Definitely does. I was born months after the Sixers won in ’83. 25 years and 0 championships from the Phillies/Flyers/Sixers/Eagles. After that many seasons of losing, 2008 was incredible. Mets/Jets/Islanders/Knicks fans are in that 4-team losing drought. It’s more than just the Mets for the non-Giants/Rangers fans.

http://metsfanfiction.blogspot.com/

Your comment on the Mets winning World Series, aside from being irrelevant, just reinforces that this is nothing but New York whining, Mets-style. Poor us, we haven’t won the World Series in 16 years. We’ve had a losing record 4 seasons in a row. We’re still not as good as the Yankees. Of course, the Yankees have their own variety. Poor us, we haven’t won the World Series since 2009. Pitiful.

Having some eperience rooting for a horrible team, in a place where few inhabitants remember winning, I can say that it’s about

1. Having Major League Baseball at all. Even if it’s being played by the other teams.
2. The ballpark experience. Even if the food is overpriced and mediocre, and the efforts to make us root cheesy, as though we were Pavlov’s dogs.
3. Hope. While the Nats were stinking on the field, a contending team was being assembled. For those of us who endured the bad teams, 2012′s team is payback.

Abstract: “The tension and excitement of competitive sport is created by the indeterminacy of the contest that is based on an approximate equity between the contestants. Yet players and teams vary in competence and prestige, and those with less competence are frequently labelled as the under-dog. While winning is valued, cross-cutting values often create sentiments for the under-dog, that is, the desire for the under-dog to overcome the inferior status and upset the favoured opponent. Social support for the under-dog reflects a utilitarian perspective that helps maintain an emotional interest in a contest; additionally, under-dogs receive support from the social value of equity. At a micro-level, the under-dog status is often used to increase the level of motivation and performance. Data gathered from university students are used to support the positions taken in the paper.”

If the Indians can hold on and finish in last place, then that means that all 3 Cleveland teams will finish in last place for the season. And the Indians have a shot at 100 losses as well.

The Indians have finished above .500 once in the Dolan’s 12 years of ownership. I believe the Browns have finished above .500 twice since they came back in 1999. And the Cavs have sucked since Lebron left – he grew up in the area and knew better then to stay….and he won a championship in his 2nd year away.

Want some more? The Browns have won 3 playoff games since the late 1960′s – forty-plus years. The Indians were not even in a pennant race in August between 1960 and 1993.

One would have to view the Cleveland teams to realize how totally UNWATCHABLE they are.

Put another way – the 3 teams have 93 players on their rosters. Not a one can be considered any form of a star.

BTW-I love baseball…period…Don’t have any strong team loyalty so I am amused by the incredible overreaction by fans to trolls. I thought your response was an accurate assessment of the current state of the Red Sox. Wondering what they will do regarding Ortiz. Anyway, good luck next season.

At any rate, as a Red Sox fan AND a Mets fan (from my youth anyway…I don’t follow them religiously since I moved out of NY), the “panache and a touch of humor” quote from the article really resonated with me.

I don’t let sports affect me in a negative way…really, all I can do is look back on the Sox season, shake my head and laugh, and hope that the more cancerous elements of the team are gradually shoved aside to make room for younger, exciting players who have some guts and pride.

We all follow teams for a reason, I follow the Braves because we got TBS broadcasts in Jamaica and they introduced me to the sport, I follow Birmingham in English football because of my dad, who wanted someone to share in his misery no doubt (we are even more unsuccessful than Man City (and couldn’t beat their goal keeper in a cup final even when he had a broken neck)) – and we should follow them because we care for them through thin and thinner.

We should let the media be the fashion followers, go after the flavour of the month as it suits their corporate egos to do so, but the real fans will follow their team to the bitter ends, will revel in the misery of defeat and very rarely, but enjoyably, taste the sweetness of success and be able to savour it for what it is – a success beyond expectation – not an almost obligatory requirement to achieve beyond the wildest dreams of most where the alternative is to see a missed title is a sign of the ends of the earth and miss the purpose of the game entirely.

You must be able to see something at its very worst to be able to appreciate it at its best. There is no true fun in the burden of expectation.

In other news, the Red Sox still have Ellsbury, Buchholz, Pedroia, a handful of nice-if-not-great players (Lester, Saltalamacchia, Ross), major league ready youngsters (Middlebrooks, Lavarnway, Kalish, Iglesias, Tazawa), young talent that gives reason for hope by 2014 (Bogaerts and Bradley), and a zillionaire owner who has shown a willingness to spend. I would hardly call that an organization in collapse even if they’re clearly having a miserable, miserable year.

Mets fans, sorry to highjack your thread

Yes, I said “we won.” Whatever there was to win in 2004, I got some of it.

Good article.

Being a Pirate fan is a test. A test of character, a test of strength, perhaps a test of foolishness. It is God’s way of balancing the books for most of us being Steelers fans.

Frankly, though, I’d prefer the “unbalanced” books of the Seventies. Thank goodness for being old enough to remember those halcyon days.

It hurts. The Yankees have won 5 World Championships during that span, one of which was against the Mets (with the clinching game at Shea).

Rooting for the Knicks and Jets hasn’t exactly been a picnic, either.

With that being said, and I think several fan bases can attest to this (I’m looking at you: Indians, A’s, Royals, Pirates, Padres, ect.) that if my team ever does win a World Series, I can die right then and there a happy man.