Super Bowl Stuff 3: Cursed, Blessed Cities?

Okay, so maybe I lied. Yesterday I meant to talk about my impressions of viewing the last few Super Bowls, but I remembered wanting to hit this subject. I'll write about that tomorrow or Saturday, in time for the Super Bowl itself. In the meantime, my apologies and my writings below:

A couple other items to note while looking at the Super Bowl Standings: It's much harder to go undefeated than to go winless. Only the San Francisco 49ers have been to go undefeated with more than one win, while four teams have had more than one appearance without any victories.

Second, while it's obvious why Arizona, Detroit and Jacksonville hae not appeared in the Super Bowl, there are a couple of cities which have not appeared despite having multiple teams. Cleveland missed the Super Bowl with the earlier Browns after co-dominating the fifties with Detroit, and the new Browns Franchise has not really made much of a move. I'll give them the benefit of a doubt for now, as the present Cleveland Browns are the second newest franchise in the NFL (NFL official history be damned).

Houston is another city that seems to be cursed. While it has the newest franchise, it also had probably the only franchise that finished over five hundred in the regular season and finished last in its conference. (This was the AFC Central, with Pittsburgh in peak form).

So in a way, you're talking about two unlucky towns. Teams that almost made it (or made the wrong time to be "good enough" in certain cities, only to move on and make the final jump into the Super Bowl. (note: while the Titans lost their Super Bowl appearance, they DID appear.

And what's there to say about Baltimore? One team wins and loses a Super Bowl game in Baltimore, moves to "Greener Pastures" and has come up empty since (especially this year, after going a long time undefeated); while another storied franchise moves in and does what it couldn't do in Cleveland (appear, and WIN the game). That city, while not necessarily stable (nor the powerhouse, as the Washington team down the road seems to always garner more attention), seems to be blessed for its fidelity to Pro Football -- they have their own fan club, band and other support teams, which have stuck with the city and driven the NFL (or franchise owners) to add franchises to the city.

Next Time: My Thoughts On The Game (and this time I mean it.