Most cursed sports franchises

[Big Phil]

Even though the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and 2007 I feel I should add them to this poll. That was one heck of a cursed team for 86 years. But this will cover all 4 major sports in North America. Which team is the most cursed? I got the idea when I wanted to see just how bad Leafs fans have it in comparison to other sports.

Toronto Maple Leafs - No Cup since 1967 and the longest Cup drought in the NHL. Never reached the Cup final since then either. Have the obstacle of Gretzky's high stick in their way along with losing to weak opponents in the Hurricanes in 2002. Not to mention the curse that Ballard seems to still have control over

Chicago Cubs - No World Series since 1908. No World Series appearance since 1945 when the "Billy goat" curse was brought upon them. Had the Babe Ruth called shot go against them in the 1932 World Series. Lost in 1945 in 7 games. Have the Leon Durham error in 1984 which was the first time they had been in the postseason since 1945. And of course there is the Steve Bartman fiasco in 2003 that opened up an 8 run inning against. Wow.

Boston Red Sox - Traded Ruth away in 1918. Never won until 2004 and had some awful years in between with unusually dramatic losses for one team. 1946, 1978, 1986 and 2003 are all years lost in Hollywood dramatic fashion. The name Bill Buckner, Bob Stanley and Bucky "Freakin" Dent come to mind as players that helped the curse continue.

Buffalo Bills - Lost 4 straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s and now that we can look back, it was an actually great team they had. Scott Norwood helps the Bills curse move along nicely and the nickname
Boy
I
Love
Losing
SuperBowls
Not to mention the Music City Miracle against them in 2000. What luck, huh?

Portland Trailblazers - Have to be the most cursed team in the NBA. Could have drafted Michael Jordan and passed on him. Should have beaten the Lakers in the 2000 semi final but choked in the 4th quarter.

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[heutZe]

Is this thread restricted to North American sport franchises?

The English and Dutch national teams should probably be there. England for going out of almost every single international tournament on penalties. The Netherlands for playing in the most world cup finals without winning one. Some of which they have had a good opportunity to win.

 

[kdb209]

Chicago Cubs - No World Series since 1908. No World Series appearance since 1945 when the "Billy goat" curse was brought upon them. Had the Babe Ruth called shot go against them in the 1932 World Series. Lost in 1945 in 7 games. Have the Leon Durham error in 1984 which was the first time they had been in the postseason since 1945. And of course there is the Steve Bartman fiasco in 2003 that opened up an 8 run inning against. Wow.

Boston Red Sox - Traded Ruth away in 1918. Never won until 2004 and had some awful years in between with unusually dramatic losses for one team. 1946, 1978, 1986 and 2003 are all years lost in Hollywood dramatic fashion. The name Bill Buckner, Bob Stanley and Bucky "Freakin" Dent come to mind as players that helped the curse continue.

Even before '04, I would have given the "Cursed" edge to the Cubs - at least the BoSox would occasionally make it to the WS.

As Steve Goodman opined:

By the shore's of old Lake Michigan
Where the "hawk wind" blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, "Its late and its getting dark in here"
And I know its time to go
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

Told his friends "You know the law of averages says:
Anything will happen that can"
That's what it says
"But the last time the Cubs won a National League pennant
Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan"

...

And as a BoSox friend commented to me after '04 - he was, in a way, kind of sad that the Sox finally won: "Yesterday we were a Greek tragedy, now we're just like any other team".

 

[BamBamCam*]

Maybe because I am from Boston but I pick the BoSox for this. Throw this year as evidence that this is still the same ol' Red Sox that my grandfather watched. This franchise loses like no other and in a fashion that no writer can dream of.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Four sports, and not ONE Cleveland team?

Yeesh.

 

[saskganesh]

These teams are all just unlucky. Are there any alleged, legendary, curses in play here, for example Chicago's Muldoon Curse (now retired)?

Off-hand, the only other one I can think of hockey-wise is Patrick Roy's suitcase full of ghosts.

 

[Big Phil]

These teams are all just unlucky. Are there any alleged, legendary, curses in play here, for example Chicago's Muldoon Curse (now retired)?

Off-hand, the only other one I can think of hockey-wise is Patrick Roy's suitcase full of ghosts.

Well there was the curse of the Bambino for the Red Sox after trading Ruth.

