If you’re a fan of Chicago’s skilled sports activities groups, then it’s been a principally forgettable yr.
Okay, there have been a couple of highlights. The Blackhawks chosen 17-year-old Canadian phenom Connor Bedard with the No. 1 decide within the NHL draft. The Bears additionally had the primary decide for the primary time in 77 years in April’s NFL draft however traded it to the Carolina Panthers.
Otherwise, disappointment has been a standard theme. The Bulls let a late lead slip away in a 102-91 loss to the Miami Heat on April 14, ending their season 1 win shy of a playoff berth after which misplaced the NBA lottery for a first-round decide. The Sky, regardless of shedding star gamers and their coach/common supervisor James Wade, made the primary spherical of the WNBA playoffs in September — however have been rapidly swept by the Las Vegas Aces, the league’s reigning champions.
Need extra proof? Take Sunday, for instance. The Cubs have been shutout 4-0 by the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field and closed the season by shedding 15 of their final 22 video games. Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts described the up-and-down 83-79 yr as “four different seasons” from getting off to an OK begin and the next stoop that almost derailed the season to rallying again over .500 and the tough ultimate three weeks in September.
“It’s tough to not achieve your goal,” Ricketts mentioned. “It’s tough when you’re just a couple of games away from making the playoffs. And it’s extra tough that for a while there it looked pretty likely so it feels like something got taken away.”
The White Sox misplaced for the one hundred and first time in the course of the workforce’s ultimate residence recreation of the season at Guaranteed Rate Field. It’s simply the fifth time in franchise historical past the Sox have misplaced 100 video games. Teams from 1932 (49-102), 1948 (51-101), 1970 (56-106) and 2018 (62-100) additionally reached the doubtful distinction.
Just three miles to the north, the Bears blew a 21-point result in the Denver Broncos — regardless of quarterback Justin Fields topping 300 passing yards for the primary time in his profession and in addition throwing a career-high 4 landing passes — for his or her 14th straight loss. The Bears go to the Washington Commanders tonight for “Thursday Night Football.” Spoiler alert: None of the Tribune’s sports activities reporters suppose the Bears will win.
We know — there’s all the time subsequent yr. But what for those who can’t look away? What if it’s your job to look at and write a couple of workforce that’s in a tailspin?
Former longtime sports activities reporter Don Pierson lined the Bears for the Tribune from the late Nineteen Sixties via the workforce’s Feb. 4, 2007 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. He skilled the groups highs and lows for nearly 5 many years, so I requested him what it was wish to observe the Bears in the course of the 1969 season — once they received simply 1 recreation. Does he contemplate that to be the workforce’s worst season ever?
“Despite Bob Markus’s 1994 story about there being nothing funny about the 1969 season, I recall some hilarious things. But I have always maintained that it was NOT the worst team in Bears history,” Pierson mentioned. “Worst report, however belief me, I’ve seen worse groups together with, to this point, the one we’re witnessing now.
“In 1969, the quarterback chaos was the overarching drama, however what Bears season doesn’t have QB drama?
“Gale Sayers led the league in speeding in 1969 although he was coming off devastating knee surgical procedure and Dick Butkus was voted NFL defensive participant of the yr, an unbelievable feat on a workforce that loses 13 video games. Six of their 13 losses have been one-score video games. Two of their most lopsided losses have been to the Vikings, who had a terrific Super Bowl-bound workforce.
“So let’s hear it for the good old days of 1969!” Pierson mentioned.
Terrible seasons may be within the eye of the beholder — or sports activities reporter, on this case — so what follows is a glance again on the season when every of Chicago’s present professional sports activities groups skilled its fewest wins.
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Bears: 1969 season (1-13)
“If it were a book, it would be written by Stephen King. If it were a movie, it would be scripted by Brian DePalma. The year was 1969, the worst season in Bears history. Try to forget it. Just try,” Tribune reporter Robert Markus wrote on the 25-year anniversary of the 1969 workforce.
In their second season below Jim Dooley, who changed George Halas as coach, the Bears misplaced 17-0 of their season opener to the Packers in Green Bay and began the season 0-7. They notched their solely win, 38-7, towards a Pittsburgh Steelers workforce that additionally went 1-13.
That win, nonetheless, would come again to chunk the Bears. Running again Gale Sayers returned from a knee damage to hurry for 1,032 yards in his final full season, however the huge controversy of the season surrounded three beginning quarterbacks — Bobby Douglass, Jack Concannon and Virgil Carter — as Dooley tried unsuccessfully to elevate his workforce out of its funk.
Carter received his alternative late within the season, however Dooley pulled him at halftime of a loss to the Packers, and Carter referred to as him “gutless and a liar.” Carter additionally mentioned he hoped administration wouldn’t be “chicken(bleep)” sufficient to make him return to Chicago the next season to play out his choice. The outburst earned Carter a $1,000 superb from the group, and he left the workforce a recreation early.
A extra critical and heartbreaking second within the season was that working again Brian Piccolo was identified with most cancers after he went to docs for a persistent cough and so they discovered a chest tumor. He died about seven months later.
