Worst Professional Sports Franchise

[Jagger69]

Not which one do you hate the most....which professional sports franchise in the USA is the most poorly-run, mismanaged and fucked-up?

I have to say it's the Pittsburgh Pirates. They just clinched last place in the central division of the National League....31 1/2 games out of first and their 17th consecutive losing season. How does it get any worse than that? A real shame too....Pittsburgh is a great sports town and deserves better.

Honorable mention to the St. Louis Blues of the NHL....42 years and counting without a Stanley Cup.

 

[jasonk282]

Pirates by far. I live in Pittsburgh all my life and really the onlt time anyone goes to games is a bobblehead night or fireworks night. Now that the NFL has started you would think the Pirates don't exist in this city.

 

[The Grasshopper]

I'll go with the perennial do-nothing Clippers. The Blues had a string of playoff appearances and the Pirates have in the past competed while in a small market versus stronger local teams. The Cubs are a consideration but they seem more to be under a whammy than run poorly and they're fans are quality fans for the most part.

I feel I'm forgetting someone, but I don't know, if I am it must be because they aren't worth remembering.

 

[biomech]

Oakland Raider's; Al Davis has singlehandedly destroyed a once storied franchise. You have to wonder if anyone in that organization ever had the ball's to say Al, that is a bad idea.
Until Al dies or retires the Raider's will be screwed.

 

[rad2927]

Chicago Cubs-if excuses were titles they would have more World Series titles than the Yankees. Even when they have a good team they find some stupid way to screw it up.

 

[Baill Inneraora]

Gotta be my Cincinatah Bengals. In baseball the deck is stacked against teams like the Pirates. Small market teams have almost no chance.

In the NFL the league is built on parity. There is a solid salary cap and TV revenue sharing. There is no excuse for a team to never be good.

 

[dooney]

Them Damn Detroit Lions

 

[titsrock]

The LA Clippers need to go back to San Diego (although San Diego is one of the worst sports towns in America in terms of fan support).

The Clippers don't even *TRY* to compete anymore. I think they try to draft players who will be busts so that they don't actually have to spend too much effort thinking about putting a team together or dealing with building/grooming NBA talent for which they can't sign to longterm contracts. The Clipper approach seems to be to always draft in the Top5, take someone with a "name" and hope he flops...end season with poor record. Repeat process.

You can't call the Pirates a bad franchise. For one thing they have one of the greatest baseball uniforms and mascots EVER. Nothing pirate-related is ever awful (Pirates III excepted). They feed big market teams with quality young talent. The KC Royals are worse because they seem like a team who's purpose is for hasbeens or neverwillbes to cash a check...

The St Louis Blues were a dominant hockey team in the early 2000s. I think they haven't coped well when ESPN dumped hockey broadcasting...

 

[BDwestcoast]

The Golden State Warriors.
2 playoff appearances in 15 years.
13 seasons since 94' of being under .500

I'm not even a Warrior fan. But when you have become more irrelevant than any major sports team in North America, that's pretty bad.

 

[BigSwede]

I don't know any of those teams and I don' t want to vote for the Blues.
This may require some thinking....:hammer:

 

[STDiva]

The St Louis Blues made the playoffs last year didn't they? They're making their way back to another record setting playoff streak. If we're going to include a hockey team it should be the Florida Panthers. The best players they've ever had, they've traded away. Luongo, Jokinen, Bouwmeester etc. They'll never succeed.

Anyways...

The worst franchise has to belong to either the Clippers or Bengals. Those two words by themselves are internationally known as synonyms for perennial losers. People in other countries that know nothing about basketball or football call people "bengals" or "clippers" when they've done something stupid.

 

[Jagged X]

The Pirates currently. How many losing seasons have they had in a row? Also, as soon as they find a solid base to build their team, they trade away their players. I mean WTF???

Other candidates are the Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks. Everything the Clippers do turns into crap even though lately their moves look good on paper. I haven't seen the Bucks on television in about 5 years. They're probably the most irrelevant team in the NBA.

 

[rwill25]

Pittsburgh Pirates!

It's been how long since they've had a winning season... 17 years? Plus, there's no sign of getting any better. Actually... it might get even worse. Ouch!

