Hat Boy Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 1985 patriotsThey were 11-5 in 1986 (same as in '85) and won the division. A first round playoff loss to the Broncos was a disappointment, but that is hardly fading back into obscurity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 The 1980s Patriots were in obscurity even as they were losing in the Super Bowl. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 2005 White Sox. Mediocre in 2003, mediocre in 2004, strong but missed the playoffs in 2006, awful in 2007, won the division in Game 163 in 2008, bad in 2009, but then couldn't do anything wrong in 2005. And when you look at that lineup, it's just guys like Scott Podsednik, Joe Crede, Juan Uribe, Aaron Rowand, Tadahito Iguchi, no real star to be found (Frank Thomas was hurt most of the year and missed the postseason; Jurassic Carl actually did most of the DHing), and no, A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye do not constitute stars. They got deal-with-the-devil pitching out of Jose Contreras, El Duque, and Jon Garland, to say nothing of Dustin Hermanson, Neal Cotts, and whoever else was spotless in relief. What the hell. I hate that team so much.EDIT: your post showed up right after I posted!Here's why you're wrong: They won the division in 2000. The Sox were a really talented young team, ranked in 2000 as the best farm system in baseball by Baseball America. The 2001 and 2002 teams were victims of really bad injuries and some of the worst managing imaginable, but still managed to be at or above .500. The fatal flaw in 2003 was a complete lack of fifth starters. They were something like 2-30 out of that spot for the season, trying about 8 different guys. Even with that, they still should have won the division, but they fell apart late, crawling into their shells and getting terrified after the Twins pulled-off some incredibly Twinsy fluke crap. The 2004 team was in first place in July when it lost Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez for the season. It's going to be really damn hard for any team to make the playoffs missing its two best run producers.In 2006, the pitching was out of shape from being overworked through the playoffs the year before, then partying all offseason. They just bombed in the second half, but still won 90 games. 2007 was an "everything went wrong" season, but that same core came back in 2008 and won the division, even with Konerko being terrible from an injured wrist and Nick Swisher being horrendous and making everyone in the lockerroom want to punch him in the face. Also, they played the last month of the season without Carlos Quentin, who would have easily been AL MVP had he not stupidly smacked his bat and broke his wrist. If that doesn't happen, they don't need game 163, and they likely make noise in the playoffs.As for 2005, they had plenty of stuff not go right. They were without Frank Thomas for the first two months of the season. He (allegedly) got bad medical advice in 2004, then couldn't have foot surgery until the offseason, causing him to miss time. He came back, was an incredible force for a month, then got injured again. Dustin Hermanson was doing really well until his back fell apart. El Duque was doing fairly well, then he started getting injured and finished with a 4.87 ERA. He should have asked the devil to cancel the deal. With each case, they had someone to step in. Hermanson (who stepped in for Shingo Takatsu), was replaced by Bobby Jenks, who ended up being a really solid closer for a good 5 years. Hernandez was replaced by Brandon McCarthy, who was great for them down the stretch. Frank was replaced by Carl Everett, who also had a really good season. Joe Crede came into his own and finally figured it out in 2005. In the second half, he fixed his swing, then had a great playoff season. He was great in 2006 until his back betrayed him. Anyway, that was not a flash in the pan. Crede was an MVP-level player at every stop of his minor league career. He was great defensively, and a force offensively. His back ruined his career, but he was well on his way to becoming one of the best 3B in baseball. Rowand was okay, but his career year was 2004. Podsednik did what you need a lead-off guy to do - get on base and steal some. Uribe played great defense while still giving you a good amount of power from SS. Pierzynski gave power from the C spot and was a solidifying force for the pitching staff. As for Dye, he was a star. Look at his early career. He was an all-star and well on his way to becoming a perennial one when he had the awful leg injury in the playoffs with Oakland. That set him back in his career a few years, but in 2005 he was healthy and finally produced again. He hit 31 homers in 2005, 44 in 2006 when he was an MVP candidate the whole year, 28 in an injured mess of a 2007, and 34 in 2008. Sometime around the middle of 2006, he pretty much gave up trying on defense, but before that he was an excellent defender, too. As for Jose Contreras, that was right place-right time. He got huge money from the Yankees because he was expected to be that guy. After close to a year with the Sox of bumbling and walking everybody, he and the pitching coach finally figured it out. He was the best pitcher in baseball for a calendar year until, you guessed it, he started getting injured in July 2006. Jose reached his peak, dominated, then his body started falling apart at age 34. Not a fluke. Freddy Garcia was a really good pitcher for several years. However, in 2006 he completely lost his stuff, throwing BP for much of the year. So Garcia's 2005 wasn't replicated because he also fell apart physically. He wasn't a fluke.Basically, Garland came into his own in 2005, then performed slightly worse than that for a few seasons afterwards. Mark Buehrle did what he always does. El Duque was a top line starter at one time, who gave them the tail end of his career. Freddy Garcia and Jose Contereas were top-liners who fell apart physically afterwards. Crede was growing star when his back fell apart. Dye was even better in 2006. Rowand was traded. Uribe continued being maddeningly inconsistent (but with great D), and AJ continued hitting well afterwards. So basically, the only arguable flukes are Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte, who was in his prime and at the end of his rope in 2005. Those two were hugely important, but two setup guys don't make a team a fluke. Basically, it was a talented bunch of players. Some underachieved beforehand, some got injured afterwards, and a few had fluke seasons. Still, they were in the hunt late into the season almost all of those years. 2005 was the perfect mix of good acquisitions, young guys blossoming, and getting the most out of a few guys who turned out to be at the end of their ropes. The question isn't "was 2005 a fluke?" it's "why did they it up a handful of other seasons?