Really what they're talking about in terms of misery isn't necessarily just having terrible teams. If you have a terrible team in your city, you don't know any better. Ignorance is bliss. It's when you have teams that are this close. That's when you start to know misery. That's when you can just about taste sweet victory before getting it slapped out of your mouth.
Forbes has the list up now. We rank behind Atlanta, Seattle, Buffalo and Phoenix. Phoenix is crazy to me considering they've won a championship within the last 10 years and it also makes me mad to be behind Seattle on any type of list.
0 recs | 14 comments
If you've got to be miserable...
Atlanta is a land-locked hell-hole, Seattle is dreary and depressing, Buffalo is Buffalo for God's sake, and Phoenix is hot enough to kill you. If you've got to be miserable, San Diego seems like a pretty good place to do it.
I_Can_Still_Pitch - April 14, 2008
Comparing
the Chargers 1982 AFC championship loss to the Pads failure last yr to get to the NLDS is like comparing apples and unicorns. In '82, the entire city thought beating Cincy was just a formality to get to the Super Bowl and then the weather screwed everything up - entire city was crushed. Last yr, I'm not sure that anyone but those of us around here and at Ducksnorts cared all that much that we lost a one game playoff to get into the playoffs.
Winfield's Ghost - April 14, 2008
Agreed 100%
What an idiotic comparison.
Drama - April 14, 2008
Weak
Philadelphia has to be more miserable than us.
And last year was a minor disappointment, I'd say a bigger one was getting beat by the lowly Cards who fell backwards into a playoff spot.
Axion - April 14, 2008
Cards and Rockies
what aggravates me is the woulda coulda shoulda that I go through when I see those types of teams continue on to the World Series.
Dex - April 14, 2008
No kidding
The last 2 years were such completely wide open fields in the NL...there really wasn't any one dominant team, just 4 pretty good ones.
I have long thought that recent San Diego teams picked poor years to make their Championship runs. 1998 Yankees--one of the winningest teams in all baseball history to that point? The 18-0 Patriots (who were vulnerable, obviously...but had still had a season no team in decades had)? The 49ers dynasty?
goose1 - April 14, 2008
Throw in the '84 Tigers as well
TheGrandHatching - April 14, 2008
It's a pattern not just of losing...
But of running into whoever is the best team that stupid decade....One would think this would be some sort of consolation. It isn't, really.
goose1 - April 14, 2008
It's a pattern not just of losing...
Although not exactly the '98 Yankees, the '84 Tigers were ranked #9 in the post-1947 era and #7 in the post-1961 era in Baseball Almanac's article "Determining the Best Major League Team Ever Through Logical Statistical Comparison".
TheGrandHatching - April 14, 2008
This guy lost me in paragraph two.
"The 1998 Atlanta Braves are included in the rankings although their winning percentage was just .654. They played dominantly, and if not for a very "lucky" San Diego Padres team, these Braves may have won the World Series."
F this guy. Did we not beat them 4-2? With them holding home field advantage? Did we not beat them THREE times on their home field? Including the series clincher? Did we not shut them out TWICE in that series?
Drama - April 14, 2008
Yeah
I didn't understand that at all. Not knowing what his criterion was for playing "dominantly" or being "lucky", I decided to read that paragraph as sarcastic.
TheGrandHatching - April 14, 2008
Yet...
"A large determinant of a team's greatness is how it performs in the postseason. Great teams don't choke. They continue to play as they had all season long, or better in the postseason, dominating their opponents in the World Series, and any Playoffs."
Also, apparently great teams make sure that if they give up runs they aren't earned!
Wes - April 14, 2008
Are you guys forgetting '98-99?
The Tacoma Sabercats? Hello?
Drama - April 14, 2008
I would think....
....if you have to live somewhere where all the sports teams suck, San Diego would be the nicest place to be. Compared to—say, Detroit, Buffalo, Seattle, Atlanta, etc;
DbacksSkins - April 15, 2008
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