Miami Heat and the Best Bad Sports Teams in Recent History
Every sports fan has had their share of heartache.
While fans of teams like the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Clippers seem endlessly yearning for some form of success, there are an equal if not greater number of fans who are let down by teams that never quite lived up to the hype.
Invariably, there is at least one disappointing team in every one of the four major sports every year, so let's take a look at some of the ones that really stand out above the rest.
10. 2001 Seattle Mariners
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This Mariners team wasn't bad until it really mattered most—in the postseason.
After winning 116 games in the regular season, many had the Mariners written in as World Series Champions before the playoffs even began.
Kaz Sasaki, Aaron Sele and Brett Tomko led the charge for the pitching staff that was shored up by an offense that featured fan favorites Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez, John Olerud and even a young Ichiro Suzuki.
After narrowly escaping the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, the Mariners were handled so easily by the Yankees that many forgot how good they actually were during the year.
It's just another sad reminder that there is no prize for first place finisher of the regular season.
9. 2008 New York Yankees
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Sure, on paper this team was good, but baseball isn't played on paper.
Yes, A-Rod, Cano and Jeter played their normal roles. But it wasn't quite enough.
An offensive charge fueled by aging veterans like Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui, this Yankees team was the first one to miss the postseason since before the 1996 season.
With Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano and even Sidney Ponson taking the hill, this was the year that all of the big-splash free agent acquisitions would begin to decline and really come back to bite the team in the behind.
Proof that money can't buy you wins in the MLB; this is a season that GM Brian Cashman would probably like to forget.
8. 2010-11 Cincinnati Bengals
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In what has been a season of disappointment for several NFL teams, the talent level on this squad should produce much more than just a lowly 2-9 record.
Dead last in the division behind even the Cleveland Browns, many projected this offense as one of the most prolific in the NFL. With QB Carson Palmer at the helm and Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens outside as his weapons, some even predicted this team as a dark horse candidate to take home the division this season.
Instead, the former No. 1 overall pick has fallen flat on his face and really looks to be on the downslide of his career. With a defense that can't seem to stop anybody and an offense that's having significant trouble moving the ball down the field against any opposition, this Bengals team is perhaps the most disappointing in a long line of sadness for the Cincinnati squad and their fan base.
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7. 2010 Texas Longhorns
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In the post-Colt McCoy era, many Longhorns fans thought this team could pick up right where they left off.
Guess not.
If they had lost three games this season, it'd be considered a serious shocker and a major disappointment. Four or five losses would be a monstrosity.
Nobody thought it'd get this bad. This team was just too talented.
Ranked in the top five in every preseason poll on the planet, the Mack Brown-led Texas team has fallen well short of expectations this season.
Standing at just 5-7 on the campaign, it's clear that this football team has a long way to go if they hope to turn the program around.
6. 2003-04 Oakland Raiders
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Rich Gannon at the helm, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown outside and a Terrence Wheatley and Charlie Garner pairing in the backfield had hopes riding high for the silver and black in 2003.
Pair that potent offense with a very talented secondary of Rod Woodson, Charles Woodson and Phillip Buchanon, and it's easy to see why fans were so excited coming off of an 11-5 season. However, watching them play was a downright miserable experience.
Whatever could go wrong, went wrong for that Raiders team. Rice & Brown had just two scores a piece for the entire season, and that was tied for the team lead. No quarterback on the roster threw for over 1,500 yards, and despite the dynamic names on the defensive side, the team gave up an average of 23.7 points per contest.
5. 2010-11 Dallas Cowboys
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You know they had to make the list.
With the Super Bowl being played in Dallas this season, many thought that the Cowboys could be the first team to ever play in the championship game with a true home field advantage. Things didn't quite turn out as expected in Big D.
After beginning the season with an awful 1-6 record and a sidelined QB Tony Romo, the team fired Wade Phillips. With very little chance of making the postseason, much less all the way to the Super Bowl, anything short of a .500 season would be an atrocity.
Mogul owner Jerry Jones has been very public in his support of the team all the way through, but perhaps rather than throwing money blindly around, he should allocate some dough to dish out to a real General Manager and President, so the Cowboys can return to being America's Team again.
4. 2004 USA Basketball Olympic Team
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A team that was stacked with LeBron, Carmelo and D-Wade was a massive disappointment at the 2004 games.
Heavily favored to bring home the gold medal, the USA squad was manhandled in their opening game against Puerto Rico, 92-73. After narrowly skating by both Greece and Australia, the US lost once again, this time to the surprising squad from Lithuania.
After a destruction against Angola had the team's confidence moving in the right direction, the boys finally showed up and laid down a convincing victory against a very talented Spain team.
Unfortunately, a follow up loss to Argentina showed that this team was anything but infallible, and they brought home a lowly bronze medal when it was all said and done.
3. 2010-11 Miami Heat
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While the jury is certainly still out, this has been an epic failure thus far in every sense of the phrase.
Looking stagnant, out of sync and a downright mess, the Heat and their utter mediocrity have been a national disappointment after a summer that was filled with nothing but hype.
While some predicted that this team would challenge the all-time wins record (72), it's very apparent that this squad is nowhere near that pinnacle of greatness.
After soaking up the attention all summer in what many considered to be the biggest display of narcissism on the professional scale, the "Big 3" in Miami are looking awfully small and are failing miserably to deliver on expectations.
There's plenty of time for LeBron, D-Wade and CB4 to figure things out in South Beach but perhaps the only time they'll be able to do that is when they begin to focus all of the attention back where it belongs.
The game of basketball.
2. 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers
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Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone all on the same roster. How could anyone in the league possibly compete with this team?
Finishing just 56-26 on the regular season, it never seemed that the four got on the same page with one another. Regularly battling issues with chemistry, the question began to pervade whether or not this experiment was going to work.
With both Malone and Payton in town on one-year deals, this was an all-in attempt to take home a championship. Unfortunately, this was about the same time when Kobe & Shaq's relationship began to turn sour, and their on-court play with one another wasn't quite what it had been previously.
It didn't matter, as the talent level overcame all issues on the team and the Lakers found themselves back in the finals. Heavily favored over the Detroit Pistons, the team completely fell apart and lost the series 4-1.
1. 2007 New York Mets
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After a 2006 season that saw them just a hanging curveball away from a trip to the World Series, hopes were high in New York entering 2007.
With a seven-game lead on September 12th, the Mets were sitting comfortably atop the division. Unfortunately, they weren't comfortable enough.
In what is considered by many to be the worst late-season collapse in history, the Mets blew their division lead, losing 12 of the final 17 games and missed the postseason.
With a roster that featured Ricky Ledee, David Newhan, Ruben Gotay, Chan Ho Park and Marlon Anderson, it's no wonder they weren't built for the stretch run.
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