|
Cities of despair
Posted: Wednesday October 28, 1998 12:49 PM
If you're a Padres fan, it's not just the Yankees that you
must worry about. You must also concern yourself with your
own zip code. Alas, as the good people of San Diego County
know only too well, losing, in sports, appears to be
something of a
municipal infection.
Listen to the sad facts. There are 38 metropolitan areas
in the United States that have at least one major-league
franchise—either in baseball, football, basketball or
hockey. Sixteen of these 38 city-states have never won a
title. Never. Ever.
That means that 42% of the franchise cities in the United
States have been shut out of a championship. Alas, San
Diego is very near the top—the bottom?—of this
oh-for-forever list.
Now, true, this ignominy may not be fair to attach to some
of these Loservilles. Nashville and Charlotte, for
example, have only very recently been welcomed into the
big-league club. Also, those towns with only one
team—like Sacramento or
Greensboro—have not had the same fair opportunity to establish a losing
reputation, such as San Diego has, with her multiple
woebegone franchises and a venerable history of athletic
subjugation.
But then, more is no assurance of victory. There happen to
be nine cities with at least one franchise in all four
prime team sports. Could you name them? New York, of
course. Chicago. No, not L.A. But yes: Philadelphia and
Boston and Detroit and Miami and Denver.
Then ... Dallas and Phoenix. You're probably betting NHL
games if you got those last two. But even with four
separate big-league franchises, Dallas' only winner, ever,
is the Cowboys, and Phoenix has never once been a
titletown.
Of course, they wisely call the football and baseball teams
in Phoenix by an alias—using the extended family name
of Arizona as a cover. Whatever: In never having won a
championship, the many Phoenix teams have played 43
straight seasons without a
ring, without bringing home the bacon, without nailing the
coonskin to the
wall.
This beats Tampa-St. Pete, which is never-for-30, or New
Orleans, which is zip-for-37. Indianapolis, which suffers
the put-down nickname, "India-no-place," is also
no-championships-for-47 seasons. But, still, in the losing
category, Indianapolis is
small potatoes. San Diego and Buffalo have both had various
major-league franchises for the past 33 years straight.
Neither has ever won a title, although San Diego can take
some solace in that it has only played a total of 68
seasons without ever
winning the big one, while Buffalo's various franchises are a
combined
0-for-70.
So, does this mean that Buffalo is the most hopeless sports
town in all the 50 states? Well, it depends. Yes, Buffalo
holds the dubious record for most seasons played without
ever winning, but Cleveland teams have now played a total
of 96 seasons
since last claiming a title ... in 1964, when the Browns won the
NFL championship. Why, Cleveland should be able to
celebrate the millennium with 100 sports seasons in a row
without a champion. The first city to put up triple
figures of
frustration!
So, even if San Diego maintains its reputation and loses
this World Series, it is not the reigning den of defeat.
That's Buffalo or Cleveland—take your pick.
Whichever, Lake Erie is obviously, hopelessly cursed.
Something very bad is in that water.
These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNN/SI.
|
