Top 10 North American Sports Teams Most Needing To Win A Championship - #10 - #6

It goes without saying that every team wants to win. It also goes without saying that every team has fans that are crushed when their hero's fall short time and time again. So, as far as it goes and all things being equal, every team needs to win championships.

However, all things are not equal. There are some franchises whose dry streaks just scream out a little bit more insistently because of their history or their place in their respective sports hierarchy. So, I'll be giving you my perspective and ranking these extra needy franchises starting at the 10th most needy and ending with the most terribly needy franchise. Oh, the places we will go!

#10) Seattle Sounders - MLS

"Wait. What?" many of you are saying. It seems incongruous that a team that has only been in the top flight of American soccer since 2007 should be on this list. However, the Sounders are in many ways the model MLS franchise and a poster child for what the league always hoped the sport could become in the United States. The synergy that exist between the club and its fan is truly awe inspiring, and the only thing missing is an MLS Cup victory. Yes, the New York Red Bulls have a longer futility streak, but they are one season away from becoming the also ran team in New York city. And, yes, the New England Revolution has a Buffalo Bill's style history of coming up just short. But, the Revs winning it all seems like its only a matter of time. Neither New York's or New England's winning is likely to have the same sort of impact so I'm picking Seattle.

#9) St. Louis Blues - NHL

If it were left to me the Blues would rank #1 on this list because they are my team. This is the team whose many, many playoff failures have hurt me the most. This is mostly because they have usually been good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to do much once they got there. Oh, they got to Stanley Cup Finals when I was an infant, but those were flukes caused by the league setting up expansion conferences at the time. The Blues were hopelessly outclassed by the established teams and, not surprisingly, never won a game once they came up against the big boys. Since then things haven't improved much. They have never been to another Cup finals, and the greatest moment in their history was when a talent challenged Blues team, led by an illiterate coach, made a  rousing come back to win Game 6 of the 1986 Campbell Conference finals and set up a Game 7 against the Calgary Flames....which they promptly lost.

#8) Cleveland Browns - NFL

There are sentimental reasons to feel the Browns heartache, unless you are a Steelers fan I suppose. The Browns have a wonderful history in the league, but they have been woeful for a considerable amount of time. Their fans also had to deal with losing the franchise when it moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens. An expansion teams came in quickly and revived the name, but the continuity with the illustrious history has been broken in a way. There is a sad sack quality to Brown's fandom which will only be lifted when they can claim a Super Bowl.



#7) Washington Nationals - MLB

In some ways its unfair of me to dump this on the Nats, but there is no denying the bad history the franchise has coming and going. On the one hand you have the history of the franchise itself, born in Canada as the Montreal Expos. Colorful at times, but often unsuccessful and sometimes downright snake bit as when labor strife wiped out what easily could have been the most promising season in Expos' history. On the other hand, you have the bottomless pit of loserville which has traditionally been baseball in our nation's capital. Every postseason flame out by the Nats raises the spectre of the hapless Senators. Winning a World Series would forever put both of those histories to bed for good.

#6) Atlanta Hawks - NBA

I'm not a big follower of the NBA. I grew up in St. Louis which lost the Hawks just when they gained the Blues, so pro hockey took the spot that might have gone to pro basketball if things had worked out differently. But, even as disinterested an observer as myself can notice the decades worth of "blah" that is the Atlanta Hawks. In 45 years in Atlanta the Hawks still have not finished 1st in their division as often as they did during the 13 years the franchise was in St. Louis. Nor have they been to the finals, which they managed four times during their St. Louis years. Indeed, it could be argued that the Hawks are the franchise in this list which has been the least threatening to win it all. And that is saying something...and not saying something good.

Check back tomorrow for #5 to #1.

Fabian Espindola....

...just took the worst penalty kick in the history of bad penalty kicks. I'm pretty sure a dead goalie propped up into a standing position also would have made the save, as would a box of newly born kittens.

No more Espindola penalties please.

