The Jets’ loss to the Steelers means they will continue to own the longest championship drought in New York. It’s been 43 seasons since Joe Namath’s guarantee and a Super Bowl III win over the Colts.
We will start with the Jets and end with the Yankees to break down all the New York droughts from 1 season to 43.
Jets: 43 seasons
Best chance: It came Sunday night in Pittsburgh when the Jets did not show up till the end of the first half when they found themselves facing a 24-0 deficit. They cut the lead to 24-19 with three minutes left, but could not get the ball back.
It was the Jets’ fourth trip to the AFC Championship since 1968, but this was probably their best team coming off last year’s experience of losing to the Colts in another AFC title game.
Chance at another: Rex Ryan in his postgame press conference Sunday vowed to keep chasing a Super Bowl (and here I thought they were just going to give up). The Jets do have a solid core on defense, but will have a lot of decisions to make this offseason. It will only be complicated more by labor concerns and the potential for a lockout. But expect the Jets to be back contending with the Patriots in the AFC East next season.
Knicks: 37 seasons
Walt Frazier, Willis Reed and Earl Monroe helped bring two championships to the Knicks in the early ’70s with the second one coming in the 1972-73 season. It’s been a long and, of late, extremely painful championship-less run for the Knicks.
Best chance: With Michael Jordan playing baseball, the Knicks advanced to the NBA Finals in the 1993-94 season against the Rockets. The Knicks had a 3-2 series lead headed back to Houston, but in Game 6 John Starks’ series-winning 3-point attempt was blocked by Hakeem Olajuwon. In Game 7, Starks shot 2-for-18 as Pat Riley’s team fell short.
Chance at another: With the Isiah Thomas era now behind them, the Knicks can start thinking about such lofty goals. Amar’e Stoudemire is the team’s biggest superstar since Patrick Ewing was shipped to Seattle. They’re likely headed to the playoffs for the first time in six years and are the favorites to land Carmelo Anthony if the Nuggets superstar hits free agency this offseason.
Nets: 36 years
Still searching for their first NBA title, the Nets won an ABA Championship with Julius Erving in the 1973-74 season when they beat Utah Stars in the Finals.
Best chance: The Nets made back-to-back NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003, but were outmatched badly in both by the Lakers and Spurs.
Chance at another: With the Carmelo Anthony chase apparently at an end, the Nets will try to build through the NBA Draft and around big man Brook Lopez. The team has a new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, and is hopeful a move to Brooklyn in two years will make the Nets more attractive to fans and free agents.
Islanders: 26 years
The Islanders dynasty of the early ’80s, which saw four straight Stanley Cup championships, is a distant memory for most.
Best chance: After winning four straight between 1980-84, the Islanders were back in the Final against the Oilers, whom they had swept a season before. The series was even at 1-1 and the Islanders had a 2-0 lead in Game 3 before Edmonton took over. Mark Messier (Conn Smythe Trophy) led the Oilers to seven straight goals in that game and three straight wins to avenge the loss.
Chance at another: Not for a while. The Islanders are a franchise in flux thanks to the controversy surrounding decrepit Nassau Coliseum. Owner Charles Wang wants to build a new arena, but politics has slowed the process to a crawl and there has to be some concern Wang will move the team when the Coliseum lease ends in 2015. The Islanders do have young talent, but have been stuck at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for the past few seasons and the team’s first goal will be getting back to the playoffs before you can even start thinking about a Stanley Cup.
Mets: 24 years
Playing in the Yankees’ shadow has made 24 years feel like 240 for beleaguered Mets supporters still living on the joy the 1986 team brought them.
Best chance: It would be easy to point to the 2000 season, the Mets’ lone World Series appearance since 1986. But the Mets had the best team in baseball two seasons since then and 2000, when they lost to the Yankees, was not one of them. The 1988 team tried to bring a second title in three years for the Mets, but Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia’s two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 4 in the NLCS tied the game and cost the Mets a 3-1 lead in the series. The Dodgers would win in seven games.
