Worst preseason preview predictions that you remember for any sport?

[SabresRule]

Sometimes, how a team is predicted to do before any season in any sport can be very good or very bad.

I was checking out the S.I. Vault, and prior to the 1993-94 season, they actually predicted (brace yourself, Sandra) the New York Islanders (w/Ron Hextall) to win the Atlantic Division.

Here's what S.I. said about the Cup chances of that year's eventual champs:

Neither will the New York Rangers, which may come as a shock to new coach Mike Keenan. On the first day of camp, Iron Mike showed the Rangers a videotape of the route their victory parade might take when they win the Cup for the first time since 1940. Dream on. Although he and Keenan were acting like pals, fading center Mark Messier earned a reputation as a coach-killer last year, when he orchestrated a dressing-room rebellion against the now-departed Roger Neilson. Messier won that battle, but lost the war, as the Rangers tumbled from first to last in the division. They'll be better, but not that much better.

Let's see- Islanders were supposed to win the division, Rangers were supposed to be decent.

Hmm... I wonder what happened.

Here are some other S.I. NHL preview gems:

1990-91- Predicted a Flames/Rangers final- neither made it out of round 1.

1997-98- Predicted a Flyers/Avs final- both were one-and-done.

1999-2000- While they did pick Dallas to win the Cup (they made it to the Cup Finals), they had the Bruins making it all the way to the Finals. That was the year of the Ray Bourque trade. Oops.

2005-2006- Before the season that preceded the lockout, Calgary and Philadelphia were predicted to meet in the Finals: neither made it out of the first round.

Those are my picks for the worst NHL start-of-the-year predictions.

Also, in football, S.I. picked the 1990 Rams to win the Super Bowl- they won only five games that year.

What are the worst/most laughable ones you can recall?

P.S. Here's one that will make Jimbo laugh:

Sports Illustrated said the following when Detroit selected Yzerman in 1983:

ASLEEP AT THE DRAFT SWITCH
Detroit. Knowing Hartford, picking No. 2, preferred Wing Sylvain Turgeon to LaFontaine, and knowing that the Islanders, picking No. 3, preferred LaFontaine and a big wing named Andy McBain over everyone else, Detroit G.M. Jimmy Devellano, picking No. 4, surely could have worked a deal to swap draft positions with the Whalers—and select hometown hero LaFontaine. With LaFontaine, the Wings would have had something to talk about for the first time since Gordie Howe left the team in 1971.

IIRC, that didn't turn out too bad...

 

[Mets82]

I thought about this off the top of my head. I'm a Mets fan and remember how Street and Smith's were predicting the 96 Mets were supposed to be halfway decent. Remember they had Generation K with Wilson, Pulshipher and Izzy? Well, the Mets stunk that year as I think they won 71 games. Generation K- Pulshipher and Wilson never really became big and are not even baseball, I don't think. Izzy became closer of the Cards and was pretty good.

 

[SabresRule]

I thought about this off the top of my head. I'm a Mets fan and remember how Street and Smith's were predicting the 96 Mets were supposed to be halfway decent. Remember they had Generation K with Wilson, Pulshipher and Izzy? Well, the Mets stunk that year as I think they won 71 games. Generation K- Pulshipher and Wilson never really became big and are not even baseball, I don't think. Izzy became closer of the Cards and was pretty good.

At least you got to cheer on a record-breaking catcher...

 

[SandraC]

Sometimes, how a team is predicted to do before any season in any sport can be very good or very bad.

I was checking out the S.I. Vault, and prior to the 1993-94 season, they actually predicted (brace yourself, Sandra) the New York Islanders (w/Ron Hextall) to win the Atlantic Division.

Here's what S.I. said about the Cup chances of that year's eventual champs:



Let's see- Islanders were supposed to win the division, Rangers were supposed to be decent.

Hmm... I wonder what happened.

Here are some other S.I. NHL preview gems:

1990-91- Predicted a Flames/Rangers final- neither made it out of round 1.

1997-98- Predicted a Flyers/Avs final- both were one-and-done.

1999-2000- While they did pick Dallas to win the Cup (they made it to the Cup Finals), they had the Bruins making it all the way to the Finals. That was the year of the Ray Bourque trade. Oops.

2005-2006- Before the season that preceded the lockout, Calgary and Philadelphia were predicted to meet in the Finals: neither made it out of the first round.

Those are my picks for the worst NHL start-of-the-year predictions.

Also, in football, S.I. picked the 1990 Rams to win the Super Bowl- they won only five games that year.

What are the worst/most laughable ones you can recall?

P.S. Here's one that will make Jimbo laugh:

Sports Illustrated said the following when Detroit selected Yzerman in 1983:



IIRC, that didn't turn out too bad...

Wow, that is great info, Sabres. Once the season start I never remember who picked who to win the championships of the various sports.

