Top 10: Sporting droughts

All Blacks after the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final between New Zealand and France. Photo / Brett Phibbs

130 - Mark Webber
The Australian came agonisingly close to the drivers championship before being pipped in the last race of the year by Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Those heady days were hard-earned.He endured years of racing in mostly uncompetitive cars, as well as various mechanical misfortunes and other incidents, and managed just two podium finishes in his first seven years in F1.

He finally broke through for his first win in 2009, at the German Grand Prix, when he finally took the chequered flag after 130 starts in F1. Rubens Barrichello (123), Jarno Trulli (119) and Jenson Button (113) are others who took an age to convert promise to performance.
-Michael Burgess

103 - Chicago Cubs
The granddaddy of all sporting droughts: 103 years. When the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series, the first model T Ford was rolling off the production line, New Zealand had just been made a Dominion of the Commonwealth and Albert Einstein was postulating his famous theory of relativity. Since that victory in 1908, the Cubs have been back to the World Series seven times (though none since 1945) without success.

One of their more bizarre near misses came in 2003.The Cubs were just a few outs from progressing to another World Series, when a spectator reached from the stand to catch a ball, preventing their fielder from making the out. After that, the game turned, with a 3-0 Cubs lead blowing out to a 8-3 loss.

The infamous fan, Joe Bartman, was offered a witness protection scheme by the Governor of Illinois and had up to six police cars protecting his house. His seat has become a tourist attraction at Wrigley Field.
-Michael Burgess

56 - Counties
Founded in 1955, Counties are still waiting for Ranfurly Shield success 56 years later. They are associated with heartbreak when it comes to the shield with close calls and controversial refereeing decisions affecting thrillers like 1981 - when a 21-21 draw with holders Waikato saw Counties concede two late and controversial penalties.

In 1982, a Robert Kururangi intercept would have won the shield from Canterbury had he not been called back for debatable reasons. In 1985,perhaps the most hotly disputed controversy was Dave Trombik's try against Auckland - disallowed by the referee when most thought he had scored legitimately and which would have won a game eventually lost 12-9. The hoodoo continued even last year - when Tana Umaga seemed to have a great chance to spark Counties to victory against Southland but lost 13-9 after yet another nail-biter; albeit it without controversy this time.
-Paul Lewis

43 - Manchester City
In the words of the iconic Manchester band Oasis, Manchester City fans need not look back in anger any more. It was a forgettable final, against a middle-of-the-road team, but the FA Cup final win over Stoke last week broke a painful drought for the blue half of Manchester.

They had not won any silverware since the League Cup in 1976, and their predicament was exacerbated by the bulging trophy cabinet over at Old Trafford. Among their many in glorious achievements,they remain the only reigning English champions to be relegated. Next season, the Blues will compete in the Champions League for the first time in 43 years, though they did win the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970.
-Michael Burgess

45 - New Zealand test cricket team
While Sammy Guillen's stumping of his former West Indies teammate Alf Valentine signalled the New Zealand win by 190 runs (their first in 45 tests; spanning 26 years), the turning point occurred slightly earlier in the afternoon. Leg-spinner Jack Alabaster dropped short and Everton Weekes -scorer of three test centuries in three test wins up to that point in the series - looked to dispatch him over the midwicket fence.

The late Noel McGregor lined the catch up in front of a crowd which had swelled to 9000 as offices emptied around the city. Afterwards he described the moment between the ball hitting the bat and hitting his hands: "The thought flashed through my head that if I dropped it, I would hop back over the fence, and disappear in the crowd. Oh, the joy when I held the ball."
-Andrew Alderson

44 - Cronulla Sharks
The team from the Sutherland Shire have been in existence for almost half a century, but the wait goes on for that elusive NRL premiership title. Penrith were established in the same year (1967) but broke their duck in 1991. Parramatta took 35 years, Canberra eight years, Brisbane five while Melbourne won a grand final in just their second season in 1999. The Sharks lost grand finals in 1973, 1978 and 1997 and were minor premiers in 1988 and 1999 but couldn't go on to the big show. In 2002, they were knocked out one game short by the Warriors.

