OT: Pro Sports Misery
As OT season winds down I'm curious if my hometown of Chicago can lay claim to the 4/5 worst current pro franchises of any major city that actually loves its sports. I know that recently all 4 Detroit teams finished last in their respective divisions, but this is pretty ridiculous, right?
- Bears - Negotiating to leave the city for the suburbs, best player demanded a trade today, last year's best player didn't get an extension offer, general overall incompetence on par with any other 2nd-from-the-bottom-tier NFL franchise. Expected to finish among worst in the league.
- Blackhawks - have ditched every good young player in hopes of finding a new core, haven't won anything in the last 5 years, rocked from a massive sexual assault scandal that tarnished all the recent success, and had ownership embarrassing themselves publicly. Won't change the mascot (don't even need to change the name!) to remove issues with Native American imagery despite an extremely easy pivot to a bird/feather mascot that keeps the motif and would sell merch. Expected to finish near the bottom of the league.
- White Sox - went all in trying to win a title, only to hire the 77 year old manager that the owner regretted firing in 1986. Recently seen falling asleep in the dugout, while the team is near the top of the standings that's because about 5 teams in baseball are trying to win and they haven't been more than 3 games over .500 all year. No chance this team does anything in the playoffs.
- Cubs - Owners claim they can't spend despite being billionaires who have purchased all the real estate around the stadium to make it look like a generic suburb. Shipped off all good players in a huge selloff because "they can't afford them". Couldn't trade 2 remaining good players this year, so they will lose them for nothing. Last I checked, having good players on your team was a good thing? One of the worst teams in baseball, and embarrassingly not trying to win.
- Bulls - Ok, they're decent. Maybe this means it's not so bad in Chicago
Is it worse in Detroit? Anywhere else?
August 9th, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
Red Wings will challenge for a playoff spot this year and will be in the playoffs regularly in the next couple years. Stevie Y is doing a phenomenal job.
Pistons are close to challenging ... solid young core.
Tigers will continue to suck as long as Avila is there.
Lions .... ehhh ... they exist still so there's that.
August 9th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
I think the lions are going to surprise. I really do. Still building up but the desire is there. The grit. They didn't roll over last season despite the losses. And they are building both lines. Hard Knocks tonight should be fun.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
The Lions will have a strong preseason.... and then they're revert to being the Lions again.
August 9th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
Chicago sports sounds like a reflection of its political machine: grifty and always quick to blame others. This isn't a partisan attack... the city of Chicago has long had corruption issues.
Regardless, getting back to the pro sports angle yeah that sounds hard to beat. Washington DC has a similar issue. While the hockey franchise is solid, the "Commanders" are very mediocre and have a pathetic ownership team led by Dan Snyder. The basketball team is mediocre and likely not headed to any contention. And the baseball team just traded away generational talent and is being put up for sale. All around pretty pathetic and a far cry from the short lived "city of champions" moniker the DC politicos tried to create after Nats and Caps victories in successive years. I see no future championship in this area's future. Oh and Dan Snyder tried to move the football stadium even further south to central VA but was rebuffed, thankfully.
August 9th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
Knicks, 'nuff said.
Jets, not good, maybe getting better? I also root for the Giants who are awful now. And I've heard the entire franchise is disorganized and poorly run so they could be bad for the foreseeable future.
Mets: actually good! (for now...)
August 9th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
You left one team off that kinda tilts NY in the other direction.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
Yeah, true. Initially, I thought this was the OP's favorite hometown teams. I don't root for that other team though...but all my favorite hometown teams stink now (I guess the Nets, Rangers and Islanders are pretty decent for the most part now too).
August 9th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
boo hoo
August 9th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
I scoff at your "misery". I was born in Pontiac and my parents were Lions season ticket holders during my youth. I went to most Lion home games between 1967 & 1982 during which time they made the playoffs exactly once, losing to the Cowboys in 1970 5-0.
Then I moved to Cleveland in 1989 and became a Browns season ticket holder myself in 2008. And the only year they made the playoffs during those 14 years and counting was the fucking Covid year where we gave up our tickets for the season because I didnt want to wear a mask to the game and sit socially distanced from my fellow fans.
Only four teams have never made a Super Bowl appearance and two of those are considered expansion teams (Texans & Jaguars) and I had season tickets for the other two. When it comes to being a connoisseur of shitty pro football teams I will stack my resume up against anyone.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
Hard to argue with that.
