Ralph was great until he got injured. Once his knees started bothering him, it was down hill.
But he had a couple of 20-10 seasons.
Plus, sometimes you want to give a pass to the guys that don’t pan out because of injury. It is like it wasn’t their fault.
Not really disappointing so much as infuriating, but don’t talk to me–or any Torontonian–about Vince Carter, formerly of the Raptors (basketball).
That’s all? How about David Klingler, Jack “The Throwin’ Samoan” Thompson, or ‘Big Daddy’ Wilkinson?
And those are only the major busts.
And I still cheer for them.
The fact that she almost qualifies for men’s tournies at her young age is beyond impressive as it is.
Actually Bob Stewart holds the record at -260 but Daigle isn’t all that far off with a -175. Daigle still has a ways to go, he may be able to take him. I came into this thread all set to add him (Daigle) to the list so I guess I’ll just agree with those who already have.
In Defence of Andy Roddick, having Roger Federer as his chief competitor over the last 3 or so years might have gotten to him.
1994 wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad draft at all. Even the Oilers made up for drafting Bonsigniore by taking Smythe, who’s still the mainstay of their offense. 1999 was a touted draft that didn’t live up to potential. I’d nominate 1996 as the worst draft of the modern era. EVERY draft has its first round busts and late round steals, but that was a brutal one.
Daigle? Pshaw. In 1983, the North Stars took Brian Lawton 1st overall. At least Daigle had 3 20-goal seasons, which is 2 more than Lawton had in his career (112G in 483GP). Minnesota GM Lou Nanne decided to make a statement about the strength of U.S. hockey by taking Rhode Island prep schoolboy star Lawton instead of some Candian kid.
Here’s the rest of the Top 10 for that draft: Turgeon, LaFontaine, Yzerman, Barasso, MacLean, Courtnall, McBain, Neely, Lacombe. A few Hall of Famers, and a few all-star players. Even the less familar names had better careers (McBain had 2 30-goal seasons for the Jets and Lacombe won 4 Stanley Cups with the Oilers).
Way to go, Lou! U!S!A! U!S!A!
Yeah, but Daigle was “the next one”, the player that was supposed to turn Ottawa completely around and maybe even challenge Gretzky.
Ah, that reminds me: Rick Dipietro. Not terrible, but when you consider that the Islanders traded away Roberto Luongo to make room for this kid, when they could have made Heatley or Gaborik the #1 pick, he’s been disappointing.
Actually, how about Archie Griffin for the Bengals? Not a complete bust, but the Bengals were expecting much more.
Anyone for Mark Gastineau? He’s a combination of total asshole and major disappointment
I thought of him the moment I read the thread header.
He once held the sack record in a season. Over the next off season (I think) he bulked up and lost his quickness. This guy’s sack celebration-dance was so embarrassingly bad, it looked like a parody by Richard Prior showing how a white guy was clueless in matters of dancing and celebrating . It caused so much rancor the NFL outlawed the practice. Remember the “Mark Gastineau” rule? Eventually, his career nosedived into the crapper.
And when he retired early to “be with the woman he loved”? Actually it was a ploy to avoid an impending drug test that would nail him for steroids.
Anyway, you can read the short and sad story at
At the moment, I’m afraid I’ll have to say Floyd Landis. I pray that he can clear his name, but he’s going to have to **earn **my admiration now…sorry 'bout that, Floyd.
Can’t say I agree with some of the football busts listed here. Clarett only had one good season in college, he doesn’t even make the list - he’s a pre-bust. LaVar Arrington has been a very good player, couple of Pro Bowls, but pissed off the 'Skins defensive staff with his freelancing. I think he’ll do well in NY, to my chagrin. I do agree Courtney Brown has done nothing of note in the pros.
