Top 20 Why Reasons It Sucks To Like the Teams I Do

20. September 2005: Cleveland Force fold.
Now I'm not a big soccer fan. I casually cheer for Chelsea and Juventus, and would occasionally go to a Cleveland Crunch or Force game. They were Cleveland's only championship-winning pro sports team. In 1994, 1996, and 1999, the Crunch, as they were known at the time, won championships in the old NPSL. They also lost in five other championship series between 1991 and 2005. However, indoor soccer just wasn't big enough, wasn't profitable enough, and with problems finding owners in 2005, the Force went on inactive status. Cleveland's only winning pro sports team, no matter how little-known they were, went silent.

19. May 7, 1957: Herb Score takes line drive to the face
Score was coming up as a great young power pitcher, possibly the best on the Indians' staff. Early in his third season, a Gil McDougald liner met his face and he was never the same afterward. Score went on to be a great announcer, but unfortunately, that doesn't win you games, and the Indians struggled.

18. January 7, 2008: LSU trounces OSU for National Championship
The wounds from the previous season had finally healed. Ohio State was back in the running for a National Championship, this time against Louisiana State. The 38-24 score sounds a lot closer than the game actually was, as the Tigers' 21-0 second quarter pretty much ended all hopes of OSU coming back.

17. June 14, 2007: Cavs get swept by Spurs
Self-explanatory. Cavs win the East, no one except an ineffective LeBron James shows up for the Finals. Possibly the most boring sporting event I have ever watched, golf, tennis, and fishing included.

16. May 14, 1993: Penguins blow it vs. Islanders
No team has won three straight Stanley Cups since the 1980's Edmonton Oilers. The Penguins, would have, could have, should have, but David Volek (who?) scored a game winner in Game 7 overtime to knock the Pens out of the playoffs. The Islanders went on to lose to the eventual Cup winners in Montreal in 5 games. No Canadian team has won the Cup since.

15. December 23, 2007: Browns lose to Cincinnati
The 2007 Cleveland Browns shocked the hell out of everyone in their run for a playoff spot. And in Week 16, the train derailed. A five-point loss guaranteed the Browns would have to beat San Francisco and then hope for Indianapolis to beat Tennessee in Week 17. Only one of the two happened; Tennessee pulled out the victory, keeping the new Kardiac Kids out of the playoffs.

14. June 4, 2008: Penguins lose in Cup Finals
I've said enough on this. Bite me, Detroit.

13. September 29, 1954: Willie Mays' catch is a parable for the entire World Series
I believe it was the great philosopher, Foghorn Leghorn, who said "I came. I saw. I got blown up." Such was the 1954 season for the Indians. Winning a record 111 regular season games, the Indians were expected to dominate the World Series against the Giants. Sadly, Bob Lemon forgot how to find the strike zone, Bob Feller didn't play (apparently his arm fell off or something), and the Giants swept the Indians.

12. April 17, 1960: Frank Lane trades Rocky Colavito
For a more current comparison, think about this. Bill Mueller hit .326 as a member of the Red Sox in 2003. Imagine now that the Indians decided to trade C.C. Sabathia for Mueller at the start of the 2004 season. That's about how lopsided this was: Harvey Kuenn was the AL batting leader in 1959, while Colavito was an up-and-coming power hitter coming off back-to-back 40-HR seasons. Kuenn did manage to hit .308 in Cleveland, but was soon after shipped off to San Francisco. Colavito would hit 245 more homers in his career.

11. May 4, 1976: Jim Chones breaks his ankle
Afther the stunning Miracle of Richfield upset, the Cavs went into Boston with confidence, set to take on the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference Championship. Sadly, less than a week before the series, Chones, the team's star center, broke a bone in his foot in practice, pretty much quashing Cleveland's hopes of victory. The Cavs evened the series with two home wins, but dropped the series in six. The Celtics beat Phoenix in six games for the NBA Championship.

10. September 25, 2005: Indians choke in the final week
A ball lost in the sun, a lack of clutch hitting, and the inability to lay down a bunt, all in the span of three games take the Indians from being 1.5 games out of the AL Central lead and 1.5 up in the Wild Card to losing six of their final seven games, including a three-game sweep by the AL Central and World Series champion Chicago White Sox. A 19-8 September will be overshadowed by the fact that they came into the last week of that month 18-4.

9. October 21-28, 1995: We waited 41 years for this?
The Indians have a 100-44 regular season before the hitting dries up against Atlanta. The Indians drop the World Series in 6 tightly-contested games, only one game being decided by more than one run (Atlanta's 5-2 victory in Game 4).

8. January 8, 2007: OSU loses to Florida on the gridiron...

7. April 2, 2007: Then repeats the process on the hardcourt.

6. January 4, 1981: Red Right 88
Damn you Brian Sipe! No one can blame Sam Rutigliano for this. Sipe was instructed to run Red Right 88, and if no one was open, Rutigliano told him to "throw it into Lake Erie." No one was open. Sipe tried to force the ball to Ozzie Newsome. Mike Davis intercepted it. Oakland held on for the 14-12 victory, and went on to win Super Bowl XV.

5. January 17, 1988: The Fumble
The hole opens, Earnest Byner could walk right in... but Webster Slaughter missed his block so he could watch Earnie score. Ball gets stripped by Slaughter's man, recovered by Denver, season over.

4. January 11, 1987: The Drive
John Elway rises to the occasion, Cleveland's eleven defenders don't. Even on a 3rd and 18 play with a botched snap, the ball bounces right to Elway and he finds Mark Jackson for 20 yards. I still refuse to believe Rich Karlis' OT game winning FG was truly through the uprights.

3. October 18-21, 2007: Outscored 30-5
I can't say much more than that. A 3-1 series lead, your aces set to pitch two of the three games, needing only to win one. And you still manage to lose three in a row: 7-1, 12-2, and 11-2.

2. May 7, 1989: The Shot
Everyone knew the ball was going to go to Michael Jordan. I knew it. You knew it. The entire arena knew it. Helen Keller could have seen it coming. And somehow, the Cavs only put one defender on him: Craig Ehlo. Jordan gets the ball, shoots, scores his 44th point and the Cavs become the Bulls' punching bag for the next decade. Why not double team Jordan with Ehlo and maybe Larry Nance or Hot Rod Williams? Why not team leader in steals, Ron Harper?

1. October 26, 1997: Speechless
Two hits in 8 innings. A 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th. And Jose Mesa can't hold it. A poorly timed error by Tony Fernandez and an Edgar Renteria single later, and the Indians blow it for the second time in three years. I don't cry after sporting events, but I'll admit I did after this one.