Shocked & Appalled

Random rants

8/11/2003

In King Kaufman's Salon article about the Detroit Tigers, he discusses the thrill of seeing truly terrible sports teams.

And I think that one shouldn't pass up a chance to be in the presence of epochal athletic awfulness. I'll never be able to say that I saw the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers or the 1981 Northwestern football team in person, but I was right there at ground zero as the 2003 Detroit Tigers wheezed their way toward 120 losses, something only the 1962 New York Mets have done before them.

Kaufman says he doubts "many people share my sense of twisted history," but I'm right there with you bud. Anyone who spends four years
watching Ivy League football has to either embrace the true awfulness of the plays or go insane. And I'm proud to say that I saw the Columbia Lions at the end of their awesome 44-game losing streak (number 4 on the list.)