Blackhawks: 1927-28 season (7-34-3)
Pete Muldoon was the primary Hawks coach in franchise historical past. Fired after one season, he reportedly mentioned, “This team will never finish in first place,” a press release that later grew to become often known as the “Curse of Muldoon.”
Now, there are those that declare it by no means occurred, that Muldoon simply packed up his hockey stick and quietly left city. Yet, the end result of the workforce’s second season in Chicago — with solely 7 wins in 44 video games and a last-place end within the league’s rankings — made some marvel if the curse have been actual.
Playing within the previous Chicago Coliseum, the Hawks opened 1-0-1 and rapidly went downhill from there, posting two 10-game shedding streaks, together with one to (mercifully) finish the season. Charlie Gardner absorbed a lot of the pounding, beginning in purpose for 40 video games and posting a good 2.84 goals-against common. Duke Keats “led” the workforce in scoring with 14 targets and 22 factors.
The frustration reached a boiling level within the final recreation of the season — a 6-1 loss to the Rangers within the Coliseum. Keats and New York defenseman Ching Johnson squared off in a bitter brawl that required gamers from each groups, the referee and two uniformed policemen to interrupt up. The followers had had sufficient too. Three instances in the course of the recreation, play stopped for attendants to clear the ice of newspapers showered down from the stands.
Not one coach might take all of the blame. Barney Stanley, who presided over a 21-game stretch through which his Hawks went 3-17-1, was fired on Jan. 18, 1928. His alternative was Hugh Lehman, who had began the season as goalie. Lehman’s report was 4-17-2.
The subsequent season, the Hawks posted an analogous report (7-29-8) that included a 15-game winless streak at residence and an NHL report variety of shut outs at residence — 20 instances in a 44-game schedule.
Bulls: 1998-99 season (13-37)
The “Last Dance” season of 1997-98 produced a sixth championship in eight years for the Bulls with Michael Jordan nonetheless on the peak of his powers. But the dynasty got here to a halt. Jordan retired for the second time, Scottie Pippen was despatched to the Houston Rockets in a sign-and-trade deal and coach Phil Jackson went on his first sabbatical.
The subsequent season didn’t start till February 1999 due to a lockout. Unlike the data that Michael Jordan & Co. produced all through the ‘90s, this one could be memorable because of shedding — quite a bit.
Only a couple of holdovers remained from the championship workforce, and the Bulls headed right into a sure shedding season for the primary time since Jordan’s first few seasons within the league. Toni Kukoc led the workforce in factors (18.8), rebounds (7.0) and assists (5.3) per recreation. The Bulls, in the meantime, scuffled to simply 13 wins (a .260 successful proportion) throughout a season shortened to 50 video games.
And the 1998-99 workforce nonetheless holds a doubtful place in NBA historical past — the Bulls scored simply 49 factors throughout an April 10, 1999 loss to the Heat, the fewest factors by any workforce because the shot clock was launched for the 1954-55 season. Tribune reporter Terrence E. Armour described it like this: “In a season of lows, this was the absolute bottom. This was the pits. This was the deepest abyss.”
Twenty-five years after Jordan performed his ultimate recreation for the franchise, the workforce has but to return to the NBA Finals. The Bulls have been to the Eastern Conference finals solely as soon as since 1998, getting dispatched by LeBron James and the Heat in 5 video games in 2011.
Cubs: 1962 and 1966 seasons (59-103)
The second season of the ill-fated “College of Coaches” experiment didn’t work in 1962, and the Cubs misplaced a franchise-record 103 video games. Charlie Metro, one of many coaches, recalled that one other coach, Elvin Tappe, as soon as modified his lineup with out telling him.
“I tacked up my lineup and threw the other one in the (toilet),” Metro mentioned. “Either Ron Santo or Ernie Banks, I don’t keep in mind who it was, mentioned, ‘Which lineup are we going to use?’ And I mentioned, ‘The one that’s received my identify on it.’
Leo Durocher took over the Cubs at age 60 and made his well-known declaration that they weren’t an eighth-place ball membership, pointing to the younger expertise within the clubhouse. He was proper. The Cubs misplaced eight of their first 9 video games in 1966 and completed tenth, tying the franchise report with 103 losses.
In late August Durocher was so flummoxed, he ripped the bullpen cellphone off the dugout wall on the Astrodome when the new-age scoreboard made enjoyable of him in a cartoon. The saving grace was the Cubs now had a pitching nucleus with starters Fergie Jenkins and Ken Holtzman, who together with Banks, Santo, Billy Williams and others started a turnaround one yr later.
Fire: 2020 season (5-8-10)
Few issues in regards to the 2020 Major League Soccer season turned out the best way the Fire would have hoped.
The workforce received no highway video games and have been winless of their ultimate 6 matches.
But the chance was there for the Fire to achieve the postseason for the primary time since 2017, thanks in no small half to a more-than-generous playoff line that gave 10 of 14 groups within the Eastern Conference a shot at successful the MLS Cup.
