The Current '.500 Kings' of Sports
There are the usual contenders in sports. There are the bottom feeders, too—the cellar-dwellers.
What about the little guys stuck in the middle of both?
These guys are the ".500 kings" of sports—the teams competitive enough to keep the hand away from the reset button but not good enough to have postseason aspirations. There are no top-flight draft picks here, no fire sales and no realistic dreams of championship contention.
These are the teams fans see on the schedule and forget soon after until a game actually starts. Maybe these organizations don't enjoy or strive for such a status, but it's a scale they must figure out, balancing the belief that, if they play harder and smarter, they'll contend. If they blow it up, all hope is lost for years.
The following teams are the current ".500 kings" of sports.
Miami Dolphins
1 of 10
Quick, name the last time the Miami Dolphins won a division title.
If cloudy thoughts of 2008, Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams and the Wildcat came to mind, then correct.
This is Miami's track record since 2008: 7-9, 7-9, 6-10, 7-9, 8-8, 8-8, 6-10.
Over the years, Miami has gone from an army of Chads (Pennington, Henne) to Ryan Tannehill, a guy averaging 6.97 yards per completion. The front office has tried to make moves such as inking defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a deal, but it hasn't been enough to make a splash in the AFC.
Still, Miami remains better than a certain other Florida team. No sense in blowing it up, but the upside doesn't promise much more than a .500 winning percentage, barring an unexpected offensive innovation good for a half-season run.
Utah Jazz
2 of 10
Nobody was too shocked when the Utah Jazz drafted relative unknown Dante Exum with the No. 5 pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
The Jazz took mid-market teams to a new level after making the Finals in the 2006-07 season, going with unknowns and little star power while trying to compete in the stacked Western Conference.
Now the team's star players are Gordon Hayward and an unexpected revitalization of George Hill's career.
Over the past six years, Utah has finished 10 games within .500 or less both ways five times, ranging from .545 to .463. Not being an attractive destination for high-profile free agents, Utah has to lean on smart drafting, player development and quality adds like Hill to reverse the trend.
New Orleans Saints
3 of 10
Thanks to Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints enter each season as a team capable of blowing away the competition, running the NFC South and reaching the playoffs.
Then the team remembers it has to field a defense.
New Orleans has gone 7-9 in three of the past four seasons. The halfway point of the 2016 season says it all—the Saints are 4-4, Brees has 21 touchdowns to five interceptions and the defense allows averages of 300.0 passing yards (32nd), 108.5 rushing yards (19th) and 29.8 points (30th) per game.
Injuries haven't helped, but the Saints have failed Brees. Big adds such as Jairus Byrd haven't panned out, and shuffling schemes and coordinators doesn't happen overnight.
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Miami Marlins
4 of 10
Make that two Miami teams—maybe something in the water?
When the Miami Marlins make the playoffs, they win the World Series (see: 1997 and 2003).
The problem is getting there.
The Marlins have a .469 all-time winning percentage in the regular season. Given such a percentage, it's easier to name seasons when the team hasn't finished close to .500, but for perspective, the past three years have resulted in .475, .438 and .491 clips.
Miami doesn't lack talent with guys like Giancarlo Stanton around, but it's a matter of filling out the rest of the roster well and keeping strong runs in the summer going through the fall.
Buffalo Bills
5 of 10
Attempting to keep up with the New England Patriots in the AFC East has doomed more than one team.
The Buffalo Bills wrote the blueprint. Finishing 8-8 or worse 14 times since 2000 says it all.
In that span, there are plenty of interesting names such as J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards Ryan Fitzpatrick, EJ Manuel and Tyrod Taylor. The last name is probably the best, but the blame starts at the top.
Coaching. The coaches for Buffalo over the years read like a .500-extraordinaire list, with guys like Mike Mularkey, Chan Gailey and Doug Marrone leading the way.
Current head coach Rex Ryan? He has a .487 career winning percentage. Expect it to stay rather even—the Bills are currently 4-5.
Dallas Mavericks
6 of 10
The Dallas Mavericks have to thank their lucky stars that landing around .500 still produces playoff berths in the NBA.
Over the past five years (four first-round exits), Dallas has hit .545, .500 and .512. This fits well with the overall theme of the organization, as the Mavericks have an all-time .510 winning percentage in the regular season.
The problem has centered on surrounding Dirk Nowitzki with talent. That and buzz saws such as the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder existing.
But mostly talent. Recent guys like O.J. Mayo, Vince Carter and Darren Collison haven't gotten it done. Now the team turns to Harrison Barnes, a guy who has averaged 10.4 points per game over his career. The Mavericks have to hope an expanded role helps him blossom, though Nowitzki is now 38 years old, and the Mavericks have started 2-6.
San Diego Chargers
7 of 10
Philip Rivers is one of the more prominent NFL examples of how a middling team can waste away an elite talent.
The San Diego Chargers had a 421-420 all-time record entering this year, with varying levels of success along the way. Since the team's division win in 2009, though, the team has gone 9-7, 8-8, 7-9, 9-7, 9-7 and 4-12.
Over that span, the Chargers made the playoffs once.
San Diego hasn't done enough in terms of roster building. Draft busts such as Larry English have given way to strong-looking picks such as Joey Bosa, but the organization squabbled with him over a contract.
Combine this with injury woes, and the Chargers look like a team unwilling to blow it up, unable to compete and possibly ready to get the heck out of town.
Atlanta Braves
8 of 10
The Atlanta Braves flip-flopping over a rebuild this year sets a good stage for their case as .500 kings.
Atlanta has made the playoffs three times since 2006, all losses. Over that span, the team has never finished worse than .414 or better than .593. Given the amount of games in a season, this is a bigger range of numbers than most sports, but the point stands, given the team only has five divisional finishes of second or better during that span.
From 1991 to 2005, Atlanta won its division every year but one.
Atlanta goes through years of success before shrug-worthy stretches. This is yet another so-so stretch for the team, which has an all-time winning percentage of .504—including the postseason.
Los Angeles Rams
9 of 10
NFL fans had to know this was coming.
The Los Angeles Rams have consistently been a team to fear over the years. In other words, the Rams would go out and upset a contender before finding a way to lose three straight to terrible teams.
Indeed, the Rams are the definition of a trap game when one looks at an NFL team's schedule.
That doesn't win titles.
Since 2005, the Rams have mostly floated around .500 with two- and one-win seasons thrown in for good measure. The past four seasons have gone to the tune of a 7-8-1, 7-9, 6-10 and 7-9 drum.
Now the Rams are 3-5 and afraid to play 2016 No. 1 pick Jared Goff.
Bonus Round: Cleveland Browns
10 of 10
This is slightly cheating, but come on—it's the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns have finished with a losing record eight years in a row. Since returning in 1999, the team has made the playoffs once—in 2002 behind 18 touchdowns and interceptions from Tim Couch.
More than anything, this is about the Browns' all-time winning percentage, which sits exactly at .500. Even for the Browns, it's the first time the organization has accomplished the feat since 1950.
Even at 0-10, it's clear the Browns are headed in the right direction under new head coach Hue Jackson. The talent at fringe positions such as Terrelle Pryor Sr. at wideout and Jamie Collins at linebacker points toward good things.
The question is, though, whether the Browns will break out of this .500 tradition or further it.
Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.
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