There is also the continuous curse of the Billy Goat against the Cubs. A farmer wasn't allowed to bring in his goat to Wrigley Field in 1945 and put a curse on the team claiming they would never play in the World Series again. True to form.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

There are no curses.

Take the Cubs. Cursed? **** no. Really cheap for like 80 years. Yeah.

 

[Northland Wild Man]

Minnesota Vikings.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

I'm not sure I'd call the Cubs cursed. They simply haven't won in a century. When I think cursed teams, I think teams that continually fail just when victory seemed certain or do themselves in with terrible miscues at the worst possible moment. The Red Sox would definitely qualify here.

I think the Leafs fall more into the Cubs category than the Red Sox category. Haven't won in decades, but have very rarely iced a team good enough to consider a Cup a serious possibility anyway.

For hockey, I'd have to go with the Bruins, ironically the defending champs. How many Stanley Cups might they have if not for the nemesis Canadiens?

-Best single-season winning % in NHL history back in the 1930's, but were stunningly upset by the Habs and failed to capture the Cup.

-Potential dynasty was derailed by the Kraut line heading off to WWII.

-Close calls in the 50's, but couldn't beat the invincible Habs in the final.

-Orr/Espo years only yielded two Cups. The greatest offensive season in history up to that point saw them fizzle against the Habs and rookie Ken Dryden in 1971.

-Great teams of the late 70's just couldn't get past -who else- the Habs. Culminated with the infamous too many men penalty in 1979.

-Glen Wesley's miss in Game 1 of the 1990 final. Eventually lost and never recovered.

-Blew 2-0 lead to Pittsburgh in 1991 Wales Final after Samuelsson took out Neely, who was on record goal pace. With Minnesota awaiting the winner, this series may as well have been for the Cup.

-Joe Thornton hurt in the final game of 2004 regular season. Heavily favoured Bruins proceeded to blow 3-1 series lead to Montreal (of course) in the first round.

-Scott Walker scores his only career playoff goal in Game 7 OT as Carolina derails another possible Cup bid in 2009 by the 1st place Bruins.

-Bruins become the first team 35 years to blow a 3-0 series lead against Philly, 2010.

The Bruins should probably have at least a dozen Cups to their name. I'd estimate they've been a good to great team in about 65 of their 85 seasons, but only six banners to show for it all.

 

[vecens24]

For the choices, I think its the Blazers. Bowie over Jordan, semi-final loss to the Lakers that was terrible, Oden over Durant (which is something all GMs would have done), Brandon Roy's knees, Bill Walton's knees (and despite his near clownish persona now, the guy was one of the best players to ever play in the NBA at his peak considering the Blazers went 73-14 from the end of the 1977 season through the first 60 games of the 1977-78 season, which is the mark when Walton went down with his injury).

People even forget now over the excitement about how good the Thunder are going to be in a few years, prior to that the Blazers were the team that was supposed to be the "it" team that would take the West crown for years to come with a core of Roy, Oden, and Aldridge. Then Oden's knees went, Roy's knees really went, and all they're left with is Aldridge, who has held up his end of the bargain becoming a top 30 player in the NBA. Not to mention they have one of the top 5 most dedicated fan bases in the country for any sport in my opinion(best example is they still hold the most consecutive sell outs in a row record). They weren't poorly run outside of the Jordan pick (which was seen as stupid at the time even), just bad luck.

The Cubs are just a poorly run team that spends money without regard on players who don't deserve it (see Soriano, Alfonso and Zambrano, Carlos). The Leafs are a good argument too, but Harold Ballard makes me lose a lot of care about it because he was such a ****** owner too.

 

[vecens24]

Another franchise worth mentioning the Clippers (my favorite NBA team). It's astonishing how many of their first rounders have blown out their knee.

