So the Rangers are in the World Series. I've neglected to talk about it intentionally because the one time I blogged during a game was the 8th inning against the Yankees in game one. That was, of course, the inning where the Rangers collapsed and almost screwed up the whole series.
But with the Rangers down 2 games to 1 (and losing tonight's game 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth), I'm not as worried about superstition. In fact, I stopped worrying about superstition as soon as Kinsler's 5th inning hit in game two somehow had enough backspin to come *back* onto the field in game two. Sometimes some force is against you. Call it God, call it the "sports gods", call it fate, call it anything. Something is against the Rangers in this series.
(Speaking of that, another two bad calls in a row and the Rangers are down in the sixth).
But it isn't the Rangers. I think it's just the DFW area.
Around the time I reached sports consciousness, the Cowboys were hitting their stride. They won three Super Bowls before I turned 12, and they continued to tease us for a couple of years after that. As soon as the Cowboys' dynasty looked dead, I started following the Stars. Two years after I started watching them, they won the Stanley Cup. They were back the year after that, but it seemed like a trend.
The Cowboys had won. Then the Stars took over. And I started waiting for the next team to win something. Would it be the resurgent Mavericks, led by young owner Mark Cuban and German superstar Dirk Nowitzki? Or the Texas Rangers, who had free agent Alex Rodriguez and a bright future? Or my new team, the TCU Horned Frogs. Or would the Cowboys or Stars regain their 90s glory?
Nope. The Mavericks tried to run and gun their way to a title under Don Nelson and failed. Then they reached the Finals under Avery Johnson but collapsed behind bad officiating and questionable focus. A 67-win season the following year was met with a 1st-round exit. Since then, the team hasn't really been close to a title.
The Cowboys struggled for the first half of the decade, and they were brought back into the talk by Bill Parcells. They're frequently discussed as a Super Bowl favorite, but they only have one playoff win since the Millennium. And since they're now 1-6, they're officially dead in the water.
The Stars were strong at the beginning of the 2000s, but they were never able to reach the top of the mountain again. They ran into a hot goalie in 2003 and couldn't get passed the Red Wings a couple of years ago. And recently, they've missed the playoffs.
TCU has had great teams since I arrived on campus in 2002, but they've never been able to get over the hump. Every year, they've had a terrible loss that messed up their chances at reaching their ultimate goal (Southern Miss, SMU, Utah, etc.). Last year, they finally made it to a BCS game, but they choked and lost to Boise State. Their season goes on the line Saturday in a winner-take-all game against Utah.
Which brings me to the Rangers.
The A-Rod signing was a disaster, and the team eventually sunk into debt. Only recently has the team actually found its legs, trying to build the team through pitching and youth. Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan have done a great job building this team, and they've become a force in the American League. And this season, they captured the hearts of the Metroplex with a run to the World Series...something no one else was expecting this early.
And now down 3-0 in the bottom of the 7th, things are looking grim for the good guys. And, yeah, there's a chance that they'll be back...but I thought the same thing about the Cowboys. And the Stars. And the Mavericks.
The point is that this city hasn't won a championship since 1999. With a team in each of the four major sports, it's almost unheard of. Here's a list of cities that have won championships since 2000, with the city's number of teams in parentheses.
New York (9) - 5
Denver (4) - 1
Detroit (4) - 3
Tampa (3) - 2
Raleigh (1) - 1
Los Angeles (6) - 7
Pittsburgh (3) - 3
Chicago (5) - 2
Phoenix (4) - 1
Miami (4) - 2
Boston (4) - 6
St. Louis (3) - 2
Philadelphia (4) - 1
Baltimore (2) - 1
Indianapolis (2) - 1
New Orleans (2) - 1
San Antonio (1) - 3
Only four cities, outside of Dallas, have four or more teams with no championship since 2000. Atlanta (4), Washington, DC (4), and Minneapolis (4) haven't won recently, and the Bay Area (6 teams in the area) is also title-less...for the next few days.
And it really sucks. Tampa Bay shouldn't have two more titles than Dallas. The Carolina Hurricanes shouldn't have more championships than all of Dallas' teams combined.
And what sucks is that two of the four teams have *never* won. The Rangers and Mavericks have about 70 years of play and nothing to show for it. The Cowboys have their 5 Super Bowls, and Stars have their one Stanley Cup. That's it.
And I don't know what the reason behind the drought is. The American Airlines Center is usually thrown around as cursed, since neither the Stars or Mavs have won since it was built. And while I guess it could affect the Rangers and Cowboys by proximity, I don't think that's the case. Laura Miller's parade route can be blamed for jinxing the Mavs in the 2006 series against the Heat, but it wouldn't necessarily explain any of the other team's failures.
Bad play? Bad coaching? Bad management? Good "real" reasons but not solid superstitions.
I don't know, but it looks bad. With the Rangers' defeat, the face an offseason where they could lose their top two starters and their cleanup hitter. The Cowboys are 1-6 and are still run by a guy who has no idea what he's doing, even if he fires his fatass coach. The Mavs are good but not good enough to win a championship. And the Stars are too inconsistent, even in a wide-open NHL, to do much damage.
So no championship in 2010 and the future doesn't look great either. I don't know what the city did to deserve this kind of sports-related torture, but I wish some gypsy would come through town and lift this curse.
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