Damn - you are a shitty pro team savant...I predict a job transfer to Jacksonville in your near future to fill the whole thing out.
August 11th, 2022 at 7:00 AM ^
The current Browns are 1,000% an expansion team.
Outside of the Pats (who set an impossible standard), the original Browns have been one of the best-run and most successful NFL franchises of the past two decades.
Which, when you think about it, is prolly Ohio's karmic football cost for the past 20 years of Ohio State.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
i'm sorry, this isn't even close. other than the wings and pistons championships, now basically 20 yrs past, detroit hasn't just been 'miserable', we've been residing in the 666th plane of dante's inferno. we haven't just been 'bad', we make bad look like a festive party with gifts and cake. to be merely bad or miserable we'd have to upgrade 10 spots, sell our children, mortgage the city, take over canada and give that in a trade with satan to win something.
and no, we aren't winning anytime soon - none of those franchises. the tigers have lost about 35 of the last 45 games, the lions are 0-67 years and counting, as much as i love stevie Y, the wings aren't close, and the pistons were 23-59! bwahahaha to any city that thinks they stink worse than detroit sports.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
My hockey source says the Wings MIGHT not be a playoff team next season, but they will be in 2 to 3 seasons and they will continue to progress from there. He says the Yzerplan is real....
August 9th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Well yeah its real, you dont need a source to see what hes doing. Theres a reason hes taking on a bunch of short term contracts while stacking up young talent.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
of any of the four teams the wings are the one that i have the most faith in the long-term plan. i will also confess that campbell has piqued my interest in the lions. i won't expect much, but if they go 7-9 or better this year, well, maybe next year i'll pay attention for real.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
At least you have a hockey team. But for the braves, Atlanta sucks.
lacking a losing hockey team, you therefore lack the requisite misery to qualify for this competition.
Atlanta resident here. Not a fan of any of the teams but I do follow them pretty closely.
Yeah, Falcons will be garbage this year and almost certainly picking in the top-5 next season, but will be very curious to see how they fare over the next 3-4 years, as they are going to have I believe over $100 million to play with in FA money after this season. If they can at least compete this season and show signs of life, I think that'll bode very well for them going forward. Especially if Ritter turns into anything.
They're actually rebuilding at a fairly good time, too. Tampa will take several steps back after Brady retires probably this season, New Orleans is still contending with a really bad cap situation along with a very good but aging defense, no QB, and the Panthers are completely rudderless. If they press the right buttons, they could set themselves up to be contenders in that division for quite a while within the next couple of years.
As for the Hawks, we'll see if some of the moves they made this offseason help them out. They needed to get Trae Young in a situation where he doesn't have to feel like he needs the ball in his hands at all times. They got as far as the ECF last season so they certainly have the capability of getting back.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
Chicago Sports My Lifetime
It is better to have once had and not have now then to think you have but never had.
Bears: 1985, 2006
Cubs: 2016
Bulls: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998
Blackhawk's: 1971, 1973, 1992, 2010, 2013 and 2015.
White Sox: F-them
All of the pro teams in this town in my lifetime have won it all and that is the pinnacle along with my college team in 97 of course. This is actually a blessing but a little sad 2016 was against the tribe.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Bears 06? Is this just “finals” appearances? Seems like the blackhawks would have a few more of appearances are included? I’m not overly into Detroit sports but I do follow and enjoy them. Pistons and Wings with titles in my lifetime, tigers lost two WS (missed 84 by a few years) and of course the lions. I suppose that could be worse.
An appearance in the Super Bowl in 2006 for the Bears was an incredible achievement for Lovie Smith with Rex Grossmann at QB (possibly the worst QB to ever make it to the SB) at the helm.
Someone didn't watch Super Bowl XVII and see what Miami rolled out at QB.
WOODSTROCK!!
Strock was a functional backup. Woodley was just . . not very good.
I think they went 4 of 17 in that game. The completions were 3 hitches and a slant and go for the big Cefalo TD. That's it. Those stats look like something from a bad 70s wishbone team.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
Along those lines, the only team I haven't seen win a title is the Lions which, who we all know, will never win one. the Fords must have messed around with a native american gravesite or something because you'd think they'd have lucked into a Super Bowl at some point given all the talent they've had over the years.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
I mean uhh... Henry Ford did give a lot of money to the nazis...
