Biggest sporting decline

[GhostMachine]

I'm no fan of Golf, but for me the question ends and begins with Tiger Woods. Does anyone really care about him at all anymore? He's the very definition of has-been, and I'm surprised ESPN and their ilk pay attention to or discuss him at all any more.

[Bobfoc]

One that springs to mind is Roy Jones, Jr. He was, for several years, regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer, his hand speed and technical skill putting him at the top of Ring Magazine's rankings for a long time. Having only lost once, via disqualification, his knockout loss against Antonio Tarver was considered a massive shock, and it sparked a three-fight losing streak that well and truly took away his aura of invincibility.

Despite that, he was still a big name in the sport, and all his fights gained widespread media attention, a trend that continued until, and after, he was dominated by Joe Calzaghe in a performance that emphatically underlined what a shadow of his former self he had become. Still, he carried on fighting, but, once he lost to the relatively unknown Danny Green, his fights started to receive less and less coverage until they reached the point of triviality in the press. I follow boxing more closely than most people, but I didn't even notice his recent defeat at the hands of journeyman Enzo Maccarinelli until a few days later, when I also found out that he's now fighting as a Russian citizen. For a man once at the pinnacle of his sport to become such an afterthought is unusual, but it's a fate that seems to have befallen RJJ, and it's sad to see.

[Plubby]

41 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

I'm no fan of Golf, but for me the question ends and begins with Tiger Woods. Does anyone really care about him at all anymore? He's the very definition of has-been, and I'm surprised ESPN and their ilk pay attention to or discuss him at all any more.

Yes, they absolutely do. He's a good answer for the question asked, but thankfully nothing of what you said after "Tiger Woods" is relevant because he is still a massive drawcard and people who otherwise do not give two shits about golf tune in to watch him play in absolute droves, even now.

The West Indies are a really good shout. My Avalanche in the NHL might also be - two cups between 1996 and 2001 to 3 top-3 draft picks in 2009, 2011 and 2013. But that took them until after the 04/5 lockout to really fall off a cliff.

[Noah]

I remember after the loss to Danny Green some random youtuber was claiming a fix(same guy previewed the fight, earlier that week, predicting an easy win for Jones Jr) as If someone with that ego would drop a fight to some random Australian especially when it put at risk a future big money fight against Hopkins.

[DavidMarrio]

On 28/01/2016 at 00:16, Moses Julep said:

Liverpool used to win trophies and now they never do so I'm going to say Liverpool.

Hey... we won the league cup in 2012-13. Man United haven't won anything since then either. 

[Benji]

Why is the League Cup even still a thing? It seems like a pointless addition to the season that's way over shadowed by the FA Cup.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Cups are fun when you're still in them Benji.

[The Lusophone]

13 minutes ago, Benji said:

Why is the League Cup even still a thing? It seems like a pointless addition to the season that's way over shadowed by the FA Cup.

Because Tradition, mainly.

They should get rid of it. We play too many games in this country as it is.

[Benji]

7 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

Cups are fun when you're still in them Benji.

I've never been a big cup guy. I was literally in here begging for Leicester to be knocked out by Spurs the other week because the league is worth so much more. FA Cup is a bit of a joke, the League Cup is the joke you tell and nobody laughs. For winning the FA Cup including all prize money earned from each round, you get less than being 18th in the Premier League as of last season, which is probably dwarfed by what it is this season.

As a fan of a club who has seen us in administration and experiencing the agony of nearly going out of business if not for fans, I'll take 17th in the Prem every single time over an FA Cup win.

[Colly]

Sod that, I think they should let us in the JPT to give us another competition to crash out of early doors.

[DavidMarrio]

Trophies a trophy. Doesn't matter what competition it is I want my team to win it. 

I was made up when we won the league cup a few seasons ago as we hadn't won anything in a while. I'll be made up if we win it this year.  

I like to look back on successful or memorable seasons but more importantly when the teams won something. Swansea won the league cup I'm sure their fans were made up with winning it at the time and wouldn't change anything. 

[Matt]

For lower league teams drawing a big club in the cups can be the difference between signing that player they really need and not being able to afford it. Boo fucking hoo if it means some multimillionaires have to do an extra few sets of 90 minutes work.

[Colly]

23 minutes ago, Benji said:

For winning the FA Cup including all prize money earned from each round, you get less than being 18th in the Premier League as of last season, which is probably dwarfed by what it is this season.

Which is great justification for a chairman, but as a fan I want something to actually get excited about for once and a trip to Wembley would be wonderful, regardless of the competition.

I'm also not of the mindset of cup runs hampering league form, we never get past the 4th round and we're still dogshit in the league...

[Benji]

I couldn't give less of a shit about a day out at Wembley. If it happens, then that's nice, and I'll get excited and caught up in it, but like I say, once your club has nearly gone out of existence it sort of puts you into a realist perspective over what needs to be your priority as a team.

If people like it, fair play to them, but it's not at all for me.

[Gazz]

33 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Because Tradition, mainly.

They should get rid of it. We play too many games in this country as it is.

They should change the rules. Make it an U23/U21 competition for Premier League teams and the other divisions have no restrictions.

[The Lusophone]

And get rid of legged semi finals.

[METALMAN]

The league cup was in February or something. Man Yoo have won the league and the charity shield since then. :/

[Lineker]

League Cup is good for beating Arsenal 5-1 in  

[METALMAN]

1 hour ago, David Marrio said:

Hey... we won the league cup in 2012-13. Man United haven't won anything since then either. 

Add that to my post just above.

[DavidMarrio]

11 minutes ago, metalman said:

Add that to my post just above.

Charity shield fair enough its the 2013-2014 season but the league win was still apart of the 2012-2013 season unless after February it becomes apart of a totally new season :/