Ms. Macur has brought attention to the plight of being a sports fan in the Nations Capital but curiously omitted the Redskins and Wizards. Where else can the Capitals, Wizards, and Nationals lose on the same night? The only thing missing was news of a Cousins-Kaepernick trade in which we give up draft picks.
Oh, come on. Washington fans get the adrenaline rush of "almost." in San Diego, we give up on opening day. When the chargers left, our odds of winning anything did not change.
2
According to the scoring of longest championship droughts on champsorchumps.us, there are four other cities suffering just a little more than DC: San Diego, Buffalo, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee.
1
With respect to only the NHL, the saddest sports town is probably St. Louis.
The Blues joined the NHL in 1967 and for the franchise's first three years in it they played in the Stanley Cup Finals three times under Coach Scotty Bowman sans winning the Cup. (By the way, Bowman did win four consecutive Cups coaching Montreal in the late 1970s.)
Thus, in its 50 years of existence, the best the St.Louis Blues did thus far was make the Cup finals in the franchise's first three years, which, as long-time fans might recall, was a time where the Blues fans were incredibly enthusiastic about their new team in the NHL, led by the organist Ron Kramer [if I recall his name correctly] each and every game.
Now, in hockey and other sports, in place of good Kramer-like music, we get illogical mindless singing instead, which is just plain annoying.
The Blues joined the NHL in 1967 and for the franchise's first three years in it they played in the Stanley Cup Finals three times under Coach Scotty Bowman sans winning the Cup. (By the way, Bowman did win four consecutive Cups coaching Montreal in the late 1970s.)
Thus, in its 50 years of existence, the best the St.Louis Blues did thus far was make the Cup finals in the franchise's first three years, which, as long-time fans might recall, was a time where the Blues fans were incredibly enthusiastic about their new team in the NHL, led by the organist Ron Kramer [if I recall his name correctly] each and every game.
Now, in hockey and other sports, in place of good Kramer-like music, we get illogical mindless singing instead, which is just plain annoying.
1
Much is made of the fact that the Caps didn't make it out of the second round. Not enough is said about why the NHL has the two best teams in the league play in the second round, or for that matter two of the four best in the first round. Can one of the major sports leagues actually do a correctly seeded tournament and stop relying on artificial designations like division and conference?! My goodness, hockey and basketball play 80 plus games and it's like those games don't really matter.
2
It has applied to the Wizards too. However, in their case it is directly attiributable to the owner's seemingly being blackmailed or something by the longstanding awful for 14 years GM Ernie Grunfeld. This season, after completely whiffing on free agents, he left the Wizards with no bench. He tried to make up for it by trading a first round draft pick for a player, Bogdanovich, who is a free agent in July. Hasn't worked as the bench routinely blows 10-15 point leads in a matter of 2-3 minutes. This is self-inflicted heartbreak by the billionaire owner.
Take heart, D.C., there's always the 'Skins. Hehe.
2
Please. I root for Buffalo sports teams. Washington has a long way to go before they can even begin to understand how good they have it. For starters, neither Buffalo team has won a championship in the modern era. But, they each have lost in the finals multiple times -- often in the most heartbreaking possible manner (Scott Norwood missed FG? Brett Hull's skate in the crease?). Oh - and of course, one of those record 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses came to who else but Washington. As for recent heartbreak, the Bills have the longest playoff drought in pro sports and have accomplished this in infuriating and unlikely ways too numerous to list. The last time the Bills were in the playoffs? 1999, and what happened then is still called the Music City Miracle. The Sabres can soon to take over the longest playoff drought in the NHL, and despite finishing last in the entire league for 2 consecutive seasons and missing the playoffs for 6 straight years have not had one single ping pong ball -- for any pick -- fall their way in the draft lottery the entire time. Not one! All the while watching players like future stars like Auston Matthews and Conner McDavid go to hated rivals like the leafs or unbelievably lucky (draft wise) organizations like the Oilers. Won the President's Trophy and failed to make the Cup finals? Got you covered, Sabres did it 10 years ago.
2
Have been living in the DC area for almost 30 years. Was a Red Sox fan but once the Nats started been die-hard fan. I waited years for the Red Sox to win; I can wait and cheer for years till the Nats win. As painful as it is, gotta support the local team. It's part of being a real fan.
Go Nats!
Go Nats!
4
This is a recurring topic here in Washington, where we have not had a champion in 27 years. Some say it is a curse caused by all the corrupt politicians who work here. But I remind them that Washington, DC has no voting congressman or senator. Those guys all come from the rest of the country that likes to "blame Washington."
4
It's the Curse of Dan Snyder, which has metastasized to every sports franchise in the area.
7
Sounds legit to me!
Washington
First in War
First in Peace
Last in the American League.