As I've said in other blog posts, I am a huge basketball fan.

While I could break down this year's NBA Finals series between the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, I've decided to go another direction.

What about those teams who have never made it to the Finals?

Currently, there are seven franchises without an appearance -- the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Bobcats and everyone's favorite whipping boy, the Los Angeles Clippers.

While the Bobcats get a bit of a pass as they have only existed since 2004, the Clippers have been the epitome of losing with only six winning seasons in their 38-year existence, no 50-win seasons and never advancing to the conference finals, let alone the NBA Finals.

In fact, since they moved to Los Angeles for the 1984-85 season, the Clips are 701-1,317, which is good for a measly 0.347 winning percentage.

Multiple draft flops, free agent misses and poor management decisions have kept them in the cellar on a nearly annual basis.

Now being a longtime "Laker Hater," I was hoping for extended success after they made it to the second round of the playoffs during the 2005-06 season, but it didn't happen and once again, they will have the No. 1 pick in the draft after finishing this past season with a 19-63 record.

However, they are not alone in the spectrum of sports to exist as long as they have without an appearance in "the big game."

In Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners have all been around at least 30 years without a World Series appearance.

In the NFL, the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints have all been around since the Super Bowl was created, but have never played on "Super Sunday." However, both the Browns and Lions won NFL Championships prior to the creation of the Super Bowl.

Now, many other teams can be added to these lists when you account for teams who have never won a championship in their respective sports, but they at least know what they are missing.

For possibly all these teams, since only two teams can make it to the big game each year, their first true chance at glory may still be years away.