The phrase “off to a good start” did not apply to these teams.
As of this writing, the Philadelphia 76ers have lost the first 13 games of their NBA season. (Many NBA teams, albeit ones having really good seasons, have lost that same number of games over an entire season.) How bad are the 76ers? Philadelphia-area Papa John’s locations offered 50 percent off of online orders the day after the 76ers won a game, but after the Sixers lost their 11th game, the company made the offer good if the team scored more than 90 points, regardless of if they win or lose.
- That’s still not the worst season-beginning losing streak in the annals of basketball. The 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets started its season with 18 straight losses. And both the 1988-89 Miami Heat (in its first year of existence) and the 1998-99 Los Angeles Clippers both lost 17 games before securing a win.
- The Oakland Raiders finished up the 2013 NFL season with a six-game losing streak. And when the 2014 season began, they kept losing. The Raiders lost their first 10 games of the season—a 16 game losing streak. The Raiders jumped to a 1-10 record with a 24-20 win against the Kansas City Chiefs on November 20, the team’s first win in over a year.
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began play in the NFL in 1976. Expansion teams almost always have terrible first seasons as they adjust, but the Bucs had the worst one: 0-14. In the 1977 season, things didn’t go much better, as the team lost its first 12 games of the 1977 season. The first win in franchise history came on December 11, 1977 with a win over the Saints, ending an inaugural 26-game losing streak.
- The 1988 Baltimore Orioles posted one of the worst overall records in Major League Baseball history: 54 wins and 107 losses. A small portion of those losses came at the beginning of the season: The Orioles posted an initial record of 0-21.
For more sports trivia read Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Sports Spectacular.
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