Curses

Every major sport seems to have one team that historically has dominated as no other. In baseball, it's the Yankees, basketball, the Celtics (sorry, Lakers fans), hockey, the Canadiens, and football--well, that's the tough one. The Packers? The Steelers? The Cowboys? The Patriots? Okay, no clear winner there.

Recently, my brother pointed out that just as there's one dominant team, so does every sport have one that seems cursed. They often have good players, and even come close to winning championships, but just can't manage to go all the way.

In baseball, there's no question. Okay, there was a question until a couple years ago, when the Red Sox won the World Series. The cursed team is the Cubs. They were the first team to win two World Series in a row, but next year will be the 100th anniversary of their last triumph. In fact, if they don't do something soon, eventually there'll be no one around who was alive when they won.

The other sports are trickier.

For basketball, it's probably the Jazz. They're not one of the original teams, but they've been around over 30 years. (Also, since they moved from New Orleans to Utah, they've had the silliest name of any team.) They've had some great players, especially Malone and Stockton, and great years, but they've never been able to put it all together for one season.

Hockey, it's a tie. The Sabres and the Canucks. They're both expansion teams who've been at it almost forty years. They've both had a couple shots at the Stanley Cup, but no go.

Football, once again, is the toughest. Should I pick teams that came so close and failed, or those that weren't even within sniffing distance of the Super Bowl? In the former category, you've got the Bills and the Vikings, who've both been to four Bowls and came back with no rings. But for the most hapless team, there's one that's been around forever, had the greatest running back ever, and has been completely worthless in the playoffs, there's only one choice. Since the Super Bowl started, the local baseball, basketball and hockey teams have won a combined total of eight championships, but this team has never come close to playing in the big game. I'm talking about my old home team, of course, the Detroit Lions.