Are Philly Sports Cursed?

Sports curses – true phenomenon or superstition? Nobody knows for sure. It’s definitely true that some sports teams seem to have a burden of bad luck hanging over their heads, if nothing else. Just look at the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won a World Series since 1908. The Red Sox were supposedly under a curse for a long time. But how about Philadelphia sports teams? According to the New York Times, not only are these teams cursed – they are among the most cursed in professional sports.

The Eagles have plenty of vocal fans, but are they cursed?

The Times ranked Philadelphia at #7 on their list of the “most cursed” sports cities. The study took into account the number of years it has been since the team(s) in question won a championship, as well as how many playoff appearances they have made without winning. It also took into account less scientific factors, such as heartbreaking losing moments. Philadelphia ranked high in that last category. The Sixers, Phillies, Flyers and Eagles have attained the final four of their respective sport championships a whopping 22% of the time in the last 50 years. Statistically, that’s a high number. Unfortunately, those playoff appearances haven’t been tied to wins – of the sports seasons since 1960, 19% of them have ended in playoff appearances leading to a loss. That means that only 2% of Philly seasons are winning ones. Additionally, no Philly teams made playoff appearances in recent seasons – and for three of the teams (the Sixers, Flyers, and Phillies), there seem to be no winning seasons in sight. People always say that it is hard to be a Philly sports fan, but this study proves it for certain.

Ahead of Philly on the list were 6. Minneapolis-St. Paul, 5. Washington, 4. San Diego, 3. Buffalo, 2. Atlanta and 1. Cleveland.