Cleveland Browns.
Montreal Expos.
Quebec Nordiques.
'Nuff said.
The A’s - 15 times in the post season, six trips to the World Series. Four World Championships
The 49ers – Five Super Bowl wins. Unfortunatly it’s going to be a long time until they get number six.
Baseball - Pirates from 1971 to 1981 2 WS championships
Braves 1982-current - one string of great finishes, '95 WS; one string of absolute
suckitude.
(To explain this sports bigamy: Growing up in North Carolina, there really was not a local team to root for. As a 7 year old, in the fall of '71, my parents took me to the North Carolina State Fair to see Bob Hope. I recall him asking who had won the WS game that day. Someone said Baltimore, and he said, “Good, I hope they beat the Pirates.”, which got a loud roar of approval from the audience. I really didn’t think it was fair to Pittsburgh, so I adopted them as my team then and there. And they remained my team up until 1981, when cable invaded my house and TBS force-fed Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and the rest of the Braves to me. So, since I was constantly exposed to them, I finally gave in and rooted for the Braves. Just my luck that the Braves were set for 10 years of excreable play. But after '91, I forgave them…)
NFL - Washington Redskins: 3 Super Bowls.
(Before the Panthers came to Charlotte, CBS showed every Redskin game to us N. Carolinians. The Panthers haven’t worn me down yet, although they have claimed my son’s allegiance.)
NBA - LA Lakers: 9 titles
(So sue me for growing up in North Carolina when there weren’t any ‘local’ teams. I would see either the Lakers or the Celtics once a month on the Game of the Week, and since my parents rooted for Boston, I naturally chose the Celtics. My parents also were pulling for Baltimore in the '71 Series.)
North Carolina Tar Heels: 3 NCAA Men’s Basketball titles, Football-errr, not so much.
(About the only team my folks and I agree on. Of course, we chose the most important one to display family unity.)
(So sue me for growing up in North Carolina when there weren’t any ‘local’ teams. I would see either the Lakers or the Celtics once a month on the Game of the Week, and since my parents rooted for Boston, I naturally chose the Celtics. My parents also were pulling for Baltimore in the '71 Series.)
GAH! - I meant the Lakers. I can be such a goober.
By the way:
I know a girl whose father played for the Tigers in the 1984 World Series.
I was a Miami Dolphins fan in the early '70s. However, I was a young kid at the time and my fandom was based more on the fact that the Dolphins were the first NFL team I ever heard of (their stuff was often featured front and center on the Sears catalog pages containing the official NFL licensed clothes) more than any actual knowledge of the team’s success or its players.
We didn’t get a “local” NFL team until the Seahawks appeared in Seattle in 1976. Unfortunately, that was the same year our family TV broke (and was never replaced), so I grew up not watching football or even becoming a fan of the Seahawks. I would still root for Miami on those rare occasions when I caught a game at somebody else’s house.
I became a Pittsburgh Steelers fan in 1978-79, after watching them win consecutive Superbowls at a friend’s house, so I guess that was a “successful” period for me. However, my football fandom didn’t extend beyond that.
I finally became an honest-to-goodness Seahawks fan around 1990. By that time I was working as a cook in a bar, so football was on TV all the time. Plus, a group of a dozen or so Seahawks players came through my town for some promotional event, and they all ate dinner at the place I worked. I got to cook steaks for them, and then got my picture taken with them (and autographs, too!). So I’ve followed the Seahawks ever since. But until Mike Holmgren came along, I’ve been mostly “unsuccessful” there. Still no championship.
I wasn’t a baseball fan at all until 1992. However, my “baby” sister (11 years my junior) was a huge fan. She was especially a fan of Jose Canseco when he played for the Oakland A’s. My dad discovered that the A’s would be playing the Mariners in Seattle on my sister’s 15th birthday, so he bought three tickets and we went to the game. My sister was extremely excited about this, but I was mostly just tagging along and knew next to nothing about the sport beyond the basic concept. (I didn’t even discover, until many years later, that that particular game we watched ended a 14-game Mariners losing streak.) But that game turned me into a fan, and I’ve been a rabid Mariners fan ever since. I can happily say, “Hey, I became a fan in 1992, when they still sucked! I’m no 1995 bandwagon jumper!” I’ve stayed loyal to them through all their ups and downs for 16 seasons now. But, despite three ALCS appearances, the Mariners still have never appeared in the World Series. Still, in the last 16 seasons, there have been 9 seasons over .500, and three AL West championships with four trips to the postseason.
