Almost Champions

[gunnar hendershow]

Branching off from a conversation in the NBA thread, what are some teams or individuals that came incredibly close to winning one or more titles only to leave the entire era empty handed?

This initially came up regarding the Utah Jazz of the 1990s, who in 6 out of 7 years saw their season end against the eventually Western Conference champion or the NBA Champion. 

We also covered the NFL's famous Buffalo Bills who reached 4 straight Super Bowls (a feat as of yet unmatched) but lost all of them.

Share some teams or individuals that come to mind.

[Baddar]

Gerrard

Suarez

Rodgers

Liverpool

Let me have this, @DavidMarrio.

[stokeriño]

Newcastle as managed by Keegan is an obvious one.

I wonder if Benfica's 'curse' qualifies?  

[Naitch]

I'd say England's 'Golden Generation' but they didn't even come close to winning anything. The best they actually managed was the quarter finals (on four occasions).

[SeanDMan]

There's a really good series on Youtube with a similar premise, Untitled. It focuses on individuals but in the process, discusses certain dynasties that never quite reached the peak of their sport.

 

For me, there are two particular runs by the Vancouver Canucks that I remember being achingly close to titles: two years during the West Coast Express era, and then the actual trip to the finals in 2011.

2002-2003, Vancouver rolls into the playoffs with swagger, led by 104 points from Markus Naslund, 144 PIMs from Todd Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison was on their line too. In the first round they face some adversity, going down 1-3 to St. Louis, but then they rally back and win three straight to take the first round series in 7. With momentum on their side, the Canucks go up 3-1 to Minnesota, and then collapse inwardly, dropping that series by losing three straight after winning three straight the previous round.

But the core of the team is still going strong, although Naslund plays hurts and only gets 84 points, BMo and Toddbert The Uzi both add 60, and some kids called the Sedins (obscure Swedish dudes) have a flash in the pan season and each add 50 points from the second line. As the team looks forward to the playoffs, disaster strikes as Todd Bertuzzi loses his fucking mind and tries to decapitate Steve Moore. So Bertuzzi gets a years suspension, and in the pivotal game seven, late in the game, Ed Jovanovski is in front of the net, trying to be Todd Bertuzzi.

So Jovanovski gets called for the penalty, but four on four, the Canucks score, to tie the game and send it into overtime. The problem being, Jovo is still in the box, and in the overtime frame, Calgary scores on the powerplay, and advance to the next round. The West Coast Express slowed down hard after that, and was never the same.

As for 2011, that's a more familiar tale, so I'll not rehash it.

[Chris2K]

1 hour ago, Chris2K said:

Jimmy White.

For those who aren't snooker fans, he was the runner-up in 6 World Championships, 5 of them in a row between 1990-1994, 4 of them to the same person (Stephen Hendry) and never actually won the title.

Just moving mine across .

From F1 Stirling Moss is the obvious example, 2nd four times, 3rd three times between 1955 and 1961. For recent times I guess Felipe Massa is the one who came closest without actually winning a title.

[DavidMarrio]

14 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Gerrard

Suarez

Rodgers

Liverpool

Let me have this, @DavidMarrio.

To think as well, Suarez was digging his heels in to go to Arsenal that summer (infamous £40mil and 1 pound bid) and he took some convincing that he could easily get a move to Barca. Then he goes and has possibly one of the best seasons I've seen from a Liverpool player. 

I'd throw the 08/09 Liverpool team in with the famous Rafa's facts and Macheda coming in scoring with his arse and another jammy deflection picked up vital points. Then he goes into football obscurity. Torres/Gerrard were an amazing combination that season and you had the likes of Alonso, Reina, Carragher, Mascherano and Kuyt all playing well that season. 

19 minutes ago, stokeriño said:

Newcastle as managed by Keegan is an obvious one.

That's the only other one that stands out for me in terms of the Prem. 

Internationally you'd say the Holland team of the 74 should have won a World Cup and Hungary in the 50s

[SeanDMan]

I will say that Suarez led Liverpool side is a good shout, they always seemed to be nibbling at the heels of greatness but could never quite bite down and seize it.

[gunnar hendershow]

Another hockey team that felt like a lock to win at least one title but never did (like the Canucks) are the Ottawa Senators during the same era. They were loaded with talent, reached the Cup Finals one season, and in a few others had great teams that could have realistically won it all.

The San Jose Sharks of the past 12 years or so are an even better example. Poor Joe Thornton...

[The Buscher]

For a one-off year the one that will always bother me as a fan is the 2006 Mets.  They were dominant all year long, winning 96 games and by playoff time they just had a ridiculous lineup 1-8.  Swept the NLDS with ease only to lose the NLCS to an 83 win Cardinals team.  I mean in fairness that nearly same exact Cardinals team had just won 100 games the year before, but still.  While you can never know how things would play out with the teams switched, he 2006 Tigers looked like shit during the World Series and I really think the Mets could've gotten a ring which would've probably given Willie Randolph a longer leash as manager down the line, as it is he was fired mid 2008 and never got another managerial job.

