The Falcons- this was the first year in franchise history they had back to back winning seasons. They did have one appearance in a Super Bowl however, but the night before, one of their players was arrested for soliciting a prostitute.

As incredible as the Cubs' drought has been, they have had - and do have - the talent to make a run at the title, so their winning it would not surprise me. As bad as the Lions have been recently and the Saints have been seemingly forever, they still play in the NFL, a league that has offered more parity and thus afforded teams like the Lions and Saints a legitimate chance to rise to the top more quickly. The Nationals have been the Lions of the Major Leagues, but the franchise itself - that is, in its Montreal days - has shown an ability to find good players; the only problem is that they have not shown the ability to keep them (see Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, etc). Furthermore, baseball has shown, though not nearly to the same degree as football, that small-budget teams occasionally can break through for at least a legitimate shot at the title (2003 Marlins, 2008 Rays).

Thus we come to the Los Angeles Clippers. If this team ever won the NBA title, the universe would very likely implode immediately afterward. This franchise has everything going against it: a cheap-skate owner; an uncanny knack for drafting the wrong players; luck so bad that, even we they do finally make good personnel decisions, injuries almost negate the decisions (see Danny Manning and Blake Griffin); playing in the same city as a team that can do almost nothing wrong; playing in the major sport that, historically speaking, has made teams slowly grind their way to the top rather than allowing them to leapfrog their competitors (think Pistons, Bulls and even Shaq-led Lakers); and, finally, having a history of futility as long as almost any franchise in any major sport.

With all those things working against them, why would anybody think the Clippers have any shot at ever winning an NBA championship? Yes, their rise to the top surely would be the most shocking of all.

I almost went with the Clippers -- yes, the Universe would implode if they were ever to win it. But living near Detroit, with a team of 20 years + of futility -- one just can't understand how bad things can be unless one actually lives there, and sees the futulity on a daily basis.