COYNE TOSS: The Sox Curse Lives in Cleveland

Before last week’s improbable dismantling of the infamous Curse, it must have been really tough being a Boston fan.

Every year brought another excellent Red Sox team, a great regular season and a heart-breaking loss to the Yankees in the playoffs.

Boo hoo.

When it comes to futility, to an utter inability to close the deal, to a complete incapability at winning championships, Boston doesn’t even come close.

Who takes the crown for not taking the crown?

Cleveland is, by far, the best at not being the best.

The last championship in any of the major sports (football, baseball, basketball, or hockey) for Cleveland came in 1948, when the Indians topped the Boston Braves in six.

Since 1948, Cleveland has won exactly zero titles. Since 1948, Boston has won 21, including the latest trophy in the case. Twenty-one!

There is not a single city that is home to at least three major sports that has had as long a championship drought as Cleveland.

Before winning the World Series, Boston was less than nine months removed from their last crown. Chicago hoisted a banner six years ago. Philadelphia has been waiting for 21 years, a period dwarfed by the 56 long ones it’s been for Cleveland fans.

No team from Cleveland has ever played in the Super Bowl. Ever.

How about Boston? Oh, that’s right, the Patriots won the title two of the last three years, and have only just ended a 21-game winning streak.

No Cleveland team has ever played in the NBA Finals. Ever.

The team from Boston? We’ll forget about what happened from 1957 to 1969 (10 championships in 13 seasons). But the Celtics established another dynasty in the eighties, reaching five finals and winning three, the last of which in ’86.

Oh, believe me, Cleveland has had its chances. Or at least “Cleveland chances.”

The best opportunity to eschew five decades of postseason ignominy came in the 1997 World Series, when the Tribe was two outs from having its finger sizes measured. But Jose Mesa couldn’t hold the one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, and in the bottom of the 11th, Tony Fernandez muffed a routine inning-ending double play, giving the Marlins runners on first and third with one out. We all know what happened next. If not, I’m sure you can guess.

It seems that throughout its sports history, truly incredible things have happened to prevent Cleveland from ever winning another title.

Remember “The Catch”? Willie Mays, racing back into the bowels of the cavernous centerfield at the Polo Grounds and reaching out to cradle in a 450-foot blast with his back to the infield? The ball was hit by Cleveland’s Vic Wertz in the top of the eighth of Game 1 of the 1954 World Series with runners on first and second and nobody out in a 2-2 game. Needless to say, the runners didn’t score. The Giants won the game, and went on to win the Series.

Remember “The Drive”? John Elway leads the Denver Broncos 98 yards to tie the score at 20 with 31 seconds left in the 1986 AFC Championship. The team on defense? The Browns. In overtime, Elway directs the Broncs 60 yards on their first possession for the game-winning field goal and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Remember “The Shot”? Michael Jordan receives an inbounds pass with three seconds on the clock, moves to his left, double pumps, and drains a floating fifteen-footer with a defender in his face. Craig Ehlo was the one guarding Jordan, and on the previous play he had made a lay-up to give the Cavs a 100-99 lead in Game 5 of the first round of the 1989 NBA playoffs. Jordan’s shot at the buzzer handed Cleveland its second consecutive Game 5 loss to the Bulls. The Cavs picked probably the worst time to put together its best team ever, and had their season ended by Jordan’s Bulls on four occasions in six years.

Just recently, things inexplicably seemed to be on the upswing. Cleveland miraculously managed to secure the first pick in the draft, and with LeBron James and Carlos Boozer leading the promising team, the playoffs seemed a lock. There was a bit of disappointment when they lost 11 out of 12 down the stretch and fell from sixth spot to ninth. Then the curse, or “reality,” struck, and Boozer bolted to the Utah Jazz after giving the Cavs’ management his word he would agree to a new contract if his option was not picked up, adding a new chapter to the all-time most bizarre ways to wreck a Cleveland team.

Trading for Jeff Garcia and drafting Kellen Winslow led some to believe the Browns were primed to finally capture the AFC North, and a dominating performance against Baltimore in Week 1 had many thinking beyond the first round of the playoffs. Then the old familiar miasma again rose from her cozy quarters in the depths of Lake Erie and fell upon the Brownies in full force. Week 2 saw Winslow break his foot (done for the year) and Courtney “Band-Aid” Brown come down with yet another malady (also done for the year). Honestly, I don’t even know what happened this time, and I don’t care.

Though they’re still giddy from their recent victory, I’m sure many Red Sox fans can still quote a thousand and one times when a World Series title was within grasp, when one more strike, one less error, meant victory, when the only possible reason that a championship banner didn’t get hung at Fenway was the existence of a curse.

I don’t want to hear it.

At least your whole city isn’t cursed.

—Staff writer J. Patrick Coyne can be reached at coyne@fas.harvard.edu. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.