Obviously this recent cheating scandal is going to kill his legacy anyway but for over a decade Carlos Beltran caught wayyyyyy too much flack from everybody for watching a nasty curveball pass by him to end that game 7.  He was obviously fooled by the pitch and said that if he had tried to swing, he'd have struck out anyway.  Would that really have made him less villified by Mets fans?  Guess that's where the "go down swinging" line of thinking comes in.

[SeanDMan]

I just don't understand why he got fooled by the curveball, did he not hear them banging on the garbage can?

[gunnar hendershow]

4 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

For a one-off year the one that will always bother me as a fan is the 2006 Mets.  They were dominant all year long, winning 96 games and by playoff time they just had a ridiculous lineup 1-8.  Swept the NLDS with ease only to lose the NLCS to an 83 win Cardinals team.  I mean in fairness that nearly same exact Cardinals team had just won 100 games the year before, but still.  While you can never know how things would play out with the teams switched, he 2006 Tigers looked like shit during the World Series and I really think the Mets could've gotten a ring which would've probably given Willie Randolph a longer leash as manager down the line, as it is he was fired mid 2008 and never got another managerial job.

Obviously this recent cheating scandal is going to kill his legacy anyway but for over a decade Carlos Beltran caught wayyyyyy too much flack from everybody for watching a nasty curveball pass by him to end that game 7.  He was obviously fooled by the pitch and said that if he had tried to swing, he'd have struck out anyway.  Would that really have made him less villified by Mets fans?  Guess that's where the "go down swinging" line of thinking comes in.

From 06-08 the Mets could have easily won it all. They had two horrific collapses in 2007 and 2008 and then there is the aforementioned 2006 season when they were baseball's best team until the Cards stunned them.

Another baseball team that comes to mind are the Cleveland teams in the 90s and into the early 00s. They made 2 World Series and absolutely chocked it away in 1997. Then the Yankees became the dynasty and they never really had another shot.

2 minutes ago, SeanDMan said:

I just don't understand why he got fooled by the curveball, did he not hear them banging on the garbage can?

The criticism might have been what put him over the edge in terms of cheating.

[Bobfoc]

2 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

Internationally you'd say the Holland team of the 74 should have won a World Cup and Hungary in the 50s

The Netherlands fit the bill for the World Cup in general. They've been runners-up three times and beaten semi-finalists twice. I've always found their record to be interesting. After reaching the final twice in the seventies, they then failed to qualify twice in a row. Then, following a semi-final defeat in 1998, they didn't qualify for 2002. After that, having lost in the final in 2010 and finishing third in 2014, they once again failed to make it to the next World Cup.

Another country that comes to mind is New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup. They've been runners-up twice in a row, most notably last year, when they lost by the finest of margins.

[Malenko]

3 hours ago, stokeriño said:

Newcastle as managed by Keegan is an obvious one.

I wonder if Benfica's 'curse' qualifies?  

Despite the emoshiftycon I think they easily qualify. They won 2 European cups before the 'curse' started. Since then 5 finals, all ending with the same result. Plus 3 UEFA Cup/Europa League finals. Same outcome.

Juventus have also lost 5 champions leagues since they last won it. 

 

 

[Colly]

[Jimmy]

I think Poch's Spurs team naturally come into this. There was a short time that we were the best team in the league, and also the best over two specific seasons, but very famously won absolutely nothing. 

[gunnar hendershow]

It's interesting to look at clubs that keep losing on the European stage, but most of them have domestic success.

An exception to that are Bayer Leverkusen when they had Ballack... runners up in the Bundesliga, DFP-Pokal, and Champions League in 2002. Additionally 2 others years of finishing 2nd in the Bundesliga before that infamous season.

[Malenko]

52 minutes ago, damsher hatfield said:

It's interesting to look at clubs that keep losing on the European stage, but most of them have domestic success.

An exception to that are Bayer Leverkusen when they had Ballack... runners up in the Bundesliga, DFP-Pokal, and Champions League in 2002. Additionally 2 others years of finishing 2nd in the Bundesliga before that infamous season.

Ballack was also runner up in the world cup in 2002! What a year.

[GoGo Yubari]

I was going to say the mid-to-late '90s Seattle Mariners but I guess they weren't "almost" champions, they never even made the World Series despite having three (probably soon to be four) Hall of Famers playing for them at the same time.

[gunnar hendershow]

2 minutes ago, GoGo Yubari said:

I was going to say the mid-to-late '90s Seattle Mariners but I guess they weren't "almost" champions, they never even made the World Series despite having three (probably soon to be four) Hall of Famers playing for them at the same time.

They lost 3 ALCS in that time, I'd say they count.