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The city of Seattle hasn’t had it easy, sports wise. Its former NBA club, the Sonics, left town in 2008. This past year, efforts to get pro basketball back to the city by luring the Sacramento Kings fell short. The NFL Seahawks made a gallant playoff run behind young quarterback Russell Wilson, only to suffer a gut-wrenching 30-28 loss to Atlanta one round shy of the conference championship. The loss marked the Seahawks’ twelfth trip to the NFL postseason in their 37-year history, none of which have ended with a title.
Altogether, Seattle teams have competed in 115 cumulative seasons, advancing to at least the semifinal round of the playoffs 11 times, with just a single ring by the 1979 Sonics to show for their efforts. It earns Seattle the top spot our Most Miserable Sports Cities list, just a hair ahead of Atlanta, a town whose history is loaded with Braves’ postseason flops and which lost its NHL franchise not once, but twice.
Other towns ranking high: Phoenix, where the NBA Suns have made it to nine western conference finals and two NBA Finals without a ring, and Buffalo, where the Bills are famously 0-4 in Super Bowls and the Sabres are still looking for their first Stanley Cup despite 29 trips to the playoffs since 1973.
If you’ve seen this list in recent years, you know that misery as defined by sheer futility – losing records, long championship droughts – isn’t what we’re going for. Everyone knows that the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years. This is about misery in the heartbreak sense – cities whose teams have been good enough over the years to win games and make championship runs, only to disappoint in the end more often than not. So we dole out the largest numbers of misery points for the poorest records in championship round play – the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and NHL Finals. Right behind come records in semifinal round play, i.e. conference finals and league championship series, and so on back down the line. The closer you come and miss, the more misery points you score.
But a long championship drought shouldn’t be ignored altogether, so we do add points based on the number of years since a city’s last title, and for the overall ratio of a city’s cumulative sports seasons to the number of championships it’s won (some cities have longer sports histories or more teams than others, so , for example, Cleveland’s seven titles in 227 cumulative sports seasons rates very close to Houston’s four titles in 141 seasons). And we toss in a bonus point for a city that loses a major sport through relocations – Atlanta losing the NHL and Seattle the NBA, for example.
We limit the candidates to cities with at least 75 years of cumulative NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL seasons on its resume (MLS and WBNA don’t count — we’re sticking with the major sports leagues), the better to avoid the apples-to-oranges comparisons that come from including one-team towns like Portland and San Antonio or relatively new pro sports towns like Nashville and Charlotte.
Pre-merger track records from the ABA and AFL, partial forerunners of the modern NBA and NFL, do count. Hence, a team like the Denver Nuggets gets hit with misery points for losing the last ABA final to the New York Nets back in 1976. Same for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl I loss to Green Bay in 1967, when they were still part of the AFL.
If it keeps plugging, Seattle may yet get its NBA team. The town has also been an oft-mentioned landing spot for struggling NHL franchises. And maybe Wilson and coach Pete Carrol will take the Seahawks over the hump this year. Until then, easy on the coffee. It’s known to trigger heartburn.
No. 1 Seattle
Teams (past and present): Seahawks, Mariners, Pilots, Sonics
Championship Round Record: 1-3
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-7
Total Seasons/Championships: 115/1
Last Title: 1979
Let us count the ways to misery: the Sonics are now one of the NBA’s elite teams – in Oklahoma City. A push to get basketball back via Sacramento didn’t make it. The 116-win Mariners of 2001 couldn’t finish the job. And a controversial call in the 2005 Super Bowl helped ensure a Seahawks loss to Pittsburgh.
No. 2 Atlanta
Teams: Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Flames, Thrashers
Championship Round Record: 1-5
Semi-Final Round Record: 6-10
Total Seasons/Championships: 159/1
Last Title: 1995
Oh, those Braves. Always near the top of the standings, but only hoisting the World Series trophy once at the end during a run of 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005. Meantime, the city’s two NHL franchises now play where people care about hockey, in Calgary and Winnipeg.
No. 3 Phoenix
Teams: Cardinals, Suns, Diamondbacks, Coyotes
Championship Round Record: 1-3
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-9
Total Seasons/Championships: 101/1
Last Title: 2001
The Suns have reached the NBA western conference finals nine times without a championship.
