The era of sports curses ending....unless you're in Minnesota.

Well, the Capitals won the cup. Their 1st ever. 1st title since January 1992 for the DC market in the main 4 leagues. Down goes one more title drought/curse.

We are in the era of such occurrences. Starting back in 2004 with the Red Sox we've seen a very consistent string of these.

The Red Sox hadn't won since 1918. Then they did it, with 2 more titles to follow.
The White Sox won the very next year, their 1st since 1917.
The Phillies won in 2008. They hadn't won it all for nearly 30 years.
The Giants got THREE, after not winning one since they were still at the Polo Grounds.
The Royals won in 2015. It had been 30 years for the KC market.
The Cubs broke the mother of all curses in 2016.
And the reigning champs are the Astros, who hadn't ever won one in nearly 60 years of existence.

Over in the NBA, the Warriors had gone title-free for 40 years until they got to the top again. Also in this decade the Mavericks won their 1st ever title, and Lebron got Cleveland their 1st pro title since the 60s.

In the NFL, we just had the Eagles win their 1st ever Super Bowl, and 1st title since 1960. And just a few years ago the Seahawks got their 1st,  and the 1st title for that city since the Sonics many years ago. Hell, go back just a bit longer and you got the Saints (fuckers) and even the Colts bringing a pro title to Indianapolis.

So many city and/or team title droughts have ended in this last 15 years. But one market is missing.

Us.

Yes, we have the Lynx. I am not putting them down, but there is a different level with the main 4 leagues.

With the Caps title we are now by FAR the most starved.market for a title among markets with all 4 major leagues. I'm not even sure who's 2nd now. Maybe Phoenix, since Atlanta no longer has NHL. But even they have a title this millennium.

The 1991 Twins are still our last team to do it. It of course shouldn't be this way. The Vikings were the best team in football in 1998 and 2009 but fucked it up. The Wolves should have won it all in 2004. The Twins absolutely had the teams to win it all again in the 2000s but we had the worst postseason manager ever. The Wild have basically been the hockey version of those Twins.

So we have both the droughts in terms of years and teams. 3 of our 4 have never won it all. Aren't we lucky? The law of averages says one of these droughts HAS to end someday. But droughts/curses sometimes go and go and go. I bet a whole lot of Cubs fans died of old age waiting for a title that they never saw.  I was in 7th grade when Jack Morris went 10 innings. I'm now pushing 40. When will this Minnesota sports curse end?

Our best hope right now is obviously the Vikings.  With Cousins in the fold they should be able to make multiple runs at this thing. But football can be so random. The Caps trailed in all 4 series but had a best of 7 to come back.
The Twins...who knows. Winning a World Series has so much to do with spending money. Yes, you CAN win without a big payroll as Houston did, but they are an exception (and even they went out and got Verlander).
The Wild should rule this town. They should be a cup contender every year, but always end up an also ran. And now they might be going into a bit of a soft rebuild.
The Wolves have done everything wrong since 2004 and look like they are going to keep doing that. Plus in the NBA it's almost impossible to build a consistent title contender in a smaller market, unless the GOAT grew up in the area.

Our drought is 26 years and counting. So we've only got another 82 years to go if we're collectively the Cubs.