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Tuesday, May 02, 2006
23 Years, 90 Seasons, ZERO Titles
 Point to a blue-dot city for facts about its titles since 1983. Red cities have at least 2 franchises with no title every year since then. Now the Flyers are out of the playoffs, marking yet another season since Philadelphia's four major franchises have won a championship. Here's how pathetic this streak really is: It's the longest current streak for a city with four major-league teams. Not only that, if my figures are right, it's the LONGEST SUCH STREAK EVER for a city with four major-league teams, topping Chicago's 22-years drought between NFL titles by the '63 and '85 Bears. (Based on records since 1947, when NBA began.) During this miserable run, the following cities have all won FOUR OR MORE championships: Los Angeles (9, counting Anaheim), New York (9, counting Islanders), Edmonton (8, counting 3 Canadian football titles), Detroit (7), Toronto (2 baseball, 4 CFL), Boston (6), Dallas (4), Denver (4), San Francisco (4), Calgary (1 NHL, 3 CFL), and even E. Rutherford, N.J. (5), if you count the N.Y. Giants. Has any other city been so disappointed for so long? Here's the case for Cleveland. OK, it hasn't had a hockey team since 1978. But it hasn't had a championship since 1964, when the Browns won. That's 42 years. So long, some grandfathers there have never seen a parade! That's 116 seasons (counting all 35 for the Cavaliers, two for hockey, 41 for Indians (no '94 Series), not counting five for after Browns left for Baltimore. Couldn't find anywhere else that tops Philly's 89. (Exclude Buffalo and San Diego's AFL titles, you gotta exclude their AFL seasons, too.) These loser cities, Seattle and Philly are red dots on the map above. Here's a list that totals up each franchise's drought in cities with four major-league teams. It's another kind of misery index. Guess who comes out worst. By the way, only Detroit has waited longer than Philadelphia for an NFL championship. Check out this list: Top 5 longest current droughts for a franchise in a single city 1. Chicago Cubs, no titles since 1908. 2. Cleveland Indians, 1948. 3. Detroit Lions, 1957. 4. San Francisco Giants, 1958. 5. Philadelphia Eagles, 1960. All I can say is: Note: If you see or suspect a mistake (and with all this this data, that's likely), email Early Word. I'll check it out and fix as needed.
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