Now the QBs, there’s plenty right there. The U of H twins, Andre Ware and David Klingler were hopeless in the pros. How about Rick Mirer? The Detmer brothers also were flops more or less. +1 with Akili Smith, and let’s add Tim Couch in there as well. Hell, let’s talk Redskin QBs. Heath Shuler and Rob Johnson came to town with lots of hype and did fuck all. Jeff George and Gus Frerotte exceeded expectations, and still didn’t get the team anywhere.
The fleet of WRs in Detroit aren’t living up to the hype either. Roy Williams has looked good, but Carlos Rogers is looking like he’s on his way out of town. Don’t forget Michael Westbrook and Desmond Howard in Washington. Howard had a good game in that Super Bowl, but disappointed at every other opportunity.
[Side note - it needs to be said that playing in Detroit makes the likelihood of bust status go up 300 percent. They had probably the most amazing player in NFL history in Barry Sanders - all they needed was a half decent O line, defense, and a QB -
Much as it pains me to say it, barring some miraculous character rehab, Ricky Williams, the second Heisman winner from my alma mater, is looking to be a bust as well - never lived up to expectations in New Orleans, terrible contract, two seasons lost to drug issues. Didn’t do much in his study abroad year in the CFL before breaking his arm. He could have been up there with Holmes, Tomlinson, and that crew over the past few years, but he hasn’t played.
Along the “Dan & Dave” line of busts I have to put out Bode Miller. His Olympic effort was pretty pathetic and his cocky attitude didn’t make me feel sorry for him, either. Nike has to be thinking hard about endorsing guys like him in the future. That Lindsey Jacobellis, who was hyped in every marketing campaign before the Olympics, blew her chance for a gold by hot-dogging near the end of her race. And special mention has to go to Floyd Landis, who has the ignominy of having his low testosterone levels announced to the world, ending his racing sponsors’ career, needing a hip replacement, and deepsixing any interest that non-cycling fans in US had in the Tour de France. Not to mention his stepdad committed suicide this week. He could have been the biggest success story in sports since… Lance Armstrong. Millions in endorsements, TV movies, etc. Now he’ll probably appear on the Surreal Life if he’s lucky. Definitely, that dude is having the worst year ever.
One last one - even though the stats defy this statement, the way things are looking right now, A-Rod in NY is looking like a bust. Forget the MVP last year. NY hates him, he’s in a miserable slump, and the fans and media just keep piling on. Which is somewhat unfair because he had a great year last year, and he plays in the shadow of Jeter… but it’s looking pretty pear-shaped for him right now.
Nice post, but I have to exception to the Detmer brothers. It’s not that I don’t think they’ve had mediocre careers, its that I don’t think anyone ever hyped them. Both of them were late round picks after solid college careers. (Ty having one of the best statistical careers in college history) and both of them were smallish and weak-armed. (Like 70 year old grandmother weak)
Ty had a fairly decent career considering his physical limitations. He was a starter for a few years and even took the Eagles to the playoffs once or twice. The fact that Koy is still even in the league is nothing short of miraculous, especially since he combines the very rare and sought-after talents of being slow, weak-armed, and inaccurate.
That’s the problem with the Olympics; or rather, Olympic marketing (and I love the Olympics). Corporate sponsors feel the need to pick the stars *before * the games. And they frequently get burned. Makes them look stupid, and everyone blames the athlete.
Here’s a concept…how about picking the hero *after * they’ve actually done something?
Maybe being one of the older “Dopers”, I remember the Los Angeles Angels’ pitcher Bo Belinsky.
He had a fantastic start in his career - 5 consecutive wins, the 4th of which was a no-hitter. But as the Wikipedia article states:
Maybe not qualifying for the OP’s title of “Most disappointing athlete ever”, but definitely worth mentioning.
Zombie thread!
While we’re running from the undead posts, I’ll thrown in Zinedine Zidane–hell of a way to end your career, there…
I think it’s far too early to include him in this discussion. He hasn’t had any chance on the field to prove his worth. Granted, one year of injury can be attributed to his sheer stupidity, but he’s still very young and very talented.
