Remember the Loveable Losers in Chicago? Well, that came to a conclusion back in 2016 when the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years.
Now a World Series favorite again in 2018, the Cubs are still well liked. They're just no longer the Loveable Losers.
Instead, here's eight teams that we love despite being terrible. These teams are included in the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100 as among the most popular in the sports world.
They're talked about for reasons outside of actual success on the court or the field. They include America's Team and one of the most storied franchises in NBA history.
Here's a look.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers have not made the playoffs since 2012-13. Until improving somewhat this season, the team had not won more than 27 games in each of the past four seasons. Despite all of this, they come in at No. 3 on the SNIPdaily franchise Top 100 behind only the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Said popularity is based on playing in the second-largest media market in the United States, the entire Ball family drama and the rich history of Lakers basketball, now being led by president Magic Johnson.
Dallas Cowboys
Much like the Lakers in basketball, the recent past has not beeen defined by a lot of success for the Boys. Dallas has earned a playoff appearance six times since the turn of the millennium. In fact, Jerry Jones and Co. have won a grand total of one playoff game since they won their last title back in 1995. Folks, that's nearly a quarter-century of futility.
More than anything, it's been about recent drama off the field. Tony Romo getting injured and finding himself replaced by Dak Prescott en route to retiring. Jones' legal battle with the NFL. And let us not forget Ezekiel Elliott's six-game suspension last season. All of this led to another season without playoff football for this watered-down version of America's Team. It also means we're talking about them as much as ever.
Minnesota Timberwolves
We covered the Lakers' recent futility, but that compares in no way to what we've seen from these Timberwolves. At 43-33 on the season, they might very well make the playoffs for the first time since Kevin Garnett was starring for the team in 2003-04. That's all the way back when both Al Franken and Donald Trump were nothing more than B-list television stars.
The team's popularity this season is based primarily on the additions of Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague to what was already a talented young core. Unfortunately, Butler is sidelined to injury and the Wolves themselves are limping into the final handful of regular season games without having a playoff spot locked up.
Cleveland Browns
Call them the "factory of sadness" or the "mistake by the lake." Either way, what we've seen from the modern version of the Browns is almost unparalleled in NFL history. Here's a team that is 1-31 over the past two seasons. The last time it won a game on Sunday was with Johnny Manziel leading the charge back in December of 2015.
Cleveland has earned one playoff appearance since it re-entered the league back in 1999. During that same span, the team has won five games or fewer a whopping 14 times. Maybe, this is why the Browns find themselves as the sixth most popular NFL team in the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100. When there's a train wreck, it's hard to look away.
Arizona Cardinals
It depends on who you ask, but Geritol might be the go-to vitamin for this team moving forward (very punny). Fresh off Carson Palmer announcing his retirement, the Cardinals replaced him with the injury-plagued Sam Bradford. The team has no offensive line to speak of. Bradford can't stay healthy and is among the least mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. This has to be a win-win proposition for both sides, right?
All the while, Arizona released All Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu to fit Bradford in under the cap. Talk about a move that's not necessarily going to pump the team's fan base up. And now, the Cardinals find themselves as the least-talented team in the NFC West. That comes just a couple years after they were contending for a conference title. How fun.
New York Giants
The Giants are an interesting case study in that they have made the playoffs just four times in the past 11 seasons with two of those appearances resulting in a Super Bowl win over Tom Brady and the Patriots. That's just all sorts of random.
Fresh off a playoff appearance in 2016, these Giants are the talk of the NFL world for all the wrong reasons. The Odell Beckham Jr. injury and an ensuing potential trade of the star receiver. Former head coach Ben McAdoo's decision to bench Eli Manning, which ultimately cost him his job.
The end result here being a 3-13 record, the Giants' worst mark since all the way back in 1974. As with the Browns, we just couldn't turn our attention away from this dumpster fire. That's ultimately why the Giants at No. 22 on the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100.
Houston Texans
Rememeber when the Texans trotted Brock Osweiler out there to start a playoff game against New England back in January of 2017? Man, that seems like an entire lifetime ago. While some things have changed on this front, the Texans are still looking to break from what has been a franchise-long slump.
Since entering the league in 2002 as an expansion team, Houston has won a grand total of three playoff games. This past season saw the team finish with a 4-12 mark with franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson and former NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt both going down to injury.
The future might look bright for this team. Though, that's all projection on our part. Can Watson remain healthy? How will not having a pick in the first two rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft impact this squad? Those are two key questions heading into the coming NFL season.
Los Angeles Clippers
It just so happens that the Clippers had to deal with the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors once they actually built a contender out west. The end result here was Doc Rivers' squad failing to make it to even the Western Conference Finals during a five-year stretch that saw the team win 50-plus games each season.
After moving on from both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in separate trades over the past year, this team is nothing more than a bottom-end playoff contender out west. For an organization that earned one playoff appearance from 1997-2011, that might seem to be progression. But in reality, the Clippers find themselves as third-class citizens in California basketball, behind both the Lakes and Warriors.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://snipdaily.com/2018/03/terrible-sports-teams-that-people-love/