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The other day, Forbes Magazine came out with it's annual Top 5 Most Miserable Sports Cities article that is pretty much an excuse to rile some people up or place pity on those who are asking for it. Here's how they pick which cities make the cut:
We scored each city on the number of times one of its teams has lost in the postseason, adjusting the misery points to give the most weight to losing in the final round (World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Final, Stanley Cup Final) and doling out progressively fewer points for losing earlier playoff rounds. We also factored in the number of years since each city’s last title (31 for Seattle), and the ratio of each city’s cumulative seasons to championships won (Atlanta, for instance, has compiled 153 MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL seasons while winning one championship, the 1995 Braves). And to keep the playing field even, we limited the contenders to cities with at least 75 cumulative seasons in the four major sports leagues.
You're wondering how this ties into San Diego, right? Well, the city is credited with having four professional sports franchises over the last 75 seasons (Clippers and Rockets included) and have compiled just 1 championship (1963 AFL Title) in the last 93 professional seasons. Ouch. Depending on your viewpoint, that could either be better (a better ratio) than Atlanta or worse (2 less professional teams currently means long winters).
Forbes' system ranks San Diego sports fans as the 5th most miserable, coming in behind Seattle, Atlanta, Phoenix and Buffalo. There is no doubting that San Diego is viewed as a "little brother" town that can not compete and can not bring in championships, even when the Chargers and Padres are winning division titles. This reputation, and our ranking on this annual Forbes list, will surely follow the city forever until at least one of those teams gives us a reason to have a parade down 5th Ave.