- San Diego Sports Curse
The San Diego Sports Curse is a
superstition cited for the city of San Diego's inability to claim a modern major league sports championship in theUnited States (Super Bowl ,World Series , andNBA Finals ). With the city's population, San Diego is the largest city in the United States with this distinction. [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070211-9999-lz1s11missing.html San Diego is the largest city with a monkey on their back.] ] Adding together all the seasons from the Chargers (38), Padres (40), Clippers (6), and Rockets (4), San Diego Sports has gone a total of 88 years without a championship. Furthermore, not one of these teams has an overall winning record in its tenure (Chargers, 268-311; Padres, 2886-3330; Clippers, 186-306; Rockets, 119-209).an Diego Sports Curse in comparison to other notable sports curses
The last major league sports championship for San Diego was the AFL Championship in 1963, when the San Diego Chargers emerged as AFL champions, [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070211-9999-lz1s11missing.html Somethings Missing] ] before the AFL merged with the NFL to form the current
National Football League . In comparison, in Cleveland, another cursed city, the Browns last won anNFL Championship in1964 . Since then, no other team from that city has won a major professional sports championship.Other notable sports curses affect only specific teams, such as the
Boston Red Sox 'sCurse of the Bambino , theChicago White Sox 's Curse of the Black Sox, and theChicago Cubs 'Curse of the Billy Goat ). San Diego's sports curse affected all professional teams in the city and county of San Diego, much like Philadelphia'sCurse of Billy Penn . Neither theSan Diego Padres nor theSan Diego Chargers have ever won a championship in their current league, nor has any other major sports team that has resided in San Diego (including the Clippers, the Conquistadors and the Rockets).The lore
The cause of the curse is cited to the trade of Chargers wideout
Lance Alworth to theDallas Cowboys in 1970 [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070211-9999-lz1s11missing.html San Diego Curse: Lance Alworth to blame?] ] , which is similar to Boston'sCurse of the Bambino in that the flip side of the curse was the Cowboys' success after the transaction. Dallas went from being a perennial loser in championship games over the previous five seasons (the Ice Bowl,Super Bowl V ) to a team that won the Super Bowl during Alworth's first season there (and has won 5 Super Bowls overall), gaining the distinction of "America's Team ." In contrast, the Chargers never made an appearance in the Super Bowl until the 1994 NFL season, where they lost to theSan Francisco 49ers inSuper Bowl XXIX . In addition, no other San Diego major league sports team since the Lance Alworth trade has won a championship.Results of the "curse"
Playoff and championship games ending in defeat
The record for all San Diego Sports teams in championship games as of
2007 stands at one win and seven losses, with appearances at five AFL Championships, twoWorld Series , and oneSuper Bowl .The only sports teams in San Diego to have won championships were minor league teams. The original
San Diego Sockers team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and theNorth American Soccer League . The San Diego Gulls won fiveWest Coast Hockey League championships.an Diego Padres
* The Padres expanded into MLB in 1969, making them the 2nd oldest team without a championship. The
Houston Astros , expansion year 1962, are the oldest.
* In the Padres' twoWorld Series appearances, their only win was in Game 2 of the1984 World Series against theDetroit Tigers , ultimately losing in five games. In the1998 World Series , the Padres were swept by theNew York Yankees in four games.
* The Padres are currently the only team in Major League Baseball to win at least two league championships and never win the World Series.
* In 2007 the Padres blew a lead in the NL Wild Card race by losing the last two games of the year to theMilwaukee Brewers . They then lost a tiebreaking game to theColorado Rockies in 13 innings.an Diego Chargers
The Chargers overall playoff record,
as of 2007 , stands at eight wins and thirteen losses, a .380 winning percentage. [ [http://media.www.thecsusmpride.com/media/storage/paper1149/news/2007/02/13/Sports/The-San.Diego.Curse-2714815.shtml San Diego is a choker town when it comes to sports.] ] Until defeating theTennessee Titans on January 6, 2008, the Chargers had not won a postseason game since their Super Bowl run in 1994.