A lot of people don't like Bill Simmons, but this is pretty much just a retelling of their history more than getting his biased writing style in there.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090624&sportCat=nba

However, again I do lose a lot of my sympathy because Donald Sterling is the worst owner in sports.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Want to know how to lose a football game?
- "The Drive". Cleveland holds a 20-13 lead with 5:32 to go in the AFC Championship Game. Denver has the ball on their own 2. Denver tied it with :39 to go, then won it in OT. That is, of course, if you believe that the winning field goal was actually good...it sure as hell didn't look that way.
- "The Fumble". One year later, Denver has a 21-3 lead at halftime. Cleveland staged a furious comeback to tie it at 31, then Denver goes up 38-31. From the 8-yard-line of Denver and with barely a minute to go, Cleveland runs a draw with Earnest Byner...who fumbles at the 2 and sees Denver recover it.
- "The Bottles". In a regular-season game in 2001 against Jacksonville, Cleveland is driving for the winning touchdown. The Browns convert a 4th down, and Tim Couch spikes the ball. After that, the official reviews the 4th down play, despite there being an ironclad rule that a play cannot be reviewed once the ensuing one starts. They do it anyway, overturn the 4th down conversion, and give Jacksonville and the chance to run out the clock with one kneeldown.
- What the Hell just happened? In 2001, Cleveland led 21-7 against Chicago with 0:30 to go. The Bears scored to make it 21-14, then recovered the onside kick. They then scored with no time left to force overtime. On Cleveland's possession, a Tim Couch pass was deflected up into the air, where it was intercepted by Chicago's Mike Brown for the winning touchdown.
- The Helmet. I called this one; I was watching the game with my dad and said "Something bizarre is about to happen, and we both know it." Cleveland leads 39-37 on opening day. With time about to expire, linebacker Dwayne Rudd wraps up Trent Green and sacks him to end the game. In jubilation, Rudd takes off his helmet and throws it. The only problem is that Green had lateraled the ball to, of all people, offensive tackle John Tait, who rumbled into Cleveland territory as time expired. Rudd's helmet toss was a 15-yard penalty, and a game can't end on a defensive penalty....so Kansas City kicked the winning field goal as time expired.
- The Collapse. In the playoffs that same year against Pittsburgh, Cleveland had a 24-7 lead at one point, and led 33-21 with 4:00 to go. Somehow they lost 36-33.

Oh...and did I mention losing the team for three years, and then seeing that relocated team win a Super Bowl while watching their expansion replacement stumble around like a bunch of guys who'd never played the game?

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Cubs, and it's not even close.... unfortunately.

 

[Big Phil]

Minnesota Vikings.

Yeah, I thought of them too. But if someone is representing the NFL I thought the Bills would be #1. The Vikings do have a "Scott Norwood" moment too though with Gary Anderson in 1999.

I'm not sure I'd call the Cubs cursed. They simply haven't won in a century. When I think cursed teams, I think teams that continually fail just when victory seemed certain or do themselves in with terrible miscues at the worst possible moment. The Red Sox would definitely qualify here.

1984 and 2003 are times when the Cubs were on the verge of going to the World Series when a singular play each time opened up the door for a collapse. They have the persona of being bad a lot but they also have times when they were close and then blew it in dramatic fashion

 

[Stray Wasp]

Is this thread restricted to North American sport franchises?

The English and Dutch national teams should probably be there. England for going out of almost every single international tournament on penalties. The Netherlands for playing in the most world cup finals without winning one. Some of which they have had a good opportunity to win.

I agree with you about the Dutch. England are only cursed with inadequacy.

 

[unknown33]

Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen.

 

[GB]

Is this thread restricted to North American sport franchises?

The English and Dutch national teams should probably be there. England for going out of almost every single international tournament on penalties. The Netherlands for playing in the most world cup finals without winning one. Some of which they have had a good opportunity to win.

The England team has been cursed by an inability to learn from its mistakes and a tendency to look at near misses as signs of certain success in the next tournament.

The Dutch are a good choice, all the great players they've produced and they seem cursed to be unable to meld them into a winning team and cursed to be the rivals of Germany who frequently mold lesser players into winning teams.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

1984 and 2003 are times when the Cubs were on the verge of going to the World Series when a singular play each time opened up the door for a collapse. They have the persona of being bad a lot but they also have times when they were close and then blew it in dramatic fashion

Yeah...two times, those you mentioned. Only twice in 65 years since their last WS appearance have they lost under unfortunate circumstances. The other 63, they weren't good enough. Not really my definition of "cursed". The Cleveland Indians probably have a better claim than the Cubbies do.

 

[Super Fadio Bro]

Do the White Sox count (88 years without a World Series win)?

 

[Franck]

Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen.

The last few weeks of Bayer Leverkusen's 2001/02 season have to be the greatest choke-job in sports history, 5 point lead in the league with 3 games to go and playing in both the cup final as well as the Champions League finals and somehow they manage to lose all three competitions.