Last weekend, I sadly locked myself in my room as the Cleveland Indians blew a three-games-to-one lead over the Boston Red Sox to once again miss out on a chance to win a World Series. It was an experience I was hoping I would never have to experience again, however, coming up just short seems to be the theme in Ohio these days.

It all started in January in Glendale, Arizona. It was here that I personally experienced the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes be destroyed by the Florida Gators in the BCS National Championship game. Not only was this a crushing blow to the ego of the Buckeye Nation, who were looking forward to trading in their 2002 National Championship gear for something a bit more updated, but this would not be the only time the Buckeyes would fall to the Gators on the national stage. They would lose to Florida again in the National Championship game in basketball just a few months later.

As if the Buckeyes coming just short of two national titles were not bad enough, next would be the Destroyers, Columbus’ Arena Football League team. After a mediocre regular season which I did not pay much attention to, the Destroyers made a spectacular playoff run to reach their first ever Arena Bowl… which they lost.

Then there were the Cleveland Cavaliers, who also reached their first NBA finals this year. Again, the glory was short-lived as the Cavs were swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

It would finally come to an end last weekend, until the Indians threw away a sure chance to go to the World Series for the first time since 1997 to none other than the Boston Red Sox, also known as “the team that is no longer cursed.”

Needless to say, Ohio has something special going on. Never in the history of sports have I ever heard of so many teams being cursed. A city of teams yes, but a whole state? What did we do wrong? If I use the current system to predict outcomes, the Browns will reach the Super Bowl and lose along with the Blue Jackets reaching the Stanley Cup finals, and losing.

If you look at the cities in Ohio and see just what is going on in sports, it is not pretty. In Cleveland, there are the Indians, who have not won a World Series since 1948. During this drought, multiple movies have been made about this franchise and its legacy of losing along with some pretty major collapses in the World Series in 1995 and 1997 before this most recent collapse in the ALCS to add to their resume.

The Cleveland Browns have not won a championship since the 1960s. In fact, the last championship they won was the year before the first super bowl. From that time the Browns have also been made famous for collapses such as “The Drive” and “The Fumble.” Another stroke of irony for the Brownies is the fact that the franchise moved to Baltimore and that team won a Super Bowl only a few years later.

On the other end of I-71, Cincinnati has felt the same pains, as the Bengals have never seen much success at all aside from two Super Bowl losses. The Reds also have not had near the success they experienced in the 70s, and that’s not even mentioning Pete Rose.

So it is no wonder there are so many Ohio State fans in this state. When you look at recent history, the Buckeyes are the most successful sports team Ohio has to offer and are once again back on top of the BCS standings. So keep your head up Ohio, look at all the other teams that were once cursed and are now enjoying great success. Someday we will join them but until then just remember, we could have the Cubs.