Sports

Worst pro sports town in America? Dallas should be renamed ‘Detroit South,’ numbers show

A vast majority sports fans in Dallas are fed up — and they should be.

Because they reside in one of the two worst pro sports towns in America. At least for the past couple of years.

Thursday marks the 634th consecutive day that the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers have managed to successfully avoided participating in a playoff game.

For you old-school types keeping score at home, that’s 1 year, 8 months and 25 days without a whiff of a championship.

Jerry Jones’ franchise was the last team to visit the postseason, but that 13-3 bunch lost a close game to the Green Bay Packers, thanks to a memorable last-minute drive from Aaron Rodgers, in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, .

If we’re comparing them to the 12 cities with four major professional sports teams (football, basketball, baseball and hockey), Dallas’ only real competition is Detroit.

The Motor City’s playoff drought is longer by just eight days. On Jan. 7, 2017, the Lions lost at home to the Seattle Seahawks in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs.

Here’s the tale of the tape for both Dallas and Detroit during their respective slumps.

Dallas/Arlington

Records since Jan. 15, 2017:

  • Cowboys: 11-10

  • Mavericks: 45-80

  • Rangers: 145-179

  • Stars: 58-62

Cumulative record of four major teams: 259-331

Most days without a playoff win: 1,098 (last one occured on Oct. 8, 2015)

Most days without a championship: 2,678

Detroit

Records since Jan. 7, 2017:

  • Lions: 11-10

  • Pistons: 59-67

  • Red Wings: 46-59

  • Tigers: 128-196

Cumulative record of four major teams: 244-332

Most days without a playoff win: 907

Most days without a championship: 3,781

This story was originally published October 11, 2018 at 9:00 AM.

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