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[PastorOfMuppets]

It's Toronto for me and I am biased. I don't think we should include cities with only one or two pro teams like San Diego and Buffalo though.

The mitigating factor for Toronto is not that mitigating. The Argos are not considered one of the major teams in this city. It would be the equivalent of a minor league hockey team in Cleveland winning the AHL championship (which they did do this year actually).

The other thing is that Toronto during the 90's was largely a Bills town. We got the local Buffalo affiliates for our US channels and by extension, we cheered for the Bills. A lot of people during the 80's and 90's were raised Bills fans so you have a city who cheered for the Blue Jays, Leafs, Raptors and Bills.

Buffalo on the other hand does not cheer for the Raptors or Blue Jays. Buffalo baseball fans tend to be split between the Yankees and Red Sox and I'm not sure who they cheer for if they follow the NBA.

Edit: Phoenix is pretty bad too. All their teams are plagued with terrible ownership that will prevent them from ever winning a title. The way Sarver just fucked the Steve Nash era Suns is incredible.

 

[Azuran]

Mitigating factor: The Argonauts have won four Grey Cups since the Jays’ last title, most recently in 2012.

LMAO that's not a mitigating factor because no one gives a single shit about the Argonauts in Toronto. They're on the same level as at the Marlies or maybe even below it.

 

[Galang]

Toronto is a mess. Watching my friends cheer every year to be disappointed every year across pretty much every sport is awkward.

 

[Alex Stroud]

I thought that Wycheck lateral was complete horseshit when it happened. Not a fan of the Bills, but that game definitely did a good job tearing the hearts out of its fans' chests.

 

[A_Dang]

Buffalo on the other hand does not cheer for the Raptors or Blue Jays. Buffalo baseball fans tend to be split between the Yankees and Red Sox and I'm not sure who they cheer for if they follow the NBA.

As a Bills fan, in terms of baseball my "cheering" order is actually:
1) Whomever the Rochester Red Wings are a farm team for (the Twins?)
2) Not the Yankees
3) Blue Jays

You are totally correct in your generalization though, most Western NYers are split between the Yankees and Red Sox. The only MLB game I've ever been to was in Toronto where the Yankees were playing the Blue Jays and you could tell tons of people travels up from NY to root for the Yankees. I think there were more NYers than locals at the game. I loved it because the Blue Jays blew out the Yankees. It was amazing.

I'm not an NBA guy, but from the people I know that are I don't get a sense of a predominant team loyalty. I think it's more of just cheering for Syracuse in college hoops.

 

[Parham]

As a resident of San Diego, I don't feel particularly upset about our championship drought. Then again, I'm indifferent towards both of our local teams.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Barely hear a peep out of Buffalo about their sports misery but those 4 Super Bowl losses...man, it seemed like Buffalo and Denver were hellbent on AFC Super Bowl misery for a bit.

San Diego is a tad weird because of how many transplants there are and I'm sure those transplants have had championships to celebrate so I doubt you'll hear a peep out of them either.

 

[ATF487]

And yet, there's something undeniably weird about suggesting that San Diego fans are long-suffering. When we think of heartbroken cities, we almost always think of frigid cities that are past their economic prime. We think of Cleveland and Boston, of Buffalo and Minneapolis. The idea of fans suffering in perennially gorgeous weather by the beach feels wrong, like there's something inherently more meaningful about losing when you have to trod back home and shovel snow for six hours.

These are cold but are doing just fine economically thank you very much!!!!

 

[Slythe]

As a Cincinnati native and huge Bengals fan I can confirm there is a curse of some kind over this city.

 

[Hypemaster]

Yes I'm hurting, Lil B was on to something. If only the Wizards' owner and GM were competent people...

At least I get to laugh at my fam in ATL, wouldn't trade for that.

 

[burn this down]

At least we've still got broads in Atlanta...

On the other hand, I'd say there's no other place that rivals Atlanta when it comes to passion for college sports.

This. Atlanta's smack dab in the middle for a ton of big football schools (Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Clemson, Tennessee) and you get a few people who either went to or have kids at other Southern football schools that are a bit further away (Ole Miss, LSU, Mizzou, etc.), so fans really get riled up when college football ramps up in the Fall.

 

[Cheerilee]

5. Vancouver (49 points)

Last title: never

This is a controversial selection because we're limiting Vancouver to the Canucks and its brief run with the Grizzlies. Vancouver doesn't have an NFL team, but the BC Lions play in the Canadian Football League and have won six Grey Cups, most recently in 2011. I suspect that Vancouver might not be quite as frustrated as its numbers suggest because of that, but by the rules of the Misery Index, Vancouver fans are still waiting for their first title in American professional sports. The Canucks are 0-for-45 since entering the NHL in 1971, and the Grizzlies failed to even make the playoffs during their six seasons of existence before moving to Memphis. The curse of Steve Francis?

Also mitigated by Canada winning Olympic Gold for both men's and women's hockey on Vancouver ice in 2010. We got to cheer "Luuuu!" whenever Roberto Luongo made an amazing save, and have international reporters were asking why we were booing our own goalie. It wasn't a Stanley Cup, but it felt damn good.