Top Ten Tormented Fanbases in Sports 

 10. Minnesota Vikings

 09. Sunderland FC 

 08. Cincinnati Bengals 

07. Cleveland Indians

06. Buffalo Bills 

05. Toronto Blue Jays Toronto MAPLE LEAFS

04. New York Knicks 

03. Detroit Lions 

02.

 01. 

10. Minnesota Vikings 

Seasons 

60 

Record 

488 - 403 - 11 

Playoff Record

21 - 30 

Super Bowl Record 

0 - 4 

Worst Sporting Moments 

- Gary Anderson Wide Left 1998 NFC Championship Game 

- Blair Walsh missed chip shot versus Seahawks in 2017 

- Four Super Bowl Losses in 1970's 

- Loss to the first "Hail Mary" against Cowboys in 1975 Playoffs 

- 41-0 Loss against Giants in the Playoffs

 

Vikings made my list , I live and deal with so many Viking fans and so many of them are beaten down over the years and tough losses. The Vikings are the example of whats better....

A team that has a lot of good seasons and teams but always falls short on winning the big one in usually embarrassing fashion

or

A team that just sucks every year and never sets up their fans for ultimate heartbreak

I think they belong on the list because of the ways they find to lose games. Either as monster favorites (1998) or scrappy defensive battles (2017) - they just fuck it up in the end. And to lose four Super Bowls is also icing on the cake.

And I enjoy it all soooooo much. Provides me so much smacktalk ammunition.

Vikings didn't make my list, even with 41-0 ass-kicking my Giants laid in them. There are SO many worse franchises.

May 24, 2020 13:58:34 GMT thereallt said:

Vikings didn't make my list, even with 41-0 ass-kicking my Giants laid in them. There are SO many worse franchises.

It’s not really worst franchises though , the Vikings always find a way to lose in the most spectacular fashion and get their fans hopes up along the way. In ways that can be worse.

That Gary Anderson missed field goal is legendary in heartache.

15-1 team , favorites to win in all , a kicker who hasn’t missed all year and then that shank. You can’t make that shit up.

Didn't think of Vikings, I did give a more cursed Minnesota pro sports team the nod on my list

Didn't make my list because they've been a good team basically the entire time I've been following the NFL, and especially so under Zimmer. Blair Walsh's missed kick was rough, and I know it feeds into a deeper kicking history, but I think it was more than eclipsed by the Minnesota Miracle.

Vikings made my list at #10 for the same reasons as UT.

The Vikings are easily the most successful team on my list in terms of W/L record and playoff appearances over the 35 years I have been a sports fan. Yet I still included them for the heartbreak they have brought their fans as they continually find novel ways of losing NFC Championship games. It may be even worse for older Vikings fans who had to suffer through 4 Super Bowl defeats. Then throw in the fact that no Vikings fan under 50 will likely remember those Super Bowls and, yeah, they are Listworthy. Big Pete aren't you a Vikings fan? How did that happen?

We could talk endlessly about the four Super Bowl losses, Gary Anderson, Blair Walsh, 41-0, the Hail Mary, etc. But very few talk about the two other big notable losses in Viking lore.

1987 NFC Championship vs. Washington - They barely squeezed into the playoffs with an 8-7 record. Then they pulled off a pair of massive upsets in New Orleans and San Francisco. And were a 4th and Goal away from tying the NFC Championship game. Then Darrin Nelson dropped a sure catch for the tying touchdown. A lot of legacies could've changed on that one play.

2009 NFC Championship vs. New Orleans - Brett Favre's last best shot at glory. Tie game, under a minute left, Vikings driving towards the win. Favre could've handed the ball in this case, to setup for the winning field goal. But like the old, aging, stubborn gunslingers in the movies, Favre took one shot too many. He threw an interception instead, insuring overtime, where the Saints eventually won.

The Vikings were my number 5, it hurts a lot more when you have a good team and blow it rather than being terrible for so long. At least at the beginning of the season you know you have no chance.

Big Pete aren't you a Vikings fan? How did that happen?

Around 13 years ago a conversation about the NFL came up and I got asked who I support and since I had just watched There's Something About Mary recently I said 'whoever Brett Favre plays for' just to blow the question off. My mate happens to be a massive Saints supporter and around a year later he remembered the comment and invited me along to see the NFC Championship game.

The rest they say is history.

