One Wish, One Team, Guarantee a Championship

[mgarbowski]

This thought experiment used to generate fun bar and dorm room conversations way back. Let's see if it can spur some forum relief from off-season blahs.

A genie offers you one wish: guarantee that any team in any sport will win at least one trophy of your choice before you die. The parameters:

• It has to be a team, but can be pro, amateur, school, or country.
• The guarantee is for 1 championship. The Genie is all-knowing, and if the team was going to win at least one or more anyway your wish doesn't add to the total.
• You cannot leverage the wish into a secondary effect: eg, you can't wish that your child's team wins UCL and thereby guarantee he becomes a professional world class soccer player.
• Ridiculous longshots and absurdities are OK, as long as the team/country is technically eligible. If you want to wish that a country in the Sahara desert wins the Olympic Hockey Gold medal, go ahead. Picking a team in the bottom division of a soccer pyramid to win the top league championship also is OK. Picking a bottom division team in the US to win MLS Cup and leverage it into creating pro/rel is not.
• If a team competes in multiple competitions you pick one.
• Betting on your choice directly or indirectly at any point voids your wish.
• You have the option to forget your wish after you make it so you're not spoiled in any way. Mention your choice on this when you answer.

Also, since this is an NYCFC forum, to make the answers less repetitive, feel free to list an alternate if NYC is in fact your choice.

I'll start: For me it's easy. The Minnesota Vikings and the Super Bowl. A USMNT World Cup would be a close second, but the Vikings still get my wish here. I've been following them since they reached and lost 4 of the first 11 Super Bowls. Since then -- and I was 14 at the time of their last SB in 1977 -- they've never made it back but they are usually very good. I can't find it now but a few years ago I saw a stat that the Vikings had played more playoff games over the last few decades than anyone but I think the Steelers and Patriots. They just never win a championship, and at least once every decade they suffer an utter gut-punch loss:
1975 - Drew fucking Pearson (first ever Hail Mary)
1988 - Darren fucking Nelson
1998 - Gary fucking Anderson
2009 - Brett fucking Favre, a million AP fumbles, and 12-men on the field penalty
2016 - Blair fucking Walsh

And none of those are even the Super Bowl losses.
So, my wish would for the Vikings. I would exercise the option not to remember I made it. In fact I like to think I made this wish and don't remember it. The thought consoles me.

 

[413Blue]

USA world cup hands down!

 

[adam]

Israel winning the WC would be amazeballs. And so impossible it deserves a genie wish (or a prayer?).

USMNT will eventually win a WC in the next couple of generations, I believe it; wish or not.

 

[NickFromAstoria]

Since we're talking about a genie here, can I choose "time travel back to 1999 and ensure that the Sabres win the Stanley Cup"? I mean, yes, Hasek got his cup eventually - but he should have gotten it as a Sabre. (Also screw Brett Hull)

 

[Mario]

remember that time when bobby boucher shows up at half time and the mud dogs win the bourban bowl

 

[joe]

I think it has to be USMNT for me. NYCFC will sort themselves out, and most of my other teams have won in my lifetime.

 

[KennyD]

NYCFC, USMNT they will figure it out have seen my teams win SBs and WS was alive for the 94 Stanley Cup so ill count it. The Wish has to be another UCL title for Liverpool or Celtic. They don't spend money the way the bigger clubs do and Celtic needs a Miracle to make it out of the group nowadays. I have to go UCL #6 for Liverpool as the wish

 

[Fake Jew]

This thought experiment used to generate fun bar and dorm room conversations way back. Let's see if it can spur some forum relief from off-season blahs.

A genie offers you one wish: guarantee that any team in any sport will win at least one trophy of your choice before you die. The parameters:

• It has to be a team, but can be pro, amateur, school, or country.
• The guarantee is for 1 championship. The Genie is all-knowing, and if the team was going to win at least one or more anyway your wish doesn't add to the total.
• You cannot leverage the wish into a secondary effect: eg, you can't wish that your child's team wins UCL and thereby guarantee he becomes a professional world class soccer player.
• Ridiculous longshots and absurdities are OK, as long as the team/country is technically eligible. If you want to wish that a country in the Sahara desert wins the Olympic Hockey Gold medal, go ahead. Picking a team in the bottom division of a soccer pyramid to win the top league championship also is OK. Picking a bottom division team in the US to win MLS Cup and leverage it into creating pro/rel is not.
• If a team competes in multiple competitions you pick one.
• Betting on your choice directly or indirectly at any point voids your wish.
• You have the option to forget your wish after you make it so you're not spoiled in any way. Mention your choice on this when you answer.

