Drought (sport)

In sports, a drought refers to instances in which a team has gone a lengthy period of time without accomplishing some goal (e.g. making the playoffs or winning a championship). Droughts occur for a variety of reasons, from chronic mismanagement to bad luck. Some fans believe that their team's drought is the result of a curse. The Curse of the Bambino, which some fans of the Boston Red Sox believed was responsible for their 86-year World Series drought, is a well-known example. Some Chicago Cubs fans believe a Curse of the Billy Goat is responsible for the current 103-year championship drought of their team.

North America

Droughts by sport

• In MLB the Chicago Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908 and have not even appeared in the Fall Classic since 1945. As mentioned above, this is the longest drought in North American sports. The Cubs' last World Series win came before any of the other three major U.S. professional leagues were founded, and their last World Series appearance also predates the NBA. Some cite the Curse of the Billy Goat as a reason for the drought. They recently were in the MLB Playoffs (2008) and were swept out of the post season in three games by the Los Angeles Dodgers. That increased the drought to a full 100 years. Note that even if the Cubs had won the 1945 World Series, they would still hold the longest drought in baseball, as the next closest team to them is the Cleveland Indians, who last won the World Series in 1948.
• In the NHL, the longest current title drought is shared by three teams: the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have not won the Cup (or even appeared in the Cup Finals) since 1967, and the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues, who entered the league when it doubled in size the following season.
• In the CFL, the longest current Grey Cup drought is held by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 21 years.
• In the NFL, four teams have never appeared in a Super Bowl (Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans) and ten others have never won that game. The longest active title drought is that of the Arizona Cardinals franchise, which last won an NFL championship in the 1947 season. The Cardinals have played home games in four different cities in three market areas since the team last won a title—Chicago, St. Louis, and the Phoenix suburbs of Tempe and Glendale.
  Further information: List of Current NFL franchise post-season droughts
• Several NBA teams have never won a championship. The league's longest drought belongs to the Sacramento Kings, who have not been to the NBA Finals since 1951, when they were known as the Rochester Royals. Sacramento is the fifth different city to host the team since it last won a title (Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha are the others).
  Further information: List of NBA franchise post-season droughts

Drought prone cities

Several North American cities are believed to have championship droughts:

• 47 years-San Diego since 1963 AFL title (pre-Super Bowl).
• 46 years-Cleveland since 1964 NFL title (pre-Super Bowl), 1948 World Series title.
• 45 years-Buffalo since 1965 AFL title (pre-Super Bowl). 40 years without a Stanley Cup (no Stanley Cup title since joining NHL in 1970-71).
• 40 years-Vancouver no Stanley Cup title since joining NHL in 1970-71.
• 40 years-Milwaukee since 1971 NBA title, 1957 World Series title, however franchise relocated.
• 34 years-Portland since 1977 NBA title.
• 32 years-Seattle since 1979 NBA title; however franchise relocated (no World Series or Super Bowl titles).
• 26 years-Sacramento waiting for first since 1985.
• 22 years-Calgary since 1989 Stanley Cup title.
• 22 years-Oakland since 1989 World Series title (1984 Super Bowl title, 1975 NBA title).
• 21 years-Winnipeg since Grey Cup in 1990. (WHA Avco Cup championship in 1979. No Stanley Cup title since joining NHL in 1979-80. 15 years without a team between 1996 and 2011.)
• 21 years-Charlotte waiting for first since 1990.
• 21 years-Orlando waiting for first since 1990.
• 21 years-Cincinnati since 1990 World Series title (no Super Bowl titles).
• 21 years-Edmonton since 1990 Stanley Cup title.
• 20 years-Minneapolis–St. Paul since 1991 World Series title (1954 NBA title, however franchise relocated; no Super Bowl or Stanley Cup titles).
• 19 years-Ottawa waiting for first since 1992.
• 18 years-Montreal since 1993 Stanley Cup title.
• 18 years-Toronto since 1993 World Series title (1967 Stanley Cup title, no NBA titles).
• 16 years-Atlanta since 1995 World Series title (no Super Bowl, NBA, nor Stanley Cup titles).
• 16 years-Jacksonville waiting for first since 1995.
• 15 years-Nashville waiting for first since 1996. no Stanley Cup title since joining NHL in 1999
• 11 years-Kansas City since 2000 MLS Cup. (1985 World Series title, 1970 Super Bowl title).
• 7 years-Washington, D.C. since 2004 MLS Cup. (1992 Super Bowl title,1978 NBA title, 1924 World Series title, however franchise relocated, no Stanley Cups).
• 7 years- Detroit since 2004 NBA title. (1957 NFL title, 1984 World series title)
• 4 years-Houston since 2007 MLS Cup. (1995 NBA title, no World Series since it joined in 1962-63, 1961 AFL championship, no Super Bowl titles since 1967 when super bowl was introduced).

