Remember when the Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs exorcised their demons by finally winning it all again, in 2004, 2005, and 2016 respectively? The expansion, Astros, Nationals and Rangers followed suit. The Dodgers even ended their 32-year futility in the 60-game season in 2020.

Beyond the Rangers winning their first WS title in their history, two other curses ended yesterday. For those fans whose teams can’t advance in the playoffs, that failure can weigh almost as heavily as a lack of Championship success.

Even as the 2023 Detroit Lions won the NFC North this year, the media kept expecting them to “Lions themselves” and screw up when things started looking too good to be true. With last night’s victory over the Rams, the ended three decades of playoff futility.

Nationally, the media hadn’t thought too highly of the NFC North, maybe not as poorly as they do of the NFC South, but two teams advancing to the next round is a surprise. Furthermore, in Chicago, Bears’ apologists have repeated the mythology that the division is theirs for the taking. If the Bears selected John Hadl or Roman Gabriel with the first pick in the draft, they’d be no closer to winning anything.

For those living in a baseball bubble, the AL Central, is less respected than Rodney Dangerfield, and not just within the cities playing there. I’m not going to argue that the division isn’t still up for grabs. Rather, I’m suggesting the similarities with the NFC North. I remain skeptical of the Twins owning the division in the near future, but have to concede they finally did it.

After winning the division, they went out and did the unthinkable. They defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the playoffs. That ended the longest current playoff drought. It seemed like it was the Yankees that they always lost to in that first round (whatever they called it) and unless you are getting great odds, they were certain losers.

Most sports fans don’t concern themselves with multi-city, multi-sport oddities/connections, but after listening to the postgame praise for the Lions, I couldn’t help but flash back to the Twins recent success.

Overcoming decades long curses is great and is cause for joy and for some fans, it may be enough to justify wearing that jersey. But as I’ve learned from personal experience, sustained excellence is the next goal-one that is far harder to achieve.

If the Twins and Lions fail to repeat next year, how will their fans feel about this momentary blip on the screen?