Loserville: 25 years, 0 titles

Now that the Flyers have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, it's official, sports fans:

Philadelphia has gone 25 years without winnning a championship in any of its four major sports.

Our last hurrah was in 1983, when Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Mo Cheeks led the Sixers to a sweep over the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

Ed Rendell was district attorney, the Commodore 64 was a popular computer, and McNuggets were just a gleam of spattered grease in execs' eyes at McDonald's.

No other four-sports city in North America can claim such a run of disappointment.

Or ever could.

The second-longest streak since the NBA began was Chicago's 22-year drought between National Football League titles by the '63 and '85 Bears.

We're No. 1 - at falling short!

Even more deflating is how many cities have had multiple parades since 1983.

Pittsburgh has won three titles - and the Penguins, having ousted the Flyers, are in the Stanley Cup finals.

Denver, Dallas, San Antonio and San Francisco have won four titles. Each. Edmonton has won five hockey crowns, three in the Canadian Football League. Boston has 7 titles - and could soon add an eighth if the Celtics prevail in the NBA. Detroit has 7, too - with both the Red Wings and Pistons still in the playoff hunt. Los Angeles has 8 - 10 if you count nearby Anaheim's two - and the Lakers are still alive in NBA. New York has 9 - also 10 if you count hockey's Islanders, who won in '83.

Even East Rutherford, N.J., has kicked our keisters, with three titles by hockey's New Jersey Devils - and three more, if you want to rub salt into the wounds, by football's New York Giants.

Yes, all since the Sixers won in 1983.

That's long enough for an American to have had three "average" marriages.

Or to be born and earn a master's degree - or do a few tours in Iraq.

Of course, you could object to restricting the self-pity party to cities with all four sports.

What if, other cities were included, and instead of years, the count was done by seasons? Then who's the biggest loser?

No question, it's Cleveland - which had its heart broken again just yesterday, when the Cavaliers failed in the final minutes of the seventh game against the Celtics.

Philadelphia's streak has lasted for 98 seasons, if you don't count two championship chances lost to strikes - 1994 in baseball, and 2005 in hockey.

Cleveland has gone 124 seasons without a victory bash. Its last moment of trophy glory was in December 1964 - more than 43 years ago - when the Browns took the NFL championship. A couple of seasons before there was a Super Bowl.

San Diego and Buffalo haven't won anything since American Football League titles back in the '60s, and the 1979 Supersonics won Seattle its last title, but their season streaks still fall short of Philly's.

One could say those cities have even more cause to whine. After all, they haven't just lacked champions - they've lacked teams.

Far worse to be Butte, Des Moines or Las Vegas.

It's better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.