Most overrated teams in sports history
One of the favorite things we love to do as sports fans is call teams we don't root for "overrated." In the NCAA world, where rankings are actually a thing, that word will actually get the sing-song treatment when a Duke loses in men's basketball or an Alabama in football. But which teams were truly the most OVERRATED of all-time? Let's take a look.
Hockey is not a sport where one thinks of a "super team" existing. But that's basically what happened with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2003-04 season. After a disappointing first-round exit the season prior, the Avalanche signed superstar free-agent buddies Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.
Add those two to Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake and you end up with five future Hall of Famers on one roster. But another Hall of Famer, Patrick Roy, chose to retire prior to the '03-04 season. Paddy's presence was missed. The Avs finished second in their division and only made it to the conference semis.
Dubbed the "Dream Team" by Vince Young, the 2011 Eagles season quickly turned into a nightmare. A cautionary tale about the importance of team chemistry, the Eagles' free-agent frenzy did not pay off. From signing notable free agents like Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin and Young to replacing Sean McDermott at defensive coordinator with offensive line coach Juan Castillo, it was a disaster.
The Eagles won their last four games to finish a meager 8-8, but more importantly, that team destroyed the foundation Andy Reid had built in the previous decade-plus. Big Red was let go after a 4-12 record the following season.
Same year. Same town. But a more painful overrated tale. After winning the 2008 World Series, the Phillies lost to the eventual champions in the following two postseasons. Cliff Lee and later Hunter Pence were added to get the core back to its championship perch.
The Phils raced to an insurmountable lead in the division by September. But in that final month, the offense began to leak oil and that manifested itself in the NLDS. The heavily favored Phillies fell to the Cardinals thanks to Lee failing to hold a lead in Game 2 and the offense being shutout in the winner-take-all Game 5.
Perhaps this season will be different under Kevin Stefanski, but there seems to be hype every season that this will be the year the Browns make a run. And then every year, they fail to look like a legitimate operation.
At least this franchise owns an illustrious history of winning championships to justify some of the hype. But over the past decade, the Yankees have been solid and unspectacular, failing to claim even one American League pennant. It's hard to pinpoint a specific failure during this time. But their fascination with becoming a scaled-up version of the Rays or Athletics when they're the New York Bleeping Yankees might have something to do with it.
The dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has accomplished a lot together in Pittsburgh, winning three Stanley Cups on the way to eventual enshrinements in Toronto. But in 2013, those two failed to lead what was hyped as their best supporting cast, featuring future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, to the promised land.
The wheels came off in the conference final against the Bruins. The star-studded Pens managed a total of just two goals in a four-game sweep. It took the franchise three years, two new coaches and a new general manager to recover.
Start with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Add Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. What could go wrong? Just about everything.
This team was expected to be the Western Conference answer to Miami's LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But Nash had nothing left in the tank. Howard never fit in. Bryant ruptured his Achilles in the final days of the regular season. And a disappointing season went from bad to worse as the Lakers were swept by the Spurs in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Legendary defenses. Iconic bluster. Incredible individual offensive talent. No playoff wins.
Buddy Ryan restored pride to Eagles football. But he never understood what it took to build a true contender. And no, the Eagles would not have won the Super Bowl if the fog had not rolled in over Soldier Field. Or if QB12 hadn't gone down in Green Bay.
The 2001 Mariners did not start the season with great hype after the departure of Alex Rodriguez. But Ichiro put the sport on notice by winning MVP in his first big-league season. Pat Gillick built a team that won an MLB-record 116 regular-season games. But it did not hold up in the postseason.
After grinding out an ALDS victory against Charlie Manuel's Indians, the Mariners were obliterated by the Yankees in five games. Seattle has not returned to the postseason since then.
There is only one acceptable outcome for USA Basketball in international competition: a gold medal. That had been the case since pros began participating in 1992.
But the 2004 team, featuring Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, ended up taking home bronze from Athens. Most embarrassingly, this group, coached by Hall of Famer Larry Brown, fell to Puerto Rico by 19 points (19!) in a preliminary round game. The ineptitude of this failure led USA Basketball to completely restructure its entire operation.
