The San Diego Sports Curse is a superstition cited for the city of San Diego's inability to claim a modern major league sports championship in the United States (Super Bowl, World Series, and NBA Finals). With the city's population, San Diego is the largest city in the United States with this distinction. Adding together all the seasons from the Chargers (38), Padres (40), Clippers (6), and Rockets (4), San Diego Sports has gone a total of 88 years without a championship. Furthermore, not one of these teams has an overall winning record in its tenure (Chargers, 361-367-13; Padres, 2,886-3,330; Clippers, 186-306; Rockets, 119-209).
San Diego Sports Curse in comparison to other notable sports curses
The last major league sports championship for San Diego was the AFL Championship in 1963, when the San Diego Chargers emerged as AFL champions, before the AFL merged with the NFL to form the current National Football League. In comparison, in Cleveland, another cursed city, the Browns last won an NFL Championship in 1964. Since then, no other team from that city has won a major professional sports championship.
Other notable sports curses affect only specific teams, such as the Boston Red Sox's Curse of the Bambino, the Chicago White Sox's Curse of the Black Sox, and the Chicago Cubs' Curse of the Billy Goat. San Diego's sports curse affected all professional teams in the city and county of San Diego, much like Philadelphia's Curse of Billy Penn. Neither the San Diego Padres nor the San Diego Chargers have ever won a championship in their current league, nor has any other major sports team that has resided in San Diego, including the San Diego Clippers and San Diego Rockets)of the NBA and the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association prior to the 1976 ABA-NBA merger.
The lore
The cause of the curse is cited to the trade of Chargers wideout Lance Alworth to the Dallas Cowboys in 1970, which is similar to Boston's Curse of the Bambino in that the flip side of the curse was the Cowboys' success after the transaction. Dallas went from being a perennial loser in championship games over the previous five seasons (the Ice Bowl, Super Bowl V) to a team that won the Super Bowl during Alworth's first season there (and has won 5 Super Bowls overall), gaining the distinction of "America's Team." In contrast, the Chargers never made an appearance in the Super Bowl until the 1994 NFL season, where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX. In addition, no other San Diego major league sports team since the Lance Alworth trade has won a championship.
Results of the "curse"
Playoff and championship games ending in defeat
The record for all San Diego Sports teams in championship games as of 2007 stands at one win and seven losses, with appearances at five AFL Championships, two World Series, and one Super Bowl.
The only sports teams in San Diego to have won championships were minor league teams. The original San Diego Sockers team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and the North American Soccer League. The San Diego Gulls won five West Coast Hockey League championships.
San Diego Padres
- Many famous athletes, such as Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, were unable to win a major league championship during their tenures in San Diego.
- The Padres expanded into MLB in 1969, making them the 2nd oldest team without a championship. The Houston Astros, expansion year 1962, are the oldest.
- In the Padres' two World Series appearances, their only win was in Game 2 of the 1984 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, ultimately losing in five games. In the 1998 World Series, the Padres were swept by the New York Yankees in four games.
- The Padres are currently the only team in Major League Baseball to win at least two league championships and never win the World Series.
- In 2007 the Padres blew a lead in the NL Wild Card race by losing the last two games of the year to the Milwaukee Brewers. They then lost a tiebreaking game to the Colorado Rockies in 13 innings.
San Diego Chargers
- The Chargers overall playoff record, as of 2009, stands at ten wins and fourteen losses, a .417 winning percentage.
- The Chargers, along with the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings, are the only teams that were in existence during the merger that have not won a Super Bowl. Additionally, the Chargers are the only team in the AFC West without a championship victory.
- In the Chargers' only Super Bowl appearance to date (Super Bowl XXIX, 1995), San Diego lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 26-49, for San Francisco's fifth Super Bowl win overall. 49ers quarterback Steve Young threw a Super Bowl record six touchdown passes.
- San Diego has appeared in four AFC Championship games, winning one and losing three. In addition to the 1994 run to the Super Bowl...
- The Freezer Bowl, on January 10, 1982, against the Cincinnati Bengals, at Riverfront Stadium: the Chargers lost 7-27.
- On January 11, 1981, the Chargers lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-34, who would later go on to win Super Bowl XV.
- In the 2007 AFC Championship game, the Chargers lost against the New England Patriots 12-21.
Former head coach Marty Schottenheimer has been known to choke in the playoffs, with all three teams that he has been head coach (Cleveland, Kansas City, and San Diego). In the 2004 NFL Wildcard Playoffs, they lost to the New York Jets, 17-20 in overtime by a field goal. Two years later, San Diego had the NFL's best regular season record, at 14-2, with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. However, they lost against the New England Patriots in the Divisional playoffs by a final score of 21-24.
Missed calls by game officials
San Diego sports teams have been recipients of blown calls by the officiating crews of their respective sports:
San Diego Padres
In Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, Padres pitcher Mark Langston threw what appeared to be the third strike against Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez in a 2-2 count, bases-loaded, two-out, tie game situation. To everyone's surprise, home plate umpire Rich Garcia called the pitch a ball, and Martinez hit the next pitch for a grand slam, putting the Yankees ahead 9-5. The Yankees won Game 1 9-5 and swept the Padres in 4 games. Sports Illustrated's October 19, 1998 cover story was entitled "Kill the Umps! Missed Calls and Skewed Strike Zones are Marring the Postseason: Here's How."