* The Chargers, along with theBuffalo Bills ,Philadelphia Eagles ,Atlanta Falcons ,Detroit Lions , andMinnesota Vikings , are the only teams that were in existence during the merger that have not won a Super Bowl. However, the Chargers are the only team in theAFC West without a championship victory.
* In the Chargers' onlySuper Bowl appearance to date (Super Bowl XXIX , 1995), San Diego lost to theSan Francisco 49ers , 26-49, for San Francisco's fifth Super Bowl win overall. 49ers quarterback Steve Young threw a Super Bowl record six touchdown passes.
* San Diego has appeared in four AFC Championship games, three of which ended in defeat.
**TheFreezer Bowl , onJanuary 10 ,1982 , against theCincinnati Bengals , at Riverfront Stadium: the Chargers lost 7-27.
**OnJanuary 11 ,1981 , the Chargers lost to theOakland Raiders , , who would later go on to winSuper Bowl XV .
**In the 2007 AFC Championship game, the Chargers lost against theNew England Patriots 12-21.
* Former head coachMarty Schottenheimer has been known to choke in the playoffs, with all three teams that he has been head coach (Cleveland, Kansas City, and San Diego). In the 2004 NFL Wildcard Playoffs, they lost to theNew York Jets , 17-20 in overtime by a field goal. Two years later, San Diego had the NFL's best regular season record, at 14-2, with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. However, they lost against theNew England Patriots in the Divisional playoffs by a final score of 21-24.Missed calls by game officials
San Diego sports teams have been recipients of blown calls by the officiating crews of their respective sports.
an Diego Padres
*In Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, Padres pitcher
Mark Langston threw what appeared to be the third strike against Yankees first basemanTino Martinez in a 2-2 count, bases-loaded, two-out, tie game situation. To everyone's surprise, home plate umpireRich Garcia called the pitch a ball, and Martinez hit the next pitch for a grand slam, putting the Yankees ahead 9-5. The Yankees won Game 1 9-5 and swept the Padres in 4 games. "Sports Illustrated "'sOctober 19 ,1998 cover story was entitled "Kill the Umps! Missed Calls and Skewed Strike Zones are Marring the Postseason: Here's How."
*Starting pitcher Jake Peavy was on the verge of tying Tom Seaver's consecutive strikeout record of 10 onApril 25 ,2007 , when umpire Jeff Kellogg missedEric Byrnes ' go around on what would have been the third strike. Byrnes would eventually walk.
*In 2007, the Padres lost a tiebreaking game to theColorado Rockies in 13 innings afterTrevor Hoffman blew his second save in three games and allowed the winning run on a blown call by home plate umpireTim McClelland . Rockies outfielderMatt Holliday appeared to have scored on a sacrifice fly by Jamey Carroll when Padres catcher Michael Barrett dropped the ball. However, replays showed that Holliday never touched the plate and Barrett picked up the ball and tagged him afterwards. Regardless, McClelland's call stood, the Rockies won the game, and went on to win the National League Championship.an Diego Chargers
* The Chargers were victims of The Holy Roller.
* On September 14, 2008, in a game played against theDenver Broncos atINVESCO Field , the Chargers were the victims of two calls against them in a 38-39 loss.
**The first bad call was a play in which a pass fromPhilip Rivers toChris Chambers was originally called a fumble recovered by the Broncos' Champ Bailey, but one in which TV replays clearly showed Chambers was down by contact, but that could not be reviewed due to a malfunction with the replay system. The fumble recovery led to the Broncos' first touchdown of the game.
**Later, with about a minute to go in the game and the Chargers leading 38-31, Jay Cutler fumbled, with replays clearly supporting this. However, due to an inadvertent whistle blowing the play dead beforehand, the Broncos maintained possession. Two plays later, the Broncos scored a touchdown to close to a 1-point deficit, then converted a game-winning two-point conversion attempt.Notable players leaving or spurning San Diego teams
Some players who spurned San Diego teams upon being drafted or recruited into them ended up with success elsewhere.
an Diego Padres
*
Hideki Irabu spurned the Padres when they purchased his contract from theChiba Lotte Marines in 1997. He desired to play for the New York Yankees, refusing to sign with the Padres. Ironically, in wsy|1998 the Yankees would beat the Padres in the World Series.an Diego Chargers
* After spurning the Chargers during the 2004 NFL Draft and asking to be traded, Eli Manning went on to win Super Bowl XLII with MVP honors.
