams won a title. The Sixers won the city's most recent title in 1983, and despite many close calls in all four sports, Philly has drawn the short stick ever since.







I've heard about "Philly Fan Hell" for years from BMFS, and the SI writer, who is also a Philly resident, captured the city's collective sports sense of impending doom perfectly:



Philadelphia (yes, my hometown) has been a major trophy-free zone since 1983. The drought has battered the area's collective psyche, rendering an entire generation of sports fans wounded, disillusioned and emotionally bankrupt. Whether you chalk up the streak to bad players, bad management or just plain bad luck, the hard numbers remain the same: 100 seasons, zero championships.



Is there a pox on Philly's sports teams, like the Curse of Billy Penn purports? No. Every season is its own snapshot. But there's nervous (read: bad) energy generated throughout the city whenever one of our teams makes a deep playoff run, a palpable tension among the locals as the big game approaches. That much is real.



And if you really want to get kicked in your EagleFlyerSixerPhilliesNutz, read his list of the 100 Worst Moments in Philly Sports History later in the article.



Soooo...I couldn't let these suffering souls from the City of Brotherly Pessimism get off so easily and claim such a title without a little research. While it's true that they do have the longest title drought of any four-sport team, are they indeed the most deprived fans?

I defined "Major Sports Towns" as those with at least three of the major four team sports - if you restrict it to four-sport cities, then Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, Seattle, St. Louis and Pittsburgh would all be eliminated from consideration, and I think we can agree that these are major sports burgs.



Without further ado, here are the major sports cities, ranked in order from their most recent team's title (by calendar year):



CITY - YEARS SINCE TITLE

1. New York 0 (Giants)


2. Boston 1 (Red Sox)


3. Miami 2 (Heat)


4. Pittsburgh 2 (Steelers)


5. St. Louis 2 (Cards)


6. Chicago 3 (White Sox)


7. Detroit 4 (Pistons)


8. Denver 7 (Avalanche)


9. Phoenix 7 (D'Backs)


10. Baltimore/D.C. 7 (Ravens)*


11. Dallas 9 (Stars)


12. Milwaukee 11 (Packers)


13. Atlanta 13 (Braves - like any other ATL team will EVER win!)


14. Houston 13 (Rockets)


15. S.F./Oakland 13 (Niners)


16. Minnesota 17 (Twins)


17. Philadelphia 25 (Sixers)


18. Seattle 29 (Sonics. RIP)

annnnd.....drum roll please.............

In last place among towns with at least three major sports teams, the city whose fans have returned like Tantalus ever year only to see their title hopes dashed yet again....

CLEVELAND! Forty-four years and counting! The Browns have been the only team to taste champagne in The Forest City, and that was in the pre-Super Bowl era of the NFL in 1964.

So, yes it's true that the Philly fans are a seemingly doomed lot, at least a parade has plowed through their streets somewhat recently when compared to those in Cleveland.

Interestingly, there is one major city that has doesn't own a title of ANY kind. They are currently only a two-sport town, but they did have an "NBA team" until 1984. San Diego has actually NEVER won a ring in any major team sport (I don't count their lone AFL title). They've been to the World Series in 1984 and 1998, and the Super Bowl in 1995, but never closed the deal. But we don't hear a thing from those fans - once their teams are bounced, they just turn off the TV and head to the beach. Fuck it.

So there Philly - you are joined in a race to the bottom, but you're in third place behind Cleveland and Seattle. But things are looking up in one respect - you're going to make up a place next year when the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, thus making them ineligible for this list.

*I combined D.C. and Baltimore, or else Baltimore would not have been eligible for the list. If ranked by them selves, Washington D.C. would have been #16 - the Redskins won in 1993.