Also, since this is an NYCFC forum, to make the answers less repetitive, feel free to list an alternate if NYC is in fact your choice.

I'll start: For me it's easy. The Minnesota Vikings and the Super Bowl. A USMNT World Cup would be a close second, but the Vikings still get my wish here. I've been following them since they reached and lost 4 of the first 11 Super Bowls. Since then -- and I was 14 at the time of their last SB in 1977 -- they've never made it back but they are usually very good. I can't find it now but a few years ago I saw a stat that the Vikings had played more playoff games over the last few decades than anyone but I think the Steelers and Patriots. They just never win a championship, and at least once every decade they suffer an utter gut-punch loss:
1975 - Drew fucking Pearson (first ever Hail Mary)
1988 - Darren fucking Nelson
1998 - Gary fucking Anderson
2009 - Brett fucking Favre, a million AP fumbles, and 12-men on the field penalty
2016 - Blair fucking Walsh

And none of those are even the Super Bowl losses.
So, my wish would for the Vikings. I would exercise the option not to remember I made it. In fact I like to think I made this wish and don't remember it. The thought consoles me.

Nets NBA championship.

 

[mgarbowski]

I think it has to be USMNT for me. NYCFC will sort themselves out, and most of my other teams have won in my lifetime.

To clarify, if a team won during your lifetime but in the past before you wish, you can still guarantee another before you die. It only doesn't help if they would have won another in the future anyway, which you cannot know.

 

[LionNYC]

USMNT win the World Cup...

USMNT win the 2026 World Cup in the United States...

USMNT win the 2026 World Cup in the United States and I'm in attendance.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

This thought experiment used to generate fun bar and dorm room conversations way back. Let's see if it can spur some forum relief from off-season blahs.

A genie offers you one wish: guarantee that any team in any sport will win at least one trophy of your choice before you die. The parameters:

• It has to be a team, but can be pro, amateur, school, or country.
• The guarantee is for 1 championship. The Genie is all-knowing, and if the team was going to win at least one or more anyway your wish doesn't add to the total.
• You cannot leverage the wish into a secondary effect: eg, you can't wish that your child's team wins UCL and thereby guarantee he becomes a professional world class soccer player.
• Ridiculous longshots and absurdities are OK, as long as the team/country is technically eligible. If you want to wish that a country in the Sahara desert wins the Olympic Hockey Gold medal, go ahead. Picking a team in the bottom division of a soccer pyramid to win the top league championship also is OK. Picking a bottom division team in the US to win MLS Cup and leverage it into creating pro/rel is not.
• If a team competes in multiple competitions you pick one.
• Betting on your choice directly or indirectly at any point voids your wish.
• You have the option to forget your wish after you make it so you're not spoiled in any way. Mention your choice on this when you answer.

Also, since this is an NYCFC forum, to make the answers less repetitive, feel free to list an alternate if NYC is in fact your choice.

I'll start: For me it's easy. The Minnesota Vikings and the Super Bowl. A USMNT World Cup would be a close second, but the Vikings still get my wish here. I've been following them since they reached and lost 4 of the first 11 Super Bowls. Since then -- and I was 14 at the time of their last SB in 1977 -- they've never made it back but they are usually very good. I can't find it now but a few years ago I saw a stat that the Vikings had played more playoff games over the last few decades than anyone but I think the Steelers and Patriots. They just never win a championship, and at least once every decade they suffer an utter gut-punch loss:
1975 - Drew fucking Pearson (first ever Hail Mary)
1988 - Darren fucking Nelson
1998 - Gary fucking Anderson
2009 - Brett fucking Favre, a million AP fumbles, and 12-men on the field penalty
2016 - Blair fucking Walsh

And none of those are even the Super Bowl losses.
So, my wish would for the Vikings. I would exercise the option not to remember I made it. In fact I like to think I made this wish and don't remember it. The thought consoles me.

