The 29 most hopeless fan bases in professional sports

11. Buffalo Sabres

Last championship: never

Last winning season: 2010-11

The city of Buffalo started the 1990s with four consecutive Super Bowl loses (more on those later), and ended it with the “Brett Hull goal” in 1999, which ended what was to be the ultimate moment in Sabres history. Everything about that moment alone could earn a downtrodden fanbase a slot on this list.

It was the closest the Sabres have ever come to winning a Stanley Cup, having only made the Finals twice in 46 years. And even from the moment the goal crossed the plane, its validity was (and very much remains) hotly contested. That it happened on home ice, in front of those yearning and hungry fans, in yet another championship lost, this one being pried away from them in a much rougher fashion than any other — that only added more vinegar to the wound.

It was the end of the best run the franchise had ever had, and while they have made it along in the playoffs since, the Sabres have never truly been able to make it all the way back to where they were in ’99, before the Hull goal. Of late, the Sabres have missed the playoffs in seven of nine seasons and have not been over .500 in the last four.

It further damns the fact that, while that singular call probably would not have changed everything that has happened since, it surely would’ve made it go down a little easier.

Next: 10. Kansas City Chiefs