The Fans Who Are Still Waiting For It
Congrats to the Washington Capitals, NHL Champions!
The fans have been waiting a long time. Ovi has been waiting a long time. I’m really happy for the Caps. This is the year I’ve gotten into Hockey the most, and this was a delightful finals to end it on. I don’t actually have a hockey team that I root for so it was always hard to find an investment point, but the Caps miracle run and the Knights magic out of nowhere story was great stuff. Also the Caps beat Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh losing is almost always cool and good.
So that makes two recent teams who finally got over the hump after years and years of being so close. Three, if you want to count the Astros late last year. What does this mean for the NBA this seaso (Checks finals score) oh nevermind. What a waste of a finals this NBA season gave us.
Watching Ovechkin lift up the cup with pure boyish excitement on his face was pretty much the highlight of the 2018 sports year for me so far. It was impossible to not be happy for the dude. Watching Caps fans climb poles and stick their boobs on the glass and yell things is great. I have a weakness for watching people who have long invested their hearts in something get a payoff. It’s the reason I had a hard time being angry about the Eagles winning. Seeing people that happy after so long is great and makes me feel good for them. The general apathy of a fanbase that already has it all celebrating again is infuriating. It’s probably stupid that we pour so much emotional investment in these teams of random people playing a game but those wins are the reason we do it. That’s one of the reasons I was rooting for the Caps over the Knights. The Knights fans haven’t spent much time in the dirt. Any time, really. They aren’t lesser fans, but it would be practically impossible for a Knights fan to really match the emotional investment of someone who has watched the Caps since the 70’s.
Maybe this is why I always find myself rooting for the underdogs instead of the teams who play the best, especially if the underdog is a long suffering franchise. I’ve never really cared about watching a team execute perfectly the way a team like the Pats do. That’s only exciting for a short period of time, like a season or so. It’s more like appreciation than enjoyment. But the emotional thrust of a scrappy underdog, pulling off feats of greatness when they shouldn’t? That’s wonderful and far more interesting. A team like the current Golden State Warriors or the Pats are like a well made oscar winning art film. It’s an expertly pulled off example of the form that deserves appreciation. I can admire it for everything it does right. For the mastery. But there is a certain kind of deeper, personal connection missing to it. It’s meant to be admired from afar and you feel separate from it. A team like this year’s Caps, or the Astros, or my good old 2007 Giants is different. There is a personal connection, a deeper connection, in the flawed struggle of the underdog. If I have to pick between watching a perfect, and I mean utterly perfect, pass from Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or a Russell Wilson mad scramble on a broken play I’ll pick Russ every time. It’s really the flaws that make something truly perfect.
So who will be next to finally get over the hump and break decades of snakebitten shame? In any of the leagues? I consider a snakebitten team a franchise that has gone 30+ years with nothing to show for it but heartbreak and sadness, if you want to use that as a reference point.
“Pittsburgh losing is almost always cool and good”
I agree, mostly; have never managed to feel any ill will for the Pirates
“who’s next?”
hopefully the Indians, sure won’t be the Browns…
windians! windians!
Maybe because the Pirates are a long suffering franchise in a city of spoiled fans. They are the least despicable. I’d rather not see the Pirates good until the Pens and Steelers fall apart though.
I don’t like the Steelers really. I’m not big on the Pens. I like the Pirates. They’re like that team lost in the shuffle in the city. I agree with your opinion Dave. I hope the other teams crash and burn and the Pirates become an unbeatable dynasty.
As an Arena League fan I can safely say that Ted Leonsis did not deserve this.
FUCK YOU LEONSIS
I think the Chiefs have as good a chance as any to be the next. Mahomes seems primed to be a great QB and he’s surrounded by quality talent. Of course, that probably just means Chiefs will blow another 28 point lead in the playoffs, this time to the Patriots.
As a lifelong Cubs/Bears fan, I understand waiting decades for a championship. Outside of my own teams, I think I’d like to see the Indians (MLB) and Vikings (NFL) break their droughts. Despite being in our division, I do really like the Vikings, and the Indians helped make the Cubs World Series an incredible battle for every run that became an instant classic.
Also a Cubs+Bears fan. Chicago knows all about long championship droughts (minus the Bulls). Blackhawks took almost 50 years to win again in 2010, and the Bears won SB20 in ’85. Cubs took 108 years and the White Sox took 88 years to win again.
I completely agree with Vikings and Indians. The Indians have the longest championship drought of the 4 major sports (Arizona Cards won NFL championship in ’47, a year before the Indians won their last WS, if you want to count that), so it would be great to see them win.
As a Vikings fan, I hope the next one will be my team. However, as a Vikings fan, I KNOW the next one won’t be my team.
Good for the Caps though, especially because Las Vegas fans would have been insufferable if they had won it all their first year.
Or the time when the U.S. Men’s curling team won gold. I know curling isn’t a real sport but their win, who saw that one coming? Won’t be long ’till LeBron or Durant jumps to them.
