The 1899 Cleveland Spiders vs. 2008 Detroit Lions: What Makes Both Teams Notoriously Awful?
In the wise words of Journey: Some will win, some will lose. What the rock band forgot to mention is that some will lose a lot. When it comes to sports, two notoriously bad teams stand out from the rest: For baseball, it’s the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, and for football, it’s the 2008 Detroit Lions. What’s behind these epic, pro-level fails?
WHAT HAPPENED? More from Robb Report Owner Frank Robison also owned the St. Louis Perfectos and transferred all the Spiders’ best players there. | WHAT HAPPENED? The team had one of the worst defenses of all time, allowing 517 points across the season. |
HOW MANY GAMES DID THEY LOSE? (out of 154) 134 | HOW MANY GAMES DID THEY LOSE? 16 (out of 16) |
YOU’RE FIRED! The team was disbanded after the season, so technically everybody got the boot. | YOU’RE FIRED! Head coach Rod Marinelli, plus three other coaches, were sent packing. |
WORST TRADE All of them? Trading future Hall of Famer CY Young to St. Louis probably hurt the most, though. | WORST TRADE Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers to the Cleveland Browns, because, according to Sports Illustrated, the team “didn’t like this attitude.” |
WELL, THAT WAS WEIRD The team let a shop clerk pitch in exchange for a box of cigars on the last day of the season. | WELL, THAT WAS WEIRD Quarterback Dan Orlovsky accidentally ran out of bounds in his own end zone, giving the Minnesota Vikings two points. The Lions lost 12-10 pounds. |
WORST PLAYER Pitcher Frank Bates. According to The Cleveland Press he succeeded only in “turning almost every game into a howling farce.” | WORST PLAYER Dan Olovsky (see above). |
WORST BLOWOUT In a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, they didn’t score a single run, losing 10–0 and 5–0. | WORST BLOWOUT They lost 42-7 to the New Orleans Saints in the last home game of the season. |
TOUGH CROWD Total attendance was only 3,179 after their first 16 home games. They played almost all matches on the road after that. Sportswriters referred to them as “the Wanderers” or “the Exiles.” | TOUGH CROWD Center Dominic Raiola flipped off heckling fans and challenged them to a fight, later saying he would them his address so they could go at it face-to-face. He was fined $7,500. Nobody took him up on it. |
FINAL THOUGHTS At the end of the season, the Spiders gave a diamond locket to George Muir, the team’s traveling secretary, because, as per the dedication, he “had the misfortune to watch us in all our games.” | FINAL THOUGHTS “I’ve got to live with this. This is on my resume.” -Dominic Raiola after the Lions officially went 0-16. |
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