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122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

joecct said:
Me too. And McPhail's ruling was wrong. The rule said 17" max of pine tar on the bat. It was there for a reason. "Spirit of the game" my posterior. If that was the case then every at bat by Mickey Charles Mantle should have ended in a hokme run.
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For those of you unaware why the rule was there, it was because when batters corked their bats, they would use pine tar to hide the blemishes which would reveal their chicanery, and the blemishes would be high up off the handle of the bat. Thus, they had to cover up those blemishes with the pine tar beyond 17".
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

35. Seattle Seahawks

Why? The Legion of Boom just like this past season have stopped playing elite football.

The Good. Super Bowl 48 Champions, 3 NFC Championships (2004, 2013, 2014). When they were in the AFC, they made a run to the AFC Championship in 1983.

The Bad. Ten season playoff drought from 1989-1998, worst season was a 2-14 season in 1992.

The Ugly. When you’re about to win your second straight Super Bowl drive deep into New England territory with seconds left, you have Marshawn Lynch who could easily bulldoze himself into the end zone, but you choose to throw the ball and get intercepted.

Where they play. Century Link Field, Built in 2002 originally called Seahawks Stadium, then went to Qwest Field and once Qwest was bought out by Century Link, it became Century Link Field. Prior to 1999, the Seahawks played at the Kingdome, then played at Huskies Stadium at the University of Washington before the new stadium got built.

Owner: Paul Allen, co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates.

Coach: Pete Carroll, Carroll got his first head coaching job with the Jets in 1994 graduating from being defensive coordinator. However, Carroll only lasted one season. Returned to head coaching with New England from 1997-1999, after a run coaching USC, Carroll was hired in 2010 by the Seahawks.

Top Current Players: Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, and Doug Baldwin

Hall of Famers: Steve Largent, Cortez Kennedy, Walter Jones, Kenny Easley

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

To quote a coworker: “The Seahawks hiring Pete Carroll was the best thing to ever happen to the Northwest, it made the Seahawks better and USC worse.”
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Jimjamesak said:
To quote a coworker: “The Seahawks hiring Pete Carroll was the best thing to ever happen to the Northwest, it made the Seahawks better and USC worse.”
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I think we might have gotten Pete about 15 seconds before he was run outta town on a rail.

I am quite happy with him. More, please.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

ShirtlessBob said:
Even when he calls for a pass on the goal line?
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Look, I hated that play of course, but the Pats also made a defensive play for the ages (and one they had planned for, which is even more amazing).

We win that game 99 times out of 100. The Pats are evil; evil does sh-t like that. It's to be expected.
 
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Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

34. New Jersey Devils

(a.k.a. Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Scouts)
Why? The Devils are in the details, without one player this team would be ranked a lot lot lower.

The Good. 3 Stanley Cups (1995, 2000, and 2003), 5 Eastern Conference Championships (2001, 2012).

The Bad. Team was awful in Kansas City, Colorado, and the first five seasons in New Jersey. Only appeared in the playoffs once in their first 13 seasons, they reached the playoffs in 1978 with a record of 19-40-21. Currently on a five season playoff drought.

The Ugly. The New York City market is used to having two teams in each sport, in 1982 trucking tycoon Arthur Imperatore would buy the Rockies and move the team to New Jersey, not only did Imperatore have to compensate to the existing New York teams but Philadelphia as well. In their second season in New Jersey, the Devils lost to Edmonton 13-4, putting their record at 2-18. Wayne Gretzky called the Devils “A Mickey Mouse Operation”, after that game the Devils fired coach Billy MacMillian.

Where they play. Prudential Center, after years playing in the Meadowland, the Devils moved to scenic downtown Newark in 2007

Owner: New Jersey Devils, LLC. Headed by Josh Harris. Harris also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and EPL team Crystal Palace.

Coach: John Hynes, at the age of 43 is the NHL’s youngest coach.

Top Current Players: Taylor Hall and Cory Schnider

Hall of Famers: Scott Stevens and when he becomes eligible, Martin Brodeur

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

33. Chicago Bears

Why? One of the founding members of the NFL, the Monsters of the Midway, and early part of NFL history but these days, meh

The Good. Super Bowl XX Champions, 6 NFL Championships prior to the Super Bowl era (1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1963)

The Bad. From 1947 to 1984, just one championship. While the Bears had many outstanding players from the mid 60’s to early 80’s, the Bears were just not very good.

