Gonzo: A pantheon of short shrift, featuring the Eagles

Another season wasted. Disappointing, but predictable. If we've learned anything by watching Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb and the Eagles over the last 11 years, it's that they love to tweak the story each season but always leave the final chapter unchanged. Hurts your eyes, after a while.

And so it continues to go. The Birds are in uncomfortable territory now, firmly entrenched in the muck with other teams that never quite figured out what it takes. You'll find a list of those teams below. Some are classic underachievers, others are ineffable disappointments of historic proportions. All are known or remembered for getting close to final victory before ultimately failing - whether they just weren't as good as the competition despite their best efforts or they had a habit of crumbling in pressure situations.

Call them the Come Up Short Squads (or CUSS for short):

10. Temple hoops (John Chaney's clubs): It's a shame. Covering Chaney's teams back in the day was always a treat. He's an incredibly smart guy and painfully funny. Unfortunately, his teams lost in the Elite Eight five times, and the Final Four remained just out of reach, the one achievement missing from his otherwise stellar career.

9. Flyers (post-1975): The days of the Broad Street Bullies holding the Stanley Cup high above their heads in triumph are a distant memory. Since then, the Flyers have reached the Finals five times, and lost. Good thing no one really cares about hockey. (Just kidding, puckheads. Love you guys. Remember to take your meds before e-mailing me.)

8. Red Sox (pre-2004): Boston would be higher on the list, but winning two World Series in the last five years sort of softens the memory of going 86 years without a title. For the record, I liked New Englanders a lot better when they were losing all the time and sobbing into their Sam Adams. Now they're all obnoxious. (My gawd, Jawny, we gaht the best teams evah!) Winning makes the accent even more grating.

7. Knicks (The Patrick Ewing era): Ewing was supposed to be the savior of hoops in New York. Coming out of Georgetown, he was regarded as can't miss, a guy who was expected to win multiple titles. Instead, he became the Dan Marino of basketball (and feel free to substitute Marino's Dolphins for the Knicks here if you like) - a player with gaudy stats but no gaudy championship jewelry.