11/05/24
January 10, 2006
Where does your misery rank?: There is the misery of being so close to a Super Bowl win that you can practically taste the Gatorade in the jug as the players sneak up on the coach … only to watch the football bounce off the upright. And there is the misery of enduring so many losing seasons that not even John Facenda could make the team's history sound interesting.
posted by skydivemom to football at 09:31 PM - 26 comments
January 27, 1991: "Wide Right".
posted by The Casual Observer at 05:51 AM on January 11, 2006
I think they drastically overestimate the power of one super bowl victory, especially in the case of the Bucs. All of us Bucs fan deserve to be much higher on the misery scale. The orange years are not forgotten!
posted by bperk at 07:27 AM on January 11, 2006
The Jags are not a less miserable franchise than the Giants or (especially) the Carolina Panthers. Seven years of futility and the AFC Championship loss at home to Tennessee are more suffering than the other expansion team in Carolina has suffered, and the Giants have Super Bowl wins and a recent trip to the big game. The Cowboys are probably right to be the least miserable, since their fans haven't suffered much. I grew up in Dallas and didn't experience my first year without the team in the playoffs for an entire decade. But they don't rate a 0.0 on "historic misery" -- The Catch was one of the most famous excruciating big-game losses in NFL history. Every time I see that picture, I hope Everson Walls will jump up and block the pass.
posted by rcade at 07:27 AM on January 11, 2006
I'm a Steelers fan so truthfully I am not very high on the misery scale. But there are the Cordell Stewart years and they were painful for me.
posted by scottypup at 08:11 AM on January 11, 2006
No matter what, New Englanders will always be able to bitch about the weather. ...and by the way, will it finally snow already???
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:17 AM on January 11, 2006
Superbowls I and IV were a very, very long time ago. As a matter of fact, if we don't get some defensive help, the Chiefs might not make it till Superbowls 101 and 104. (Sorry, don't know the roman numerals).
posted by hawkguy at 08:31 AM on January 11, 2006
CI and CIV, hawkguy.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:40 AM on January 11, 2006
The misery the Bills and their fans have endured goes back to the "Wide Right" Super Bowl kick against the Giants. Although the play is probably getting really old by now, I'm still a firm believer that if the Bills would have won that game, they would have had much better success in the next three Super Bowls, winning at least one other one, possibly more. Instead, the rope kept getting tighter and tighter around their necks. As for the author claiming that O.J. Simpson adds to Bills' fans misery, that's a bunch of crap. I don't even consider his recent past when I think about watching him on the field. He was, and is, probably the most graceful and talented back ever to play. And don't bother with all the stupid "Slasher" and "He made great cuts" etc. comments. Those stopped being funny years and years ago. When it comes to football misery, the Browns have the market cornered.
posted by dyams at 08:54 AM on January 11, 2006
St. Louis may have had a few good years with the Rams in the Warner era but that doesn't make up for the decades of pain watching Bill Bidwill's Cardinals and also for the the early (and recent) Rams teams. There's been a lot more pain in this town over football than good times.
posted by Bury Bonds at 09:18 AM on January 11, 2006
Walls would have been off the hook if weren't for Eric Wright's game saving tackle on Drew Pearson. I thought Pearson off to the endzone. Thank god for Eric Wright. Being a Niner fan, the only bitter taste I carry with me is the lost to the Redskins in the 83 Championship game. The refs were picking on Lott that day. I'll never be able to let that one go...
posted by vbgjr88 at 09:20 AM on January 11, 2006
1. Its a snowy cold day in Pittsburgh, the wind is picking up, the playoffs are in sight. A win, and we were in. A loss and...well... 4th and goal on the 3...the play call is still agrued about to this day. Long story short, we didnt make it. For all you people out there who think you have it bad, that pee wee football game haunts me to this day.
posted by steelcityguy at 10:01 AM on January 11, 2006
St. Louis may have had a few good years with the Rams in the Warner era but that doesn't make up for the decades of pain watching Bill Bidwill's Cardinals and also for the the early (and recent) Rams teams. There's been a lot more pain in this town over football than good times. Took the words out of my mouth. There were a few times when the St. Louis Cardinals were on the verge of having a decent team (Jimmy Hart era) and then Bidwell wouldn't pay the good players or spend the money to have a better team. The Rams are certainly a breath of fresh air for St. Louis and have rekindled the enthusiasm for football fans that have been football starved for too long.
