There are records that are more shameful than others. The Detroit Pistons are the perfect example, embarrassingly rewriting NBA history with a 27e Back-to-back losses in the same season, Tuesday night. They could do even worse on Thursday, matching the mark set by the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost 28 straight times between the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons. Since the Christmas season is in full swing and it's best to give them a little comfort, it's time to comfort them by showing them that they are far from alone. Here are five more shameful scenes from the wonderful world of sports.
• Also read: Very shameful record for the Pistons
1. The Sabers and the Penguins
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In the NHL, the Buffalo Sabers and the Pittsburgh Penguins proudly share a troubling record of 18 consecutive defeats.
Admittedly, the Penguins were the first to gain notoriety with their Black Streak during the 2003-2004 season.
Between January 13th and February 22nd, Pittsburgh's representatives were 0-17-1, allowing five or more goals on nine occasions.
The Sabers reached that mediocrity in 2021, going 0-15-3 between February 25th and March 29th. In a season shortened to 56 games, it was great!
2. Yes, my chiefs!
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You have to go back very, very far to find the record for futility in Major League Baseball. The great honor goes to the late Louisville Colonels who made history for all the wrong reasons in 1889!
This team had endured a 26-game losing streak in the middle of a season marked by a disastrous record of 27 wins and 111 losses.
Ten years later, the Colonels put the key in the door. A little later, in 1961, the Philadelphia Phillies flirted with the record by suffering 23 consecutive losses.
3. The Cardinals flew low
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The Arizona Cardinals are one of the teams filling the NFL's basement in 2023, but they have been significantly worse in the past when the team played in Chicago. Between 1942 and 1945, this dismal team lost 29 games in a row.
You have to do it knowing that seasons back then only consisted of 10 games.
So the sequence stretched from October 25, 1942 to October 14, 1945, almost three full years of great misery! The best part of this sad story?
Two years later, in 1947, the Cardinals won the championship.
In today's NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered 26 straight losses between 1976 and 1977.
4. The jet crash
We're not talking about a straight losing streak, but rather a winning streak.
Still, it would be a shame not to celebrate the achievements of the Winnipeg Jets, who went 30 straight games without a win in the 1980-1981 season, their second in the NHL.
From October 17 to December 23, they lost 23 games and had seven draws, en route to a paltry record of 32 points.
5. Women suffer too
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The agony of constant defeat doesn't just affect men. In the WNBA, just like in the NHL, two teams share the sad record.
The Tulsa Shock women first paved the way in 2011 with a 20-game losing streak that lasted from June 21 to August 25.
That season ended with an abominable 3-31 record, the worst in the history of the women's basketball circuit.
The saddest thing is that at the end of this shameful year, the team didn't even get the first pick in the draft in the lottery.
Luckily for the Shock, the Indiana Fever recently put that streak behind them by reaching the mark of 20 straight losses.