What does the Detroit shirt say?
PS: No Dolphins? Smh Dave
Detroit Vs Everyone
The Dolphins and Bears were like right on the cusp of whether I considered them long-suffering. They have been, but they also hold two of the most revered teams in history. It was a toss up but they could very well count
At least the Bears have a SB win, though.
The Dolphins have won 2 and appeared in a 3rd.
They made it 5 times, just that the only loss people remembered was the one time Marino gets to play in.
The Chargers have one of the best top to bottom rosters in the league and a top flight quarterback.
I can’t wait to see how they blow it
The Chargers winning in LA as second class citizens would be the ultimate fuck you to San Diego.
Aww man that’s exactly what is going to happen now isn’t it
Honestly, I think the weather is too nice for them to really suffer
I’m always pumped because the roster just seems to get better year in and year out. But every season, we lose a ton of guys. Last year wasn’t too bad, but we lost Jason Verrett for like the third season in a row.
Why is this happening
Losing Verrett didn’t hurt us too bad. We were basically used to it since it happens every year. Trevor Williams stepped up in a big way and will probably keep the job.
Losing Hunter Henry hurts though. There’s nobody comparable on the roster. Maybe we can find another basketball player willing to strap on some cleats.
*cries in Hornets fan*
oh shit a gif
Baseball is my #1 sport and the Mets are my number 1 team, and I was born in ’87 so I wasn’t even alive when they last one- and the Mets not only are befallen championship-wise, while at least theyve made the playoffs a few times in my life, they are the masters of the painful loss (at least in baseball)- like the 2006 NLCS and the entire 2015 WS and countless other “close but lose in false hope fashion” ways… I’m also a Knicks and Nets fan so there’s more on top. But at least I like the Giants as a partial respite.
Let me put it this way though, while this doesn’t exactly represent me, and people like to talk about disheveled cities for championships. But if you’re a NYer and your team combination is Mets/Knicks/Jets/Islanders…. thats 160+ years of combined drought of no championships, with the closest one being 32 years away. And that’s one of the more common combinations for non-Yankees fans. So pour one out for those fans.
Good god the jags are too irrelevant to even be a suffering team.
They’ve suffered but they still feel pretty new to me. Give them another 5 years and I think we can start feeling genuinely bad for the lifetimers
I know most Penguins fans were rooting for Vegas because of the Caps rivalry and the Fleury connection, but I found myself rooting for the Caps for all of those reasons you mentioned. A newly minted Knights fan doesn’t have the emotional connection to the team that a long suffering Caps fan does. And Ovechkin raising the cup was one of the most intense cup raising moments in hockey. Also the Penguins were the man for two straight years, and like Ric Flair said, “To be the man you gotta beat the man.” Also fuck those Penguins fans who were trying to co-opt the Knights’ success as their own. Your team just won two straight championships.
Pens fans are the most ignorant fans in hockey, including VGS fans. Ask them about ANYTHING prior to Mario and they sit slack jawed until something about blue jerseys trickles out.
The Bills broke their curse this year. Just ending the playoff drought is enough to keep us happy without the ring for a few more years
What about the Falcons? We lost a 28-3 lead that is more suffering than all. We could feel the trophy only to have that Captain Douchebag Brady steal it
Don’t forget Eugene Robinson being arrested the night before our 1st Super Bowl appearance for soliciting an uncover officer, trading Favre away because Glanville had beef with the gm who picked him, the Vick dogfighting saga, Petrino and his BS, and probably worse of all, the Saints winning before us. I need a drink…
You have KC and the Jets on the shirt. As most any Vikings fan can tell you, KC has won a Superbowl.
So did the Jets.
But the Jets have buttfumble…
Rangers. My New York Rangers have gone over 25 years since a Stanley Cup and only one in almost 80. It is painful, and they’re not good right now. A lot of money in big contracts that can’t be broken easily. Hope springs eternal but wow I’d love to just have one season where we aren’t saying “Well, except for this…”.
How about a combined Oilers/Texans goose egg? Neither have even been to a Super Bowl while located in Houston.
Also, Toronto — of all places — now 51 years without a Stanley Cup.
Do we include Oilers heartbreak in counting Texans heartbreak?
People seem to cheer against winners more than they cheer for scrappy underdogs. Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but that’s what it seems like to me.
“Pittsburgh losing is almost always cool and good.”
I feel dirty for ever having hung any of your comics at my workplace for customers to see. I won’t make that mistake again.
New York is the scrappy underdog! Pittsburgh is the contemptible unstoppable juggernaut! Boo on you, small town of 300,000 people! Give the largest city in America with the most championships some room to breathe and stop being proud of your town’s accomplishments!
Lol I despise every other NYC team
I guess I have nothing against the Mets
I could not disagree with the bills more. Fuck the superbowl. We won our super bowl by having week 17 football. The pats are going to win our division every year for the foreseeable future and we wont beat them in the playoffs. So our superbowl is the playoffs and by got it was beautiful.