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camden Crazy Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I saw someone list the 2010 Flyers...we've only missed the playoffs twice since 2000 and are more often than not one of the top seeds in the conference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unocal Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Here's a sneaky baseball one- 1979 California Angels.First time they ever made the playoffs after nearly 2 decades. And save for Baylor/Carew, most of that team was gone by the time they won in '82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 who has two thumbs and isn't gonna read 1,100 words on the White Sox ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CS85 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 which fanbase has two thumbs and isn't gonna attend White Sox home games Quote "You are nothing more than a small cancer on this message board. You are not entertaining, you are a complete joke." twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still MIGHTY Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 07 Ducks Uh, no. They went to the Conference Final in 2006, won the Cup in 2007, then made the playoffs the two years after. Hell, they've made the playoffs 5 of the last 7 years. I believe they would have been even better had Selanne/Niedermayer not gone back and forth on retirement and screwed with the salary cap and Burke botch the recovery. If you want to put a Ducks team, it's the 2003 Mighty Ducks. Last in the division four of the five years prior, excluding 1999 when they were eviscerated by the Red Wings and including finishing 15th and 13th in the West in 2001 and 2002. 2003 hits and the Giguere magic hurls them through a miraculous Game 7 Finals run. Then they flop back to 12th in the West in 2004, then the lockout. | ANA | LAA | LAR | LAL | ASU | CSULB | USMNT | USWNT | LAFC | OCSC | MAN UTD | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS729 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Miami basketball 20132010 Auburn Tigers (Football)2012 Notre Dame Football (at least appears to be)2004 Greece (Euro)2011 Detroit Lions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Six Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 07 DucksUh, no. They went to the Conference Final in 2006, won the Cup in 2007, then made the playoffs the two years after. Hell, they've made the playoffs 5 of the last 7 years. I believe they would have been even better had Selanne/Niedermayer not gone back and forth on retirement and screwed with the salary cap and Burke botch the recovery.If you want to put a Ducks team, it's the 2003 Mighty Ducks. Last in the division four of the five years prior, excluding 1999 when they were eviscerated by the Red Wings and including finishing 15th and 13th in the West in 2001 and 2002. 2003 hits and the Giguere magic hurls them through a miraculous Game 7 Finals run. Then they flop back to 12th in the West in 2004, then the lockout.Making the Conference Final in 06 is fine, but those two playoff appearances in 08 and 09 were not exactly "hits." They definitely failed to follow up on their dominant 07 run. Have only won two playoff rounds total since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganPackers Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 The 1991 Detroit Lions was the first and only Lions team ever to win a playoff game. They had losing records each of the seven season previous (1984-90) and went 5-11 the next year (1992).The 2002 Buccaneers were the only Bucs team ever to win 2 playoff games.The 2005 White Sox was the first White Sox team to win a postseason series since their 1917 World Series squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwabel Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 The 1991 Detroit Lions was the first and only Lions team ever to win a playoff game. They had losing records each of the seven season previous (1984-90) and went 5-11 the next year (1992).The 2002 Buccaneers were the only Bucs team ever to win 2 playoff games.The 2005 White Sox was the first White Sox team to win a postseason series since their 1917 World Series squad.However DET still made the playoffs in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997. '97 was the first year under Bobby Ross, so we can go back and mock Wayne Fontes, but he got the team to "The Tournament" four times in his final six seasons, with average or less QBs (Erik Kramer/Scott Mitchell/Dave Krieg/Don Majkowski/Frank Reich) throwing some decent or better WRs. They should have own the 1993 Wildcard game with the deep pass to Sharpe, and while Barry ran for -1 yards in the 1994 game in Lambeau, they only lost that 16-12 with only 171 net yards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(probably)notabandwagonfan Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Who forgot that the Astros and White Sox were in the 2005 World Series before this thread?*hand raises slowly* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueYankee26 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Who forgot that the Astros and White Sox were in the 2005 World Series before this thread?*hand raises slowly*There were many mentions of the 05 White Sox in this thread! trueyankee26.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHcreative Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 who has two thumbs and isn't gonna read 1,100 words on the White SoxWho has two thumbs and finds it humorous that you actually took the time to copy and paste that into Word to get a word count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 It was an estimate, but now that I did, hey, 1,040! That's almost close enough to win both showcases. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 which fanbase has two thumbs and isn't gonna attend White Sox home gamesOnce again, the Cubs triumphantly bring home the attendance trophy. Don't let anyone tell you your team is a colossal embarrassment, because people go to games. When is the parade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I don't think the Cubs are winning any attendance trophies anymore ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDR Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 If you're not down with the Chicago White Sox, we got two words for ya:Jose Abreu!Might as well retire that #79 right now. Then again, I once speculated – on these very boards –that Mark Buerhle could sneak into the Hall of Fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ateles fusciceps Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 According to ESPN?1996 Dallas Cowboys1997 Dallas Cowboys1998 Dallas Cowboys1999 Dallas Cowboys2000 Dallas Cowboys2001 Dallas Cowboys2002 Dallas Cowboys2003 Dallas Cowboys2004 Dallas Cowboys2005 Dallas Cowboys2006 Dallas Cowboys2007 Dallas Cowboys2008 Dallas Cowboys2009 Dallas Cowboys2010 Dallas Cowboys2011 Dallas Cowboys2012 Dallas Cowboys2013 Dallas CowboysEvery summer they anoint Dallas, yet every fall Dallas fails to defend their summer crown. Such one hit wonders.Atlanta Braves14 straight division titles yet only 1 World Series ringEven the crappy Marlins are able to grab 2 World Series titles out of that division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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