After suffering the misery of the U.S. Open and the elation of Miami winning the finals in the span of 52 hours, I started reflecting on all the NBA Finals (and sports finals in general) that I have watched, and the lack of times that my teams have won, also known as "Jim Championships."
I started going through my teams' histories since I started following them, and it wasn't pretty.
College hoops, Kansas Jayhawks, since 1991: 0 titles, 2 heartbreaking title game losses, 2 final four losses, 4 early round exits as a high seed.
Golf, Phil Mickelson, since 1997: 3 majors, 5 2nds in majors.
NBA, New York Knicks, since 1991: 0 titles, 2 finals losses (one in a game 7), many tough losses to MJ and the Bulls.
MLB, Boston Red Sox, since 2000: really only the devestating 2003 ALCS scarred me, which was more than made up for by the greatest comeback in the history of sports in 2004. My team before that, the Cleveland Indians, had the blown game 7 in the 1997 World Series, and the 1995 World Series loss.
NFL, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, since 1989: 0 titles, 1 Super Bowl loss, many choke jobs in the playoffs by the Oilers.
I could count the 1993 shared national championship by the Florida St. football team, because I was diehard back then, but I no longer follow college football, so that title doesn't really mean much to me anymore.
So if you're scoring at home, that's 0-16 in college basketball with 4 heartbreakers, 3-38 in golf with 5 heartbreakers, 0-16 in the NBA with 4 heartbreakers, 1-17 in MLB with 3 heartbreakers, and 0-18 in the NFL with 4 heartbreakers. Not a good track record. Plus all 4 Jim Championships came in 2004 and after, so this was a really sorry record before then.
Then I decided to break it down even further. Not only do my teams never win, but the team I am cheering for out of the actual participants rarely wins, either. I didn't include golf in this one.
College hoops, since 1991: 6-16 (Arkansas '94, Arizona '97, UCONN '99, Michigan St. '00, UCONN '04, Florida '06)
NBA, since 1991: 2-16 (Detroit '04, Miami '06)
NFL, since 1989: 5-18 (San Francisco '94, Denver '98, New England '02, Tampa Bay '03, Pittsburgh '06)
MLB, since 1989: 3-15* (Minnesota '91, Arizona '01, Boston '04) *I would count '03 when Florida beat the Yankees, but I pretend the 2003 World Series never happened.
So there it is, a combined 16-65 (19-103 including golf.) I hereby proclaim myself most snakebitten sports fan ever. I challenge you to tally up your own and find worse. I'll be in my bedroom crying.
