Archive for the ‘Loser’ Category

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Your loser update: July 14, 2014.

Monday, July 14th, 2014

Red Klotz has passed away.

Klotz was a prep basketball standout in Philadelphia, twice being named that city’s high school player of the year before going on to play at Villanova. He was on the Baltimore Bullets’ 1947-48 NBA championship team. At 5 feet 7, he is tied with six others as the third-shortest NBA player ever, and was the shortest player ever to be on an NBA championship team.

He’s more famous, perhaps, as a coach, having lost “tens of thousands of games” while coaching such teams as the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, New York Nationals, International Elite, Global Select, World All-Stars…and, perhaps most famous of all, the Washington Generals.

Klotz himself was responsible for the Globetrotters’ last recognized loss, hitting a last-second shot in 1971 at age 51 while player-coach of the New Jersey Reds. He played against the Globetrotters until he was 68, and still played pickup games until a few years before his death.

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Since we’re at the All-Star break, it seems like a good time to do a baseball loser update. Unfortunately, it really isn’t a good year for losers.

Surprisingly, Houston isn’t at the bottom of the list. Heck, they’re not even at the bottom of their division. The Astros are 40-56, with a .417 winning percentage; a mark they share with Arizona. Colorado is 40-55, .421, and my Cubs are 40-54, .426.

At rock bottom are your Texas Rangers, at 38-57, for a .400 winning percentage. I’m not saying any of these records are “good”, but compared to where the Astros were at the break last year (33-61, .351), this looks like a ray of sunshine.

Posted in Clippings, Loser, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 10, 2013.

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

None.

I can almost, but not quite, understand Miami losing to Tampa Bay. Surely the Incognito situation was a distraction. But still, Tampa Bay stinks.

As far as Jacksonville beating Tennessee, that’s just baffling.

Anyway, thus ends the loser update for the 2013 season. See you again in 2014, assuming we’re all still here.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | 2 Comments »

Your loser update: week 9, 2013.

Monday, November 4th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Jacksonville (bye week)
Tampa Bay

(What the heck, Seattle?)

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 8, 2013.

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Jacksonville
Tampa Bay

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 7, 2013.

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Jacksonville
Tampa Bay

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 6, 2013.

Sunday, October 13th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Jacksonville
NY Giants
Tampa Bay

In other news: sigh. Sigh.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 5, 2013.

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Pittsburgh (bye week)
Jacksonville
NY Giants
Tampa Bay (bye week)

And Cleveland is 3-0 after the trade from hell?

WE’RE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS HERE, PEOPLE!

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 4, 2013.

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Pittsburgh
Jacksonville
NY Giants
Tampa Bay

And Cleveland has won two games in a row, which foils my plan to offer them Matt Schaub for next year’s first round draft pick.

In other news, the Astros played their last game of the season this afternoon, took the Yankees to 14 innings…and lost, 5-1. Houston finishes at 51-111, with a .315 winning percentage and having lost the last 15 games in a row.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Memos from the Sports Desk.

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

It is kind of early for a Sunday morning – I haven’t had breakfast yet, or even coffee – but I wanted to get these up before I wandered out in the rain (Yes! Actual rain!) in search of both.

Lane Kiffin out as USC football coach. USC lost 62-41 to Arizona State yesterday; if other reports are to be believed, Kiffin was fired before the plane even got back to LA.

Kiffin was 28-15 overall. So far this year, the team is 3-2 and 0-2 in conference.

And the Astros have hit the 110 loss mark with one game left in the season. Right now, the team is at .317. .300 is sort of the bar for Wikipedia’s “List of worst Major League Baseball season records”, so the 2013 Astros won’t make that list. But I do still find this achievement refreshing.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

Your Houston Astros, ladies and gentlemen.

Saturday, September 28th, 2013

109 losses, and 13 in a row.

But wait, it gets better!

Comcast SportsNet Houston, the cable network that carries the Astros games – the cable network that recorded a 0.0 Nielsen rating for last Sunday’s Astros game – is in a nasty dispute with various affiliates and with the Astros. According to the HouChron, CSN hasn’t paid rights fees to the Astros for the past five months three months. (Edited to add 9/29: I swear the article said “five months” when I read it Saturday morning, but everyone says “three months” now. I’m not sure if the HouChron got it wrong and corrected it, or if I misread the article originally.) The affiliates are unhappy because they believe “structural issues” are keeping CSN from expanding.

CSN Houston is available in only about 40 percent of Houston’s 2.2 million TV households and has not been able to negotiate carriage agreements with DirecTV, Dish Network, Suddenlink, AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS.

And thus, the Comcast/NBC Universal affiliates have filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition against CSN, apparently in an attempt to address these “structural issues”.

It just hasn’t been a good year for the Astros. Good thing I didn’t bet on them to win the World Series.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Loser, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

You spin me right round baby right round…

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

The Astros have broken their team record, and are now at 108 losses.

The team is off tonight, and starts their final series against the Yankees on Friday. Remember, the Astros have to win 2 out of 3 in order to avoid 110 losses.

And by the way, the Yankees won’t be playing in the post-season. I note this here just because it will make this guy unhappy.

Posted in Clippings, Loser, Schadenfreude, Sports | Comments Closed

And as the sun sinks slowly in the AL West…

Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

…the Astros have tied the franchise record of 107 losses.

There are four games left, so the team has to go .500 to avoid the magic 110 loss mark. The Astros play at the Rangers tonight, then play the Yankees at home for the final three games. Cool Standings is projecting 109.5 losses; I’m thinking the Astros should at least break their loss record, and 110 losses is definitely in play.

Posted in Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

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