That said, I’ll leave it up to you to determine if I’m a Browns fan or not.
Oh, carp. I just realized that I responded to a zombie post from way back in zombie January.
I think that makes me a zombuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnngggggggggh. Braaaaaaaaaaaaains!
I did think a little about this… but I’m from Texas, and the Detmers were more hyped than the Clausens and the Mannings when I was coming up. Ty did well at BYU but I can’t even remember where Koy went.
HAW!
Didn’t he get in the mix when McNabb went down a few years ago, and Feely was QBing as well?
Zinedine Zidane? Oh, come on. He’s had a history of these incidents. I don’t understand how the asinine idea that he was a perfect gentleman until this one completely solated incident came to being. And what cost France the win was one penalty kick that came up a foot short. It was that tight, and it would’ve been tight no matter what. Anywya, he lead a previously overlooked European squad to a championship and a runner-up. That’s a pretty major success. I don’t see any disappointment.
The thing that’s always bugged me about the Jacobellis case was that she didn’t do a double-jackknifing 720 back twister ultra-whammy pretzel factory. She did a nose grab. That’s a frickin’ kindergarten-level maneuver. If you can be dropped doing nose grab, you can be dropped by wayward ultraviolet radiation. Anyway, I’m convinced that it just wasn’t meant to be. She did recover in time to get the silver, so I wouldn’t call it a crushing disappointment.
Bode Miller is a big disappointment…because he had one bad Olympiad and just gave up. I don’t care what sport it is, this is an absolute no-no. Geez, how many years did it take John Elway, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, to win a Super Bowl? How many majors was Phil Mickelson in before he broke through? Not winning the championship is understandable. Losing interest after one big setback is unforgivable.
Dan O’Brien just had a bad day. This is nothing. No athlete in the world is immune to this. The name Mariano Rivera ring a bell?
As for the ones I agree with…
Ryan Leaf: Ohhh yeah. And what makes his case all the more exasperating is that it’s completley inexplicable. No criminal record. No perverse macho issues (possibly leading to some insane career- and possibly life-ending “proof of manhood” stunt). No weight problems. No drug problems. I thought that at the very worst he’d turn into a Vinny Testaverde-esque somewhat underachieving QB who’d jump from one mid-tier team to another for 15 years. How this seemingly perfectly normal person completely destroyed his career, and so quickly, and for no reason at all, has to be one of the great sports mysteries of our time.
Anna Kournikova: Ryan Leaf lite. Ugh. I find it mind-blowing that anyone can compare her to Michelle Wie. I’ve never seen any tennis player make so many boneheaded career decisions. It seems like at every turn she deliberately made the decision that would do the most damage to her career. She never built up her strength and stamina to avoid injury. She never moved to doubles full-time even after it became obvious she couldn’t hack it in the “real” game. She never learned how to deal with the different surfaces. She never worked out even the most glaring flaws in her game. (I’ve never seen anyone blow so many putaway volleys. Not even close.) Most damning of all, she never won even one singles title…and it didn’t bother at all. I look at her WTA stint, and I think, what was the damn point?
Not really a big disappointment, but I feel like giving an honorable mention to Irina Slutskaya for totally blowing it at the '02 and '06 Olympics. All she needed was a solid long program…not fantastic, not breathtaking, just failry good…which she should’ve been able to do in her sleep. And she delivers an utterly lackluster routine which the commentators rip to shreds nearly every second. She had a one-foot putt and left it short. In '06, remembering this, she came out with more effort…and fell. And the freaking JAPANESE skater took the gold.
I really can’t agree that a 10 year NFL career with 5 Pro Bowl appearances is a Major Disappointment. That’s about 8 more years and 5 more Pro Bowls than your average NFL player.
Sure, he was/is a jerk, and the steroids definitely diminish his on field accomplishments. But he was pretty dominating for several years there.