Klein Loop

A Klein Loop is a scenario in which a team that demonstrates consistent, sustained postseason performance is nevertheless trapped in a loop of postseason doom, heartbreak, high-stakes defeat, and humiliation at the hands of the same few rivals. It is a Sisyphean condition that alludes to the impossible folds of the Klein bottle. A team trapped in a Klein Loop has at least one nexus - a specific rivalry with a team or teams that form the twist in the Klein Loop.

Notable examples include:

• San Francisco Boat Shoes in the early Klein Cup, denied a pennant by two rivals:
  • Vegas Vampires
  • Milwaukee Flamingos

• San Francisco Boat Shoes in the later Klein Cup, denied a pennant by three rivalries so bitter, they earned their own nicknames:
  • Milwaukee Flamingos (Milwaukee Ice)
  • Alewife Arsonists (the Alewife Firewall)
  • Sugar Grove Eavesdroppers (the Static Stranglehold)