People in Sports Who Want to Forget 2015
Roger Goodell probably wants to forget 2015 (and 2014 and 2013), but the NFL commissioner is not the only person in sports having a rough year.
The following folks have been through more downs than ups in 2015, and one would assume they'd just like to pull an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on the whole year.
Obviously, there is no actual evidence they want to forget 2015—only they know their own thoughts. And actually, Rafael Nadal seems to have taken the whole year as a learning opportunity. However, the fact remains that the year could've gone better for these people in sports.
Who had it worst? Let's find out.
Honorable Mention: Andrew Luck
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck's 2015 started off with a playoff run. And despite a shellacking at the hands of the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, hopes were high for the 2015 season.
Unfortunately, Luck and the Colts have woefully underperformed thus far. The Colts are 4-5 through Week 10. Luck has 12 interceptions to his 15 touchdowns, along with one of the worst passer ratings in the league.
Luck has also been plagued by injuries—first a shoulder issue and now a lacerated kidney and abdominal tear.
Luck gets an honorable mention because, unbelievably, the season is salvageable. The Colts took a big win against the Denver Broncos into their bye week and are blessed with a weak division in the AFC South.
Honorable Mention: Jose Mourinho
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It's probably not accurate to say Chelsea manager (for the moment) Jose Mourinho regrets the entirety of 2015. His team did, in fact, win the Premier League title in May, and the boss was named Manager of the Season.
Mourinho gets an honorable mention because the second half of his 2015 has not been particularly kind. Through November 15, Chelsea are toiling near the bottom of the Premier League standings with a 3-2-7 record in league play.
Mourinho has been on the hot seat pretty much all season. Of the Chelsea managers sacked by owner Roman Abramovich since he bought the club in 2003, Mourinho's win percentage this term is worse than any of them in their respective final seasons, per Mark Critchley of the Independent.
Rumors of Mourinho's eventual departure abound.
Miami/Duke Referees
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Sure, one game shouldn't constitute the desire to forget an entire calendar year. Still, the officiating crew from the Miami vs. Duke football game had it pretty rough.
After a series of bad calls late in the game kept Duke from a win, the ACC determined the entire crew, including replay officials, made four major errors. It suspended everyone for two conference games.
Similarly, the referees of the Michigan State vs. Nebraska game probably don't feel great about the call that handed Nebraska the game. It appeared Nebraska wide receiver Brandon Reilly erroneously ran out of bounds and back in, on his own accord, to catch the game-winning touchdown. It was ruled that he was pushed out of bounds, and therefore the TD stood.
The point: It hasn't been a great year for college football officials.
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Sam Hinkie
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Sam Hinkie is pretty much the NBA's poster child for tanking, and not everyone is a fan. In May 2013, Hinkie took over as president of basketball operations and general manager for the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, the team has won 37 games and is winless to start the 2015-16 season.
Despite the team's continued losing ways, 2015 wasn't entirely bad for Philadelphia. The team selected Duke standout Jahlil Okafor with the No. 3 pick in June's draft. However, around the same time, the NBPA launched an investigation into Hinkie and possible collective bargaining violations.
Eric Freeman of Ball Don't Lie summed it up:
"General manager Sam Hinkie has selected several first-round draft picks who were unable to play for the franchise immediately (or sometimes even within a season or two), hasn't even offered contracts to established free agents, and kept the total team salary on the edge of the league-mandated floor, all while maintaining the utmost secrecy.
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In October, Brian Geltzeiler reported for the Cauldron on growing tension between Hinkie and other team personnel, including CEO Scott O'Neil and head coach Brett Brown.
Even if losing is all part of Hinkie's "process," it still hasn't been a fun year for the GM.
Rafael Nadal
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It hasn't been a great year for Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal, either. Injuries continued to be an issue as Nadal failed to win a major tournament in 2015—the first time in 10 years, per Simon Briggs of the Telegraph. Nadal hasn't held the world's No. 1 ranking since June 2014, and on top of that, he faced criticism about his performance and form throughout the year.
