History Main / EveryYearTheyFizzleOut

* In AustralianRulesFootball, Collingwood were this from 1958 to 1990.

* {{WWE}}'s angle for the revival of {{ECW}} was based on this - Rob Van Dam was built up as, in Joey Styles' words, the greatest competitor to never win a World championship, heading into his battle with WWE Champion John Cena in the main-event of the revival show One Night Stand. By the time the show was over, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome he wasn't without one anymore.]] As it stands, most would probably go with The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase as the greatest competitor to have not been granted the title.

** The Dutch team has also been described as "the best team that never won anything" - the "Clockwork Orange" lost two straight World Cups; Gullit/Van Basten won the European Championship, but bombed in the WC they went to; the recent generation of Bergkamp and Kluivert never went past the semifinals of both the World Cup and European Championships (they even didn't qualify for a WC after being eliminated by ''Ireland''); and the current one (Sneidjer, Robben) lost the 2010 finals, turning the Netherlands the only team to qualify for three World Cup finals and lose them all (though the Dutch's UnnecessaryRoughness made Spain really worthy of the title). NFL fans could say they're the Buffalo Bills of soccer.

* This San Diego football fan wonders how the [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut Super Chargers]] have not yet been mentioned [[SoBadItsHorrible At least they're not as bad as they were in 1997-2003.]]

* The Dallas Cowboys, despite being one of the most successful teams in NFL history, had not won a playoff game for years until their home win in the 2010 wildcard round. This has become increasingly a {{Wallbanger}} for Cowboy fans in the last two years with the Cowboys being easily one of the most dominant teams in the league, but choking in the first round (first time was against the Seahawks with a gimme field goal being botched and the second time they lost outright to the heavy underdog Giants). The Cowboys finally got a postseason win over Philadelphia in the NFC wild-card round.

** Lost the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals to the Celtics in 6 games. Also contained a DethroningMomentOfSuck when, with just over a minute and a half to go in Game 6, Cleveland (trailing by a far-from-insurmountable nine-point deficit) seemingly gave up, showing no urgency in trying to score or play defense.

***** Since then, LeBron's eventual DethroningMomentOfSuck has led many people to believe that just perhaps, [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight it wasn't so insane afterall]].
* Every professional sports franchise in {{Seattle}}. In the forty-plus years of the modern sports era, the city has claimed exactly three championships, one in men's and two in women's basketball. (And then the men's team did the ultimate fizzle and moved to Oklahoma City.)

** They made it in this year.

This is different from InformedAbility in that the person might have the skills and you have seen them, but they are not able to finish the job with them. A villain who regularly faces a BoringInvincibleHero is likely to be this.

* NBA cousins Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are widely considered individual-player versions of this trope, to such an extent that nearly EVERY team they play on (they've both played for 4+ teams EACH) happen to find limited success in the post-season. Tracy McGrady's Houston Rockets eventually ended a drought of not winning a Playoff series since acquiring him-- as SOON as he was sidelined by injury and unable to play. Maybe this trope should be named after McGrady.

* As much is said about Kamina of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', he actually [[TheWorfEffect [s]never[/s] hardly ever won a fight on his own]], and [s]only ever[/s] mostly succeed when [[BashBrothers fighting with]] Simon. Granted when they are fighting, Kamina appears to be doing most of the work. Also, he was able to get Simon to stop being such a wimp, basically get the whole story and rise of man thing started [[spoiler:and come back from the dead as a ghost or something to get everyone out of a LotusEaterMachine]], which makes him [[TheMessiah something else entirely]].

** However, no winless drought in auto racing might be better documented than the entire [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andretti_Curse Andretti family at the Indianapolis 500]]. Sure, Mario won the race in 1969, but in the 40 years since then, nobody from the clan has won it as a driver, often having it snatched away in bizarre and mind-numbing scenarios, such as Danny Sullivan's spin and win over Mario in '85, mechanical problems in '87, Michael's own problems in '92 (he led ''160 of 200 laps''), and Marco losing it to Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006 despite leading on lap 199 (the first driver ''ever'' to lead lap 199 and not win; critics say Marco lost it due to taking the wrong line into turn 3 which cost him too much speed). Having Michael win the race as a car owner for Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti really doesn't take away any of the sting...

* The Dallas Cowboys, despite being one of the most successful teams in NFL history, had not won a playoff game for years until their one-and-done in the 2010 season. This has become increasingly a {{Wallbanger}} for Cowboy fans in the last two years with the Cowboys being easily one of the most dominant teams in the league, but choking in the first round (first time was against the Seahawks with a gimme field goal being botched and the second time they lost outright to the heavy underdog Giants). The Cowboys finally got a postseason win over Philadelphia in the NFC wild-card round.

* The Texas Rangers are the oldest Major League franchise to never reach the World Series (and the only Major League franchise who has never won a single postseason series), and the popular excuse is that the games in July and August, where North Texas temperatures regularly top 100 degrees, will always drain the team. This [[FridgeLogic makes less sense]] when you know that the Florida Marlins play in the extreme heat AND humidity of South Florida and have won the Word Series ''twice''.

** The early-90s Buffalo Bills make every other entry on this page look like clutch players. They won 4 straight AFC Championships and attending 4 straight Super Bowls, the only four in their history. To this day, they're 0-4 in Super Bowls. And they haven't been back to the playoffs in 10 years, since they were eliminated by the Music City Miracle. Most notably, in 2004 they entered the last week of the season needing to beat Pittsburgh to get in to the playoffs, with Pittsburgh having already locked up their seed and resting their starters. ''They lost at home to Pittsburgh's 2nd and 3rd string by two touchdowns.''

** Something similar happened to the Saint Louis Blues. For over twenty years in a row, they made it to the playoffs, but only went to the finals once, and never won a game in the finals.
** The 2000-01 post-season was an extreme example; after winning every single regular season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and ending up 2nd overall in the conference, the two teams faced off in the first round of elimination, with Ottawa heavily favoured to win. Instead they were ''swept'' 4-0.

* Every professional sports franchise in {{Seattle}}. In forty-plus years of playing, the city has claimed exactly two championships, one apiece in men and women's basketball. (And then the men's team did the ultimate fizzle and moved to Oklahoma City.)

* As much is said about Kamina of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', he actually [[TheWorfEffect [s]never[/s] hardly ever won a fight on his own]], and [s]only ever[/s] mostly succeed when [[BashBrothers fighting with]] Simon. Granted when they are fighting, Kamina appears to be doing most of the work. Also, he was able to get Simon to stop being such a wimp, basically get the whole story and rise of man thing started [spoiler:and come back from the dead as a ghost or something to get everyone out of a LotusEaterMachine]], which makes him [[TheMessiah something else entirely]].

'''Ted Trimble''': What do you mean?\\

* The Philadelphia Flyers. Thirty-four playoff appearances in forty-two seasons (and fourteen of the last fifteen), but only two Stanley Cups, and none since 1975. Part of the problem is that unbelievable consistency prevents them from bottoming out and having the ability to select a slur of high draft picks; their arch rival Pittsburgh Penguins are built on the first overall pick in 2003 (Marc-Andre Fleury), second overall in 2004 (Evgeni Malkin), first overall in 2005 (Sidney Crosby), and second overall in 2006 (Jordan Staal).

* The Atlanta Braves won a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles. They took home the World Series trophy ''once''. The streak ended with four consecutive first-round exits.