Untimely player deaths
Several players on San Diego teams have had untimely deaths.
*The Padres came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the best-of-five1984 National League Championship Series against theChicago Cubs . The NLCS was changed to a best-of-seven series the following season. Also, in1989 ,Dave Dravecky lost his pitching arm to cancer,Alan Wiggins died from AIDS complications in1991 ,Eric Show died mysteriously in1994 , andMike Darr was killed in a car accident at the age of 25 in 2002.
*The Chargers defeated the heavily-favored Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1995 AFC Championship game. Within 18 months, Chargers running backRodney Culver was killed in a plane crash in Florida and Chargers linebackerDavid Griggs died in a car accident. Before the 2008 season of great expectations began, safetyTerrence Kiel was killed while driving drunk in San Diego. He was 27.Other afflictions of the "curse"
*The Chargers drafted
Ryan Leaf .
*Twenty Two years after the Rockets relocated to Houston, they won two consecutive NBA finals in 1994 and 1995.
*Every time San Diego has hosted theSuper Bowl , one of the Chargers division rivals has represented the AFC (TheDenver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII and XXXII and theOakland Raiders in XXXVII).
*The curse of post-season failure extends even to college sports. The San Diego State Aztecs have never won a game in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/aztecs/20070320-9999-1s20azchart.html Record of the SDSU basketball team] ] , and the football team has not won a bowl game in the past 37 years (0-3 since their 1969 Pasadena Bowl victory) [http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/sdsu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2004-mg-History Record of the SDSU football team.] ] .
*The USD Toreros men's basketball team won their first NCAA Tournament game by upsetting national powerhouse UConn in 2008. This first win for any San Diego school, and thoughts of continued winning were dashed when head coach,Bill Grier was offered a job at Pac-10 School Oregon State 2 weeks later. Grier decided to stay at San Diego.
*The curse is cited to afflict San Diegan individuals:
**San Diego nativeTed Williams is considered by many to be the greatest hitter in baseball history, but he never played on a World Series winner, had an unsuccessful managerial career, and the last years of his life and the events surrounding his death were controversial.
**There are exceptions outside of team sports.Tony Hawk , considered one of the greatest skateboards alive, is from San Diego and currently resides inEncinitas .
**Although he won NCAA Championships atUCLA and NBA Championships with the 1977Portland Trail Blazers and the 1986Boston Celtics , San Diego nativeBill Walton had an injury-plagued career that prevented him from showing his full potential.
*Many natives of San Diego County have won collegiate and/or professional championships (for example,Marcus Allen ,Terrell Davis ,Cliff Levingston ,Lincoln Kennedy ,Reggie Bush ,Jimmie Johnson ), but none have ever done so as a member of a San Diego-based team.
* TheLos Angeles Clippers , who have been inept for years after leaving Buffalo and before going to Los Angeles, played a few years in San Diego.
* Little League World Series: In 2001, the Oceanside Little League team lost in the Semifinals 1-0 to New York and their star pitcherDanny Almonte .. [ [http://www.littleleague.org/series/2001divisions/llbb/gamestories/game28/story.htm Oceanside vs Danny Almonte] ]
* In 1998, Padres' Closer Trevor Hoffman became the first and only pitcher to ever receive the majority of the first place votes for the Cy Young Award and lose.ee also
*
Sports-related curses
*San Diego Padres
*San Diego Chargers
*San Diego State Aztecs References
External links
* [http://media.www.thecsusmpride.com/media/storage/paper1149/news/2007/02/13/Sports/The-San.Diego.Curse-2714815.shtml The San Diego Curse]
* [http://www.2walls.com/Sports/curse_of_the_chargers.asp Seasons of Wither: The Curse of the San Diego Chargers]
* [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070211-9999-lz1s11missing.html Something’s Missing.]
* [http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tortured/sandiego No-four leaf clover here.]
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