After a third-round exit at the U.S. Open in September, Nadal said, "I have to accept that it was not my year and keep fighting till the end of the season to finish in a positive way," per John Sinnott of CNN.
Indeed he has done so. According to Stuart Fraser of the MailOnline, Nadal recently talked about his work ethic looking ahead, saying: "I have the motivation to arrive in good condition at the beginning of the [next] season. Working like this I believe I can have a good season."
It was a tough year, but Nadal remains optimistic 2016 can be better.
Jim Caldwell
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Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell kicked off 2015 with a gut-wrenching playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys—made worse by a horrendous missed call at the end of the game.
Since then, things haven't gotten much better. The Lions are off to a 2-7 start through Week 10, and Caldwell is sitting squarely on the hot seat. To make matters worse, the team's general manager, Martin Mayhew, and president, Tom Lewand, were fired at the beginning of November.
In response to the idea he is a "dead man walking," Caldwell said, "As you see, I'm alive and well," per Michael Rothstein of ESPN. The coach also said, on the prospect of his potential firing, "I don't walk in the spirit of fear at all, in any shape or form of my life. Never have. Never will. And so we'll see. That has yet to be determined."
No matter what happens to his job, and despite a win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, this much remains true. After an 11-5 campaign and high hopes for another winning season, 2015 has turned out pretty poorly for Caldwell and the Lions.
Colin Kaepernick
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Not long ago, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was riding high. In 2012, the young QB took over the starting job from Alex Smith and led his team to a Super Bowl.
Since former head coach and Kaepernick supporter Jim Harbaugh left after the 2014 season, however, things have gone downhill. After struggling through the first eight games this year—just six total touchdowns passes and a 2-6 record—Kaepernick was benched for backup Blaine Gabbert. To add insult to injury, the news broke on his birthday.
In late October, Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer said on air (h/t Jordan Heck of Sporting News), "His confidence is completely shot. It's not that [the players] don't like him. But he's just alone, on an island in that locker room. There's not a lot of people he connects with."
Anyone Involved with Kansas or UCF Football
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A winless season is a sad season. There are two FBS teams that have not won a game thus far: the Kansas Jayhawks and the University of Central Florida Knights.
Longtime UCF coach George O'Leary pulled a Steve Spurrier and retired midseason in October. Per Shannon Green of the Orlando Sentinel, when a reporter asked UCF quarterback Justin Holman what the most challenging part of the season has been, he lightheartedly said, "Losing."
Not to be outdone in the misery department, the Jayhawks gave up at least 58 points to three straight opponents. Following a 59-20 defeat to the Texas Longhorns, Ryan McGee of ESPN reported the team has a 91 percent chance of going winless on the season.
The Detroit Lions are having a bad year, but at least they've won a couple of games.
Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez
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Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez are getting lumped together here because they were both very expensive offseason acquisitions for the Boston Red Sox. And they both failed to live up to their cost and hype in 2015.
Sandoval signed a five-year, $95 million deal. The infielder had a disappointing season, batting .245/.292/.366 for the last-place Red Sox and ending the year with a bout of pneumonia. To top it off, he was involved in an embarrassing situation in June when the Internet noticed him Instagramming during a game.
Ramirez's deal was for four years and $88 million, and he too underperformed. Batting .249/.291/.426 in 105 games, injuries and poor defense plagued him for much of the season.
No one wants to be thought of as a mistake, and unfortunately, Sandoval and Ramirez both face that prospect. The biggest question now relates to which one the Red Sox should trade.
Byron Scott
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The Los Angeles Lakers in general are having a challenging year, and that includes Kobe Bryant. Bryant doesn't seem to be eager for or biding his time before retirement, though. He is one of the most competitive athletes in sports, and that will remain true as long as he's playing.
One person in that organization who might be ready to put the year behind him is head coach Byron Scott. The Lakers finished 21-61 last season, Scott's first as head coach, and the team got off to a 1-8 start in 2015-16.