The Ugly. Nobody personifies the image of the Bears more than Mike Ditka, you just don’t cross that guy. Well when Jim Harbaugh was his quarterback he tried to audible a play when up 20-0, it turned into a Pick-6, the play gave Minnesota enough momentum to beat the Bears 21-20, the play triggered a free fall and led the once might Bears to a 5-11 season and to the end of Ditka as Bears Head Coach. Ditka had the most wins as the Head Coach of the Bears behind the famed George Halas.

Where they play. Soldier Field, although built in 1924, the Bears played at Wrigley Field until 1971. One of the provisions of the AFL-NFL Merger, required stadiums to have a capacity of 50,000, thus the Bears moved to Solider Field, while the Bears built a stadium in the suburbs, however the Bears agreed to a lease to play in Solider Field in 1978.

Owner: Virginia Halas McCaskey, oldest child of George Halas, became owner upon his death in 1983. At age 95, is the oldest owner in the NFL.

Coach: Matt Nagy, hired by the Bears five weeks ago, was the Offensive Coordinator for Kansas City. Nagy replaces John Fox who was fired after last season.

Top Current Players: Jordan Howard, Danny Trevathan, and Mitchell Trubisky

Hall of Famers: George Halas, Bronco Nagurski, Red Grange, George Trafton, Dan Fortmann, Sid Luckman, George McAfee, Bulldog Turner, Bill Hewett, Bill George, George Connor, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus, George Blanda, George Musso, Mike Ditka, Stan Jones, Walter Payton, Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, Brian Urlacher will be inducted later this year.

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

32. New York Giants

Why? A franchise who is at times is either really good or really bad.

The Good. Won 4 Super Bowls, 5 NFC Championships, 3 NFL Championships prior to the Super Bowl Era.

The Bad. As the NFL expanded into the Super Bowl era, the Giants were nowhere to be found, after losing their third straight NFL Championship Game in 1963, the Giants went into a free fall, failing to make the playoffs again until 1981. While they won Super Bowl XLVI, the Giants haven’t won a playoff game since then. This season the Giants at 3-13 was their worst season since 1974.

The Ugly. In 1978, the Giants were leading Philadelphia 17-12, about a close in on a victory at home, the Giants had the ball. With 31 seconds left, offensive coordinator Bob Gibson called for a running play instead of just taking a knee. The snap was bungled between quarterback Joe Pisarcik and running back Larry Csonka. The ball fell on the turf and scooped up by Philadelphia’s Herman Edwards and ran back for a touchdown, giving Philadelphia the win 19-17.
Gibson was fired the next day, coach John McVay was fired after the season. The Giants decided to hire a general manager that would be neutral to feuding owners Wellington and Tim Mara. George Young was hired, the next season Phil Simms was drafted, in 1981, Lawrence Taylor was drafted. In 1983, Bill Parcells was hired as coach as Ray Perkins left to coach Alabama, after a bad ’83 season the Giants would win their first Super Bowl three seasons later.

Where they play. MetLife Stadium: Pretty well covered when I did the Jets. Giants played at Yankee Stadium until 1972. When Yankee Stadium was being renovated the Giants played at the Yale Bowl in 1973 and 1974. Then Shea Stadium in 1975, before Giants Stadium opened up in New Jersey in 1976.

Owner: Steve Tisch and John Mara. Co-owners since 2005. John inherited Wellington’s share, Tisch bought Tim’s share.

Coach: Pat Shurmur was hired as head coach on January 22, 2018. Shurmur’s coaching history is being an offensive coordinator for several teams. He did coach Cleveland in 2011 and 2012.

Top Current Players: Eli Manning, Jason Pierre-Paul, Odell Beckham Jr.

Hall of Famers: Red Badgro, Rosey Brown, Harry Carson, Ray Flaherty, Frank Gifford, Mel Hein, Sam Huff, Tuffy Leemans, Steve Owen, Andy Robustelli, Michael Strahan, Lawrence Taylor, and Emlen Tunnell

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

CommAvHusky said:
32. New York Giants

Why? A franchise who is at times is either really good or really bad.
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Growing up in the 70s my default setting for the Giants is "terrible," but it's actually not a fair cop. They have been outright bad very rarely considering their long history.