So in reality I should be a Packers fan, but once I was branded I couldn't desert my team and it's a welcome change of pace. My Rugby League team is the equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys, except they've only been around since 88 and managed to win two premierships in the 00s, so I've been pretty spoiled.

9. Sunderland FC 

Didn't post anything because I couldn't really find the stats easily and kind of gave up , figured the soccer peeps here could elaborate and look forward to hearing.

This probably has something to do with that Netflix documentary which I haven't seen. They are a valid choice here, six-time champions now playing in the third tier, so a bigger fall from grace is hard to imagine, but they aren't any more tormented than other clubs in the pyramid. Newcastle, being so well-supported and so close to success so many times, would have been a better choice to take from the Premier League IMO.

Who would you compare them to NFL wise Todd?

Raiders seem fairly apt from that description.

Very difficult to compare this sort of thing between those sports. Sunderland currently sit 51st in the English football pyramid, and I would argue they lack the relevance to really be considered on a list like this. Then again, they draw big crowds and have a winning history so I can understand it. Raiders is as good a fit as you'll see.

Oh see now it sounds like another team yet to come , NBA wise. Just trying to gain some perspective.

It's cool to see something different here.

I actually went through a phase a few years back where I sort of half-heartedly got into the EPL. I'd watch the Saturday games on NBC(?) for a few years. Sunderland was in the premier league at the time. But as a soccer rube, I have no idea what makes them stand out over the likes of Hull, Aston Villa, West Bromwich, etc. As best I could tell, it was always the same 6-8 "Yankee" style teams with big payrolls vying for the top spot every year while the rest were a rotating bunch of low payroll "Pirates" level jobbers just trying to avoid relegation.

This was my vote. Relegation is something that American sports fans probably can't understand, the financial implications of being poor on the field are just amazing. If you're bad in the NFL or NBA it doesn't really matter, you'll still be in the same league next year with a high draft pick to get excited about, and still being able to watch your team on TV. In English football it's like going to the penthouse to the outhouse. I couldn't recommend the Netflix documentary more so you can see how people's lives literally revolve around their football team and how devastating their fall was.

And it happened to them twice in two seasons which is just unfathomable - especially for a team that has the supporter base the size that Sunderland do. It's a true testament to their loyalty that they were pulling an average crowd of 30k (the rest of the league is around 7k) and still turn up and support their team after all the mismanagement.

Todd I had Newcastle on my list as well, and although they're obviously hampered by poor ownership, I don't think they are close. Both times they went down they won the Championship straight away.

May 26, 2020 23:26:32 GMT @admin said:

This was my vote. Relegation is something that American sports fans probably can't understand, the financial implications of being poor on the field are just amazing. If you're bad in the NFL or NBA it doesn't really matter, you'll still be in the same league next year with a high draft pick to get excited about, and still being able to watch your team on TV. In English football it's like going to the penthouse to the outhouse. I couldn't recommend the Netflix documentary more so you can see how people's lives literally revolve around their football team and how devastating their fall was.

And it happened to them twice in two seasons which is just unfathomable - especially for a team that has the supporter base the size that Sunderland do. It's a true testament to their loyalty that they were pulling an average crowd of 30k (the rest of the league is around 7k) and still turn up and support their team after all the mismanagement.

Todd I had Newcastle on my list as well, and although they're obviously hampered by poor ownership, I don't think they are close. Both times they went down they won the Championship straight away.

That’s pretty awesome. I knew about the demotion part of the league and that actually sounds pretty cool and something I wish all sports would adopt. The stakes at the end of the season would be insane across the board.

May 27, 2020 0:29:02 GMT UT said:

That’s pretty awesome. I knew about the demotion part of the league and that actually sounds pretty cool and something I wish all sports would adopt. The stakes at the end of the season would be insane across the board.

The stakes are a large part of the reason why they ended up in the situation they did. Staying in the Premier League is so important financially that teams that are in danger of relegation will make desperation moves to avoid it (ie. offering players big contracts to entice them to come to the club) that can be debilitating if they fall through the trap door. There are some minor safety nets in place to offset the losses of TV money but that is just astronomical, going from about 100 million pounds to maybe 10 in the second tier. When they were in the PL, they would have been spending basically all of that money on their wage bill, yet within a couple of years had to reduce it by 90% despite all of the existing multi-year contracts.

