Each year during baseball, football, hockey and basketball season there are many fans of various sports teams and towns in competition for being fans of the worst sports team in the country. There is a competition for the teams or towns to support each year.
I'm here to tell you that it is the most difficult to remain a San Diego sports fan.
First of all, we only have two big professional teams to root for: the Padres and the Chargers. We don't even have the opportunity to be let down by a NBA, WNBA or NHL team. Now we got our baseball and football teams in the 60's, so that's 50+ years of ZERO championships. Yup! Count me! 0.
Now I'm only 23 years old, but the amount of disappointment I've experienced in those 23 years is unbelievable. Between a 14-2 record and a second round playoff loss, the best offense and defense in the NFL and not making the playoff, a World Series sweep, a 10 game losing streak at the end of the season to not make the playoffs and Matt Holliday still hasn't touched home!! These are all just off the top of my head. We are now officially the city with the longest championship drought.
Now I'm a San Diego fan that now lives in eastern North Dakota. We have a lot of Minnesota sports fans that I'm always hearing about how it's hard to support. You know at least they've won championships, and the Timberwolves and Vikings are back on the rise. The Wild has also been making the playoffs and the Lynx are one of the best teams in the WNBA consistently. Now if there is any team that has 0 championships in the last 50+ years I am willing to listen to your complaining, but if not, I'm not having it.
With Cleveland's recent NBA title, the city is out of the running. The Indians aren't even playoff contenders. I think the only one I can maybe listen to are Buffalo sports fans. They also have a lack of teams to root for and the only championships were from the Bills in the 60's before the Super Bowl.
SB Nation recently put out a poll of the new saddest sport city after Cleveland's win. San Diego took second behind Buffalo, and I think the main reasons are 1. Buffalo's four consecutive super bowl losses, 2. no playoff appearances in the last 15+ years, 3. no one feels sorry for us as we cry in our perfect weather on the beach and 4. everyone forgets about San Diego.
It's easy to forget about us. We're not those historic teams and we've never had more than a few huge stars, and even when we do they're forgotten about because they're good guys, there's one person better, they're not paid like the stars now a days and they just do their jobs and do it quietly. . Do you know Trevor Hoffman? He's number two on the all time saves list but has been overshadowed by Mariano Rivera. Tony Gwynn is one of the best hitters to play the game and there are many people who have never heard of him. Junior Seau was also a hometown hero and a hall of famer that isn't heard of from the Chargers.
Don't forget that the Chargers still have one foot out the door in San Diego. Apparently L.A. needs two teams and we need zero. We've delayed it another year but unless we can get a plan for a new stadium, they're gone. I guess we can root for the college teams that aren't good either. Wouldn't change much.
With the end of baseball season approaching and no playoffs in sight along with football season and trying not to get my hopes up, this is one of the worst times of the year for a San Diego sports fan. I've provided a link to the SB Nation article below so anyone can read about us sad sport cities. One thing that's for sure, is no one can ever claim I was a bandwagoner or that I wasn't loyal through the hard times. San Diego misery as long as I need to be miserable.