Scott controversially sat touted rookie D'Angelo Russell for an entire quarter recently. Russell explained the move by saying, "I've got to figure out what I'm doing wrong so I can correct it," per ESPN's Baxter Holmes. When asked if Scott told him why he was benched, Russell stated he didn't know.
Scott might not get the chance to explain. Some are calling for the coach's head. One win and a target on his back—Scott is the Jim Caldwell of the NBA, but his situation is made even worse by the bright lights of L.A. and the Mamba in the mix.
Please allow a quick note on the New York Knicks here. Even though the team had a horrendous 2014-15 season (17-65), all things considered, the mood in New York seems more hopeful than hopeless heading into 2015's twilight.
Matt Williams
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The Washington Nationals entered the 2015 season with sky-high expectations. A bolstered starting rotation and a kid named Bryce Harper had a lot of folks thinking the Nats would run away with the National League East.
Instead, the team faltered. Injuries didn't help their cause, as the Nationals fell behind the New York Mets in the standings. They finished the year 83-79 and missed the playoffs.
The nail-in-coffin moment for a disappointing year occurred in late September, when midseason acquisition Jonathan Papelbon choked Harper in the dugout in full view of television cameras.
Manager Matt Williams faced criticism for his decision-making throughout the season, so it came as a surprise to exactly no one when he was relieved of his duties in October. It's certainly a year he, and the rest of the Nationals faithful, would probably like to forget.
Williams lost his job, but he did get his old one back as third-base coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Tiger Woods
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Tiger Woods hasn't been in top form in a long time, and 2015 was no different.
Woods missed the cut in three straight majors and recorded the worst round of his career in June, shooting 85 at the Memorial. He called it a season in August after he failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. In September, Woods announced he would be sidelined until 2016 after undergoing a procedure on his back.
To top it off, Woods and longtime girlfriend Lindsey Vonn broke up in May and former caddie Steve Williams wrote in his autobiography, Out of the Rough, that Woods treated him like a "slave" when they worked together.
It has not been the best year for one of golf's GOAT, and his poor play only added more fuel to the Tiger-is-done fire.
Robert Griffin III
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After years of drama with injuries and head coaches, Robert Griffin III's time as a starter finally came to an end in 2015. The Washington quarterback and former savior-to-be was benched before the NFL season even started.
The preseason narrative centered around Griffin's relationship with head coach Jay Gruden. The coach made a decision to leave Griffin in during a brutal preseason game, a move that left many wondering whether he had it in for the QB.
One NFL coach told Bleacher Report NFL writer Mike Freeman:
"What is baffling, is that I can't think of a single head coach in the NFL who would take an injury-prone quarterback, put him behind a very shaky offensive line, in a preseason game, watch him take those kinds of hits and leave him in the game. It looks personal to me.
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When a concussion promised to sideline Griffin for Week 1, his fate was pretty much sealed. The second overall draft pick in 2012, Griffin has been healthy for most of this season, and he has watched the entirety of it unfold from the sidelines.
One would think Griffin is eager for 2015 to end so he can move on and hopefully sign with a new team.
Roger Goodell
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has had a rough couple of years. However, 2015 in particular didn't get any better for him.
The calendar year started off with a scandal about the league's best team, the New England Patriots, possibly deflating footballs. The Deflategate saga lasted throughout much of the year and culminated with Goodell's suspension of Tom Brady getting overturned in court. The NFL is appealing the decision, which should ensure the drama continues into 2016.
Besides that, issues related to domestic violence remain front of mind for the NFL and its fans. For instance, as the situation with Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy continues to unfold, Goodell faces criticism for how he and the league have handled such issues.
Oh, and Will Smith is starring in a movie called Concussion that's based on the discovery of CTE.
NSFW link forthcoming.
Goodell may still have his job, but it's hard to argue anyone in sports has had a tougher year than him—not that anyone feels much sympathy for the guy.
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