Starting pitcher Jake Peavy was on the verge of tying Tom Seaver's consecutive strikeout record of 10 on April 25, 2007, when umpire Jeff Kellogg missed Eric Byrnes' go around on what would have been the third strike. Byrnes would eventually walk.
In 2007, the Padres lost a tiebreaking game to the Colorado Rockies in 13 innings after Trevor Hoffman blew his second save in three games and allowed the winning run on a blown call by home plate umpire Tim McClelland. Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday appeared to have scored on a sacrifice fly by Jamey Carroll when Padres catcher Michael Barrett dropped the ball. However, replays showed that Holliday never touched the plate and Barrett picked up the ball and tagged him afterwards. Regardless, McClelland's call stood, the Rockies won the game, and went on to win the National League Championship.
San Diego Chargers
- The Chargers were victims of The Holy Roller.
- On September 14, 2008, in a game played against the Denver Broncos at INVESCO Field, the Chargers were the victims of two calls against them in a 38-39 loss.
- The first bad call was a play in which a pass from Philip Rivers to Chris Chambers was originally called a fumble recovered by the Broncos' Champ Bailey. Though TV replays clearly showed Chambers was down by contact, the play could not be reviewed due to a malfunction with the replay system. The fumble recovery led to the Broncos' first touchdown of the game.
- Later, with about a minute to go in the game and the Chargers leading 38-31, Broncos QB Jay Cutler fumbled with linebacker Tim Dobbins apparently recovering the loose ball. However, due to referee Ed Hochuli believing the play to have been an incomplete pass, an inadvertent whistle blew the play dead before the Dobbins recovery and the Broncos maintained possession. Two plays later, the Broncos would score a touchdown to close to a 1-point deficit and succeed in a game-winning two-point conversion attempt.
Notable players leaving or spurning San Diego teams
Some players who spurned San Diego teams upon being drafted or recruited into them ended up with success elsewhere.
San Diego Padres
Hideki Irabu spurned the Padres when they purchased his contract from the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1997. He desired to play for the New York Yankees, refusing to sign with the Padres. Ironically, in 1998 the Yankees would beat the Padres in the World Series.
San Diego Chargers
After spurning the Chargers during the 2004 NFL Draft and asking to be traded, Eli Manning went on to win Super Bowl XLII with MVP honors.
The Chargers received Philip Rivers and draft picks that lead to the signing of Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding in the deal.
Untimely player deaths
Several players on San Diego teams have had untimely deaths.
- In 1989, Dave Dravecky lost his pitching arm to cancer, Alan Wiggins died from AIDS complications in 1991, Eric Show died mysteriously in 1994, and Mike Darr was killed in a car accident at the age of 25 in 2002.
- The Chargers defeated the heavily-favored Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1994 AFC Championship game. Within 18 months, Chargers running back Rodney Culver was killed in a plane crash in Florida and Chargers linebacker David Griggs died in a car accident. Before the 2008 season of great expectations began, safety Terrence Kiel was killed while driving drunk in San Diego. He was 27.
- Including Griggs and Culver, 5 members of the Chargers only Super Bowl team have died untimely deaths. Linebacker Doug Miller was fatally (and sadly ironically) struck by two bolts of lightning in July 1998 in Colorado. Center Curtis Whitley and defensive lineman Chris Mims both died in 2008, at age 39 and 38, respectively.
Other afflictions of the "curse"
- The Chargers drafted Ryan Leaf one pick after the perennial pro-bowler, 3-time MVP, and Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
- The Padres drafted Matt Bush.
- Twenty Two years after the Rockets relocated to Houston, they won two consecutive NBA finals in 1994 and 1995.
- Every time San Diego has hosted the Super Bowl, one of the Chargers division rivals has represented the AFC (The Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII and XXXII and the Oakland Raiders in XXXVII).
- The curse of post-season failure extends even to college sports. The San Diego State Aztecs have never won a game in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
- The USD Toreros men's basketball team won their first NCAA Tournament game by upsetting national powerhouse UConn in 2008. This first win for any San Diego school, and thoughts of continued winning were dashed when head coach, Bill Grier was offered a job at Pac-10 School Oregon State 2 weeks later. Grier decided to stay at San Diego.
- The curse is cited to afflict San Diegan individuals:
- San Diego native Ted Williams is considered by many to be the greatest hitter in baseball history, but he never played on a World Series winner, had an unsuccessful managerial career, and the last years of his life and the events surrounding his death were controversial.
- There are exceptions outside of team sports. Tony Hawk, considered one of the greatest skateboards alive, is from San Diego and currently resides in Encinitas and Oceanside.
- Although he won NCAA Championships at UCLA and NBA Championships with the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and the 1986 Boston Celtics, San Diego native Bill Walton had an injury-plagued career that prevented him from showing his full potential.
- Many natives of San Diego County have won collegiate and/or professional championships (for example, Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis, Cliff Levingston, Lincoln Kennedy, Reggie Bush, Jimmie Johnson, Cole Hamels), but none have ever done so as a member of a San Diego-based team.
- The Los Angeles Clippers, who have been inept for years after leaving Buffalo and before going to Los Angeles, played a few years in San Diego.
- Little League World Series: In 2001, the Oceanside Little League team lost in the Semifinals 1-0 to New York and their star pitcher Danny Almonte..
- In 1998, Padres' closer Trevor Hoffman became the first and only pitcher to ever receive the majority of the first place votes for the Cy Young Award and lose.
San Diego Sports Curse. (2009, January 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:29, January 17, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Diego_Sports_Curse&oldid=264566253