Perhaps every time an 'expert' like Jason Stark, Hubie Brown, etc. goes on a sports talk show they should tell us who they originally picked to make the finals. It would certainly put some things in perspective.

And those draft commentaries are priceless!


Sandra

 

[yourbeliefs]

For the 2007-2008 season:

49ers were going to win the NFC West (5-11, finished 3rd.)

Bulls were going to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals (33-49, didn't even make playoffs.)

At least the Bulls got the #1 pick and the Niners got some new staff.

 

[BillD1984]

Does anybody remember the AL East in the 1980's? In case you forgot or were too young to remember, the AL East in the 1980's was one of the best divisions in professional sports history. Back in those days seven teams comprised the East, and from 1981-1986 six different teams won the division:
1981- NY Yankees............lost the World Series to the Dodgers
1982- Milwaukee..........lost the World Series to St. Louis
1983- Baltimore............beat Philly for the World Championship
1984- Detroit.............beat San Diego for the World Championship
1985- Toronto..........lost to Kansas City in the ALCS
1986- Boston...........lost to the Mets in the World Series

That of course brings us to 1987 and the only team left to complete the cycle for the AL East...............the Cleveland Indians. Sports Illustrated not only picked the Tribe to win the East...........they picked them to win the World Series. Part of that was because of the novelty- "seven years- seven different teams", and part of it was because the Indians became a chic pick that year. The Tribe finished up 1986 strong and finished several games over .500, and they stockpiled some pretty impressive talent. Joe Carter, Pat Tabler, Brook Jacoby, Julio Franco, Andre Thornton (the end of his very underrated career), Cory Snyder, Brett Butler, Mel Hall, Otis Nixon, and Tony Bernazard were all on that team. That's a pretty impressive roster, however, other than young gun Greg Swindell there was very little in the order of pitching. The eventual winner of the AL East in 1987 was the Detroit Tigers (who lost in the ALCS to eventual World Champion Minnesota Twins). SI's predicted World Champion Indians finished 61-101.

 

[SabresRule]

Does anybody remember the AL East in the 1980's? In case you forgot or were to young to remember, the AL East in the 1980's was one of the best divisions in professional sports history. Back in those days seven teams comprised the East, and from 1981-1986 six different teams won the division:
1981- NY Yankees............lost the World Series to the Dogers
1982- Milwaukee..........lost the World Series to St. Louis
1983- Baltimore............beat Philly for the World Championship
1984- Detroit.............beat San Diego for the World Championship
1985- Toronto..........lost to Kansas City in the ALCS
1986- Boston...........lost to the Mets in the World Series

That of course brings us to 1987 and the only team left to complete the cycle for the AL East...............the Cleveland Indians. Sports Illustrated not only picked the Tribe to win the East...........they picked them to win the World Series. Part of that was because of the novelty- "seven years- seven different teams", and part of it was because the Indians became a chic pick that year. The Tribe finished up 1986 strong and finished several games over .500, and they stockpiled some pretty impressive talent. Joe Carter, Pat Tabler, Brook Jacoby, Julio Franco, Andre Thornton (the end of his very underrated career), Cory Snyder, Brett Butler, Mel Hall, Otis Nixon, and Tony Bernazard were all on that team. That's a pretty impressive roster, however, other than young gun Greg Swindell there was very little in the order of pitching. The eventual winner of the AL East in 1987 was the Detroit Tigers (who lost in the ALCS to evenual World Champion Minesota Twins). SI's predicted World Champion Indians finished 61-101.

HD MM probably remembers this better than anyone.

BTW, Bill, your Bruins were picked to reach the Cip Finals in 1999-00.

Why did S.I. tout the Bruins so highly?

 

[BillD1984]

 

[BillD1984]

HD MM probably remembers this better than anyone.

BTW, Bill, your Bruins were picked to reach the Cip Finals in 1999-00.

Why did S.I. tout the Bruins so highly?

Because SI- at times- can be blithering idiots. The Bruins weren't even close to being the best team in hockey that year.

 

[SabresRule]

Because SI- at times- can be blithering idiots. The Bruins weren't even close to being the best team in hockey that year.

As I said earlier,

that was the year of the infamous Ray Bourque trade... right?

 

[BillD1984]

As I said earlier,

that was the year of the infamous Ray Bourque trade... right?

I believe Bourque was traded during the 2000-01 season........but I could be mistaken.

 

[BillD1984]

Sabres,
you were right. Bourque was traded to Colorado in March 2000. For some reason I thought the Avs won the Cup the same season they acquired Ray.

 

[jwfgeol]

Well, one that hurts more than others was Tennessee's preseason #3 ranking (including 13 1st place votes by the AP) in college football in 2005. After starting 3-1 with a victory over #3 LSU and the only loss to #6 Florida, the Vols lost 4 straight on their way to a 5-6 season. I think that was the first time in 18 years that they didn't go to a bowl game.