In 2006, the Mets dominated the NL East and swept the Dodgers in the NLDS. In the NLCS, they would play a Cardinals team that won 83 games in the regular season. After taking a 1-0 lead in the series, the Mets would blow several leads in Game 2 as the Cardinals evened the series and set the tone for a wild NLCS. It would go to seven games, but the heavily favored Mets would fall on a two-run Yadier Molina homer in the ninth inning of Game 7 that broke a 1-1 tie. It ended with the bases loaded and Carlos Beltran’s caught-looking strikeout.
Chance at another: Not this season. The Mets are rebuilding in 2011 and have been mostly quiet this offseason with new GM Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins taking over. The Mets have several awful contracts coming off the books this offseason and that’s when those two men will have a chance to mold the franchise to their liking. Only time will tell if that’s a good thing.
Rangers: 16 seasons
The Rangers know all about droughts; the 1993-94 team ended 54 years of anger for fans. We are still a while away from “19-94!” chants being thrown derisively the Rangers way, but GM Glen Sather has come under fire in recent seasons. The team has not made it out of the second round since 2006-07.
Best chance: That year Wayne Gretzky and the Rangers upset the top-seeded Devils in the second round after taking out the Panthers in the quarterfinals. Gretzky’s hat trick evened the Eastern Conference Finals with the Flyers at 1-1, but Eric Lindros had a hat trick of his own in Game 3 then scored the winner in Game 4 with 26 seconds left. The Flyers would finish the Rangers off the next game, 4-2.
Chance at another: The Rangers currently sit in the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, a position they’ve become accustomed to. In recent seasons, they have been good enough to make the playoffs (except last year), but not one of the NHL’s elite. Most consider them a defenseman and center away from being contenders, but as the eighth-seeded Flyers proved last year, all you need a spot in the NHL playoffs to be dangerous.
Devils: 7 seasons
The Devils have been a consistent threat for the Stanley Cup since 1994, but have not lifted it since beating the Ducks in seven games in the 2002-03 season.
Best chance: The season after the lockout, 2005-06, the Devils swept the Rangers in the first round and were considered favorites over the Hurricanes in the second round. But Carolina took out New Jersey in five games on their way to a championship. The Devils have not made it out of the first round in three years.
Chance at another: For the first time in 14 seasons, the Devils look like they will not be in in the playoffs. The Ilya Kovalchuk signing has put the Devils in salary cap hell and will need at least this season to get out of it. Eventually time will run out for goalie Martin Brodeur, who will be 39 in May.
Giants: 3 seasons
The euphoria and goodwill created from the Giants’ amazing Super Bowl run in the 2007 season is starting to dissipate. Tom Coughlin’s job was called for by frustrated fans, who have watched their team collapse at the end of the year the past three seasons.
Best chance: The Giants were considered favorite to defend their Super Bowl title, deservedly so after an 11-1 start. But the night before that 11th win over the Redskins, wide receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed handgun. The Giants lost their best receiver and became bogged down with questions surrounding the incident as other players, including defensive captain Antonio Pierce, were also there that night.
The Giants would earn the NFC’s top seed, but the Eagles handled them in the Divisional round with a 23-11 win at the Meadowlands.
Chance at another: Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning will get another crack at it next season, but must do away with the second-half swoons that have plagued the team the past two keeping them out of the playoffs.
The talent is there and they will be one of several teams considered favorites to knock off the defending NFC Champion Packers.
Yankees: 1 season
Sadly, some spoiled fans would actually consider this a drought.
Best chance: The Yankees failed to defend their World Series title this past season when the Rangers eliminated them in six games from the ALCS.
Chance at another: Not getting Cliff Lee this offseason means the Yankees enter 2011 with a questionable starting rotation. But they still await word from Andy Pettitte, and whether or not the veteran lefty returns the Yankees likely will be players in the starting pitching trade market as the season progresses.
