1969 — yes, a long time. And yet in the 1970s they went to four Super Bowls, only to lose to the Chiefs, Dolphins, Steelers, and Raiders. The Purple People Eaters were strong but just couldn’t get over the hump.
That Super Bowl IV loss to the Chiefs leads to a piece of trivia: Joe Kapp is still the only QB ever to start a Rose Bowl, Grey Cup, and Super Bowl.
Are we talking about pro teams alone?
There are a LOT of absurdly devoted college fan bases, despite their teams never really accomplishing much. Look at Texas Tech’s football fans; they haven’t won a conference championship in 25 years (last SW conference championship was 1994, no Big 12 wins), and even their last conference championship was a booby prize, because the best team in the conference was ineligble, and thus the championship was shared with like 5 other teams or something f-ed up like that.
Shouldn’t the Buffalo Bills belong on this list? Won the AFC Championship in 1965. A few Super Bills appearance in the 1990’s but no Championships.
Not really, no. (Non-goalies are usually collectively called “skaters.”) In hockey, the ability of a skater to influence the game is limited by the fact that
It is impossible for a skater to play more than 22-24 minutes out of 60, because their legs would fall off. Defencemen can play a little more, but not much.
No matter how awesome you are, professional hockey requires a team. Wayne Gretzky Himself with crap teammates would simply be a high scorer on a bad team, and even his effectiveness would be several curtailed. The great majority of goals are scored in offensive systems, not purely individual effort.
No matter how good you are, goaltenders can stop anyone.
Wayne Gretzky was ludicrously great, like just absurdly, inhumanly awesome, but in 21 years his teams won the Stanley Cup four times… and didn’t win it 17 times.
Hockey players can absolutely dominate the sport more than baseball or American football players, but not as much as basketball players.
The salary cap is a recent invention and the Leafs had been long frustrated before that.
Iowa State
I don’t think the Cleveland Indians really compare to the Browns. Sure, it’s been a long time since the Tribe has won the World Serious, but they’ve been there plenty of times, and they’re usually better than average. The Browns, though, have never even been to the Superb Owl, and are often one of the worst teams in the league. And even despite that, Browns fandom seems to be more fanatical than Indians.
In English Football (soccer), Millwall Football Club surely has the highest fanaticism/success ratio. They’re a mid-level second tier team that generally make the news more for their fanatical supporters than for the team’s performance on the field.
As said above, American college football is where you will find your answer.
I agree. I’m a die-hard Indians fan myself but I would consider most of the fan base here “fair weather” if that. Not “I’ll pay attention if they’re over .500” but more like “I’ll pay attention if they get to the ALCS”.
We had a good run in the 90s, selling out 455 consecutive games once our new stadium opened. People loved the Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel. But in the last 20 years Cleveland has sadly lost its passion and patience for baseball.
Oh well tho. Makes for lots of cheap ticket options for me!
I can not believe St Louis Blues haven’t come up in this thread.
Entered the NHL w/ the 1967 expansion; doubling the league to 12 teams.
The Blues made it to the final dance (Lord Stanley’s Cup) the first THREE years of their existence but never won a game in the finals.
51 years…I am still waiting.
In fact, they already have. Check Defensive Indifference’s post #16. 
And I even brought stats to my post. Harrumph!
Good point.
And those Super Bowls were 4 straight. Quite an accomplishment, going to 4 straight, even though they never won it. They were a fun team to watch with Kelly at QB.
Heck, I remember watching OJ run for them in the 70s, and he was fun to watch too. Joe Ferguson at QB, but they didn’t have much of a winning team then.
aw jeeze…I have moments of being an idiot.
Of course, in the earkly wave of the NHL expansion you also have the Sabres and Canucks, who came along just three years later and have been equally hapless.
I mean no disrespect to Blues fans, who are fine and upstanding people in a great sports city, but the slavish devotion of Leafs and Canucks fans surely surpasses them; this is Canada, after all, and those team have nary a Cup since then to show for it.