# Worst founding franchise

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-founding-franchise/549142>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 4, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-founding-franchise/549142 "2010-08-04T13:50:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-founding-franchise/549142/21 "2010-08-07T15:57:06Z")

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Sussex County Cricket Club started playing first-class cricket in 1864 and didn’t win their first championship until 2003. That’s got to be some kind of record.

Honorable mention goes to Queensland cricket in Australia, who didn’t win a championship in their first 68 years. That doesn’t sound too bad until you understand that when they started there were only _four_ teams in their league, and even when they won there were only six teams in the league.

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**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-founding-franchise/549142/22 "2010-08-07T16:16:18Z")

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> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> The Dodgers went from 1920-41 between pennants, and didn’t win the franchise’s first World Series until 1956.

You meant 1955 of course. Doris Kearns Goodwin made me say that.😃

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**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-founding-franchise/549142/23 "2010-08-07T16:31:19Z")

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> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> The NFL has rules to prevent this from happening. They give the worst teams the top draft choices. They give the bad teams the easiest schedule. So to have a bottom ass team for decades, requires a special kind of bad management.

Forgive the hijack, but the NFL’s designs don’t necessarily work too well. Since the AFL/NFL merger of 1970 there are 12 old-time franchises, out of 26, that haven’t won the Super Bowl in that time: Bengals, Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Eagles, Falcons, Jets, Lions, Oilers/Titans & Vikings, while Pittsburgh’s won 6 and Dallas and the 49ers have won 5 each. (The Jets & Chiefs each won an SB before the merger, of course.) Up to last season it was 13 out of 26, but the Saints finally did win one.

I’m not saying the Lions, Browns, et al haven’t had sucky management, because they have had sucky management. I’m saying the NFL rules might not really help bad teams too much.

Thus endeth this hijack.

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