When Was the Last Washington, D.C. Sports Championship?
Washington, D.C. is no stranger to sports heartbreak, which is why the entire city's hopes and dreams are riding on the Capitals' shoulders in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Capitals currently lead the Cup series 3-1 over the Golden Knights, which means they're only a game away from bringing another championship to D.C.
So how long has it been since Washington, D.C. last got to boast that they were the champs?
Go back in the recesses of your mind (for those of you that were alive) to 1992.
What a glorious year 1992 was for D.C. when the Redskins beat the Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI. The Super Bowl was played on Jan. 26, 1992, making the drought stretch to almost six and a half years at this point.
Washington, D.C. has experienced its share of heartbreak over the years while chasing a championship.
Last October, the Nationals utterly collapsed in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Cubs in a 9-8 home defeat. That travesty still didn't match the heartbreak of the Nats blowing a 6-0 lead to the Cardinals in Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS.
But the Capitals have perhaps suffered some of the city's worst blows in sports. The Caps have never won the Stanley Cup but made it to the Final once in 1998 and lost to the Red Wings.
Over the next 18 seasons, the Capitals returned to the playoffs 12 times but their string of blows kept coming.
One of the worst hit when the Captials lost at home to the No.8-seed Canadiens in Game 7 of the 2010 NHL opening round playoffs. Then the Penguins defeated the Caps consecutively in 2016 and 2017 during the second round of the playoffs.
But this year the Capitals turned that curse around by defeating the Pens in six games.
Despite the major pro sports team's troubles, D.C. United is immune to the curse. The MLS side has won four MLS Cups, though not since 2004, and three U.S. Open Cups. And the NWSL's Washington Spirit reached the final in 2016.
Maybe the Capitals can turn it around this year for the city. Their Stanley Cup Final run has given D.C. its closest chance in a long time, and they're perhaps just one win away from ending the drought.
Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final is on Thursday, June 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET in Las Vegas.