If you have rooted for sports teams in Minnesota for a long time — or, let’s face it, even a very short time — you know that the phrase “historically bad” cannot be tossed around lightly. There have been plenty of truly putrid teams playing within the state’s borders; the questions before you are, 1) What is the all-time worst pro sports team (specific season here) to play in Minnesota? 2) Where do this year’s 3-21 Timberwolves fit into your mix? and 3) What chance do you think this year’s Wolves have of setting the all-time NBA record for futility? For some context, here’s a reminder from colleague Mark Wollemann of four of the worst seasons, at least record-wise, in the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA:

NFL
1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14)
The Bucs not only lost every game of their inaugural season, but the first 12 games of the next season. During that 0-14 season, Tampa was shut out five times and lost by an average of 20 points per game.

Baseball
1962 New York Mets (40-120)
Baseball has a long history with many contenders, but the Mets are considered by many to be baseball’s worst team. They were baseball’s worst-hitting team, they couldn’t field and the pitching staff had four pitches who lost at least 17 games.

NHL
1992-93 Ottawa Senators (10-70-4)
The Senators won only one road game all season.

NBA
1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73)
The 76ers lost their first 15 games and their last 13. In between, the they had 20- and a 14-game losing streaks. They finished 59 games behind the first-place Boston Celtics.

With some quick math skills, you’ll notice the Wolves aren’t too far off the 76ers’ pace. Their 3-21 record puts them on track to be 10-70 after 80 games, with just two more left to play after that. Two weeks ago, we noted an ESPN number crunch exercise that gave the Wolves a 0.0 percent chance of making the playoffs as well as a “worst-case scenario” record of 8-74.

Will the Timberwolves catch stride and at least finish respectably? Does the youth movement count in their favor in a discussion of the all-time worst local teams? Tell us your thoughts and show us your lists!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.