Cleveland sports curse

The Cleveland sports curse is a sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, and its professional sports teams. Cleveland has three teams in the major North American professional sports leagues: the Browns of the National Football League (NFL), the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Indians. The city's three current teams have endured an unprecedented combined 159-season championship drought, having not won a title since 1964 when the Browns won the NFL Championship Game, two seasons prior to the first Super Bowl. In addition, the city's lone National Hockey League (NHL) team, the Cleveland Barons, lasted only two seasons before merging with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978.

Cleveland was named the most cursed sports city in America by ESPN in 2004 and by The New York Times in 2015.

Cleveland Browns

Much of the discussion of the "curse" is centered on the Browns, who have not won a championship since 1964 and have suffered a series of questionable coaching decisions, disappointing losses and draft busts.

In 1981, trailing by two points to the Oakland Raiders and in field goal range with less than one minute remaining in the American Football Conference (AFC) divisional playoff game, the Browns executed a passing play that was intercepted. The play, called by Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano, has become known as "Red Right 88".

In the 1986–87 NFL playoffs, the Browns were one game away from playing in what would have been the franchise's first Super Bowl when they fell short in one of the most memorable games in NFL history. The Browns were leading the Denver Broncos 20-13 in the fourth quarter when Broncos quarterback John Elway led a 98-yard game-tying drive in just over 5 minutes. The game went to overtime, and the Broncos kicked a field goal to seal the victory. Elway's fourth quarter march and the game itself became known as "The Drive", a title that both signifies Elway's brilliance in the clutch and the Browns' inability to close out important games.

The Browns and Broncos both returned to the AFC Championship Game the next year. With the Browns down 38–31 late in the fourth quarter, Browns' running back Earnest Byner was handed the ball near the goal line. Byner, who was in the midst of a great performance, was stripped of the ball and the Broncos recovered on their 2-yard line. The Broncos surrendered an intentional safety and went on to win 38–33, while Byner's blunder became known as "The Fumble". The Browns returned to the AFC Championship game in the 1989-90 season, again losing to the Broncos. As of the end of the 2015 NFL season, the Browns have not returned to the AFC Championship Game and remain one of four teams (with the other NFL teams being the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars) to never qualify to play in the Super Bowl.

The Browns were at the center of a relocation controversy in 1995. The decision by then-Browns owner Art Modell to move what was but one year before an 11-5 team to Baltimore infuriated and confused Browns fans. After negotiations with the NFL and the city of Cleveland, Modell was allowed to move the team's personnel to Baltimore, where it became a new franchise known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won a Super Bowl in only their fifth year of existence, doing so with former Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome as their general manager. In addition to Newsome's success, coach Bill Belichick, who was relieved of his head coaching duties upon dissolution of the franchise, returned five (5) seasons later as the head coach of the New England Patriots. With the Patriots, he has coached only one losing season and won six AFC Championships and four Super Bowls. The struggles of the Browns since rejoining the NFL, as well as the success of both Newsome and Belichick, were chronicled in the NFL Films feature A Football Life: 1995 Cleveland Browns.

The Browns returned in 1999, after a three-year period of deactivation. In the 1999 NFL Draft, the Browns selected Tim Couch, hoping he would be a franchise quarterback. Ty Detmer was brought in to usher in the planned "Couch era", but after a string of dismal performances, Couch was rushed into the starting position. Couch struggled to perform without a talented roster around him, which led to his eventual departure from the Browns after the 2003 season. Although only winning 22 games in 59 starts, Couch led the Browns to their only playoff berth since their return, in 2002.

By the end of the 2015 season, the Browns had started 24 different quarterbacks since their 1999 return to the NFL, a league-high in that period. The Browns have not won a playoff game since beating the New England Patriots on January 1, 1995, and have lost nine or more games each season since 2008.

On November 30, 2015, the Browns played the Baltimore Ravens in their first Monday Night Football showcase in years. After being down 17-3 in the second quarter, the Browns rallied behind Quarterback Josh McCown to close the lead to 4 points by the end of the first half with a score of 17-13. With the game tied at 27 points and three second lefts in the fourth quarter, Cleveland attempted a 51-yard field goal to win the game. The field goal was blocked and returned by the Ravens for a touchdown. Baltimore won the game and handed the Browns their most painful loss in recent history. The event had been dubbed "The Block" by disgruntled fans on Twitter only moments after the end of the game. As the month of November came to an end, so did any hopes of catching a break from the Cleveland curse.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team who have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1970.

Over the franchise's first 16 years, the team produced just three winning seasons, the highlight being the 1975-76 "Miracle at Richfield" team, whose improbable playoff run was doomed by an injury to Jim Chones. In 1989, the Cavaliers faced the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. In the decisive fifth game, Craig Ehlo had given the Cavs the lead with :03 to play. However, the Bulls' Michael Jordan then jumped over Ehlo to make the game-winning shot, and the Bulls won the best-of-five series 3-2. The play, which earned the Bulls a 101-100 victory, became known simply as "The Shot." Despite six trips to the playoffs between 1988 and 1994, including a 1992 Eastern Conference Finals appearance, the Cavaliers never proceeded to the NBA Finals, as Jordan's Bulls defeated them in the playoffs five times during the Daugherty-Nance-Price era.

