I’m starting to think I might be cursed. There’s hope this year with the Flyers and especially the Celtics, but it seems that whatever team I cheer for has no shot at winning. And with the exception of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (haha!), every team that I root against does well. Case in point, take a look at the playoff/post-season droughts I’ve had to deal with.

Miami Dolphins - 6 years (last playoff appearance 2001 season)
Miami Hurricanes - 4 years (last BCS bowl appearance 2003 season)
Baltimore Orioles - 10 years (last playoff appearance 1997 season)
Boston Celtics - 2 years (last playoff appearance ‘04/’05 season)
Philadelphia Flyers - 1 year (last playoff appearance ‘05/’06 season)

I guess things could be worse, like I could have giant puss-filled blisters covering my penis, but my sports life has really been sucking! The 2 year drought for the Celtics might not seem that bad, but they haven’t had a legitimate shot for much longer than that. Almost everyone makes the playoffs in basketball and hockey, so just getting there isn’t a big deal. The Flyers, on the other hand, have always been that team that would get my hopes up before something would happen and their Stanley Cup hopes would be dashed (that something often being ass hat Brodeur and the Devils’ neutral zone trap)

Maybe I’m just being a whiny ass bitch, too, and was spoiled in my youth. I got to watch the Orioles win a World Series in 1983. Got to see the Miami Hurricanes crowned National Champions five times, including once with me in attendance at the 2001 Rose Bowl (where I actually prayed to God and said “I’d never ask for anything again if they won that game”…hmmm). I even got to see the Celtics hoist three championship banners in the Larry Bird era.

It’s just that all of it seems ages ago and the stars that I idolized are all gone. Ripken, Bird, & Marino are no more. Lindros was gone before he even retired and before he even left Philly. I’ll never be able to put up any athlete on a pedestal as I was able to as a young teen. If you just count the pros, I haven’t had the chance to see one of the teams I’ve rooted for win a title since the ‘85/’86 Boston Celtics more than 20 years ago.

Things are looking really good for the Celtics this year, but I think it’s more of an issue of Bostonians being blessed than my personal curse wavering (see Patriots & Red Sox). It also makes me wonder if I’m being punished for not following the same teams as my dad (he’s a New Englander) and picking up random teams on my own. Then again, it wasn’t my fault that he was in the Air Force and we were stationed in Guam at the time I started following sports and I ended up picking up my teams based on who I saw on TV, whose uniform colors I liked, and whose baseball or football cards I deemed cool.