Image via Complex Original
New York sports fans are spoiled and this season is exposing that. Whereas, at least one New York team has been decent in the past couple of years, this season all of them are collectively shitting the bed. That's just this year and fans are upset, but just think about the decades some of the other less fortunate cities have struggled through. Places like Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Minnesota usually have bad teams, and while New Yorkers or the Los Angeles faithful would've been livid at a below .500 record, fans from those cities have adopted a c'est la vie sort of attitude toward professional sports mediocrity. The struggle is life for these folks. If this is your reaction to losing streaks, injuries, and multiple memes poking fun at your team, you are experiencing one of the 10 Reasons Why Your City Won't Win a Major Championship Anytime Soon. Read on to shake your head at the rest.
A Fail Is Still Your Teams' Biggest Moment
Culprits: Buffalo, Cleveland
What is Buffalo sports known for? Winning? Nah. The average, casual sports fan links the city to having that football team who lost a Super Bowl by a field goal, lost another one the year after, and got blown out twice by the Cowboys the years after that. Others might know them for having that goalie who fortunately survived after this crazy accident. And where do we even begin for Cleveland? If one of your team's claim to relevancy is being on the wrong end of history, you know the struggle all too well.
Your Team Nickname Is a Racial Slur
Culprits: Washington
Names like the Redskins certainly wouldn't fly in New York, Los Angeles, or Boston because these are championship-caliber cities. They have a bit more class and pride. Far more eyebrows would've been raised at something so blatantly racist. When the city hasn't won a championship since the 1991, interest in things like the team's image tend to wane.
Seeing a Decent Player Becomes a Small Miracle, Hearts Break When They Screw Up/Get Injured
Culprits: Cleveland, Minnesota
For a short time, third-string quarterback Brian Hoyer was the only thing the Browns had going for them this season. He wasn't too impressive, but at least with him the Browns had a decent shot, and he was an upgrade over Brandon Weeden (which isn't saying much). Hoyer led the Browns to a winning record with three straight wins, but had a season-ending injury against the Bills when the hopes of Browns nation (and a Bills defender) proved to be too much weight for his ACL. For whatever reason, fan hope is dangerous to ACLs. The same could be said about Minny. Look at Ricky Rubio and Adrian Peterson.
No on knows anything about your town other than its teams.
Culprits: Milwaukee, Kansas City
How much does the average person know about Milwaukee and Kansas City other than the names of their sports teams? Not much, and coincidentally these teams haven't won a championship in decades either.
When you had the piece or pieces but never pulled it together.
Culprits: Phoenix, Cleveland
This is a common sports lament, but it's a problem if it's said about a team during its peak after every season or if it's still being said five years later. The Suns know. Remember when they had the best offense in the league last decade but still could never make it past the Spurs or the Lakers? What about that fantastic, Charles Barkley-led team Phoenix had during the 1992-93? It's a similar deal with the Cavaliers and them being witnesses to LeBron James's greatness instead of, you know, building a team around him.
The build-up is made even more heartbreaking when the city has only one team to root for. It's even worse if you live in Cleveland.
The State's Sister Team Gets Far More Attention
Culprits: Buffalo, Orlando, Sacramento
When you think about it, how many people are really checking for teams like the Bills, Kings and a post-Dwight Howard Magic? It's definitely no one in Miami, New York, or Los Angeles. Their teams are too busy winning (or losing spectacularly if you're New York).
Fans Don't Go to Games
Culprits: Atlanta, Phoenix
You've seen them; those teams that you'd never know were playing a playoff game by how empty those stands look. The Hawks and Suns are the most immediate examples in the NBA, as they've ranked in the lower half of the league in attendance since the turn of the decade. Neither have had much postseason success during that time period. Another example is the Arizona Cardinals, whose attendance rank is in the bottom third of the league during that same time frame; they haven't made the playoffs since 2009.
It's easy to say the fans don't deserve a championship, but take a good look at the Lakers Bros and ask yourselves if they're truly the type of gentlemen who deserve to see their team win a championship. Snoop was right for the most part, but if deserve did have something to do with it, Atlanta would be screwed.
Losing Is Part of the Culture
Culprits: Cleveland, Buffalo, Cincinnati
Los Angeles and New York fans do get criticized for their sense of self-entitlement, and sometimes those critics are justified. But are they wrong for expecting nothing but the best from people who get paid millions for their services, especially when others are dying to be in that position? If the answer is yes, you can see why sentences like, "The Bengals are about to have another losing season, but win or lose, I'll always love them," sound so foreign. Get angry! Ask for more.
Little National Exposure
Culprits: Minnesota, Jacksonville
There's a reason why your team is barely on Monday Night Football or TNT: There's nothing interesting about it and perhaps it's the city. There's been countless memes ragging on how mediocre the Cowboys have been the past few seasons, and yet they're still in constant conversation. Like the rap game, skills aren't always a factor, and sometimes it's about who has that panache or the extra factor. Take the Seahawks' 12th man for instance. A city's relevance has a lot to do with exposure, and the Wizard of Oz reference just doesn't cut it any more for Kansas. It just so happens losing teams are the ones associated with such cities.
Athletes Just Have No Loyalty to the City
Culprits: Buffalo, Cleveland
Part of what made the Red Sox win in the World Series so memorable was because of the attachment the players had to the city, especially after the Boston Marathon. When David Ortiz stood up in the Red Sox's stadium and said "This is our fucking city," it was on; he wasn't just doing it for the team and to justify his paycheck. Hell, people even tried to vote him for mayor.
You definitely won't get that relationship from most players in less championship-worthy cities. They don't have to say it out loud like Willis McGahee did when he left the Bills, but you'll probably see it in the performances. McGahee improved from 990 yards to 1,207 during his first season with the Ravens. Marshawn Lynch's Beast Mode truly unleashed when he left the Bills for the Seahawks as well. Maybe Kyrie Irving will be MVP if he leaves Cleveland for a better city.