Cleveland has waited longer than any other city with at least three major sports franchises to win a title. The last time a Cleveland professional sports team won a championship was in 1964 when the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship (pre-Super Bowl era). The Cleveland Indians last won the World Series in 1948 (the second-longest drought in MLB, after the Cubs) and the Cleveland Cavaliers have also never won an NBA championship. The city even had a short-lived NHL hockey team called the Barons, which never won a championship either. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals in the city's first championship game since the 1997 World Series, but were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. In 2004, ESPN named Cleveland the most tortured sports city in America.^[1]

Seattle has not won a major sports championship in any sport other than basketball and hockey. The Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917 (the first American team to do so), the Seattle SuperSonics (NBA) won a title in 1979, and the Seattle Storm (WNBA) won in 2004 and 2010. The city's MLS team, Seattle Sounders FC, which entered the league in 2009, has lost in the conference semifinals in each of its three seasons to date. However, the Sounders won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in all three seasons. Neither the Seahawks nor the Mariners have ever won a championship (the Mariners have never even been in the World Series). Seattle nearly won a championship when the Seahawks represented the city in Super Bowl XL in 2006, but fell by a score of 21-10 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Adding to the angst for Seattle sports fans, the Sonics controversially relocated to Oklahoma City after the 2007-08 season, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Those who believe in the Buffalo Curse^[2] cite as examples the four consecutive Super Bowl losses by the Buffalo Bills from 1990-1993 (and their failure to even reach the conference playoffs in subsequent years), as well as the failure of the Buffalo Sabres to ever win the Stanley Cup. Wide Right, No Goal, and The Music City Miracle also contribute to the belief in the Buffalo Curse. Hearts were broken once again in 2006, when the Sabres lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, four of their top six defensemen were lost to injury along with Tim Connolly, the leading scorer of the playoffs at the time of his injury. Even though the Sabres made it back to the conference finals the next year, they lost again, this time to the division rival Ottawa Senators. It is notable that the Buffalo Bills won the AFL championship in 1964 and 1965. The alleged "curse", however, has not extended to the city's fringe or minor league teams—the Buffalo Bandits of the NLL have won 4 league championships (1992, 1993, 1996, 2008) and six division Championships 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2006, 2008), and the Western New York Flash of Women's Professional Soccer, based in Buffalo but playing home games in Rochester, won the league title in their inaugural 2011 season.

San Diego's two professional sports teams, the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Chargers, have never won a World Series or Super Bowl, which are believed to stem from the San Diego Sports Curse. The Padres have the most World Series appearances (two) of the eight teams without a World Series championship. The Chargers won the 1963 AFL championship and have only appeared in one Super Bowl (Super Bowl XXIX, which they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26).

Some other four-team cities have some shorter yet notable droughts. Minneapolis-Saint Paul has not reached a championship series since the Twins won the 1991 World Series. This drought, like the one in Buffalo, has not extended to the market's fringe or minor league teams—two such teams, the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx and the Minnesota Stars of the current North American Soccer League, won league championships in 2011.