Yes, and no.
Yankees- Goes without saying, I think. Yes.
Buffalo Bills-They got to four superbowls in a row, but… 
Mostly unsuccessful.
NFL. Arizona Cardinals. Need I say more?
MLB. Arizona Diamondbacks. Hmm… a couple of good years including that World Series win in 2001. Still, I enjoyed last season a lot more
NBA. Phoenix Suns. Let’s not talk about the Bulls series!
I don’t really have a favorite NHL team.
Colleges. Florida State, Arizona State, Ohio State.
Ohio State won the national championship in football in 2003. However, they’ve had quite a few disappointments since.
ASU was embarassed in the Holiday Bowl.
Florida State has been an disappointment for a few years.
I follow both the Yankees and the Mets with an edge to the Yanks. Yes it has been mostly successful but that doesn’t mean I am not disappointed when they are not the champs. By far baseball is my favorite sport.
I follow both the Giants and the Jets with a big edge to the Giants. Two happy years and a bunch of disappointment.
I still consider myself a Devils fan but I find that I have been losing interest as I get older. I still check to see how they are doing but I don’t watch much until the playoffs. A lot of sucky years in the beginning but overall success.
I have completely lost interest in pro basketball. If asked I would say I am a Nets fan but I don’t care much anymore.
For college sports I follow Maryland (went there) and Rutgers (lived there). Mostly unsuccessful. One great season for Maryland basketball. I barely remember when Rutgers was in the final four. As for football, meh. Hopefully Rutgers is on the right path in football. They seem to be going the wrong way in basketball.
Loyal Royals fan since 1982, which means it’s split pretty much straight down the middle. A dozen years of never finishing lower than third, including a division title and a World Championship, followed by a dozen crappy years, except the 2003 roller-coaster ride was exciting.
Hopefully the tie-breaking years ahead tilt the balance in a positive direction. I think the trend is upward, but I thought so in spring of 2004 as well, so who am I to predict anything?
I was born in 2001 and I immediately became a Patriots and Red Sox fan.
This year, the Celtics telegrammed me asking that I root for their team. I couldn’t say no.
Daddy lets me swear and spit and drink beer when we watch our teams on TV.
Life is fuckin’ good.
St.Louis Cardinals-2 WS in my lifetime. The 1st I was to young to appreciate, the second I no longer lived in St.Louis. Overall it’s been good times.
Steelers-only 1 while I’ve been a fan. Again, overall it’s been good times.
StL Blues-nothing. Some good times (I was at game 4 of the sweep of the Blackhawks in the first round when they were the number 1 seed) and some bad times (2 words…Mike Keenan).
Kind of a mixed bag. I’m a fan of all sports Cleveland, so I’ve pretty much been disappointed my whole life. Lately though, we’ve had some pretty good teams. Just need 1 team to get “over the top” and get us a championship.
The Indians are in good shape for a few years. Probably our best shot to get a champion.
The Cavs have Lebron, so you can’t count them out, but they really need to get some better players around him for a real shot. We looked good back in the early 90’s also, with Price, Daugherty, Nance & all, but could never get by Michael Jordan.
The Browns were awesome this year, much better than anyone thought they would be. Invest in some defense this off season, and maybe… just maybe (aww, who am I kidding?).
Then there’s the Buckeyes. An actual championship in '02 (the first for any team I follow in my now 41 years). In the championship game again this year. Say what you will, but this is their 3rd championship game in 6 years. A pretty good run, and maybe just enough to push me from unsuccessful fan, to successful.
i love international hockey, and as a canadian, i bet you can guess my favourite team…
starting from 1984: (i.e championships i can remember, after i was 5 years old.)
