Worst Run PRO Sports Franchise

Texas Rangers (horrific pitching, bad manager, bad acquisitions in recent years, lineup that can't play small ball)
Tampa Bay D-Rays (an abortion of a major league team)
San Francisco 49ers (amazing since it used to be they were one of the best)

 

Would like to throw the Boston Bruins out there as some food for thought. Were a 100+ point team two season ago, now there is absolutely nothing left of that team and no apparent real direction. Still can't get over how they sign Thronton long term the ship him out of town two months into the season and get second tier guys in return. That was not all the GM's fault. the franchise has been running in circles for decades.

 

Pittsburgh Pirates get my vote

 

Has no one mentioned the Toronto Raptors?

 

Both are good. This sounds strange, but what about the Marlins?

 

I don't care about their acquisitions or their drafts. It's the place where football -- even Buddyball -- goes to die.

 

Not an NFL guys, but three teams come to mind:

Houston Texans: Passing on Reggie Bush might not prove to be as big a shit-the-bed move as it now appears, but it was simply the wrong decision made at the wrong time and a gamble by a team with no political capital of which to speak.

Tennessee Titans: Their dealings with McNair were the definition of no class and their house-divided routine on draft day is going to really make them look like a bunch of amateurs if Vince Young goes bust.

Minnesota Vikings: They win more than many, but they might be the biggest joke in all of sports over the past few years.

 

I thought about putting them on my list, but the new ownership group leaves me playing wait-and-see. Some of the things they've done so far, like lowering ticket prices and eliminating parking fees at team-owned lots, is very surprising. They completely overhauled the front office in the offseason, too.

Besides, they're better than the Royals, took 2 of 3 at Philadelphia last weekend and just broomed the D-Backs.

 

The Cubs, despite sucking ass, will make money. In bottom line speak, that's not poorly run. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, are a travesty. Who doesn't show their home games on TV? It's the freaking 21st century! And now they are running the play by play man out of town because he was being too harsh (borrowing from the Cubs. So I guess they do go hand in hand). The Wirtz family took a sport that once thrived in its market, as anyone who ever went to Chicago Stadium can attest, and flat-out killed it by plugging Bob Pulford in every role in the organization save goalie and not moving forward with the times. It doesn't get any worse than that.

 

It's got to be the Knicks.

 

Hmm. Time to comment on the thread I started. Lots of good nominees, so I won't recap everything just respond to a things.

Spackler brings up an interesting point. I sort of left things open-ended on purpose. It sounds silly, but there really are different ways to judge how successfully a franchise is run. Is it all about wins and losses or does how much money a team makes count, too? I left it open-ended on purpose so people could defend their choices as they wished. With some of the nominees in baseball, how you judge is relavent though. While I don't have the balance sheets for the Marlins, I will say they do run their franchise wierdly and don't do a great job attracting fans to the ballpark. But they have won 2 WS in the last 10 years. I'll join the course on the Royals and Pirates. They both seem to follow the same script of cheap kids with signing aging veterans every few years sprinkled in.

Not a big hockey fan, but universally my hockey buddies say what's happened to the Hawks is sad, so I'll join the course on that. And chime in on their home TV thing, too, as a reason to call them a poorly run franchise. I think there were some points in the past few years (when the NHL was playing) that the Wolves, the minor league team in Chicago, was close to outdrawing the Hawks and they might have actually outdrawn them a few times. I know it was at least close a few times.

In the NBA, the Knicks seem to have vaulted themselves to the top with today's move. Huge payroll, minimal wins. Giving away that draft pick to the Bulls. Signing Brown for huge bucks and canning him a year later. This inexplicable infatuation with Thomas, who had a track record of failure before even getting to NY. Raptors also seem pretty bad. And the Hawks have been a joke for years.

Moving onto the NFL, how has nobody mentioned the Lions? Pretty bad before Millen got there as far as championships. And how is Millen still there? Another perennial favorite is the Cardinals. I know nobody want to harsh on anything New Orleans-related, but the Saints have to be in this discussion, too. One playoff win in nearly 40 years. The Texans are pretty bad, too. So it will be interesting to see, which player turns out to be the bust. Because, historically, you'd think Reggie Bush would blow out a knee since bad things always happen to the Saints, but since a not so great team (The Texans) passed on him will he turn to be a star?

Another thing interesting about this thread and it's been brought up is how fast a well-regarded franchise can lose it (San Francisco) and possibly vice versa (Tampa Bay)?

 

It's way too easy to rip the Pirates...I'll go with the Knicks.