Red Sox fan: "We had to wait 86 YEARS for a WS title! Don't tell ME about heartbreak!"
Uh yeah, but Boston still WON a WS in the modern era. And by the looks of things, they should be able to win this one against the vastly overachieving and overrated Rockies going away.
And here's the point: you're still in BOSTON. Call me nuts, but I highly doubt I'm gonna feel sorry for fans that had to suffer through an 86-year WS drought when you have the 2004 WS win, the 3 recent New England SUPER BOWL wins (and again, likely to be a 4th this year . . . complete with the Browns old coach, no less) and several Celtic championships scattered over decades.
Nueva York? Fuggedaboudit. 28 WS championships between the Yanks and the Mets, three Super Bowl wins by the Giants and Jets, five Stanley Cups between the Islanders and the Rangers and the biggest payroll in all of sports doesn't allow you to have any grumblings about how sorry the Knicks are.
America's favorite "wait 'til next year" gang, the Cubs, are STILL in Chicago. Please. Your city has SIX NBA titles, a 1985 SB win and a 2005 White Sox WS win.
The list goes on.
LA? Dodgers, Lakers and Raiders all have at least 2 titles in their sports since 1980 (the Lakers have EIGHT). Count nearby adopted Anaheim, and the total title count rises two more (Ducks & Angels).
DC? Three Redskins Super Bowl wins.
Atlanta? WS title in 1995. All that pitching in all of those WS and only . . . you guessed it folks, CLEVELAND . . . couldn't beat them.
Detroit? Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers all have multiple titles since the 80s, so you get no support group pass, Lions fans.
Pittsburgh? Five Steelers SB wins (including 2005), Pirates winning the WS in 1979 and two Stanley Cups by the Penguins. No heartbreak. SORRAH!
The entire state of Texas has so many damned titles to choose from: Houston Rockets, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, UT's 2006 NCAA title, etc.
Even the Florida Marlins, established in 1993, has two World series wins in their young age. One of them over Cleveland, which still stabs our hearts to this day.
Even a mid-market team like Kansas City won a WS in 1985.
The closest three-sport city to us in futility is Philadelphia, which last won a title in anything in 1983, with the Sixers.
Cleveland's last title in anything? Nineteen
Sixty Four.
43 years.
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were still alive. LBJ was president. The Civil Rights movement was in full swing, as was the "British Invasion". My soon-to-be-61 year old dad was entering his senior year in high school.
That's how long it's been since Cleveland won a title. In ANYTHING
Our city has only been to a big dance in anything THREE times, and we've all seen the tragic results of each one.
I can literally write a BOOK on how Cleveland is the most snake-bitten city in all of sports, but someone already beat me to it:
http://www.amazon.com/Curses-Cleveland-Sports-Deserve-Miserable/dp/1598510185/ref=sr_1_1/104-9635260-8650353?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175591209&sr=1-1Probably one of the best rundowns on the bad events/bad luck/bad ownership decisions/bad draft picks that made Cleveland sports teams the decade-after-decade laughingstock they are. After the Browns made it to the playoffs one year, someone wrote something into a PD opinion poll that has stuck with me for years:
"I don't think a Cleveland team can win a championship of any kind."Except for the Cavs (and even THEY'RE not immune since Gilbert has a whole lot of Jim Paxson screw-ups to correct and has to do it through free agency and trades since Paxson the Moran gave away/wasted all our damned draft picks (Luke Jackson over Jameer Nelson. Smart), I believe he's going to be correct.
I'm just convinced that winning is what happens to OTHER cities. When Cleveland loses, it's almost always in the most heartbreaking fashion possible. Our pitching sucks. Our defensive coordinator has no plan. We can't stop the superstar. We have a superstar but no offensive plan. Our bats take a vacation. We can't FINISH THE DAMNED JOB, JOSE MESA!!!!
Being a fan in the most snake-bitten city in all of sports means never having to feel sorry for other people's supposed "futility".