MLB Draft Day: My "Not A Mock Draft" For The Cardinals

One thing I am enjoying about the baseball landscape these day is the ability to get to know something about the prospects going into the draft. Ten years ago the draft just happened and you got a blurb or two in the paper the following days. Now it is possible to get some feel for the players likely to go in the first couple of rounds. Granted, that "feel" is a little cursory, but at least it gives baseball fans more of a rooting interest.

That being said, here are a few players I'm rooting for the Cardinals to select with one of their four selections in the first 72 picks. (The Cards select 27, 34, 69 and 72.) Note this is not an attempt at a "mock draft" ordering. Trying to do that past the Top 10 selections seems a bit of a fool's errand. There is just too much volatility for mock drafts to be all that worthwhile (though they are fun.) The only thing I am doing is removing some of the big names from consideration as it seems unlikely, for example, that a Brady Aiken or Tyler Kolek would fall all the way to 27. As a result I'm limiting myself to more likely possibilities.

My rooting interests by position:

LHP

Matt Imhof: Cal Poly - Big kid might eventually fit in a big league rotation or maybe a Glen Perkins type bullpen arm.

Carson Sands: HS Fla. - Supposedly has good glove-side run on his fastball. At 6' 2" seems to offer more potential.

RHP

Aaron Nola: LSU - Probably won't make it to pick 27, but might. Seems too good to pass if he falls that far.

Nick Howard: Virginia - Baseball America actually has the Cards selecting Howard in their mock draft. I wouldn't complain. He's called "a strike throwing machine" and averaged 16.6 K's per 9.

Nick Burdi: Louisville - Hits 103 mph. Yes, please.

Joe Gatto: HS, N.J. - Good frame and a plus curveball. Seems to have the upside you look for in a prep pitcher.

Keith Weisenberg: HS, Fla - Another long term development project said to have "plus life" on his fastball and good control. I hate walks.

James Norwood: St. Louis University - OK, I'm a Billikens fan and would like the Cards to select the toolsy local university product. Sue me.

C

J.J. Schwarz: HS, Fla - Offense first catcher. Not the Cards MO I know, but it seems scouts don't hate his defense.

Aramis Garcia: Florida International - Cards drafted him before, and he's improved since then. Second time the charm?

1B

NONE

2B

NONE

3B

Matt Chapman: Cal-State Fullerton - Seems t be a true third sacker with the ability to try things on the bump if the position player thing doesn't work out.

SS

Milton Ramos: HS, Fla - Defensive wizard, bat a project. Said to have good bat speed, so maybe worth the gamble.

Josh Morgan: HS, Cal - Has all the hallmarks of being a "ballplayer." Might project as a utility type eventually, but one with some plus tools.

OF

NONE - I'd love for Michael Conforto (Oregon State) to fall down to the Cards but that won't happen.

Cardinal Ennui

I have nothing to really add here except to note how easy-goingly mediocre the Cardinals have decided to be this year.

To say the Cards lack a sense of urgency would be putting it mildly. I do realize its still early but it is a fine line between calm, cool and collected and downright apathetic. I'm just not certain this team is on the correct side of that line.

Survival

It looked dicey for about 15 minutes, but Notts County was able to secure a 1-1 draw against Oldham.  It turned out Tranmere wound up losing 2-1, so it didn't matter too much. Though there was a moment in the second half when Tranmere was up, Crewe was up, and Notts was down.

At that point I needed a sedative.

All's well that end's well. So they say.

Relegation Day

So, it has all come down to this in League One. Notts County need one point, one measly little point, to assure survival. (OK, OK, technically they could be caught. But Tranmere would have to win thier game by 14 goals. I'll take my chances.)

The games that matter:

Oldham v. Notts County
Crewe v. Preston
Tranmere v. Bradford

Crewe and Tranmere are both at home, and Notts is one the road. That's bad.

Notts has the far superior goal differential. That's good.

In the early minutes Crewe and Tranmere have gotten early leads. That's bad.

In the early minutes Notts and Oldham are still tied. That's good.

It's gonna be a long 90 minutes or so.