Futility: The Curse of the Cleveland Sports Fan

The good people of Cleveland must endure a lot these days—struggling economy, collapsing infrastructure, the weather.

And much like the weather, always hanging over the city like a never-ending blanket of gray clouds are our beloved sports teams.

After the beating of the Cavaliers at the hands of the Orlando Magic, a Cleveland fan must sit back and wonder "are we cursed?" The best chance at a title in a long while ran into a jump-shooting team on a hot streak and made a sudden—some may say, early—exit from the playoffs.

A Clevelander would call this normal.

Cleveland fans are well into their 45th year without a major sport championship. Not just baseball, Cub fans, but any of the four major sports. Cubs fans are called "long-suffering." Red Sox fans were often referred to as "suffering." But in those cities there were championships-a-plenty in other sports.

But not in Cleveland.

In fact, if you consider that Cleveland fields teams in three of the four major team sports, since the Browns won the NFL championship in 1964 Cleveland teams have played 124 seasons without a championship.

Of cities fielding professional teams in at least three of the four leagues, only Atlanta can come close to Cleveland's mark of futility. In 145 seasons Atlanta teams combine for only one championship. However, this one win was the Braves' 1995 win over who?

The Cleveland Indians.

The Red Sox may have gone nearly a century without winning a ring, but in the time since a Cleveland team last hoisted a championship banner Boston teams have won 18 championships! At an average rate of one per 9.7 years! Clevelanders would love to suffer so! Since 1964, no metropolitan area fielding a professional sports team is crowned as often as teams from Boston.

Chicago? Home to the lovable loser Cubs? Nine championships have found their way to the Windy City since 1964.

Counting only cities where no major sport team has won a title, Cleveland is the only one fielding teams in three sports, and also teams that have played in their league for at least 30 years.

To add insult, Cleveland's geographical and emotional rival, Pittsburgh, hoisted a Stanley Cup Friday night, adding to the Lombardi Trophy in February. The steel city has hauled in 11 championships since Cleveland last won one.

To add further insult to injury, Cleveland has had a pair of football teams leave, only to later win championships—the St. Louis Rams (via L.A.) and the Baltimore Ravens.

65 professional sports franchises have come into existence since the last Cleveland championship. 24 of those teams have won 49 championships in their respective sports.

In Cleveland, it's not enough that we lose. We like to go out in memorable fashion! Throughout this championship drought, we've fielded some great teams. Almost great. We've gotten so used to being almost great that we refer to the 1995 to 2002 era of Indians Baseball "the era of Champions" despite the fact that we never actually won.

No in Cleveland, it's not losing, but how painfully close we come before bowing out. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. Red Right 88. They all seemed to be headed to a championship. And blew it.

None sting as badly as the 1997 World Series. Against the expansion Marlins. An out into the ninth inning in Game Seven, up a run with your record-setting closer on the bump. A ball trickles off of Jose Fernandez's glove, Mesa implodes, and the drought continues. 

Still, you don't often hear of the commentators mentioning the "long-suffering fans of Cleveland." You do hear jokes—about seagulls. And about burning rivers. And plastic bottles. Just Saturday, I heard Peter Gammons on ESPN radio sarcastically say, "Oh yeah, Cleveland in June. There is little finer," in the pre-game before the Cardinals - Indians broadcast.

So should it really have surprised anyone to see the Cavaliers sitting at home watching the Lakers lift another trophy? (Los Angeles's 16th since 1964, if you're counting)

Was it really a shock that Cleveland demolished Detroit and Atlanta, and then ran into an Orlando Magic team that shot 45 percent from the three-point line? Despite looking seriously outplayed for much of the series, Games One and Four came down to the last shot.  Had one bounce gone differently it may have been the Cavaliers, not the Magic, trying to keep up with the Lakers.

Mathematically Cleveland is long overdue. On average, a professional sports team wins their league's championship once every 35 years. True, there are teams that severely buck the trend, like the Cubs who are into their second century between rings, or the Yankees and Celtics who average a win every six years.

But no city has gone so long with three teams not winning. The Indians are going on 61 years. The Browns 45. The Cavaliers 39 years. No other city fielding professional teams in any sport can claim that stretch.

So, fellow Cleveland fans, don't let futility lead into hopelessness. Even if by accident one of our teams should win a championship in something in most of our lifetimes.

I'm 30... so I've got a while.  But I'm getting impatient!