Winning a championship is the ultimate goal of any franchise. Every player, coach, front office member, and fan dreams of watching their favorite team enjoy everything this envelops: hoisting a trophy as colored confetti rains down, a city-wide parade with the fans, raising a banner in their home arena on opening night, and putting a coveted championship ring on their fingers.
As a kid, I think shiny-object-syndrome was real and it seemed like it was about the hardware: namely the trophies and the rings. Don't get me wrong, these serve as proof of being the best in the world, and a physical representation of the team's achievement and history, which is why they're displayed. But as an adult, you realize that couldn't be farther from the truth, and it was about the journey and the moments. It was the years of pain and suffering you endured before finally having your faith rewarded. Those moments you lied in bed at night after the season ended in heartbreaking fashion, beginning the long mental count down to next year. It was the camaraderie of sweating it out with your buddies at the bar, or the sense of unity you felt with a city or community, or even fellow fans in the stadium, or cheering on your alma-mater with your fellow classmates, or sharing it with a parent who indoctrinated you to love the team they loved, or your child whom you indoctrinated to cheer for the team you did, or of course a spouse who you love and got to share love of your teams with and many date nights out cheering on those teams you bonded over. It's rewarding because of the emotional investment we put in, watching the games night in night out, experiencing the highs and lows of our team's journey. You enter it knowing that 99% of the time, someone else is going to win. But winning it once, just once, validates decades of loyalty and patience and and makes all the agonizing losses and suffering that went into reaching that point finally worth it. It was about reaching the mountain top after a long and arduous journey. It was about having faith, finally rewarded.
I still remember the joy of sharing watching the Red Sox break the curse with my mom in '04 as a 9 year old in Connecticut, or watching the Giants win Super Bowls in '08 and '12 after watching my dad faithfully watch every Sunday game in the Fall, or the feeling of being a student and watching FSU win the national title in 2014, or being a young adult in my 20s living in Tampa and watching the Bucs and Bolts win championships after all the watch parties and nights at the bars with friends. At some point in life, hopefully, it will be sharing similar moments with my wife, my kids, my grandkids. It is no exaggeration when I say those were some of the best moments of my life.
Of the 124 pro sports franchises that make up the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, there are 37 that still have never experienced the euphoric joy of winning it all. That accounts for a staggering 30%, which seems high considering the fact that each of these leagues have been around for 60-plus years. Almost 1 in every 3 pro sports teams has still yet to win it all. I've always had this weird fascination with these teams and fan bases. I think for many of them, winning their first championships are some of the best storylines still to be written in all of sports.
So today, we give each of them their flowers, and do a little history lesson on each. We will go in alphabetical order by location, spanning everything from the teams who haven't been particularly close, to the teams who could almost taste it, only for it to slip through their clutches in the final moments. Let's begin.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals have only reached the Super Bowl once in their team history. It happened back in 2009 and ended in heartbreak when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated them by scoring a go-ahead touchdown with 35 seconds left to win the game 23-20. Having just committed to tearing it down and rebuilding, it will probably still be some time before the Cardinals win it all.
Atlanta Falcons
Probably the team that got closest in any individual chance, the Falcons reached the Super Bowl in 2017 and held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in the second half. Tom Brady would then go on to engineer the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, as the Patriots would score 25 straight points to force overtime. Back then, the OT rules were that if the team who received the ball scored a touchdown, the game would end, which made the coin toss of monumental importance. New England won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball, and everyone knew Brady and the boys would march down the field and win the game. It is known as the biggest choke in Super Bowl history and to this day that still haunts the franchise.
The Falcons did actually reach the Super Bowl one other time in 1999 where they lost 34-19 to Denver. As a mediocre at best team currently, Atlanta will likely need to wait a bit longer to secure it's first Super Bowl.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets have only been to the NBA Finals twice and it actually happened in back to back seasons in 2002 and 2003. Back then they were actually the New Jersey Nets, as the team didn't re-locate to Brooklyn until 2012. The Nets would get dominated and swept by the Kobe/Shaq Lakers in '02 and then lost a more competitive 6 game series to the Spurs in '03.
Brooklyn is another young, rebuilding team who is far from championship contender status currently.
Buffalo Bills
Has any fan base suffered more heartbreak? The Bills infamously went to 4 straight Super Bowls between 1991 and 1994 and proceeded to lose all of them. Only '91 was particularly close though, that year the Bills lost to the Giants 20-19 after Scott Norwood sent a game winning 47 yard field goal attempt wide right as time expired.
Buffalo hasn't been back to the Super Bowl since. In the modern-era, the Josh Allen-led Bills have been close on many occasions, but have always seen their season end in some sort of heartbreaking fashion just shy of the Super Bowl, many of them at the hands of the Chiefs.
Of all the teams still yet to win, Buffalo still feels like one of the closest currently. Josh Allen is a generational talent, and the Bills hope their offseason moves of firing Sean McDermott, promoting Joe Brady, and trading for DJ Moore, are the moves necessary to finally put the Bills over the top, or at least get them back to the big game. The Josh Allen window won't be open forever, and if Buffalo never gets it done during his career it will feel like a colossal waste and failure after having a player of his talent level for so long. But the Bills faithful still hope and believe that Allen can be the Prince that was Promised.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo sports fans in general have had a rough go of it, seeing as neither of their 2 teams have ever won the whole thing, and neither has even reached the championship round this millenium. The Sabres have only seen the Stanley Cup Final twice, once in 1975, and once in 1999, losing in 6 games on both occasions.
After a long period of darkness, the Sabres actually had a great season in 2026. They won the Atlantic Division, ended a 14 year playoff drought, and won a playoff series for the first time in 18 years. It still had an unhappy ending, as the Sabres would lose in 7 games to the Montreal Canadiens, a series they led 3 games to 2 and had 2 opportunities to close but couldn't. But still, things are looking up for the Sabres, and should be exciting times in Buffalo if both the Sabres and Bills are contenders.
Carolina Panthers
Charlotte Hornets
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Colorado Rockies
Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Indiana Pacers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Clippers
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
New Orleans Pelicans
Orlando Magic
Ottawa Senators
Phoenix Suns
San Diego Padres
Seattle Kraken
Seattle Mariners
Tampa Bay Rays
Tennessee Titans
Utah Jazz
Vancouver Canucks
Winnipeg Jets
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