Worst Team in History?

[gd]

It very may well be the New Jersey Nets. They are 3-39 and seem to get absolutely spanked every night. They do have some talent with guys like Devin Harris and Brook Lopez, but I don't know if they are even giving any effort any more. It's quite a pathetic display.

I'm not sure if they're the worst pro sports team of all time. Actually, that pretty unlikley. There have been plents of bad teams throughout the years in various sports. It's you job to come up with them.

I'd say the expansion era Tampa Bay Bucs should be in the discussion. They won something like 1 game in 2 years and were just absolutely dreadful.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[Mr. TM]

Being a hockey fan, one of the biggest jokes in hockey were the expansion Ottawa Senators. The reason the team became a power house in the modern era is because of the downfall of the early years in the league. In 1992-3 the team would only win one of their 42 road games. They would finish the season with only 24 points, a point record that a good team can reach in 15 games. They had 84.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Well the Nets sure have been dreadful this season, but there are also plenty of other candidates for worst team in history.

2008 Detroit Lions(0-16)- This team was very bad. I remember they received two very bad beat downs from the Colts and Saints. It still is mind boggling to me how Mat Millen was able to keep his job all those years.

2006 Oakland Raiders(2-14)- I know the Raiders have been horrible for the most part of this decade, exepct for that one team that went up against the Bucs in the Super Bowl. This Raider team was really bad. The re-hiring of Art Shell was yet another huge mistake by Al Davis.

2007 Miami Dolphins(1-15)- You know what, I'm going to be honest, I'm a Dolphin fan, and I'm just putting this team on here because they pissed me off so much. Cam Cameron has proven to be a pretty solid offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, but he was a terrible head coach for the Dolphins. While Ted Ginn, JR has been improving over the years, I still don't think he was a wise choice for our first round draft pick.

1988-89 Miami Heat(15-67)- This team was full of young guys, and journey men. They started out the season by losing 17 straight games, and of course finished the season with the league's worst record.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

A few quick thoughts before I reveal my choice...

1. I don't think expansion teams should be considered for being the worst team because they didn't start out with anything so you would expect them to be bad. How many expansion franchises were really successful in their first season?

2. Even though Detroit was the first football team to go 0-16, I would not call them the worst NFL team ever as well. They were trying hard throughout that season and had some really close games that unfortunately didn't go their way. I would choose either of the 1972 and 1973 Houston Oiler teams before I go with the Lions.

Now, my choice for the worst team ever would be the 1935 Boston Braves and here's why...

They actually had a decent team the year before so conceivably there should have been no reason for such a dramatic drop-off. They went 78-73 and basically had the same players and then proceeded to go 38-115 in 1935. I haven't seen that severe a downfall in sports history. Wally Berger was the only player on that team who didn't play worse than in 1934. They had 100 less runs and gave up 100 more runs as well. Their pitcher Ben Cantwell went 4-25 that season and nobody since has had that many losses.
The only new player they brought in was Babe Ruth who clearly didn't have it anymore. The team was only over .500 for one game and that was opening day. That would be Babe Ruth's last season and his six home runs were second on the team. That is how bad the Boston Braves were and that's is why I pick them to be the worst team in history.

 

[Irishock]

The Nets are first ballot that's for sure.

Detroit Lions didnt win a single game in 2007 I believe

How about this year's Washington Wizards? They've been hyped up by the media about the big 3 of Caron, Jamison and GunBert being able to bring up over 50 wins this year and be a major candidate to the big 3 in the East.

 

[texans420]

I will go a little outside the box on this one. My pick is from the English Premier League. I will go with 07-08 Derby County with only one win in 38 league games. Granted 8 draws were also in there. But their lone win came on a 90th minute goal to get their lone win of the season if I recall correctly. Just to say you won one game in a 38 game season regardless of the sport is pretty damn pathetic IMO. Just stopped short of having 0 wins and being relegated would've been the bigger embarassment to go with their -69 goal difference.

I think you could throw in almost all of the decade of the 90s when you say Dallas Mavericks to me. Those teams just flat out sucked.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

The Detroit Tigers from 2003. This guys were easily the worst team in baseball of at least this decade. They almost lost 120 games of 162 games which is very bad. Their pitching sucked, their batting sucked, their attendance sucked obviously. That team did not look like they had ambition. On top of that I'm not sure, but they had at least 1 pitcher with 20+ loses, that is ridiculous.

 

[GenMe]

Im going to say 2009/10 new jersey nets, they're a joke right now they are going to set up a record of worse NBA team, since the making of the NBA. There standings right now is way last in the whole NBA league standings, there record is 6 wins and 54 lost games there actual percentage is .100, as of right now this is the worse team IMO in sports history. This team is just a big joke.

 

[Tastycles]

American Leagues are closed, so its much easier for a team to start to become totally shit without falling out of the league before going a season without winning etc. Anyway, the obvious answer for me is probably Derby. They got promoted too early, lost most of their games, and if it hadn't been for a flukey win against Newcastle, they would have failed to win at all in a league they were in on merit.

Assuming we're only talking top divisions, there is only one other possibility for me - Swindon Town 93-94. At a time when the league was a lot more balanced than it is now, they won only 5 games all season. They finished 10 points off second to bottom, which isn't as bad as Derby, but they conceded 100 goals, which is fucking terrible. The figures aren't as bad as Derby, but they were in a league where Dean Holdsworth was one of the best strikers.

 

[wphchris]

I am going to have to agree with the Derby County suggestion. That team was dreadful but it was always fun to watch them play my beloved Arsenal. In addition to their 1 league win, they need a replay and penalties to defeat mediocre Championship (Second Division) side Sheffield Wednesday before getting spanked at home to an average Championship side, Preston North End. Furthermore, they lost to newly-promoted Championship side Blackpool in their first League Cup game. So they won two matches from a total of 41 in all competitions.