In 2007, Ohio native LeBron James led the Cavaliers to their first ever NBA Finals appearance. They lost, however, to the San Antonio Spurs, who swept them in four games. Two years later, the Cavaliers, despite winning the most regular season games in the NBA since 2007 (66-16), lost the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic in six games. Although his teams always possessed home-court advantage, the reigning two-time MVP James and the 2009-2010 Cavaliers (61-21) were blown out by the visiting Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, 120-88. The Cavaliers went on to lose the series in Game 6 (4-2), which was James' final game with the team for more than four years.

During the 2010 NBA free agency period, LeBron James was featured in a television special titled The Decision. Having notified the Cavaliers just moments prior to the television event, James announced "In this fall — this is very tough — in this fall I am taking my talents to South Beach and play with the Miami Heat". The quote was heavily criticized. Three upset Cavaliers fans were seen burning LeBron James merchandise such as jerseys and posters and heavily booed James in his first game in Cleveland as a member of the Heat. James, along with the help of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, led the Heat to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning twice, while the Cavaliers fell to the bottom of the NBA echelon with their record and attendance. In those four years without LeBron, they acquired three number one picks (Kyrie Irving in 2011, Anthony Bennett in 2013 and Andrew Wiggins in 2014). Despite these windfalls the team struggled to win games, having set a record for most consecutive losses with 26 in the 2010–11 season.

After the 2014 season, James opted out of his contract early and rejoined the Cavaliers. After signing James, the Cavaliers traded their two most recent number one draft picks, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, for Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Love to form their own "Big 3", which was rounded out by Kyrie Irving. They also signed Mike Miller and James Jones to replicate the Miami Heat's formula and eventually made it to the 2015 Finals. However, several Cavaliers players were injured during the season, including Anderson Varejão with a ruptured Achilles tendon during the regular season, Love with a dislocated shoulder during the first round of the playoffs and Irving with a fractured patella in Game 1 of the Finals. Though losing nearly all of James' supporting cast, the Cavaliers won Games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 series lead before falling to the Golden State Warriors, 4-2, in six games. In 2016, James and the Cavaliers advanced to their second consecutive NBA final after defeating the Toronto Raptors 4-2.

Even though the Cavaliers were 30-11 on January 22, 2016, the team fired Blatt and replaced him with top assistant Tyronn Lue. It was revealed that Blatt had a turbulent relationship with James as well as several other players. The Cavaliers lost to the Chicago Bulls 96-83 at home in Lue's debut as Cavaliers' head coach. Since that first loss though the Cleveland Cavaliers went on to win the division (57-25) earning them home court throughout the playoffs. They would face the 8 seed Detroit Pistons, sweeping the series (4-0). Though they swept the Pistons, it was a hard fought series, as the Detroit Pistons were in every game and lead the Cavaliers in the 4th quarter in multiple games. The Cavaliers would then face the Atlanta Hawks, where they would sweep the series. During the series against the Hawks, the Cavaliers made a run at the record books, making 18 three-point field goals in a half that would give them a 38 point halftime lead over the Hawks in game 2 (which was played on May 4, 2016); the Cavaliers would go on to set a new record for made three-point field goals in a playoff game (25); the previous playoff record was set on April 24 by the Golden State Warriors (21), and the Cavaliers broke the previous regular season record for three point field goals in a game (23). The Cavaliers then went to Oakland to face the Warriors in a rematch of the previous year's finals matchup. Coming off a record breaking 73-9 regular season, The Warriors were favored at a 2-1 odds to win the series. However, with a healthy Cavaliers team and the city of Cleveland behind them, Lebron led the Cavaliers to their first ever Championship victory, sweeping The Warriors 4-0, solidifying the game 4 with a last second, game winning dunk over Warriors Forward Draymond Green, who was brutally demoralized by the incident, never returning to his former level of play. The city of Cleveland parties for weeks after, and peace and justice was brought to the land by the King himself, ending the Cleveand sports Championship drought and solidifying his place in history as the greatest basketball player of all time.

Cleveland Indians

Main article: Curse of Rocky Colavito

See also: Cleveland Indians name and logo controversy

The Cleveland Indians, like the Browns and Cavaliers, also experience the curse. The Indians' failure to win a World Series since 1948, as well as Willie Mays' catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series has led some reporters to dub the team's shortcomings The Curse of Chief Wahoo. Chief Wahoo is a Native American caricature which serves as the Indians' cap insignia. The Chief Wahoo insignia has been controversial. The Indians considered changing it in 1993, but the logo was retained on the cap until 2013, when it was moved to the jersey sleeves and replaced on the cap with a block C. The Curse of Rocky Colavito is another phenomenon that is supposedly preventing the Indians from winning a World Series.

The Indians failed to win the World Series in 1995, losing in six games to the Atlanta Braves. The loss was the Braves' only World Series win in 17 postseason appearances since 1991. Cleveland returned to the World Series in 1997 and led into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 before José Mesa blew the save, and the team wound up losing to the Florida Marlins. After winning division titles 6 times in 7 seasons from 1995-2001, the Indians have only appeared in the postseason twice in 14 years under the often frugal Dolan family ownership. In the 2007 American League Championship Series, the Indians were up 3-1 and one win away from advancing to the World Series, but they lost the last three games to the Boston Red Sox, denying their World Series berth. The Red Sox went on to sweep the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series. In 2013, the Indians won their final ten games of the season to make the playoffs again, but lost the play-in Wild Card game at home to the Tampa Bay Rays.