Review of ESPN Article "20-year rewind: Boston's dominance, Washington's curse"

This article summarizes my goal of this blog in one concise look at the history of sports in two cities: Washington D.C. and Boston. John Kiem, ESPN Staff Writer, does a great job breaking down the past 20 years of sports history. Kiem remains mostly positive throughout the entire article while offering a very analytical view on the teams. The differences between the teams in their respective leagues is like night and day. All 8 teams have had success over the 20 years, but there is something that cannot be fully described in words for the lack of success in the playoffs for D.C. sports teams.

He begins the article describing some of the heartbreaks the D.C. sports and some of the triumphs of Boston sports. Within that analysis he takes a look at “Boston vs. Washington by the numbers.” Here are the stats provided by ESPN:

70: Consecutive completed seasons by the the four major D.C. sports teams without an appearance in the penultimate round of the postseason

26: Years since Washington, D.C., celebrated a title; tied with Minneapolis for the longest drought among cities with at least three pro teams

10: Combined titles since 2001 for the four major Boston sports teams, the most of any city

13: Consecutive games lost by Nationals, Capitals, Redskins and Wizards with chance to clinch a conference finals berth

16: Straight series lost by the four major D.C. sports teams with a chance to advance to their league semifinals

38: All-time regular-season MVPs among Boston MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL teams (Washington has 10)

Then, Kiem takes a deeper look at each team in Boston and Washington D.C. organized by league. All of the teams are separated by many championships; however, the largest disparity in success is between the New England Patriots and the Washington Redskins. The biggest difference between Boston and Washington D.C. is that Boston plays with confidence whereas Washington plays in fear. The excitement generated by fans in Boston is something that cannot be found anywhere else. Charlie McAvoy, a young defensive phenom for the Boston Bruins said, “We have an unbelievable fan base. This city is so special when it comes to its sports teams. We have games in the regular season where I've had to stop and look around and just marvel at how loud it is." This excitement that is generated by the fans creates a positive energy that Boston teams thrive on.  Jennie Ryon, a Washington D.C. sports fan said, “I live in a six-month cycle of sadness and happiness, as one sport's ending and another is coming around to get me excited. I can't say I'm completely disheartened -- but I know how it's going to end. When I see January or May or October on the calendar, I know what I'm getting myself into. Yet, I'm still glued to the TV." The negative energy created by D.C. sports fans is clearly displayed to the players through media interviews and social media outlets.

Penguins fans troll Ovechkin during his 1,000th career NHL game

The only way Washington can break this seemingly unstoppable cycle is by forgetting the past and focusing on the future. By focusing on “the curse,” D.C. sports fans are only prolonging the failures of their teams. Why don’t we try to actually have faith in our teams and make it known to the players that we believe in them to bring a championship back home to Washington D.C.?