Revised List of Top 12 Cursed Sports Teams
The Cleveland Cavaliers just won their first championship in franchise history, but, more importantly, the accomplishment instantly dissolved a 52-year title drought from the city of Cleveland's major sports teams.
And while the celebration will continue in Cleveland for a long time, the city still has a few major franchises who could use luck similiar to the Cavs.
So with LeBron James and his squad getting a major monkey of its back, which franchises are the most cursed now? Let's take a stab to find out.
Minnesota Vikings
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I don't want to bring up old stuff, Minnesota Vikings fans, but if the 1998 playoff defeat against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Title Game hurt after a 15-1 regular season, then the 2016 NFC Wild Card loss to the Seattle Seahawks was probably just as bad.
The Vikings might have a young nucleus and a future Hall of Fame running back in Adrian Peterson, yet they still haven't played in a Super Bowl since 1976, giving purple and gold supporters 40 years worth of pain.
And while the aforementioned playoff heartbreaks are brutal, the fact that the Vikings have lost in the NFC Championship Game three times as favorites—two in overtime and one a 41-0 pounding by the New York Giants in 2001—something bad is floating around in the Minneapolis water.
Toronto Maple Leafs
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The long championship drought for the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs is one of the more famous in all of sports, as the Leafs haven't played in or won a Stanley Cup since the 1967 season.
What makes the case of Toronto's title slump so curious is that the franchise celebrated 12 Stanley Cup championships before 1967, meaning the organization hasn't been able to produce anything close to that success in almost 50 years.
Are the Leafs actually cursed or have they just had a string of terrible luck? If you ask fans of theirs, they would probably side with the former, because things have been really rough in Toronto over the past decade or so.
San Diego Chargers
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Dan Fouts, Junior Seau and LaDainian Tomlinson; these are just a few names of all-time greats that the San Diego Chargers have had on their team throughout history.
Unfortunately, that history doesn't include a Super Bowl title, as the last championship the team experienced was in 1963 when it won the AFL title that season.
Playing in just one Super Bowl—during the 1994 season when they got smashed 49-26 by the San Francisco 49ers—it's not as if the Bolts haven't put together solid efforts to return to Super Sunday, as they put together a streak of five postseason appearances in six seasons from 2004-09.
Even as favorites in some of those playoff contests though, the Chargers' bad luck never ceased, and they're still looking for that ultimate prize—the Lombardi Trophy.
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Buffalo Bills
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Poor, poor Buffalo.
Much like the aforementioned city of Cleveland, not too many people think highly of Buffalo, which boasts brutally cold, long winters that can last into the spring.
As difficult as the blistering winds can be though, the annual heartache that the Buffalo Bills provide fans might be even worse, as the team is currently riding the longest playoff drought of any NFL team right now, last reaching the postseason in 1999.
When you add in the four-straight Super Bowl losses in the early-'90s, it's easy to see why Bills fans are starved for a rare glimpse of good fortune.
Portland Trail Blazers
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You might be scratching your head wondering why the Portland Trail Blazers find themselves on this list, right? Well, it's very simple, actually—because the franchise has had terrible luck with a bevy of its draft picks over the years.
Names like Greg Oden and Brandon Roy are familiar to Blazers fans, who have seen their teams compete for titles but only ever winning one once—during the 1977 season with Bill Walton as their leader. Even after that only title though, Walton's knees gave out and the franchise struggled.
While always a solid team—the Blazers have reached two NBA Finals since that '77 season—Portland never seems to have enough talent to match the big boys and, because of its small-market, isn't a hot bed for free agents.
Maybe this whole curse talk is very real?
Texas Rangers
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Don't look now, but the Texas Rangers might actually be the most cursed MLB team in the American League—and the crushing defeats they've had in the past decade justify that notion.
Sure, the Rangers reached the World Series in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and '11—losing both. That latter loss was a real cringe-worthy experience, as Texas was just one strike away from capping its first championship season in franchise history.
Instead, well, David Freese.
And with the way the team collapsed in the wild Game 5 of last year's ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays, it gave Texas fans even more reason to believe that there might be a looming dark cloud over the franchise.
