Wisconsin sports have had their title droughts, but they could have it worse like Detroit Lions, Chicago Cubs or Northwestern sports to name a few long suffering teams and fans.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. As far as sports fans go I’m sure you had a better day than the Detroit Lions football team which lost 47-10 to the Tennessee Titans to have their season record fall to 0-12.

Or you could talk about Chicago Cubs fans in baseball who haven’t won a World Series in 100 years and havent won their last nine playoff games dating back to the 2003 playoffs and the infamous Steve Bartman ball. If you need further explanation just ask any Cubs or sports fan. Also  Northwestern football hasn’t won a Rose Bowl or been to the NCAA basketball tournament ever.

These are just a few examples of long suffering sports teams in pro and college sports.  Wisconsin teams have had a few droughts of their own when it comes to sports and championships. The Packers went 29 years between Super Bowls between 1968-1996. The Brewers made the playoffs last year after 26 years since 1982, and Milwaukee hasn’t had a World Series title since the old Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in 1957.  That also ironically was the last year the Detroit Lions won an NFL title and they’ve only won one playoff game since then

The Milwaukee Bucks havent won an NBA Championship since their only one in 1971 with Kareem Abdual Jabbar and Oscar Robertson.  In college sports it took the Wisconsin Badgers 31 years between Rose Bowl apperances, 1962-1993 and their mens basketball team went 59 years between 1941-2000 to reach a Final Four. Marquette mens basketball won the NCAA title in 1977 for Al McGuire and didn’t go back to the Final Four until 2003.

In my lifetime 41 years, the only major sports championships have been the Packers in 1996, Marquette in 1977 and the Bucks in 1971.  If you don’t count Wisconsin’s men’s and womens hockey championships over the years, those are the only major sports championships for Wisconsin in my lifetime although I like to count Wisconsin’s three Rose Bowl wins in the 1990’s since it is the oldest and grandaddy of all the bowls and unless someone can find a way to make a playoff system in major college football we have to go with the best of what is currently out there which is major bowl wins, with all offense to the ridiculous BCS system which doesn’t produce a true champion.

In summary I am trying to say is that as sports fans we are helpless and at the mercy of the teams we root for. Either way we love the games and our teams or otherwise we wouldn’t be watching. We want our teams to win a championship and are often miserable when they don’t in a sports sense. But we keep watching and hoping that next year will be a better year with the right breaks.  So in a sense we love our teams and watching the games more than the actual winning. Think about it because otherwise Chicago Cubs, Detroit Lions and other long suffering fans would have given up hope a long time ago.

But long suffering teams like the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 after 86 years since 1918, give us all hope. So don’t give up Wisconsin and other sports fans. Keep watching and enjoying the games/sports even if your team doesn’t win. There are far worse things to worry about in the real world. Take care, best wishes and talk soon.