The Three Most Pathetic Franchises in Professional Sports

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

We all like to think that parity is spread throughout each respective professional sports league and that every team has a fighting chance. Well, that's simply not the case. You do not have teams like the Los Angeles Lakers appearing in thirty title games without someone getting screwed on the other end (foreshadowing?).

Some cities like Boston have had terrific runs of late—three Super Bowls, two World Series, the 2008 NBA Title, and a hockey team that makes the postseason regularly.

Contrast this success with a city like San Diego, who has never even won a professional sports title in it's existence. 

Picking one team from the NBA, MLB, and NFL, let's look at the three most pathetic sports franchises disgracing our nation.

Los Angeles Clippers, NBA

Show me one team who has had only one winning record in the last eighteen years and I will gladly remove the Clippers from the list.

The franchise has almost double the losses (2020) than they have wins (1146)—that should speak for itself. In addition to their poor record, they have been poorly run from the front office.

Hopefully the selection of Oklahoma F Blake Griffin will take the sting out of blowing it in 1998 when they last had the No. 1 pick and selected C Michael Olowokandi. 

In addition to that, they have never kept players who turn out to be half decent. Then they try to cover that up with high priced free agent flops.

Some notable Clippers draft picks

F Lamar Odom: He is now on the other side of town, playing in the NBA Finals. 

Tyson Chandler: A talented C who currently plays with a great team in New Orleans alongside stud G Chris Paul. 

Now the list may only have a few players who have made a true impact. Let's turn it around and see some of the first round busts they had high hopes on:

G Darius Miles: Now a reserve player for the Memphis Grizzlies; they won 24 games last year.

F Chris Wilcox: He has averaged a mediocre 9.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG for his career.

C Melvin Ely: Now Tyson Chandler's backup in New Orleans; ironic, isn't it? He has averaged 5.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG a game in his career.

G Shaun Livingston: Now a reserve player for the Oklahoma Thunder, the former No. 4 pick has averaged 7.3 PPG as a PG, generally a high scoring position. 

F Yaroslav Korolev: The former No. 12 pick played a total of 34 games for the Clippers and averaged 1.1 PPG for the team.

C Paul Davis: In his two years with the team, he averaged 2.0 PPG. He has returned for a second stint but has not seen the floor all too much.

That many draft mistakes warrants their pathetic history of late. The three notable draft picks they have managed to hang onto are C Chris Kaman, and recent first rounders G Eric Gordon, and F Al Thornton.

In addition to their unpalatable draft day busts, they also have signed ineffective high priced free agents in attempts to field a mediocre team:

Cuttino Mobley: signed a five year, $42 million dollar contract, and averaged a mediocre 14.6 PPG. 

Tim Thomas: For six million dollars a year the Clippers got 10.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG. 

Baron Davis: Replacing star F Elton Brand as the team's franchise player, Davis has gotten off to a decent start, though the 14.9 PPG have not come close to justifying his five year, $65 million dollar contract.

Even with their dismal past, the future is getting somewhat brighter. In 2008 they did some purging by letting Elton Brand and Cory Maggette walk in free agency. They brought in defensive stud C Marcus Camby for a $10 million dollar trade exception.

They grabbed former Heat G Ricky Davis with a one year deal to help ease the loss of Maggette. The aforementioned picks of Eric Gordon and Al Thornton have panned out for the better thus far.

A lineup of Marcus Camby, Ricky Davis, Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Zach Randolph, Al Thornton, and Chris Kaman should prove to be competitive if they can all stay healthy. 

If the team does not pan out as the usual motus operandi, who cares? Los Angeles is the Lakers' town anyways.

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