It’s time for the Detroit Pistons to embrace history.
A tortured history.
History that welcomes an owner with the longest losing streak in sports history.
Think Prairie View A&M football. Think of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Think about what happens next.
The Pistons’ 26 consecutive losses tied the NBA single-season record set by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers. If they lose their next three games, the Pistons will break the NBA’s longest losing streak of 28, set by the 76ers in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
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The Pistons will play the Brooklyn Nets in Detroit on Tuesday for a chance to break the single-season record. On Thursday, they can visit the Boston Celtics, catch up with the 76ers, and join a special club for teams that have come off an epic losing streak.
A record-breaking 29-game losing streak could happen Saturday at home against the Toronto Raptors. But for now, the Losers’ rich history deserves to be celebrated.
How the 76ers learned the art of losing
On November 18, 2015, the 76ers were on a 21-game losing streak when they found themselves frozen during a timeout against the Indiana Pacers. Immediately after breaking out of the huddle, the 76ers were called for a technical foul.
Six players were on the floor, which was a legal violation.
The additional players added another layer of incompetence to a team plagued by process (aka tanking).
The streak began with a 119-98 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on March 27, 2015, and the 76ers ended the 2014-15 season with nine more losses. The following season began with an 18-game losing streak, but that streak mercifully ended with a 103-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on December 1, 2015.
“There’s a trick to learning how to win,” Brett Brown, then the 76ers’ head coach, said at one point in the uproar.
The one thing the 76ers mastered was the art of losing.
Prairie View A&M Football Stink
It started innocently enough on Nov. 4, 1989, when the Prairie View A&M football team lost respectably to Langston, 19-18. Not much happened in the next 79 games. Prairie View A&M lost everything and forever held the longest losing streak in NCAA college football history.
The 80 consecutive losses are almost double the 44 consecutive losses that second-place Colombia had from 1983 to 1988.
During the streak, Prairie View A&M, then a Division I-AA program, went through four coaches. The program was also shut out 19 times and outscored 3,408-626 (an average margin of loss of nearly 35 points per game), subjecting it to further humiliation off the field.
The school shut down all sports in 1990 amid a financial scandal in the athletics department, and the football program faced allegations of using ineligible players.
Marcy arrived on September 26, 1998. Prairie View A&M defeated Langston his 14-12 that day.
Greg Johnson, Prairie View’s A&M coach at the time, called the win “well overdue,” an understatement as grand as the losing streak itself.
There was humor in the Buccaneers’ winning streak.
From 1942 to 1945, the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals lost 29 straight games. However, the longest losing streak since the AFL and NFL merged in 1966 belongs to the Buccaneers. That’s our good fortune.
This provides an opportunity to reflect on the words of head coach John McKay when the Bucs lost 26 straight games in 1976-77.
“Well, I didn’t block today, but I made up for it by not making a tackle,” McKay once said.
“Guys, you can’t stop the pass or the run,” he said again. “Otherwise, we’re in great shape.”
The laughter and pain on the field began on September 12, 1976, when Tampa Bay played its first game in franchise history, losing 20-0 to the Miami Dolphins. The opening game ended with a 31-14 loss to the New England Patriots. How dire had things become?
A 42-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers stretched the number of games to 13, but someone asked McKay after the game if he was embarrassed by the loss, according to ESPN.
“I was embarrassed before I got here,” the Bucks coach replied.
The embarrassment and losing streak ended on December 11, 1977, when the Bucks defeated the New Orleans Saints, 33-14.
The Philadelphia Phillies have experienced excruciating suffering.
On July 29, 1961, Philadelphia Phillies manager Gene Morf intentionally ordered Willie Mays to walk when the San Francisco Giants had the bases loaded in the first inning. Then Orlando Cepeda stepped up to bat and hit a grand slam. The Giants won 4-3.
Thus began the longest losing streak in Major League Baseball history since the American League joined the National League and the majors were created in 1901. During that 23-game losing streak, the Phillies lost 133-54, were shut out four times, and suffered excruciating pain.
We lost by one point in the eighth inning.
On August 20, 1961, the winning streak ended with a 7-4 victory over the Milwaukee Braves. The winning pitcher was John Buzzard.
After the game, Buzhardt told the Philadelphia Daily News, “I had a feeling we were going to win.” “I said, ‘If you score two points, we’ll win.'” It was good that they gave me seven points. ”
Two teams share NHL’s unwanted record
Rookie left winger Ryan Malone, who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003-2004, said that year, “You have to lose before you win, and that’s what we do.”
Lose, lose, Malone and the Penguins snapped their 18th straight losing streak, the longest in NHL history. The Buffalo Sabers matched this winning streak in 2021.
(The record before overtime was 17 consecutive losses, set by the Washington Capitals in 1975 and the San Jose Sharks in 1993.)
Along the way, the Penguins suffered a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 13, 2004, and a 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 25, 2004. The team lost 83-40 in a skirmish. Phoenix Coyote.
Meanwhile, the Sabers have conceded five points per game for five consecutive games. Their winning streak began with a 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on February 25, 2021 and ended with a 6-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on April 1, 2021.
All of these losses piled up between the 2003-2004 Penguins and 2020-21 Sabers.
“You learn from times like this,” former Penguins left winger Malone said during Pittsburgh’s skid.
What we learned is how bad those teams were.