Once again sitting in first place in the AL West this year, Rangers supporters should be weary about what might happen as the season goes on—if history is any indication.
Detroit Lions
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I don't need to sit here and remind Detroit Lions fans how unlucky the franchise has been over the years, they know all-too-well about the misfortunes that have come their way.
Whether it be the 23 years since the team's last playoff victory or the constant losing and high draft picks the franchise routinely snag, the Lions have been the laughingstock of the NFL for a long time now.
And with an actual curse known to have been put on the franchise—coming byway of the trade of Bobby Layne—there's reason to believe things are worse than some could imagine.
Add in the early retirements of all-time greats like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, too, the Detroit Lions can make a case for having the worst luck of any team in sports.
Vancouver Canucks
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Two times in the past six seasons the Vancouver Canucks have won the Presidents' Trophy—handed out annually to the team finishing with the most points during the regular season. And whether they were the top team in the NHL or "just" a playoff squad, the Canucks have never experienced the taste of a Stanley Cup title.
Reaching the Stanley Cup Final three times in their history, the Canucks are 0-45 in their bid to bring the city a championship—coming painfully close on a number of occasions, and even causing a riot after the 2011 loss.
It's a mystery as to why this franchise has yet to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.
Los Angeles Clippers
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The Los Angeles Clippers have a storied history of losing, but fans are quick to forget about their previous misfortunes because of the small success they've had over the past few seasons with playoff appearances.
Let's not kid ourselves though, the Clips have something wrong going on with them—and the 2015 playoff meltdown proves that.
Even after all of the lottery picks and losing, the Clippers had the whole Donald Sterling incident in 2014, the Blake Griffin drama in the middle of this past season and then the Griffin-Chris Paul injuries during the postseason series against the Portland Trail Blazers after all of that.
And for a team who resides in Los Angeles, where are all the free agents lining up to play there? Not once has the franchise signed a star player, only being teased with what could have been had Kobe Bryant decided to leave the L.A. Lakers in 2004.
Cleveland Browns
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As a born and bred Cleveland Browns fan, I could go on for days about all the misfortunes the team has had—especially since returning to the league in 1999.
From The Drive to The Fumble to the long list of starting quarterbacks, the Browns have never reached a Super Bowl, and their last title came during the 1964 season when they won the NFL Championship.
One of the storied franchises in the league, the Brownies haven't given their Dawg Pound much to bark about, missing on draft picks like Johnny Manziel and lacking consistency or patience in the front-office to stick with a rebuilding plan.
As if all of that wasn't enough, the Browns aren't currently favored to win a single game in the upcoming season, according to CG Technology (h/t John Breech of CBSSports). That's incredibly bad luck.
Chicago Cubs
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Look, just because the Chicago Cubs are having a phenomenal season this year—boasting a first-place record in the NL Central and currently favored to win the World Series—doesn't mean they've won anything yet.
I hate to burst the Cubbies' bubble there, but the truth is they could just be setting their fans up for more historic heartbreak.
Unlike last season, when the team overachieved in their postseason run that ended in the NLCS, this year's squad is expected to win and break the curse of the Billy Goat and bury the hatchet on the Steve Bartman incident
1908 was the last time this franchise won a World Series, and it was 1945 since they've played in one, making the pressure build year-after-year.
It'll be an unbelievable scene whenever it happens, but the franchise needs to get over its past misfortunes and prove good luck is on its side.
Washington Capitals
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I know the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns and other teams on this list have more misery than the Washington Capitals, but the Caps have a once-in-a-generation talent in Alex Ovechkin—and a slew of devastating playoff defeats—that it's hard to convince me they aren't cursed.
In fact, when you look at the history of the franchise, the team actually enjoyed more success without Ovie than with him, as the '97-98 team at least made it to the Stanley Cup Final—which is more than an Ovechkin-led team can claim.
The Capitals top this list because, year-after-year, they give false hope to their fans as a future Hall of Famer continues to age right before their eyes.
It's absolutely absurd to think that with a top-five player in the league, the Caps have been unable to win a title.
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