 

[JacknCoke]

You forgot one:
This explains it all

 

[iv6789]

Definitely the Pirates. Whenever they do begin to get good players, they trade them all away. Especially when they're young and cheap. Nate Mclouth for example. Kid's a stud. No reason they should've gotten rid of him if they want to be a serious contender. They have a great farm system, but they're only providing up and coming players for other teams if they don't hang on to some of them.

Financially though, they may be a very good managed team. They do get rid of players before they cost them too much.

 

[Galactic]

Tough call between the Lions and the Pirates, but I have to vote Detroit.

 

[StanScratch]

I am a baseball fan first, so I will address that first:
If you listen to Cincinnati Reds fans, they will say the Reds. Last playoff, 1995. Last winning season, 2000. Last trophy: 1990.
You also have Baltimore, who have not had a winning season since 1997 - which was also their last playoff appearance. Last trophy: 1983.
The Texas Rangers might qualify: Since the franchise started in Washington in 1961, they have been in the playoffs a grand total of three times...all within a 4 year period. But, they have had too many winning years recently (including this one) to be included. They do have the third worst winning percentage of active franchises, though at .470.
Yes, the Rays were in the Series last year - but they still have the worst winning percentage of all active teams at a remarkable .425.
The second worse winning percentage for active franchises? The San Diego Padres (.462). But, the Padres have too many good years in there.
(By the way...tied for fourth are the Mariners and Phillies. The top three are, of course, the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers, respectively).

That leads us to the bottom three.
The Royals. Last playoff and Championship year were in 1985. One winning year since 1994. They have lost 100 games in three of those years since then.
The Pirates. Last playoff was in 1992. 1979 was their last Championship season. But only one 100-loss season in the last 20 years...and two since 1954.
The Nationals. In their 40-year history, they have had one playoff appearance. One. They, of course, lost. Their lifetime .476 percentage really isn't horrible (better than the Orioles, actually). And they have had only 3 seasons which they lost 100 games.
However, I really dislike former Nats GM Jim Bowden. So, my nod goes to them.

(oh, yeah...the Cubs. They have had too much recent success to qualify. Yes, there is that 100 years without a championship thing...but still, they always at least seem to have a chance. Teams like the Reds, Royals, Ranger, Pirates and Nationals seem to have no chance every year recently).

As for football:

Gotta be my Cincinatah Bengals. In baseball the deck is stacked against teams like the Pirates. Small market teams have almost no chance.

In the NFL the league is built on parity. There is a solid salary cap and TV revenue sharing. There is no excuse for a team to never be good.

Yeah, that is mine, as well. It amazes me how one of the brightest minds in sports history (Paul Brown) is even distantly related to the clown who owns the teams now. I keep saying that the only way the franchise will ever become a consistent contender is to get rid of him...but he will never step down.

 

[ThatRedWing]

Oakland Raider's; Al Davis has singlehandedly destroyed a once storied franchise. You have to wonder if anyone in that organization ever had the ball's to say Al, that is a bad idea.
Until Al dies or retires the Raider's will be screwed.

But on the other hand Al Davis made them a storied franchise.


There is no other choice but the Lions. Last championship, 1957. That was 12 years before I was born. My dad was only 8. The lowly Bengals have two Super Bowl appearances. The NFL is supposed to have a level playing field with the salary cap and shared revenues.

Baseball is a different story. Mid to small market teams are always going to be at a disadvantage. The Pirates, Nats and even the Royals have had some major talent come up through their systems only to be picked off by big market teams.

As far as hockey goes, it has not been very long ago that the Blues had the longest run of playoff appearances in any sport.

 

[EwaSonnetIsGod]

Detroit Lions in a landslide!!!! The year is 2009...we havent won a game since 2007! 19 straight losses and if they dont win this week, that could easily balloon to 33. We only won 40 games in the last 10 years!!! and, one of those years we had 9 wins...yes a winning season. In 52 years we have made the playoffs 9 times and only won 1 game!!! The lions have never played in the superbowl...ever!! Their only playoff win, 18 years ago, was followed by a 41-10 beatdown! We had the greatest running back in nfl history and just before he is about to break the alltime rushing record, he says fuck it and quits. We get one of the top draft picks every year yet we still suck! We take college surperstar studs and turn them into shit. I could go on for hours but its too damn depressing.

 

[Chrism86354]

The pirates for me hands down...you can't contest 17 straight losing seasons and people in charge who obviously have no intention of making the team better...it's bad over there.