I also like the idea of relegation for the same reasons as UT . A few years ago I lobbied for the winless Cleveland Browns to be relegated to the CFL  :lol:

We do relegation in our baseball sim league, it defeats the purpose of tanking and makes all teams play from start to finish to avoid that dreaded honor.

I voted for a soccer side in my list quite high but I think I might be the only one.

Sunderland was #7 on my list. Even if you don’t watch soccer, you owe it to yourself to watch Sunderland Til I Die on Netflix. It’s fucking incredible.

Minnesota was the last cut on my list. Just missed.

I honestly didn't even think about the Vikings, but makes total sense to have them in here. I do agree with the sentiment of sometimes it's better to just suck then to deal with playoff heartbreak. They sort of made up for it with the Minneapolis Miracle and beating the Saints again this past season BUT I get it. Plus Kirk's contract is yucky and now Diggs is gone. They might have had their time and it might already be over, to be honest.

And then there's soccer AKA futbol AKA I watch the World Cup only.

8. Cincinnati Bengals 

Seasons 

1953 

Record 

359 - 441 - 4 

Playoff Record 

5 - 14 

Super Bowl Record 

0 - 2 

Worst Moments 

- Paul Brown snubs Bill Walsh as coach 

- Jeremy Hill 2016 Playoff Fumble 

- Carson Palmer gets taken out in 2005 

- Lewis Billups drops interception in Super Bowl 23

- Andy Dalton breaks his thumb 

The Bengals are a good shout to be on this list , they've had a few flashes and especially in the 80 where they met up with the juggernaut 49ers and had a chance to win one of those games.

Then they spend the 90's being the worst franchis in the NFL and failing on multiple picks and just being a joke of the league. I liked them even then but they were a bunch of bumbling idiots.

And then even when they start to turn it around they get banged with terrible luck. The Palmer injury was heartbreaking in the first play of the playoffs and easily could have cost them the game. And then the underrated Dalton injury to his thumb when there was a chance they could be the best (or second best) team in the AFC that season. Sucks for them as they could have made a splash in the playoffs.

Now they suck again but if Burrow is what I think he is - they hit the jackpot and have a leader for the next 15 years , provided ownership doesn't completely fuck it up.

#8 seems right for a team mired in some of the worst stretches in football history but with a few moments where they made championship games and were relevant.

Wow not one team thus far made it for me.

Bengals are a great shout though, they have not won a playoff game since I was in diapers. A playoff game. The closest they got was that game vs the Steelers where they arguably outplayed them but Vontaze Burfict just had to commit his backbreaking personal foul to cost them the game. It was almost like he could not help himself. Typical Marvin Lewis, typical Burfict.

But yeah the drafts of Akili Smith, Ki-Jana Carter were terrible, terrible. Talk about stunting your team growth over a failed high pick. Carter was supposed to be the next great RB but injuries completely did him in and Cincy did not see the all american PSU back they thought they'd get. And Akili Smith did as good of a QB job in college as you can but was completely overwhelmed on the pro level. Far cry from his Oregon Duck days. 

They got Burrow and their owner FOR ONCE actually signed some guys, which says something given Mike Brown has been labeled one of if not the cheapest owner in pro sports. 

I kinda wish to have put them in at say no.10 or no.9 but there have been teams that have been far worse. At least Cincy got to the wildcard round a couple of times. That's about it though. They also have the fortune of not having their cross state rival do anything worthwhile in this span. Not the same for Jets fans who had to see Big Blue hoist the fucking title how many times?

The Bengals were my #4.

They have been bad bad (hello 1990s) and they have been a Vikings-style team who gave their fans hope only to blow it in the playoffs. They haven't won a playoff game in nearly 30 years. They've botched a ton of high draft picks. They've suffered major injuries at the worst possible times. Their owner is widely considered one of the worst in all of sports. They haven't made a Super Bowl in over 30 years and the two they did make were gut wrenching defeats to the 49ers dynasty.

All this leads me to believe they should have finished closer to my #4 than PWs #8.

The Bengals were my #4 as well. First you had Montana's heartbreaking drive in the Super Bowl. Then you had an absolutely putrid stretch in the 90's filled with draft bust after draft bust. Then when it looks like they are finally getting it together, Carson Palmer gets taken out by a cheap hit to his knee by arch nemesis Pittsburgh. Then for the cherry on top, they also lose games in the most bone-headed ways, usually through poor discipline and stupid penalties.

#8 is way too low for them.