Cronulla fans have never forgiven referee Greg "Hollywood" Hartley for his erratic displays in 1978. In the dying minutes of the grand final, with the scores level, he turned down Cronulla pleas for a penalty after a blatant Manly infringement, reportedly telling captain Steve Rogers: "You don't want to win a grand final with a penalty mate." In the replay three days later, an injury-ravaged Sharks team was derailed early when the Sea Eagles scored a try on the seventh tackle, thanks to a Hartley miscount.
- Michael Burgess

32 - New Zealand Olympic 1500m medallists
It had been 32 years since the last 1500m Olympic glory when Nick Willis found space on the home straight at the 'Bird's Nest' in Beijing in 2008. Even hardened New Zealand journalists struggled to compose themselves. Once the 25- year-old surged into third and hit the finish line-milliseconds ahead of Frenchman Mehdi Baala-there was pandemonium. His bronze (eventually silver via a drawn out drugs disqualification process) was the first since John Walker's gold in the 1976 Montreal Olympics-and re-ignited belief in those who had given up on New Zealand adding to five previous medals, including three gold, in one of the Games' premier events.
-Andrew Alderson

25 -The Pulse
While the Wellington-based netball team have shown encouraging signs of life this season, for the first two years of the ANZ championship they seemed to take inspiration from the cult 1990s movie Flatliners.

They failed to win a match in the entire first season, lost their major sponsor, sacked their coach and had to be financially bailed out by Netball New Zealand. The streak unfortunately continued - they went 12 games into 2009 before finally tasting victory (at the 26th attempt) against the Swifts. The triumph was joyously received, and various players featured on national television talk shows to discuss their long awaited breakthrough.

Perhaps guilty of over-celebration, the Pulse were smashed 80-39 by the Vixens in their very next match, which remains the highest winning score and margin in the history of the competition
-Michael Burgess

23 -Tiger Woods
He hasn't won a golf tournament in 18 months; in 23 tournaments. The last one was in September 2009 - just before the marital incident that prefaced the burgeoning list of infidelities; that presaged arguably the biggest off-field fall from grace in modern history; that translated into a fall from grace on the course as well-even if it is being helped by recurring injuries.

The upshot is that, while people used to wonder when Woods would break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors, they then began to wonder if he would. Now some are wondering whether he'll ever win again. He will
drop out of the world top 10 golfers tomorrow, when the rankings are released. This from a man whose 71 PGA titles is the third best in history; who has averaged five titles a year since turning pro in 1996-with his most prolific year in 2000, when he won 10 times.
-Paul Lewis

24 -The All Blacks
One of the most frustrating, teeth grinding, joke-enduring droughts in New Zealand sporting history.

The 1987 Rugby World Cup victory, with the All Blacks clearly head and shoulders above all comers, seemed to introduce an era of relentless All Black global superiority. Uh, no ...

It started in 1991 when they were upset by the eventual Wallaby winners; a stirring 1995 final lost when Andrew Mehrtens' dropkick could have, should have, would have won it; another shock upset (France) in 1999; the horror of being out-thought and outdone by the Wallabies (again) in 2003; before the greatest nightmare of all - 2007, in Cardiff, where the French gave the highly favoured All Blacks their worst World Cup result ever.

That's 24 years of chagrin for New Zealand and schadenfreude for the rest of the world. It gave rise to taunts like George Gregan's "Four more years, boys, four more years ..."; and
jokes like: 'What's the difference between the All Blacks and a teabag? The teabag stays in the cup longer'. And 'Heard about the All Blacks' new bra? All support but no cups'. Rivals call them chokers.

Make it stop, make it stop ...
-Paul Lewis