Philadelphia was previously considered a drought-prone city, having gone 25 years between championships (1983 76ers to 2008 Phillies), with losses in championship rounds by the Flyers (1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2010), Eagles (1980, 2004), and 76ers (2001). Some attributed this drought to an alleged Curse of Billy Penn.

Outside North America

Association football

England

• England has not won a major trophy since the 1966 FIFA World Cup.^[3] This was noted particularly when David Baddiel and Frank Skinner wrote the song Three Lions in 1996, which told of England's "thirty years of hurt".

• Newcastle United has not won a major trophy since 1969.^[4]

• Manchester City went 35 years between winning major trophies, from the 1976 League Cup^[5] to the 2011 FA Cup.

• Liverpool has not won the league since 1990.^[6]

Scotland

• Hibernian has not won the Scottish Cup since 1902.^[7] The club has reached the Final eight times since then, most recently in 2001, including losing to Rangers after a second replay in 1979.

Australian Rules Football

In the AFL, the longest drought between premierships was that of the South Melbourne/Sydney Swans, for whom 72 seasons elapsed between their third premiership in 1933 and the fourth premiership in 2005. In that time, there was also a 51 season drought between their Grand Final losses in 1945 and 1996.

The second-longest drought was that of the St Kilda Football Club, who did not win its first, and to date only, senior premiership until 1966, after 68 seasons in the VFL, an additional 13 seasons in the VFA prior to the VFL's inception, and 93 years after the club's foundation in 1873. They have not won a premiership since, giving then them 3rd longest continuing drought.

The Western Bulldogs have the longest continuing current drought, not having won a premiership since 1954 and not having even made the grand final since 1961, making them also have the longest continuing grand final drought. Melbourne has not won a premiership since 1964. Richmond have not won a premiership since 1980 nor made the grand final since 1982.

Rugby league

The North Sydney Bears hold the longest premiership drought in the NSWRL/NRL, winning their final premiership in 1922 for an eighty-year drought, up until the end of their short-lived merge with Manly-Warringah.

Since being established in 1967, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are yet to win a premiership through 44 seasons of NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL competition - the longest wait for a first title that any club has endured (Parramatta's first premiership came in its 35th season in 1981).

Rugby union

In France, ASM Clermont Auvergne had a championship history arguably as tortured as the most "cursed" teams in North America or Australia. From their formation in 1911 through 2009, they had never won a national title, despite making the championship final 10 times, and coming within a converted try in six of those games. The drought culminated in three consecutive title-game losses in 2007 through 2009. Les Jaunards finally broke through in 2010 to win their first title.

Cricket

Queensland did not win the Sheffield Shield until its 63rd season of competition. Such a long drought was particularly astounding given that, over those 63 years, an average of only five teams competed for the shield.

See also

• NHL
• NFL
• NBA
• MLB
• MLS
• List of Current NFL franchise post-season droughts
• List of Major League Baseball franchise post-season droughts
• List of National Basketball Association franchise post-season droughts
• List of National Hockey League franchise post-season droughts
• List of Major League Soccer club post-season droughts
• List of Canadian Hockey League franchise post-season droughts
• List of FIFA World Cup national team droughts

References

1. ^ Darcy, Kieran (2004-07-13). "Mistakes by the lake". ESPN.com. http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tortured/cleveland. 
2. ^ The Buffalo Curse
3. ^ Dalglish believes 'strongest ever' England can end 40 years of hurt, The Scotsman, 24 May 2006.
4. ^ Fairs Cup winners to be re-united, Daily Mail, 6 October 2008.
5. ^ Stone, Simon (29 January 2010). "Darren Fletcher the destroyer revels in prolonging City drought". The Scotsman. http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Darren-Fletcher-the-destroyer-revels.6025427.jp. Retrieved 29 January 2010. 
6. ^ Liverpool can end title drought, says Rush, The Independent, 28 April 2009.
7. ^ Edinburgh’s real disgrace? Hibs have not won the cup since Buffalo Bill was in town, Scotland On Sunday, 20 May 2001.