The prevailing question is WHY do Buffalo sports teams always come up short in bringing home a championship to the city of Buffalo?

Every team from the Bills, Sabres, and even long departed Buffalo Braves have shown promise, inspired hope, and raised expectations only to ultimately disappoint their ever so loyal fans. There has been banners raised on a lower level with glorious juggernauts such as the Buffalo Stampede Roller Hockey Championship in 1994, and the Buffalo Bandits LaCrosse Championships of 1996, and 2008. However, those achievements aren't exactly front page news with american media.

The Buffalo Bills captured back to back AFL titles in 1964 and 65, however this was when the AFL was in it's infancy and got little if any national attention. Several years later the young upstart AFL merged with the established NFL and this ushered in the Super Bowl Championship.

Since that time Buffalo sports fans have gone through one devastating loss after another from both of their two remaining major sports teams. Here at BuffaloCurse.com, we have pondered this perplexing subject and have found a possible answer to the WHY. It can be linked to a major event that took place in the city of Buffalo over one hundred years ago.

The city of Buffalo was the site of the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. This was considered a major national event, and a huge victory for the city to host it. This was the very first time Buffalo had such a national spotlight, and scored another huge victory when President William McKinley accepted an invition to the Exposition. On September 6, 1901 the president was shot twice by Leon Frank Czolgosz at the Exposition. Doctors thought McKinley would recover, and he convalesced at the home of the expositions director in Buffalo. However, little more than a week after he was shot, he died of his wounds on September 14, 1901.

This was a major blow to a city trying to make a positive name for itself with it's first big national event. Ever since this event, whenever the city of Buffalo is in a national spotlight, bad things happen! Now of course the rebuttal to this Voodoo speculation would be "Why has Dallas not been affected by some curse, or Washington DC for that matter?" Perhaps because McKinley was a Freemason.

Most religious groups view Freemasonry as a cult or "evil power". Perhaps what the city of Buffalo needs is some sort of exorcism held at the site of the assassination, which was at that time the Temple of Music on Exposition grounds. One things for sure, regardless of the reason or cause, the Buffalo Curse lives on. As a result the poor suffering souls who continue to sell out games, buy merchandise, and pay for football and hockey on satellite services are all forced to acknowledge that something HAS to be going on here.

All my life people have asked me, "Why continue to support Buffalo sports teams if all they do is deliver pain and despair?" Being born and raised in a certain part of the country doesn't necessarily mean that one must automatically pledge allegiance to that areas sports franchises. So why continue to do so? Why continue to support pain and suffering? Why support futility and despair? Why continue to allow my still beating heart to be ripped out of my chest year after year, decade after decade, only to come back for more? Perhaps it's due to some euphoric moments that are graciously delivered from time to time. Moments such as O.J.'s record setting 2,003 yard season, which would ultimately be squelched out by infamous future events. Moments like a young hockey team on the rise, igniting a city with excitement, only to lose to a team of "Broadstreet Bullies." Then the same hockey team climbed to the top again in 1999, only to be knocked down yet again. Moments like experiencing the thrill of going to 4 straight Super Bowls. Being allowed to climb to the mountain top and to see the promise land, but never being granted access.

Can these few euphoric feelings shared by the Buffalo fan be worth the pain and suffering ensued over so many years? Perhaps not. Perhaps it isn't the teams but it is me, the Buffalo "fan" who carries the burden of a curse. The burden of loving my teams unconditionally, regardless of an all too familiar outcome. For it is truly our love and truly our pain.

Our complete and total...Buffalo Curse!