I am sad US winning the World Cup is behind the shitty Vikings winning a super bowl. For real?

Hands down, it’s US wins World Cup. Second, Fucking Liverpool wins the Premier League (we’ll win another champions league before that shit occurs).

Then, it’s Ole Miss football winning a national title.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

NYCFC, USMNT they will figure it out have seen my teams win SBs and WS was alive for the 94 Stanley Cup so ill count it. The Wish has to be another UCL title for Liverpool or Celtic. They don't spend money the way the bigger clubs do and Celtic needs a Miracle to make it out of the group nowadays. I have to go UCL #6 for Liverpool as the wish

See above. We have always played a more continental style, to the extent it’s not out of the question LFC can win UCL any time we qualify. Just get the fucking PL monkey off. Thats what I want.

 

[joe]

To clarify, if a team won during your lifetime but in the past before you wish, you can still guarantee another before you die. It only doesn't help if they would have won another in the future anyway, which you cannot know.

In my case, I meant that those itches had already been scratched, but fair point. I'm sure there are people who'd prefer an additional title for one of their teams.

 

[mgarbowski]

In my case, I meant that those itches had already been scratched, but fair point. I'm sure there are people who'd prefer an additional title for one of their teams.

Yeah. Completely understandable to take a prior win into account. But I know some Raiders, Mets and Bears fans, roughly my age, for example, who desperately want another Super Bowl or World Series. Those teams won when I was a kid to young adult and it can feel like forever.

 

[mgarbowski]

I am sad US winning the World Cup is behind the shitty Vikings winning a super bowl. For real?

Hands down, it’s US wins World Cup. Second, Fucking Liverpool wins the Premier League (we’ll win another champions league before that shit occurs).

Then, it’s Ole Miss football winning a national title.

I know country should come before club. But I've been suffering with the Vikings perennially since 1970. My USMNT relationship only goes back to maybe 1994, and then only really every 4 years until very recently. They also never broke my heart until this year. I count 10 for the Vikings, at least.
And shitty is not fair. The Vikings can't win big games. If you want to be harsh they choke. But they have the 6th best NFL winning percentage all-time. Fifth most playoff appearances all-time. If you count playoff appearances starting their first year of 1961, they are behind only the Steelers and Cowboys. They've had a losing record only 17 times in 57 years, and 5 of those came in their first 7 years, back when being an expansion team meant you had to suck for a long time. They are remarkably and consistently very good and occasionally excellent. I can make a case they were the best team in football for 3 or 4 different seasons. But they fucking blow in playoff games.

In baseball terms, they're much more like the Red Sox than the Cubs, before either team won the WS.

 

[mgarbowski]

Yeah. Completely understandable to take a prior win into account. But I know some Raiders, Mets and Bears fans, roughly my age, for example, who desperately want another Super Bowl or World Series. Those teams won when I was a kid to young adult and it can feel like forever.

Knicks and Jets too. Islanders also I suppose. Rangers creeping up. Jeez most NY teams just disappoint.

 

[Mario]

my wish is to see liverpool fold as a club. thats a championship for every other team out there

 

[JGarrettLieb]

NYCFC and the USMNT are out, as I fervently believe those two will win at least one championship before I die. I cannot imagine a scenario where this doesn't happen, there are too many things pointing in that direction.

Lets go to the other teams I care about.

I've seen the Giants win it twice in my life. (They will probably win again)
Yankees, yeah they've won once or twice. (I'd bet any sum of money you want on them winning it in the next 20 years.)

I guess I'd like Haas racing town the F1 constructors trophy? Ehh thats weak, the one I'm not 100% on is the USMNT so lets guarantee the win there.

 

[roxfontaine]

Omiya Ardija for J1 League Championship and I'd forget my wish. It would be great for the city and surrounding area. I hated when Urawa and Omiya were merged into Saitama City. Omiya has great energy for a "small" town and championship in the Nack5 would be AMAZING!