1. Seattle SuperSonics, Forever
You know what’s worse than losing a Super Bowl? Losing an entire team forever. Not only that, losing the team, then watching them rip off 50+ win seasons in their new city with two of the five best/most exciting players in the sport. And, whenever the prospect of a replacement comes along, the NBA just says “nuh-uh, no NBA for you!”
The pain of the Sonics leaving was exacerbated by a truly awful Seattle sports landscape. They left in July 2008. The Mariners were on their way to a 100-loss season, and the Seahawks suddenly fell off a cliff, going 4-12 in their worst season since the early 1990s. If you’re wondering why the Sounders were so popular right out of the gate, it’s because the Seattle sports scene was a wasteland, and it was something new (translation: they hadn’t had time to suck yet).
The Seahawks losing the Super Bowl sucks. But the team is still good. They’ve been good, and they will probably be good all over again next year. The Sonics are gone for good. They weren’t good when they left. They were going to be good, but there never was a next season to find out. Instead, I have to sweat out every NBA playoffs praying for Thunder losses. All of that sucks a helluva lot more than losing the damn Super Bowl.
