Why?
My Sports Misery Index, of course. In a post last fall, I created a "misery index" for U.S. cities with teams in one of the "big four" major league sports - the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. Each city got a point for a season played by its teams in each league since the city's last championship in any. (Cities with two teams in one league do not get double credit.)
I've updated the standings with the 2008 NFL, NBA and NHL results (though not yet the 2008 MLB losers):
City Last title Misery Score
1. Cleveland 1964 (NFL) 126
2. Philadelphia 1983 (NBA) 99
3. Buffalo never 95
4. San Diego never 94
5. Seattle 1979 (NBA) 86
6. Minneapolis 1991 (MLB) 59
7. New Orleans never 52
8. Washington, D.C. 1992 (NFL) 51
9. SF Bay Area 1995 (NFL) 50
10. Atlanta 1995 (MLB) 47
11. Kansas City 1985 (MLB) 45
12 Houston 1995 (NBA) 36
13. Cincinnati 1990 (MLB) 35
Dallas 1999 (NHL) 35
15. Charlotte never 32
Milwaukee 1997 (NFL- Green Bay) 32
17. Portland 1977 (NBA) 31
18. Salt Lake City never 29
19. Denver 2001 (NHL) 27
Phoenix 2001 (MLB) 27
21. Nashville never 21
22. Orlando never 19
24. Baltimore 2001 (NFL) 13
Jacksonville never 13
26. Tampa Bay Area 2004 (NHL) 11
Chicago 2005 (MLB) 11
28. Columbus never 9
Memphis never 9
30. Miami 2006 (NBA) 7
31. Pittsburgh 2006 (NFL) 5
St. Louis 2006 (MLB) 5
33. Los Angeles 2007 (NHL) 3
34. Raleigh 2006 (NHL) 2
Indianapolis 2007 (NFL) 2
36. San Antonio 2007 (NBA) 1
37. Boston 2008 (NBA) 0
New York/NJ 2008 (NFL) 0
Detroit 2008 (NHL) 0
So, if you want to spare a city further misery, ya gotta pull for the Phillies, since Philadelphia comes in a horrific number two on the list. The Tampa Bay, Florida area comes in just 26th.
I know we've got a lot of Central Florida theme park fans on the site, but, folks, ya gotta cut the folks from Philly some slack here, don't ya?
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Maybe the Cavs can get LeBron some backcourt help. Maybe the Bills can close as hot as they started this season. So there is some hope in those towns. But, Seattle, man - I am soooo sorry, Seattle fans. FWIW, I am rooting for the OKC Whatevertheirnameis to go 0-82.
Also, the real misery-sufferer here is Canada, whose teams keep getting taken away and sent to the U.S. (e.g. Montreal Expos to Washington Nationals) due to lack of funding. We should be somewhere near the top of that list.
However, now I live in Orlando, so I am a huge Rays fan as well, and it hasnt just been this year like is the case for a lot of fans...Im definatley pulling for the Rays, but we have a large hill to climb down 3-1 with Hamels pitching tonight for the Phillies
I do feel somewhat sorry for Philly's championship drought...but remember, these are the fans that booed Santa Claus, so I dont feel that bad for them..
GO RAYS!!
The city of brotherly love booing Santa?! They wouldn't do that, would they? Really? Go Rays!
"And in the 4th, the Rough Riders: 28 have defeated the Roughriders: 7" (in reference to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Ottawa Rough Riders).
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However, being in KC, I gotta pull for the small markets, regardless of a city's misery! Go Rays! ;)