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Worst Team to Win a Championship

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Guy_Incognito, Jul 19, 2012.

  1. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    But you kinda got the record wrong. It was 11-1-1. Everyone followed your lead and was jumping on this imaginary 9-3-1 team that somehow won a title.
     
  2. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    True, but they are surpassed by the 1997 and 2003 Florida Marlins--sucked for their first five years, then had one season where they were good and made a cindarella run to the win the Series, then immediately went back to completely sucking for five more years, then had one season where they were moderately good and made a cindarella run to win the series, then went back to sucking.

    From just looking at their cumulative W-L record for the decade between 94 and 03, one would assume they were one of the very worst franchises in baseball during that period--until you realize they somehow managed to squeeze in two world championship teams in the midst of all those crappy seasons.
     
  3. ColdCat

    ColdCat Well-Known Member

    Only if you don't take into account the Marlin firesale. They won it all in '97 with a respectable, but not great roster that won 92 games and had Bobby Bonilla, Edgar Renteria, Moises Alou and Gary Sheffield. Then they got rid of all those guys and won it again with Pudge Rodriguez, a then-good Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett.
     
  4. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Yes, but . . .

    Two World Series titles, zero division titles.

    Just doesn't sound right.
     
  5. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty New Member

    1988 Dodgers.
     
  6. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    You buried the lead. This right here is the worst championship team in the history of organized sports.
     
  7. Care Bear

    Care Bear Guest

    Is this even a dynasty? Two wins in five years?
     
  8. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Only since 1978 for me ... when I started following sports.

    Another interesting tidbit I added ... who was the worst team to finish runner-up?

    MLB: As much as I liked them, the 1987 Twins were pretty mediocre. They'd get my vote. The 1988 Dodgers were also pretty unimpressive overall, but had the best pitcher in the game at that point at the peak of his powers. The 2006 Cardinals were the classic case of an underachieving regular season team playing to their real potential in the playoffs.

    Worst runner-up: I'd go with the 2007 Rockies, who got hot at the right time, but really weren't that great. Honorable mention to the 1981 Yankees (who shouldn't have been in the playoffs at all), 1983 Phillies, 1984 Padres, 1989 Giants, 1993 Phillies, 1998 Padres and 2005 Astros.

    NFL: The 1987 Redskins caught lightning in a bottle, but they'd get their ass kicked by most Super Bowl champion teams. They got lucky when the 49ers got upset by the Vikings in the second round and they also got full-on meltdown version of Denver in the Super Bowl. They're far inferior to their other two Super Bowl-winning Redskins' teams, and for that matter, the '83 team that lost to the Raiders.

    The 2000 Ravens had the worst offense of any SB champion. The Steelers and Giants' championship teams of recent ilk are impressive-unimpressive in the way that salary cap era champions are. You admire them for putting it together at the right time, but I don't think of either of them as all-time great teams.

    I suppose the same could be said for the '10 Packers, but if they had made the Super Bowl last year as they should have at 15-1, no one would be saying it.

    Another team rarely mentioned in the shitty champion category? The 1980 Raiders. They weren't like the 1976 or 1983 Raiders, both of whom were excellent champions. The '80 Raiders were a mix of old Raiders and castoffs that got hot at the right time.

    Worst runner-up:
    The 2000 Giants by thousands of miles.

    NBA: If I'm going back to '78, I suppose the 1979 Sonics teams weren't all-time great by any stretch, even though they and the Bullets (who were good throughout the 70s) were in back-to-back Finals.

    Pisses me off that they won a title, but the better Bucks teams in the 80s never got a sniff!

    In recent seasons, the 2006 Miami Heat aren't legendary by any stretch.

    Worst runner-up: The 1981 Rockets were 40-42, but that doesn't stop insufferable Celtics fans from bragging about how they kicked Moses Malone's ass. That's right, because that's all that team had! The 1986 Rockets were better than 1981, but still shitty Finals material. Some of the teams the Eastern Conference barfed up in the post-Jordan years were pretty shitty too. I'm looking at you Nets and 2001 76ers.

    NHL: Hockey seems to have a lot more variance in terms of who wins series. Despite that, I don't think there's been some terrible champion that stands out. Even though the Kings won as an 8-seed this year, they still had a pretty strong overall record. The hockey denizens could weigh in better on this than I could.

    Worst runnerup: The 1991 Minnesota NorthStars are high on the list. As are the 1995 Florida Panthers. As are the 1982 Vancouver Canucks (who were below .500, I think).

    College football: Didn't think the 2007 LSU team -- 12-2 -- was all that. Frankly, I didn't think the 2003 team was all-time great either. Got to have 1984 BYU on the list.

    Worst runner-up: Not applicable prior to BCS. The worst and most undeserving to play in a BCS game was the 2001 Nebraska team that got its ass kicked by Colorado in the Big 12 championship game.

    College basketball: Hard to argue against 1985 Villanova or 1988 Kansas. I think of '88 Kansas much in the same way I think of the '06 Cardinals ... a team that was probably better than it showed in the regular season that turned it on at the right time.

    Worst runner-up: Step right up, 2011 Butler! It'll be hard to top the massive egg you laid!

    The 1989 Seton Hall team isn't going in anyone's pantheon either. Like Seton Hall and Butler, the 1996 Syracuse and 2002 Indiana teams played way over their heads too despite being traditional powers. Neither was really that great.
     
  9. Johnny Chase

    Johnny Chase Member

    Here's one that never gets mentioned, simply because of the franchise - the 2000 New York Yankees were only 87-75. Certainly not one of the better teams to win a World Series.
     
  10. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    Good thread.

    The 1982 and 1987 Redskins were poor champions, but you have to give them credit for winning three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks /and/ three different running backs. And they reached a fourth title game with another quarterback.

    The 1987 49ers outscored their final three regular season opponents 124-7. They should have kicked the shit out of Minnesota and it turned out to be, IMO, the greatest upset in NFL postseason history. That year was the one that got away from Bill Walsh and that group.
     
  11. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    All these great college football minds here and no one remembers the worst "national champion" in my lifetime?

    Do the letters B-Y-U mean anything to anyone?
     
  12. deviljets7

    deviljets7 Member

    Last year's Giants team was outscored in the regular season and doesn't make the playoffs if Romo's thumb wasn't the size of my head in Week 17 or if Brian Schottenheimer doesn't have the brain dead idea of having Mark Sanchez throw 65 times in one game the week before.
     
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