No. 4 Buffalo
Teams: Bills, Sabres, Braves
Championship Round Record: 2-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 6-6
Total Seasons/Championships: 103/2
Last Title: 1965
We all know the Bills are 0-4 in Super Bowls. But don’t forget the Sabres, who have competed in 29 Stanley Cup playoffs, including six semifinals, without a Cup.
No. 5 San Diego
Teams: Chargers, Padres, Rockets, Clippers
Championship Round Record: 1-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 3-3
Total Seasons/Championships: 107/1
Last Title: 1963
Chargers lost their only Super Bowl (1995), the Padres their only two World Series (1984 and 1998). Meantime, two professional basketball franchises have come and gone.
No. 6 Cleveland
Teams: Browns I, Browns II, Rams, Indians, Cavaliers, Barons
Championship Round Record: 6-9
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-11
Total Seasons/Championships: 227/6
Last Title: 1964
A strong run by the Browns during the 1950s and early ‘60s prevents Cleveland from being higher.
No. 7 Kansas City
Teams: Chiefs, Royals, Athletics, Kings, Scouts
Championship Round Record: 3-2
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-6
Total Seasons/Championships: 122/3
Last Title: 1985
Clubs from the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have all left town over the years. Only MLB returned.
No. 8 Houston
Teams: Texans, Oilers, Astros, Rockets
Championship Round Record: 4-4
Semi-Final Round Record: 5-8
Total Seasons/Championships:
Last Title: 1995
Lots of playoff losses over the years for the Astros and Rockets. The city did take two NBA titles when Michael Jordan was off playing baseball in 1994 and 1995, interrupting the Bulls’ dynasty.
No. 9 Washington, DC
Teams: Redskins, Senators l, Senators II, Nationals, Wizards, Capitals
Championship Round Record: 7-11
Semi-Final Round Record: 10-2
Total Seasons/Championships: 239/7
Last Title: 1992
Some nice history from the Redskins. Otherwise, a slew of postseason ousters with only two other titles in 1924 and 1978.
No. 10 Denver
Teams: Broncos, Rockies (MLB), Nuggets, Rockies (NHL), Avalanche
Championship Round Record: 4-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 10-11
Total Seasons/Championships: 142/4
Last Title: 2001
Great run from 1996 to 2001 yielded all four titles. But the Broncos lost four Super Bowls between 1978 and 1990, while the Nuggets have totaled 33 ABA and NBA postseason appearances without a title.
Altogether, Seattle teams have competed in 115 cumulative seasons, advancing to at least the semifinal round of the playoffs 11 times, with just a single ring by the 1979 Sonics to show for their efforts. It earns Seattle the top spot our Most Miserable Sports Cities list, just a hair ahead of Atlanta, a town whose history is loaded with Braves’ postseason flops and which lost its NHL franchise not once, but twice.
Other towns ranking high: Phoenix, where the NBA Suns have made it to nine western conference finals and two NBA Finals without a ring, and Buffalo, where the Bills are famously 0-4 in Super Bowls and the Sabres are still looking for their first Stanley Cup despite 29 trips to the playoffs since 1973.
If you’ve seen this list in recent years, you know that misery as defined by sheer futility – losing records, long championship droughts – isn’t what we’re going for. Everyone knows that the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years. This is about misery in the heartbreak sense – cities whose teams have been good enough over the years to win games and make championship runs, only to disappoint in the end more often than not. So we dole out the largest numbers of misery points for the poorest records in championship round play – the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and NHL Finals. Right behind come records in semifinal round play, i.e. conference finals and league championship series, and so on back down the line. The closer you come and miss, the more misery points you score.
But a long championship drought shouldn’t be ignored altogether, so we do add points based on the number of years since a city’s last title, and for the overall ratio of a city’s cumulative sports seasons to the number of championships it’s won (some cities have longer sports histories or more teams than others, so , for example, Cleveland’s seven titles in 227 cumulative sports seasons rates very close to Houston’s four titles in 141 seasons). And we toss in a bonus point for a city that loses a major sport through relocations – Atlanta losing the NHL and Seattle the NBA, for example.
We limit the candidates to cities with at least 75 years of cumulative NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL seasons on its resume (MLS and WBNA don’t count — we’re sticking with the major sports leagues), the better to avoid the apples-to-oranges comparisons that come from including one-team towns like Portland and San Antonio or relatively new pro sports towns like Nashville and Charlotte.
