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The Cleveland sports curse is an ongoing sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, and all of its professional sports teams. Cleveland has three major sports teams: the Browns of the National Football League (NFL), the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Indians. The city's teams have endured an unprecedented combined 156-season championship drought, having not won a title since 1964, when the Browns won the NFL Championship Game, two seasons prior to the first Super Bowl. In addition, the city's lone National Hockey League (NHL) representative, the Cleveland Barons, lasted only two seasons before being merged with the Minnesota North Stars. ==Cleveland Browns== Much of the discussion of the "curse" is centered on the Browns, who have not won a championship since 1964 and have suffered a series of questionable coaching decisions, disappointing losses and draft busts. In 1981, trailing by two points to the Oakland Raiders and in field goal range with less than one minute remaining in the American Football Conference (AFC) divisional playoff game, the Browns executed a passing play that was intercepted. The play, called by Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano, has become known as "Red Right 88". In the 1986–87 NFL playoffs, the Browns were one game away from playing in what would have been the franchise's first Super Bowl when they fell short in one of the most memorable games in NFL history. The Browns were leading the Denver Broncos 20-13 in the fourth quarter when Broncos quarterback John Elway led a 98-yard game-tying drive in just over 5 minutes. The game went to overtime, and the Broncos kicked a field goal to seal the victory. Elway's fourth quarter march and the game itself became known as "The Drive", a title that both signifies Elway's brilliance in the clutch and the Browns' inability to close out important games. The Browns and Broncos both returned to the AFC Championship Game the next year. With the Browns down 38–31 late in the fourth quarter, Browns' running back Earnest Byner was handed the ball near the goal line. Byner, who was in the midst of a great performance, was stripped of the ball and the Broncos recovered on their 2-yard line. The Broncos surrendered an intentional safety and went on to win 38–33, while Byner's blunder became known as "The Fumble". The Browns returned to the AFC Championship game in the 1989-90 season, again losing to the Broncos. As of the end of the 2014 NFL season, the Browns have not returned to the AFC Championship Game and remain one of four teams (with the other NFL teams being the Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars) to never qualify to play in the Super Bowl. The Browns were at the center of a relocation controversy in 1995. The decision by then-Browns owner Art Modell to move what was but one year before an 11-5 team to Baltimore infuriated and confused Browns fans. After negotiations with the NFL and the city of Cleveland, Modell was allowed to move the team's personnel to Baltimore, where it became a new franchise known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won a Super Bowl in only their fifth year of existence, doing so with former Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome as their general manager. In addition to Newsome's success, coach Bill Belichick, who was relieved of his head coaching duties upon dissolution of the franchise, returned five (5) seasons later as the head coach of the New England Patriots. With the Patriots, he has coached only one losing season and won six AFC Championships and four Super Bowls. The struggles of the Browns since rejoining the NFL, as well as the success of both Newsome and Belichick, were chronicled in the NFL Films feature ''A Football Life'': 1995 Cleveland Browns.〔http://nflcommunications.com/2012/09/28/story-of-1995-cleveland-browns-detailed-on-nfl-networks-cleveland-95-a-football-life/〕 The Browns returned in 1999, after a three-year period of deactivation. In the 1999 NFL Draft, the Browns selected Tim Couch, hoping he would be a franchise quarterback. Ty Detmer was brought in to usher in the planned "Couch era", but after a string of dismal performances, Couch was rushed into the starting position. Couch struggled to perform without a talented roster around him, which led to his eventual departure from the Browns after the 2003 season. Although only winning 22 games in 59 starts, Couch led the Browns to their only playoff berth since their return, in 2002. As of the end of the 2014 season, the Browns have started 22 different quarterbacks since their 1999 return to the NFL, a league-high in that period. The Browns have not won a playoff game since beating the New England Patriots on January 1, 1995, and have lost nine or more games each season since 2007. To add insult to injury, under current owner Randy Lerner, the Browns curse has affected Aston Villa FC, an English soccer club also owned by the Lerners; in 2010-11, the club went through five managers in a season. That club, under Lerner ownership, has had three consecutive seasons currently of being near the drop zone. On November 30, 2015, the Browns played the Baltimore Ravens in their first Monday Night Football showcase in years. After being down 17 to 3 in the second quarter, the Browns rallied behind Quarterback Josh McCown to close the lead to 4 points by the end of the first half with a score of 17 to 13. With the game tied at 27 points and three second lefts in the fourth quarter, Cleveland attempted a 51-yard field goal to win the game. The field goal was blocked and returned by the Ravens for a touchdown. Baltimore won the game and handed the Browns their most painful loss in recent history. The event had been dubbed "The Block" by disgruntled fans on Twitter only moments after the end of the game. As the month of November came to an end, so did any hopes of catching a break from the Cleveland curse. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cleveland sports curse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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