posted by STLCardinalfan at 10:32 AM on January 11, 2006
Being a miserable sports fan means being a supporter of Iron Mike Sharpe, "Canada's Greatest Athlete." Poor guy had the world's slowest healing injury, which is why he had to compete his entire career with his forearm in a cast. I used to cheer for him every time he got in the ring, but I'll be damned if he ever so much as won a single fight.
posted by the red terror at 10:46 AM on January 11, 2006
That tally of Boston joys was great. Sure as hell right, tell it to Cleveland.
posted by Hugh Janus at 10:53 AM on January 11, 2006
I was not even born when the Jets won the Super Bowl, so I can't look back on that. A couple missed field goals in the playoffs last year and a ruined season this year. Does not look good for next year. As least I have only been a football fan for a few years so I have not been suffering long.
posted by njsk8r20 at 11:19 AM on January 11, 2006
I am a browns fan. Pick a year. the ernest byner fumble was the worst, but so far every year is painfull.
posted by dkern at 12:05 PM on January 11, 2006
You know, as a fan of Boston area sports, we are pretty much bloated on victory for the next decade at least. Dallas, on the other hand, has suffered quite a bit for the last bunch of years. Really, Dallas should be higher on the list and New England fans should be listed as the least miserable - even if the Broncos miraculously eliminate the Pats this weekend.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:29 PM on January 11, 2006
RED TERROR....Iron Mike Rules! 3 man tag champs, Iron Mike Sharpe and the Mulkey Brothers! Misery is being such a great team, in fact the GREATEST TEAM EVER, the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970's, being so great that the number of players inducted into the Hall of Fame from that team has been limited. Heres to L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell and Andy Russell getting in as they deserve to be and to the THE BUS for making his last stop in Canton in 2010! And a shout out to the most miserable fans in sports...the fans of CLEVELAND! May they NEVER enjoy a championship team! I live in Cleveland and I'm not proud of it, only proud of watching the fans whine and cry year after year! I know...1964 seems like yesterday!
posted by LiveWithIt at 12:46 PM on January 11, 2006
Hey bperk, At least your Bucs have a Superbowl! If you remember the orange days then I'm sure you remember the NFC Central which would include your old pals the Detroit Lions! The Lions haven't been good since the merger and even with the greatest running back of all time (yes, that would be Barry Sanders) they were only a mediocre team at best. Further, when was the last time they had a decent quarterback? The only one I can recall in my lifetime is Chuck Long and that may be pushing the envelope. No one can talk to me about misery, mine is so deep that it has left me hopeless and without as much as a partical of faith.
posted by Michiman at 12:49 PM on January 11, 2006
Further, when was the last time [the Lions] had a decent quarterback?George Plimpton?
posted by chicobangs at 01:38 PM on January 11, 2006
I'm not much of an NFL guy, but do to another sport I like very much being locked out for a year I watched one full season of NFL football and I decieded to root for the Jets. So to answer skydivemom's question my misery ranks #15.
posted by HATER 187 at 03:19 PM on January 11, 2006
Until you lose a game to a division rival because a convict on work-release snowplows a clean spot for the home team to kick a winning field goal, don't tell me about misery. Broke my freakin' heart, and I'll always hate the Pats because of it. Curse you, Mark Henderson!
posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:34 PM on January 11, 2006
Not a single person in my immediate family was alive when the Lions last won a championship, and I was around two when they won their last playoff game.....
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:35 PM on January 11, 2006
Iron Mike Sharpe? Screw him. Dino Bravo all the way!
posted by fabulon7 at 08:41 PM on January 11, 2006
Eagles...Flyers...76ers...Phillies....'nuf said. P.S. Snowfall here in Jackson Hole is about 4inches an hour. Not bad for a transplanted Philly boy.
posted by GoBirds at 10:25 PM on January 11, 2006
1) Having to witness the borderline, unsportsmanlike conduct of these modern-day prima donnas who put the "me" in team, knowing that no professional sport is immune from these a-holes. And then listening to the "poor me" justifications that permeates from the gaps between their ears. 2) Finally acquiring those long-awaited season tickets in the loges right on the fifty, and the only win the team could manage is the right to draft first.