– canada cup / world cup
2004
1991
1987
1984
(every tourny in this time frame, except 1996 loss to usa.)
– iihf world men’s
gold:
2007
2004
2003
1997
1994
– iihf world junior
gold:
2007
2006
2005
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1991
1990
1988
1985
– iihf world women’s
gold:
2007
2004
2001
2000
1999
1997
1994
1992
1990
(every tourny played except 2005 loss to usa.)
– olympics (men)
gold:
2002
– olympics (women)
gold:
2006
2002
… there are a bunch of silver & bronze finishes to add to these, but i’m gonna keep the list strictly to championship criteria.
so ya, though seeing some very dissappointing second place finishes, i can say over all, i’ve been an exceptionally well-treated fan.
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…I wasn’t quite walking when Ipswich won the UEFA Cup. So the best I can do is a couple of promotions to the Premier League. And beating Inter Milan 1-0 at Portman Road although we lost on aggregate. Oh, and the FA Youth Cup, not that I’m running out of ideas.
But hey, we beat West Brom yesterday, we’ve got a squad capable of keeping us in the top six even before Jim goes shopping this month.
I’m fairly uncomfortable with success. Luckily, I’m a Cleveland fan, so that rarely comes up.
Mixed bag.
Baseball: Utter failure
The Cleveland Indians were the local baseball team. From them, I learned to despise baseball, especially the Cleveland Indians. What a bunch of chumps. I was really happy they crapped out again this year. I did have a couple of good years in the 70s in Cincinnati, but I didn’t watch much because the Indians had made me hate baseball so much. I avoid baseball whenever possible.
Football: Mixed
I followed the Cleveland Browns during the Jim Brown years. I’m too young to have seen them in their glory years, when they owned the game (and might not have seen many games then anyway; a lot of them pre-date TV). While I was watching, the Browns never could quite make it (except once, as an underdog, against Baltimore), but they had Jim Brown, so who cares? Just being able to watch that guy week after week was a joy.
Later on, I became a Steelers fan. Then I moved to Houston and got hooked on the Oilers. I thought Bum sucked, a minority opinion at the time, but I loved watching Earl, at least until Bum started using him for every damned play. He was almost (but not quite) as good as Jim Brown. Watching Pittsburgh and Houston play each other, I really couldn’t lose (Pittsburgh, IIRC, tended to win about 2/3 of the games they played). That was bad assed football.
These days I only follow college ball. I’m having pretty good luck with LSU (my daughter’s alma mater). I could have good luck, though not so much this year, with one of mine (Michigan), but I hated the place so much that I don’t like them.
Basketball: Success
Okay, I only payed attention to the sport when Jordan was playing, and I happened to live in Chicago when they started winning championships. But that brief period was a lot of fun. I don’t follow it anymore.
Should I even bother to answer?
San Francisco Giants fan for 40+ years. They’ve technically won a world series in my lifetime, although they were 3000 miles away and I was one year old. Since then it’s been 2nd place finishes, or gross ineptitude. Then there was the 2002 Series, which is among the greatest chokes of all time, just to add piquancy to the emotions.
University of California (Cal) football. For the first 30 years of my fandom, they had exactly 2 stellar seasons: 1975 and 1991. The fact that we’ve been actually competitive for the past 6 seasons is bliss (although we haven’t won a Rose Bowl, the pinnacle of conference play, in 70 years).
Like other New Englanders, the better part of a lifetime of suckitude, followed by a glut of success that I almost can’t contemplate.
Baseball: Red Sox (two Series in four years), and Cardinals (Series in '06), meaning a team I root for has won the series three times in the last four years.
Football: Patriots (self explanatory). Never could bring myself to care about the Rams.
Hockey: Bruins, useless for my entire life. Doesn’t seem to be changing. Don’t care about the Blues.
Basketball: Celtics (three titles in my life, all in the eighties). I don’t really care about basketball, though. It’s still interesting to watch them this year.