The big mark against the Giants was they could never win the big one. They lost 5 out of 6 championship games from 1958 through 1963, and overall in the championship era they went to 15 championship games in 40 seasons but were 4-11.

Of course, now they feast on Baby Brady & the Foxboro Deep Throats, so that's pretty much forgiven.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

31. Houston Rockets

(a.k.a. San Diego Rockets)
Why? Rockets make more sense to name this team after relocating in 1971 from San Diego to Houston.

The Good. 2 NBA Championships (1994, 1995), 4 Western Conference Championships (1981, 1986), the only two Western Conference Championships in the 1980’s that Los Angeles didn’t win.

The Bad. 68 loss season in 1983 for worst in the NBA, had second worst NBA record in 1984. This led to the drafting of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon.

The Ugly. The original tankers, in 1984, the Rockets were 20-26, they knew they weren’t going anywhere and went 9-27 the rest of the way. With a large amount of college talent coming out next spring, starters were not used, 12th men were getting more playing time. Although the NBA never officially called out the Rockets for tanking, a draft lottery was instituted to make sure all the non-playoff teams had an equal chance at the first pick. The NBA Draft Lottery continues to tweak on. In 2002, the Rockets had their went 28-54 but won the lottery and selected Yao Ming.

Where they play. Toyota Center, built so that the Rockets didn’t go to new places, play started in 2003.

Owner: Tilman Fertitta, owner of one of the largest restaurant corporations in the U.S. Bought the Rockets for $2.2 billion last September.

Coach: Mike D’Antoni, played the majority of his pro ball in Italy, has bounced around as a coach in the NBA for several teams for the past 20 years.

Top Current Players: James Harden, Clint Capela, and Nene

Hall of Famers: Elvin Hayes, Calvin Murphy, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Charles Barkley, Dikembe Mutombo, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, and Clyde Drexler

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

CommAvHusky said:
a draft lottery was instituted to make sure all the non-playoff teams had an equal chance at the first pick.
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The lottery is now weighted, just four years after it started. So, it's not an equal chance anymore.
 
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Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

30. Chicago Blackhawks

Why? You could say in this decade they have gone from Wirtz to First.

The Good. 6 Stanley Cups (1934, 1938, 1961, 2010, 2013, 2015), 1 Campbell Conference Championship (1992), 2 President’s Trophy (1991, 2013)

The Bad. Largely a pincushion during the Original Six Era, had brief success in the early 60’s before having another painful drought.

The Ugly. Frederic McLaughlin was the founder of the Black Hawks died in 1944, his family sold the Hawks to team president Bill Tobin. Unaware that Tobin was friendly with Detroit owner James Norris. Norris already owned Chicago Stadium since 1936, for the next several years the Black Hawks and Detroit made several one-sided trades heavily in Detroit’s favor. When Norris died in 1958, efforts were made to steer the Black Hawks down the right path.

Where they play. United Center, the Blackhawks moved in after the 1995 NHL Lockout, it replaced Chicago Stadium which was at the time the league’s oldest arena.

Owner: Wirtz Corporation headed by Rocky Wirtz. The Wirtz Family has had control for decades, Rocky’s father Bill was very tight fisted and refused to have most home Blackhawk games to be on cable. Rocky also improved relationships with many Blackhawk legends like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.

Coach: Joel Quenneville, Coach Q played 13 seasons, and has been head coach of the Blackhawks since 2008, just around the same time as the ownership change.

