ESPN's Top 25 Flops (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Ok, I know this has been going on for a while, but ESPN doesn't have a forum to bitch about a show.. so they name 25 "flops" and include "The Bills" etc.. but yet, "Len Bias" never appears on the list, though I can think of no more monumental or devestating event in the history of almost any franchise.

 

[JustinCleveland]

I think there's a difference, and a major distinction that needs to be drawn between a flop and a tragedy. Yeah, he burried his face in a pile of white powder and it's his own fault, but this wasn't an on-the-court flop, it was a tragedy for a kid who had everything but the guidance he really needed.

The Bills choaking is a flop, they should have breezed through the Super Bowl they talk about on the show.

Len Bias throwing his life, quite literally, into a pile of cocaine on a table is a tragedy. The "Flops" were somewhat comical, and this would not have fit that theme at all.

Just my two cents.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I've got to agree with Justin, although I've found some of these ESPN lists to be way out there. They had a sports blunders list a few weeks ago and Bill Buckner was nowhere near it. The movie list was interesting also, but Justin is right in the difference between a flop and a tragety.

 

[Josh Simpson]

I watched this as well and enjoyed it. #1 was Ryan Leaf. I can't really think of a bigger flop than that. Not only a flop of a player, but a big jerk as well.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, see, I thought Len Bias wouldn't fit in the list.. except for the fact that they include Lawerence Phillips based on his off-the field legal problems, etc.

 

[Brandon_T]

First off, I would be happy if the Lions flopped the way the Bills did. I don't agree with that.

Bill Buckner is the most over blamed person in sports. Lets not forget, they gave up what, 6-7 runs that inning, his blunder lead to one run I believe, not to mention, the sox continued to choke away the next game. I really feel bad for all that has been put on his shoulders, and I hate the Red Sox.

I do consider Len Bias a flop, he was drafted, by the Celtics, and in the organizational aspect it was a huge flop. Sure it was a personal tragedy, if you call someone that can't keep their nose clean a tragedy, but it was a professional flop.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Wasn't Marinovich that Raider's quarterback who was as big a flop as Leaf? As I recall he threw like a girl, and everyone kept talking about how he was raised to be a quarterback and his father even picked a wife based on her being good breeding stock.

Of course Leaf was funny for his wonderful antics captured by the media and downplaying the effect Arrowhead would have on him. That guy had the biggest ego and absolutely no skills to back it up.

 

[NolanJ]

tony mandorich make the list?

 

[Seth Paxton]

Both Mandorich and Marinovich would definitely fit that list.

I agree about Buckner. Even being a Yankee loving Sox hater who loved the meltdown, Buckner actually had very little to do with them blowing that game. Its just that his play was probably the clearest shot they had to save the day. Looking back if he makes that play he saves the Sox and covers everyone else's breakdown, though we would never know it, it would just seem like a routine play.



Saying that it would be great for a team just to make it is like saying it would be great for me just to get drafted by the NFL so that Leaf isn't really a flop. Of course both he and the Bills were flops because they flopped on the talent they had, they should have done better or were certainly expected to do so for good reason.

 

[Joseph S]

and shouldn't be. I agree with the post above. The game was already tied on the WP (called a PB). If Buckner fields the ball he still loses the race to the bag. It wasn't his fault.

 

[Seth Paxton]

BTW, I just went to ESPN and they don't have the ordered list but they do have the 25 for you to vote on (I assume the vote is actually over if the show played already).

Anyway, Todd M and Mandarich are mentioned, as well as Leaf, Bosworth and Phillips.

Phillips, Todd M and Chris Washburn are all drug related flops, but I think the fact that they didn't die makes the difference. Bias was a tragedy. Between he and Lewis the Celts basically fell apart through no direct fault of their own. Imagine if Kobe and Shaq both passed away some 5-6 years ago, the Lakers would be hard pressed to recover.

Not that Bias and Lewis were that good, but they were both very talented.


Anyway, I like that the AS game tie was listed, a huge screw up. Heck, I say let the pitchers just throw the old Efus pitch to keep going. There's no guarantee that it would be all HRs and you would certainly end up breaking the tie without the pitchers "risking" their careers as was suggested at the time.


I do think some of the flops are pretty iffy. The Falcons trade of Favre? Did someone expect that trade to save the day for them? How about the Colts trading to get Jeff George instead?

How about the Magic signing Grant Hill? Hill himself wasn't a flop, but that FA signing was.


Glad to see that Yank star pick Brien Taylor made the list. He was going to save the franchise and never even came close to the majors.


I don't agree with Jordan playing baseball. I think most people didn't expect much out of him. That's like calling Garth Brooks' tryout(s) with the Padres a flop.

Hell, put H Irabu on the baseball flop list ahead of Jordan. Or what's his name from the Cards who had the total mental meltdown and never recovered. Now that was a serious flop. So bad in the playoffs that you never recover.

Knoblauch or Sax in NY with their throwing problems at 2B could make it as well.

 

[JustinCleveland]

And if Don Majkowski hadn't gotten injured in a game, the world may never have gotten a look at Brett Favre, so I wouldn't call it a flop.

As for Tony Mandrich... all I can remember is "THE SPEAR."

 

[Jason L.]

Todd Marinovich is iffy. It wasn't his fault the Raiders overreached big time and took him in the 1st Round, instead of the 2nd or 3rd.

He had a good career at USC, but he wasn't in the same league as Carson Palmer or even Rob Johnson. Plus, when you are raised by a psycho father eventually things will blow up.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

What helps make Mandarich a flop are the three players drafted AFTER him:

3) Barry Sanders - HoF
4) Derrick Thomas - HoF to be
5) Deion Sanders - HoF to be

Imagine Magik (or Favre) with Sanders. Or imagine the upgrade to their defense.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Mark Leiter]

How about the Orlando Magic signing Grant Hill with a bumm ankle as being in the top 25.



In the end McGrady left because of the Magics inability to get quality talent around him.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Hell, I'm just happy Oakland learned its lesson after that and has not drafted a QB in round 1 since.

Another one for the NFL list would be Demetrious Underwood, which was just a horribly wasted pick for the Vikings in round 1 a few years ago...I don't believe he ever took the field for them, all I know is that he was released fairly quickly and Dallas gave him a shot and he flaked out on them as well.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Just took a look at the choices and I'm truly amazed there aren't any Houston teams listed. Oilers, Astros, University of Houston...you'd think one of those three, if not all of them, would qualify for some award for futility

 

[Armando Zamora]

IMO, it was a tragedy. Bias never stepped foot onto an NBA court to play in a game. So he never was able to showcase his talent.

How about Steve Emtmen and Heath Shuler? There's a couple of busts for ya.

 

[Craig S]

Yeah, I'm shocked the Oilers collapse to the Bills isn't on there. But I gotta say, this year's Astros are well on their way to making a future version of that list. :frowning:

 

[Greg_R]

I would claim that Bias had the potential to be the equal of Jordon or Kobe. Having grown up in MD, I remember this event completely destroying UMd's BB program (only recently revived in the late 90s). The 'flop' here was not the Celtics... it was UMD for not overcoming the tragedy.