Barry and Thomas are definitely Hall of Famers, but Deion is one of the most overrated players in NFL history. How can a defensive player make the HoF without ever hitting an opposing player in his entire career?
BTW, if there ever was a poster boy for steroids making a difference with a player, it was Mandarich. That guy deflated quicker than a birthday party balloon between college and the NFL, where they actually test for the stuff.
Gwon - pix is from A Clockwork Orange. Lyrics fit because A) Alex does represent an aspect of general society and B) the cop just spit on him.
(I assume you meant the CO sig. I change every so often and my last one was the Billy Idol/Mouth of Madness sig)
I wouldn't consider the Oilers collapse to be a flop. A huge 4th quarter choke, yes, but not a flop.
Who in their right mind expected Houston to have that lead in Buffalo? In other words, you look at the final score and it meets your expectations. The Oilers overachieved and then came back to earth, all within 15 minutes or so.
However, as for this year's Astros AND Cubs, now we can talk flop, at least if they don't make the postseason (and it ain't looking good for at least Houston).
After the Andy and Roger signings they were supposed to be dialed in to win the Central unless the Cubs powerhouse kept them out. Either way the Astros and Cubs were supposed to be the 2 best teams in the NL by just about everyone's account.
Only Philly and maybe FLA had expectations in that area, and I'd say Philly was supposed to win the East thanks to their pre-collapse last year combined with the Wagner signing.
So to me a FLOP is anytime something is made a big deal out of and then nothing comes of it, barring normal injury issues. In the case of Grant Hill I don't think HE is a flop, he just got hurt. But the "we will save the franchise signing" by the Magic is a flop because individual injuries are a concern. Not to mention how they courted everyone and had all this cap money to sign up a superteam, with Duncan joining Hill, but in the end very little actually got done.
I would like to declare the biggest flop ever to be..................
The University of Texas football program.
Seriously.
I was born in 1971. In my lifetime, they have accomplished zero.
Every single year they are fortunate to get a Top 5 recruiting class.
Every single preseason they are ranked in the top 5 for some unknown reason.
[***This phrase must always used: "The Longhorns are stocked with talent at every position!!!"***]
Every single year they start the season playing a bunch of paddy cake teams [Is there an NCAA rule that they get to play a team from New Mexico EVERY year?].
Every year they play losers like Baylor, Tulsa, Rice, U of Houston, UTEP, North Texas State, etc.
They then proceed get HYPED TO THE MOON, until they get the stuffing knocked out of them by Oklahoma.
Every year they manage to COMPLETELY AVOID playing a meaningful out of conference game, until they are FORCED to, where they proceed to get the living hell beaten out of them.
A way to make easy money is to bet against them in whatever Bowl Game they play. They never cover, and usually lose outright.
They were repeatedly rated as being Super Bowl contenders and they never even made it to the conference finals (in fact, IIRC, no team in NFL history has a longer post-season streak without at least appearing in a championship game). I'd say that qualifies as failing to meet high expectations
Wasn't that the battle of the 2 U.S. decathletes in the leadup to the Olympics (Barcelona? Atlanta?)? They were both supposed to be the main competition for the gold. One of them (Dan, I think) didn't even qualify for the U.S. team and I think the other didn't perform very well at the Olympics.
So, are these bonus points redeemable? Daddy needs some new Criterion discs...
The Dan was Dan O'Brien. I'd have to Google for the Dave.
I'd like to add a couple to the flop list. One, I recall was previously mentioned. Jeff George. The top rated high school QB in the country that year. Let's see if I can come close to recalling his twisted route to the NFL. With much hoopla, Jeff decided on attending, was it Purdue? Or Illinois? The coach who recruited him bailed at the end of his freshman year. Or was it just prior to it? John Mackhovic? sp) Yup, think KC Chiefs. George followed right on his heels, opting for Miami and had to sit out the season. Miami went out recruited somebody as heir apparent to Jim Kelly, if I recall. Testaverde? George got his nose out of joint over this and split to Purdue? Eventually got a year of so of snaps to put a cap on his college career. Despite putting up huge numbers in the "flake" department, the NFL was still interested.
and another.........Ohio State's Andy Katzenmoyer. Right up there with Bosworth and Mandarich.
As I recall, the guy who didn't qualify for the decathalon failed in a pretty stupid way. It was either the high jump or the pole vault, and he was going for a height greater than he needed to qualify. He faulted on the first two and could have lowered the bar to the minimum just to be safe, but he didn't and missed again. That was pretty stupid.