Top Current Players: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Corey Crawford

Hall of Famers: Ed Belfour, Doug Bentley, Max Bentley, Chris Chelios, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Bills Gadsby, Charlie Gardiner, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Bill Mosienko, Pierre Pilote, Denis Savard, and Earl Siebert

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

CommAvHusky said:
Hall of Famers: Ed Belfour, Doug Bentley, Max Bentley, Chris Chelios, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Bills Gadsby, Charlie Gardiner, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Bill Mosienko, Pierre Pilote, Denis Savard, and Earl Siebert
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Who considers Phil a Black Hawks (I like how you spelled the name correctly based on what years you were talking about them) Hall of Famer? He made his hall of fame career with Boston (and a bit with the Rangers). Heck, most people don't even know Phil started in Chicago.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

Russell Jaslow said:
Who considers Phil a Black Hawks (I like how you spelled the name correctly based on what years you were talking about them) Hall of Famer? He made his hall of fame career with Boston (and a bit with the Rangers). Heck, most people don't even know Phil started in Chicago.
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Speaking as a confident hater of all things Boston, yes. Tony is Chi; Phil is Boston. Might as well give Ray Bourque to Denver.

For that matter, Chelios is un Hab. Chi and Det were just renting his services.
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

29. Oklahoma City Thunder

(a.k.a. Seattle Supersonics)
Why? Not many people are willing to relocate from Seattle to Oklahoma City but well here we are.

The Good. As the Sonics, they won the NBA Championship in 1978, 4 Western Conference Championships (1979, 1996, 2012)

The Bad. Typical expansion pains, and very poor play during the transition period in the late 2000’s

The Ugly. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, tried to get the state government to pay for renovations to Key Arena. Schultz sold the Sonics to a group led by Clay Bennett under the condition that he try in good faith keep the team in Seattle. Bennett proposed a $500 million taxpayer funded arena that the local government denied. Bennett in turn made the effort to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City. New ownership would be breaking the lease on Key Arena two years early. Despite lawsuits and massive local opposition, the franchise moved, Seattle got to keep the “Sonics” name and colors, all records would belong to the Oklahoma City Thunder

Where they play. Chesapeake Energy Arena, sounds more appropriate for an arena in Maryland. As the Ford Center, Oklahoma City fans got an appetite for the NBA when the Hornets couldn’t play in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Owner: Clay Bennett, probably not the most popular man in Seattle. When he headed a group of owners that blocked the Sacramento Kings relocation to Seattle years later, you really know this guy is not well liked in Seattle

Coach: Billy Donovan, coached the University of Florida for 19 seasons and second youngest head coach to win 500 games, currently in his third season with the Thunder.

Top Current Players: Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony

Hall of Famers: Gary Payton, Lenny Wilkens, and Spencer Haywood

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
Re: 122 Franchises Ranked Bottom to Top:

28. Washington Redskins

(a.k.a. Boston Redskins)
Why? Probably the most controversial nickname in 2018, but if anyone complains about the name change, they should probably put a blanket on it.

The Good. 3 Super Bowls and 2 NFL Championships. 5 NFC Championships (1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, and 1991)

The Bad. Largely absent from the NFL scene after World War II until about the early 1970’s. This includes back to back one-win seasons in 1960 & 1961. Went from Super Bowl Champions to 4-12 in two seasons from 1991 to 1993. Have not one a playoff game since 2005.

The Ugly. In 1940, the Redskins beat Chicago 7-3, owner Preston Marshall gave birth to the term “newspaper material” by telling the press that the Bears were a bunch of crybabies and quitters. Chicago coach George Halas used the press clippings to remind his players what Marshall said. The Bears won the game 73-0. Still considered to be the most lopsided NFL Game in history. 73 points is the most for an NFL game in its history.

Where they play. FedEx Field, originally called Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1997, in honor of the recently deceased owner. It replaced RFK Stadium that opened up as District of Columbia Stadium in 1961.

Owner: Daniel Snyder bought the Redskins from the Cooke Estate in 1999 for a then record $800 million. Since Snyder took over the team has been 132-171-1 and has gone through eight head coaches in 17 seasons. Point being Snyder is a very bad hands-on owner.

Coach: Jay Gruden, his playing career lists playing in the Arena League and the World League of American Football. Gruden just finished his fourth season with the Redskins, which under the Snyder regime is an eternity.

Top Current Players: Kirk Cousins, Jamison Crowder, and Ryan Kerrigan

Hall of Famers: Sonny Jurgenson, Ken Houston, Sammy Baugh, John Riggins, Chris Hanburger, Sam Huff, Art Monk, Turk Edwards, Darrell Green, Charley Taylor, and Russ Grimm

Up Next: The Minnesota Vikings
 
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