Most Memorable Losers

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-Digger's Daily-

Remember the Yankees Dynasty? Boston Red Sox curse breaking championship team? Don Shula's Miami Dolphins perfect season? Chicago Bears? Montreal Canadiens? Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers? Larry Bird's Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers Magic & Kareem? Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan? Of course, most of us do. Those were some of sports greatest teams. How about those teams thousands of fans have tried wiping out of their memories? Winless teams or squads who might just have won by mistake? I had fun looking up some of my personal favorite All Time Losers. Here's my short list...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976-77) - Qualifying as one of the very worst teams in sports history. Tampa lost all games in their inaugural season (0-14). They didn't score a point until week 3 and were shut out 5 times in '76. Bucs continued to lose in 1977 (season 2) by dropping 12 straight bringing their franchise record to 0-26 before finally winning a game. They were the butt of late night talk show jokes. One of my favorite quotes ever stated by a head coach was made by Tampa's John McKay. McKay had been one of college's top head coaches leading USC to four national titles before agreeing to become Tampa's historic first coach. When reporters asked "What do you think of your team's execution?"... McKay was quick to reply "I'm all for it!"

New York Mets (1962) - Mets first season record still holds baseball's futility record, 40-120. Their only highlight was employing one of baseball's most colorful managers, Casey Stengel. Casey spoke a language of his own making and once quipped "They have shown me ways to lose I never knew existed."

Detroit Lions (2008) - Last season, Detroit accomplished the unthinkable in modern day NFL. 0-16! After years of top round draft picks the Lions were supposed to be stocked with talent capable of winning games. Someone forgot to tell them. Can you believe many have high hopes for the 2009 team?

Philadelphia 76ers (1972-73) - There wasn't much brotherly love in Philly during the 9 win 1972-73 season. 9-73 made for an anemic .110 winning percentage.

Dallas Cowboys (1989) - Jimmy Johnson's first NFL coaching season (former U of Miami championship coach) replacing a Dallas legend (Tom Landry) was painful to watch. 1-15 and lucky to win at all. Coaching errors & inept player performances in a city used to winning. Good news came soon thereafter as Cowboys quickly returned to dominating status during their Super Bowl runs of the 1990's.

Miami Dolphins (2007) - Dolphins began with 13 consecutive defeats before finally winning a game (1-15). Almost became first franchise to be winless & undefeated (1972). They were terrible but rebounded to win AFC East last season.

New Orleans Saints (1980) - New Orleans fans were more innovative than their team. After suffering through ugly loss after loss fans started wearing brown paper bags on their heads and renamed the Saints to the "Ain'ts". Would have gone winless (1-15) if it wasn't for a fluke closing minutes 21-20 victory against New York Jets.

Lovable losers roam throughout the sporting world. Stay tuned for future updates on this topic. Many more teams qualify. These were some of my personal most memorable losers.

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