The 25-Year Itch

The Stanley Cup teams are now set. Saturday night, the Blackhawks and Flyers will face off in Game 1 at the United Center. Both teams have Stanley Cup droughts of 35 years or more, with the Flyers last winning in 1975 and the Hawks last winning in 1961.

Because my mind is concerned with this type of thing, I wondered if there had been any other time(s) when two teams have met for a Cup with such long droughts. As it turns out, this is the first time in NHL history that two teams have met in the Stanley Cup finals where both teams have gone 25 years or more since winning a Cup.

Since I'm insane, I decided to take a look to see if it has happened in the other three major sports, and I was surprised to learn that it has happened four times before, although it's never happened in the NBA.

I did not include match-ups that included teams that had never previously won a championship. Thus, for instance, the 2005 World Series between the White Sox (who were riding an 88-year drought) and the Astros (who have never won a World Series) is not included in this analysis. Also, to be comprehensive, I included the ABA when analyzing the NBA, and the AFL when analyzing the NFL. And, of course, I count franchises that have changed cities and/or mascots as one team (i.e., the Tennessee Titans are the Houston Oilers).

With that, here are the other instances in the four major professional sports leagues where two teams meeting in a final both teams had gone 25 years or more since winning a title:

2000 Super Bowl between the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans. The LA Rams were NFL champions in 1951 and the Houston Oilers were AFL champions in 1961.

1995 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series in 1957, and the Indians won the World Series in 1948.

1972 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds. The Philadelphia Athletics won the World Series in 1930, and the Reds won the World Series in 1940.

1948 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves. The Indians won the World Series in 1920, and the Braves won the World Series in 1914.

So there you go. I hope you learned something trivial.