Pre-merger track records from the ABA and AFL, partial forerunners of the modern NBA and NFL, do count. Hence, a team like the Denver Nuggets gets hit with misery points for losing the last ABA final to the New York Nets back in 1976. Same for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl I loss to Green Bay in 1967, when they were still part of the AFL.
If it keeps plugging, Seattle may yet get its NBA team. The town has also been an oft-mentioned landing spot for struggling NHL franchises. And maybe Wilson and coach Pete Carrol will take the Seahawks over the hump this year. Until then, easy on the coffee. It’s known to trigger heartburn.
No. 1 Seattle
Teams (past and present): Seahawks, Mariners, Pilots, Sonics
Championship Round Record: 1-3
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-7
Total Seasons/Championships: 115/1
Last Title: 1979
Let us count the ways to misery: the Sonics are now one of the NBA’s elite teams – in Oklahoma City. A push to get basketball back via Sacramento didn’t make it. The 116-win Mariners of 2001 couldn’t finish the job. And a controversial call in the 2005 Super Bowl helped ensure a Seahawks loss to Pittsburgh.
No. 2 Atlanta
Teams: Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Flames, Thrashers
Championship Round Record: 1-5
Semi-Final Round Record: 6-10
Total Seasons/Championships: 159/1
Last Title: 1995
Oh, those Braves. Always near the top of the standings, but only hoisting the World Series trophy once at the end during a run of 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005. Meantime, the city’s two NHL franchises now play where people care about hockey, in Calgary and Winnipeg.
No. 3 Phoenix
Teams: Cardinals, Suns, Diamondbacks, Coyotes
Championship Round Record: 1-3
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-9
Total Seasons/Championships: 101/1
Last Title: 2001
The Suns have reached the NBA western conference finals nine times without a championship.
No. 4 Buffalo
Teams: Bills, Sabres, Braves
Championship Round Record: 2-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 6-6
Total Seasons/Championships: 103/2
Last Title: 1965
We all know the Bills are 0-4 in Super Bowls. But don’t forget the Sabres, who have competed in 29 Stanley Cup playoffs, including six semifinals, without a Cup.
No. 5 San Diego
Teams: Chargers, Padres, Rockets, Clippers
Championship Round Record: 1-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 3-3
Total Seasons/Championships: 107/1
Last Title: 1963
Chargers lost their only Super Bowl (1995), the Padres their only two World Series (1984 and 1998). Meantime, two professional basketball franchises have come and gone.
No. 6 Cleveland
Teams: Browns I, Browns II, Rams, Indians, Cavaliers, Barons
Championship Round Record: 6-9
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-11
Total Seasons/Championships: 227/6
Last Title: 1964
A strong run by the Browns during the 1950s and early ‘60s prevents Cleveland from being higher.
No. 7 Kansas City
Teams: Chiefs, Royals, Athletics, Kings, Scouts
Championship Round Record: 3-2
Semi-Final Round Record: 4-6
Total Seasons/Championships: 122/3
Last Title: 1985
Clubs from the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have all left town over the years. Only MLB returned.
No. 8 Houston
Teams: Texans, Oilers, Astros, Rockets
Championship Round Record: 4-4
Semi-Final Round Record: 5-8
Total Seasons/Championships:
Last Title: 1995
Lots of playoff losses over the years for the Astros and Rockets. The city did take two NBA titles when Michael Jordan was off playing baseball in 1994 and 1995, interrupting the Bulls’ dynasty.
No. 9 Washington, DC
Teams: Redskins, Senators l, Senators II, Nationals, Wizards, Capitals
Championship Round Record: 7-11
Semi-Final Round Record: 10-2
Total Seasons/Championships: 239/7
Last Title: 1992
Some nice history from the Redskins. Otherwise, a slew of postseason ousters with only two other titles in 1924 and 1978.
No. 10 Denver
Teams: Broncos, Rockies (MLB), Nuggets, Rockies (NHL), Avalanche
Championship Round Record: 4-6
Semi-Final Round Record: 10-11
Total Seasons/Championships: 142/4
Last Title: 2001
Great run from 1996 to 2001 yielded all four titles. But the Broncos lost four Super Bowls between 1978 and 1990, while the Nuggets have totaled 33 ABA and NBA postseason appearances without a title.
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