August 9th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
Maaaaybe the next five years will see Detroit teams do better than Chicago ones, but in the last five years:
- The Bears finished ahead of Lions 4 times out of 5
- The Blackhawks finished with more points than the Red Wings 4 times out of 5
- The Bulls finished ahead of the Pistons 3 times out of 5
- The White Sox finished ahead of the Tigers 4 times out of 5
In other words, as miserable as you all are -- and it's pretty miserable! -- we're miserable-er
And I suppose its worth mentioning: Chicago has MLS and NWSL franchises; Detroit does not.
What about arena football and the USFL?
August 9th, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
I think OP's complaints are pretty ridiculous to be honest. Literally every franchise in Chicago has been good/competitive at some point in living memory and you don't have to go back very far to find championships. I'd say their status is more like "well there's 30+ teams in each league and only one can win a title, only a few will be contenders, so better get used to not winning all the time!".
Meanwhile there's cities that have never won a championship, or it's been an extremely long time, then there's cities that have recently lost pro teams to relocation.
New York guys? Get out of here, unless you're a Jets/Mets guy you got nothing to complain about.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
exactly - get of your high horse you Chicago snobs, Detroit is the worst!
August 9th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
As someone who spent grade school in Cleveland, every other city is contending for second place in the pro sports misery index.
Each of the Chicago teams you listed may be ass right now but they have all won championships in most of our lifetimes. Cleveland has ONE and even that one took a superhuman effort from the greatest player of his era to narrowly win. The Inguardians and Cavs are still a paltry 1-7 in the finals in my lifetime and the Browns, who are the city's truest love, are a self-inflicted mess whose only success in my lifetime was finally getting me to stop rooting for them after decades of trying.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Touching briefly on other would-be contenders with at least three pro teams:
Detroit: Lions are right up there with the Browns, but the other three teams have a combined eight titles in my lifetime. You could certainly be doing better, but you're not Cleveland.
Seattle: Two titles. They have a case, though, since one of those titles was the Sonics who have not existed for over a decade.
Washington DC: Each of their four teams has one title in my lifetime, though if you wanna discount the Wizards since it was when they were the Bullets and platform shoes were still cool, I'll allow it.
Atlanta: Sorry Falcons, in order to choke on the biggest stage you still gotta make it there. They also have 2 World Series rings in the last 40 years, one of which was at Cleveland's expense. They have a decent case, but 2>1
This is my take as well, I feel fortunate with Detroit sports and eight Detroit championship in my lifetime... also a couple of UM national championships with plenty of more opportunities. Lions are quite the heartbreakers but I'm good because these championship teams are legendary with their own unique stories.
The recent years have been lean. Pistons are getting close, The Lions are about a year behind with a good young core an no franchise QB, The Tigers are lost with Avila, and sorry Wings, we haven't been relevant in the salary cap era.
(((laughs in Detroit)))
Borrowing from Bo:
Fuck Chicago.
Maybe not enough teams, but San Diego has won nothing since the old AFL days. 2 World Series appearances since 1969 and they happen to play the best two teams of their respective decades: the 1984 Tigers and the 1998 Yankees. The Chargers had some ebb and flow, but couldn't break through with Fouts or Rivers and have one Super Bowl with Stan Humphries when they got crushed. Now they don't even have the team.
They've also had THREE pro basketball teams that either died or moved. Rockets and Clippers in the NBA and the Conquistadors in the old ABA.
You know, I didn't think of San Diego when I was figuring out secondmost miserable sports cities in the country. That said, the fact I forgot about them is somewhat telling in and of itself. They've had four franchises move, and I'm guessing none of the moves were accompanied by a howl of angst and grief by the locals.
Having lived there for a decade, it's not possible to put "San Diego" and "miserable" in the same sentence with a straight face. Yeah, they lost the Clippers and Chargers, but also got rid of two of the worst owners in sports. Addition by subtraction for both. The Padres have rarely been a contender, but Petco is the best ballpark in baseball. And when all else is lost, there is the beach.
Sorry, I'm in Atlanta and still drunk for the World Series victory. Atlanta gets one major championship per century, so I gotta soak this up!
It's the worst here. That's why I watch college sports. Problem solved.
August 10th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Fuck almost everything Chicago (sports wise). Maybe the younger generation doesn't know but there was much bad blood back in the day between the Tigers/Sox, Wings/Hawks, and especially that pussy crying fuck Jordans Bulls & Pistons.
Lions have always tempered my expectations and until someone else better comes along I will always believe Walter Payton is the best football player I ever watched.