Least liked champions in sports history

SabresRule

SatelliteGuys Master
Original poster
Apr 15, 2008
12,883
6
Wisconsin
First,

let me just say this will be a long thread, but it's worth all the reading and words.

Anyway,

Who were some of the least liked champions in sports history?

By that, I mean teams that were either loathed/hated by many or dull, boring, and uninteresting to many.

Some of it's personal, some of it is from reading information.

Here are my choices:

1990 New York Giants: While the reigning SB champs had the feel of an underdog and a lot of people rooting for them and the 1986 team was a wrecking crew of a team that left fans in awe, I could not say the same about the 1990 team.

I know they had a fierce defense and played an all-time classic SB against the Bills, but IMO, they felt like an 9-7 team disguised as a 13-3 team.

Spurs- pick a year, any year. Nobody was watching most of their series- the ratings were awful. Tim Duncan is like ratings poison- when he plays in June, the ratings are on par with New York Islanders games, and that's NOT a good thing.

1997 Marlins- The 2003 team, like the '07 Giants, had that feel of a team many people could root for. Also, unlike the 1997 team, they kept their key players for at least a few more years.

While the '03 team could be cheered by many because they went against the almighty Yankees, I doubt many people wanted to see a team a few years old win a title. Oh, yeah, and they beat Cleveland- like I could root for a team of players that seemed like they wouldn't stick around for a while.

(If anyone brings up the D-Backs of 2001, big difference. That team had been building for a few years- this Marlins team was put together on the fly.)

1995 Cowboys- This falls under the 'team many love to hate/couldn't stand' category. This isn't personal, but more from a 'I remember what others said' view. Jimmy Johnson's two SB teams were a silent winning machine that had a bit of attitude, but not all the time. They talked big, but not gigantically big.

Barry Switzer's team, OTOH- talk about attitude! Big mouths, big money, flashy players, glitz, glamour, on TV all the time (and that's just the commercials!) and a confidence that bordered on cockiness.

Remember the signing of Deion Sanders? It was viewed like "the Whopper going to McDonald's."

Here are some quotes that sum up how many people felt about this version of the Boys. These are from actual newspaper articles, not my personal thoughts:

"These Cowboys simply have too many good players, too much bad money and too little taste."

"their fans are smug and insufferable."

"their cutesy pie, dancing, prancing receivers and especially their too-rich-for his-own-good, gazillionaire owner Jerry Jones.

What person in their right mind would pay Deion Sanders $35 million to play football?"

"it's their fans who really drive me over the edge.
I work with a couple of them. They gather at water fountains, in hallways on Monday mornings whooping it up about how the Cowboys walloped some unworthy opponent.
They hug and yap it up about victories like little girls talking about their first kiss."

"The Cowboys, and Jerry Jones in particular, need to learn that money can't buy happiness, money can't buy friends and money can't buy Super Bowl titles."

"How do we loathe thee - thee being those stinkin' Dallas Cowboys?

How about for their smug, superior, we're-the-Cowboys-and-you're-not attitude? Make you want to slap somebody?"


I'll conclude this thread with how Michael Irvin views a trip to the SB:

"The way Irvin sees it, the Cowboys going to the Super Bowl is the Cowboys going home.

``It`s our house. Last year we just let somebody borrow it,`` he says. ``Now we`re going to go check it out, see how it was left, see if it`s dirty . . . and then take it over again. We`re going home.``

Well, that was long.

Anyway,

feel free to react and give your choices.
 
1997 Marlins- The 2003 team, like the '07 Giants, had that feel of a team many people could root for. Also, unlike the 1997 team, they kept their key players for at least a few more years.

While the '03 team could be cheered by many because they went against the almighty Yankees, I doubt many people wanted to see a team a few years old win a title. Oh, yeah, and they beat Cleveland- like I could root for a team of players that seemed like they wouldn't stick around for a while.

Why would ANYONE dislike the Marlins??:confused: NO ONE knew they would dismattle the team after their '97 Championship..... And WHY WOULDN'T people "want to see a team that was a few years old" win the title? People root for the underdog ALL THE TIME....you having the Marlins here is baseless. You are entitled to your opinion, but your are just hating on the Marlins and that about it.....:rolleyes: I could see you having the Hurricanes because of their thug past or maybe even the Heat because of the dislike of Shaq or Mourning, in your little list here....but the Marlins??!!
 
Why would ANYONE dislike the Marlins??:confused: NO ONE knew they would dismattle the team after their '97 Championship..... And WHY WOULDN'T people "want to see a team that was a few years old" win the title? People root for the underdog ALL THE TIME....you having the Marlins here is baseless. You are entitled to your opinion, but your are just hating on the Marlins and that about it.....:rolleyes: I could see you having the Hurricanes because of their thug past or maybe even the Heat because of the dislike of Shaq or Mourning, in your little list here....but the Marlins??!!

I dislike the 1997 Marlins........ for obvious personal reasons. ;)
 
I liked the 1997 Marlins because it gave Jim Leyland a much deserved WS title.

I disliked the 1995 Switzer Cowboys - was living in Dallas at the time (got to be a bit too much everyday). Also a Steeler fan. :mad:
 
The Marlins deserve to be on the list. It's not just that they bought a championship, but both times they won it they had nothing but bandwagon fans supporting them. The Marlins rarely draw more than 10,000 people to a game, but all their playoff games were sold out. Teams whose fans are that fair weathered should not be rewarded with championships in my book.
 