And beneficiant or not, clinching a playoff berth would have been an inexpensive accomplishment for the Fire of their first season below sporting director Georg Heitz, technical director Sebastian Pelzer and coach Raphael Wicky.
But like most of their plans that season, the Fire let the chance slip and missed out on the postseason.
Red Stars: 2023 season (7-3-10)
The workforce’s struggles went past the pitch when it grew to become clear 11 months in the past the Red Stars seemingly would should be offered.
The membership eliminated proprietor Arnim Whisler from all participation in membership or managerial operations within the wake of an October 2022 report compiled by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates — a 319-page doc titled “Report of the Independent Investigation to the U.S. Soccer Federation Concerning Allegations of Abusive Behavior and Sexual Misconduct in Women’s Professional Soccer” — discovered the National Women’s Soccer League to be a haven for predators and abusers.
The Yates report included descriptions of abuse and harassment allegedly perpetrated by former Red Stars coach Rory Dames and allegedly lined up by Whisler.
The workforce was put up on the market in late 2022.
“My personal mission and my personal belief is that we need women in positions of power and leadership. We all need it, not just women need it, but as a society, as a planet.” Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts informed the Tribune final yr.
Ricketts spearheaded an funding group that formally grew to become the brand new proprietor of the Chicago Red Stars on Sept. 1 after approval from the NWSL Board of Governors. Ricketts additionally joined 5 different girls in changing into minority house owners of the Sky in June.
The Red Stars have been bought for $35.5 million, a report for an present NWSL membership, with one other $25 million earmarked to be put into the workforce.
Sky: 2006 season (5-29)
By the time the credit rolled on “Chicago Sky: Season One,” a few issues have been clear, if not public data.
First, the workforce that registered the worst report within the WNBA at 5-29 confronted a steep climb to respectability.
Second, coach/common supervisor Dave Cowens could be rappelling on a distinct mountain.
“I was talking to (owner) Michael Alter and (CEO) Margaret Stender and told them I didn’t think I was going to come back and wanted to pursue some avenues and some opportunities in the NBA,” Cowens mentioned. “We had a long talk, and they understood where I was coming from.”
Cowens mentioned he loved teaching the Sky however conceded he didn’t initially grasp the variations between teaching women and men. By method of instance, he mentioned it took him some time to understand WNBA gamers craved order and planning, whereas he coached by the NBA mannequin of leaving ample room for freelancing and improvisation.
A vivid spot was Candice Dupree, the 6-2 ahead from Temple taken by the Sky with the No. 6 decide within the 2006 WNBA draft. Dupree was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star workforce.
White Sox: 1970 season (56-106)
Before 2018, the Sox’s final 100-loss season got here in 1970, once they completed 56-106 below three managers, together with Don Gutteridge, who was let go on Sept. 2, 1970 after asking for assurance he could be again in 1971.
But the 1970 workforce wasn’t anticipated to compete from the outset. The rebuilding Sox had misplaced 95 video games in 1968 — their first non-winning season since 1950 — and 94 video games in 1969. Third-base coach Don Gutteridge took over for supervisor Al Lopez in May 1969, and guided the 1970 Sox, together with a younger Bill Melton.
“There was no free agency then, so they decided to go with every young guy they could find,” Melton informed the Tribune in 2013. “They got rid of most everybody but Joe Horlen and Tommy John. That was the beginning of the youth movement, much like they do today, except now they can insert free agents to improve the club. And there was a recession going on, and the bottom line is they didn’t draw like they do today.”
And the Sox’s youth motion wasn’t restricted to the sector. The workforce additionally employed Nancy Faust — a North Park University graduate — as baseball’s first feminine organist. (Faust remained a mainstay at Sox residence video games for 41 seasons.)
The workforce was so unwatchable the Sox drew solely 495,355 followers, averaging a bit of over 6,100 per residence recreation at previous Comiskey Park. It was the ballpark’s lowest attendance in additional than 50 years. On Sept. 21, 1970, simply 672 individuals attended a double-header towards Kansas City.
A recreation towards Boston on Aug. 19, 1970, nonetheless, marked the workforce’s “emergence from mediocrity.”
“On the few occasions when good things come to the Chicago White Sox, they come in large quantities,” Tribune sports activities reporter Richard Dozer wrote. “Today, those that weren’t already on their method residence from a crowd of 17,113 in Fenway Park sat in utter amazement whereas the victory-starved White Sox arose from oblivion for a glittering second in baseball historical past.
Chicago scored 11 runs within the ninth inning to whip the Red Sox 13-5.
There was a lightweight on the finish of the tunnel. By the tip of the season, the Sox modified instructions with a brand new common supervisor in Roland Hemond and a brand new supervisor in Chuck Tanner. The Sox made a 23-game enchancment in 1971 after Hemond made 9 offers involving 31 gamers, bringing again solely seven of the 25 members of the 1970 roster.
The Sox opened their season on April 7, 1971, with new uniforms keyed to the colour purple and a brand new radio announcer. It may be, it might be, it was … Harry Caray.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com