Least liked "Champion"

IMO, that honor has to go the Super Bowl XXXV winner, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens will always be a bastard franchise. Their mere existence only happened because of a knee-jerk decision by an idiot owner.

In 1996, team owner Art Modell moved the players on the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. 4 seasons later they won the Super Bowl with a team comprised of druggies and murderers. Way to go Modell and Company. Completely undeserved.
 
IMO, that honor has to go the Super Bowl XXXV winner, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens will always be a bastard franchise. Their mere existence only happened because of a knee-jerk decision by an idiot owner.

In 1996, team owner Art Modell moved the players on the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. 4 seasons later they won the Super Bowl with a team comprised of druggies and murderers. Way to go Modell and Company. Completely undeserved.



Couldn't. Agree. More.

Never in my life did I root against a team like I did that Super Bowl Sunday.
 
in my mind.....the 94 Expos
(yes they probably would have been the WS champs or at least made it a helluva world series) :)
 
I think the '72 Dolphins receive more attention than any single season team in sports history. Because of the constant celebration of their undefeated season, they are one of the least liked champions in sports history. Get over it, already!!!
 
I think the '72 Dolphins receive more attention than any single season team in sports history. Because of the constant celebration of their undefeated season, they are one of the least liked champions in sports history. Get over it, already!!!
Still bitter over that SB VII loss?
 
The Marlins deserve to be on the list. It's not just that they bought a championship, but both times they won it they had nothing but bandwagon fans supporting them. The Marlins rarely draw more than 10,000 people to a game, but all their playoff games were sold out. Teams whose fans are that fair weathered should not be rewarded with championships in my book.

What does that have to do with being a fan? Do you live in south florida? Do you know the fan base down here? Until the Marlins were here, this was STRICTLY a football town...and in many cases, will ALWAYS be a football town. In the last 10 years, South Florida had 2 World Series winners, 1 NBA Championship and a team play in the Stanley Cup finals....and I assure that 75% of the conversations on sport radio is the Dolphins.....:confused: The Marlins did not "buy" the World Series because more than half of the players they had were there by trades and half were there a season before the won the Series. South Florida is a the most transient section of the south....there are TON of former New Yorkers, Chicagoans and of the like that HAD a favorite team before the Marlins were an itch in the city's pants. You expect those transplanted Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Phillies and Red Sox fans to sudden turn and become Marlins fans??! So make sure you KNOW what you are talking about before you go off on any tangent like you know the make-up of south florida.....:rolleyes:
 
First off the Marlins DID buy that WS. They were barely a 70 win team before '97 and then they go on a Yankee-esque spending spree and win it all, only to turn and have a firesale before the start of the next season. Second the fans down there do suck. Your argument about all the northern transplants and how Miami is a football town just proves that MLB should never had put a team down there in the first place. Either support the local team or don't, but don't be a fair weather fan and just show up for the WS. If MLB ever considers contracting teams again the Marlins should be at the top of the list.
 
First off the Marlins DID buy that WS. They were barely a 70 win team before '97 and then they go on a Yankee-esque spending spree and win it all, only to turn and have a firesale before the start of the next season. Second the fans down there do suck. Your argument about all the northern transplants and how Miami is a football town just proves that MLB should never had put a team down there in the first place. Either support the local team or don't, but don't be a fair weather fan and just show up for the WS. If MLB ever considers contracting teams again the Marlins should be at the top of the list.

You don't know your head from your elbow. The 1997 Marlins team, from the 25 man roster that went to the World Series, only 6 players were free agents. Of the at 25 man roster, 16 were on the team the year BEFORE the World Series win. They had won 64, 51 and 67 games...and then the year before the series, when they had picked up MOST of the players that were on the World Series roster, they won 80 games. So the so called Yankee-esque shopping spree is killed right then and there. By the way, those years leading UP to the '97 World Series....average approx. 30,000....which according to the stadium dimentions for baseball, that was about 65% capacity and pretty good for an expansion team that did not have more than 67 wins before '97. So again, make sure you get your head out from between your legs before you comment about something you know nothing about.

So man up and state the truth that you hate the Marlins or Miami or whatever you are hating on.....:rolleyes:
 
I think all the Cowboys Champions of the 90s were despised, but I think that's more to do with the fact that so many people just hated the Cowboys.
 
IMO, that honor has to go the Super Bowl XXXV winner, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens will always be a bastard franchise. Their mere existence only happened because of a knee-jerk decision by an idiot owner.

In 1996, team owner Art Modell moved the players on the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. 4 seasons later they won the Super Bowl with a team comprised of druggies and murderers. Way to go Modell and Company. Completely undeserved.

Also agree. Not helpful that they won what I think was the most poorly played SB in history, and had a certifiable a-hole as a head coach.
 
Still bitter over that SB VII loss?

Somewhat.:) But seriously, I think I would dislike the '72 Dolphins even if they had beaten another NFC team. I don't hate the '83 Raiders - and they crushed my Redskins in the Super Bowl. Every year, the '72 Dolphins complain about how they don't get enough respect for their undefeated season. Yet, the fact that they are constantly on television making this claim demonstrates the fact that they actually do get enough attention and respect for their accomplishment.

What they accomplished is great. Everybody recognizes it. I just get tired of seeing them complain about not getting enough credit for it.
 

Chad Johnson REALLY needs to get off the crack!

If Sports Teams Were High-School Students

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)