Biggest sporting decline

[METALMAN]

It's called the Community Shield. How can I accept your point if you can't even get the terminology right? :/

[MDK]

In Australia I think they make the bigger team play away from home. I quite like that idea.

[Adam]

4 hours ago, Benji said:

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.

That's all well and good but we suffer through the dark times for moments and matches like Cup Finals. My club also nearly went out of business (I'm talking people walked a coffin through the streets of the town bad) and coming back up the leagues we won the JP Trophy, as well as two Play Off campaigns. All of those involved utterly fantastic days out to Wembley and Cardiff that I would never trade for the world. In 15 years when I'm taking my kid to watch Rovers (fingers crossed) I will be telling him/her about those days out, not the year we finished 14th in the Championship and were on a sound financial footing.

As Matt said, Cup runs can be a real difference maker to lower league clubs - our FA Cup match with Stoke a few weeks ago will easily be our biggest of the season. Not only that, but top flight clubs who either hardly ever or never win trophies will want to win them too - Everton haven't won anything since 1995, and let's not get started on how long Newcastle have been waiting.

Each to their own, but if I was a Leicester City fan I'd be delighted to have a cup run ending in a day out at Wembley and a chance to win some precious silverware.

[Benji]

People seem to be taking this personally. Literally all I said was that it wasn't something that bothered me (and that in the event of reaching a final that I would probably get swept up), that our priority should always be the league, and that I understood others didn't feel that way. Me not liking it doesn't negate your opinion on the fact, nor is it going to change anything in this world at all.

[METALMAN]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

we suffer through the dark times

It's only football. :/

[Adam]

15 minutes ago, Benji said:

People seem to be taking this personally. Literally all I said was that it wasn't something that bothered me (and that in the event of reaching a final that I would probably get swept up), that our priority should always be the league, and that I understood others didn't feel that way. Me not liking it doesn't negate your opinion on the fact, nor is it going to change anything in this world at all.

I'm not taking it personally, I was merely offering my viewpoint on what you said, particularly the "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." point you made. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was simply discussing the point.

[Kyle]

In terms of declines very near and dear to my heart () Tranmere Rovers. From coming close to Premier League in '93, '94 and '95, to Conference in 2016. >_>

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, Troy Saint said:

In terms of declines very near and dear to my heart () Tranmere Rovers. From coming close to Premier League in '93, '94 and '95, to Conference in 2016. >_>

Wool...

[Vince Russo]

In MMA, Josh Koscheck immediately springs to mind. From his days in TUF, Koscheck went from one-dimensional wrestler to a dangerous, all-round fighter who could give anyone fits if they weren’t at their best. Koscheck gutted his way through a five-round lopsided loss to GSP, where he couldn’t even see properly in the latter rounds, but he was still a threat to anyone who wasn’t taking him seriously, and even pushed Johny Hendricks to the limit in a controversial split-decision loss.

 

And then Koscheck fell off a cliff. Robbie Lawler blitzed him in Lawler’s UFC return, Tyron Woodley knocked him clean out, Jake Ellenberger choked him out to where Koscheck was foaming at the mouth, and Erick Silva sent him packing with a guillotine choke.

 

These weren’t close fought fights where Koscheck got caught with a punch or was otherwise unlucky. These were fights were Koscheck wasn’t even in the same league as his opponents. You might argue the Lawler one wasn’t that bad because of what Lawler’s gone on to do, but Koscheck wasn’t in that fight at all. The Woodley fight showed that his chin was cracked because he’s taken big shots before and stayed standing. Jake Ellenberger is one of those fighters that the old Koscheck would have outwrestled and cruised to victory over, but instead, Koscheck was left dribbling saliva and unconscious. The Silva fight may have been the worst loss of them all because Koscheck literally walked right into the guillotine choke, making a mistake that even low level fighters rarely make. And what makes them worse is that, Ellenberger loss aside, where he lost in the second round, Koscheck never made it out of the first. Koscheck went from gutting his way through fighting GSP with one eye for five rounds, to losing four in a row, with three of those loses coming inside of a round.

[Slogger]

9 hours ago, MDK said:

In Australia I think they make the bigger team play away from home. I quite like that idea.

Can confirm. In our version of the FA Cup, the A-League sides always play away from home unless they are playing another A-League team or it's the Semi Finals onwards. (Usually they are playing other A-League sides by this point, though)

Great way to give back to the grassroots fans, Cut down costs on using bigger stadiums against lesser known teams and also testing the waters for possible expansion down the line. It's a win-win-win

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Awwww Tranmere. In the first couple of Championship Manager games Tranmere, in what is now the Championship, had the biggest transfer budget in the entire game. They also had John Aldridge and the mighty Kenny Irons. So I've always had a soft spot for them.

[Noah]

Al Bundy. He once scored 4 touchdowns in a single game for polk high but he never went pro and is now selling shoes I believe.

[Benjamin]

On 29/01/2016 at 04:16, Vince Russo said:

 

In MMA, Josh Koscheck immediately springs to mind. From his days in TUF, Koscheck went from one-dimensional wrestler to a dangerous, all-round fighter who could give anyone fits if they weren’t at their best. Koscheck gutted his way through a five-round lopsided loss to GSP, where he couldn’t even see properly in the latter rounds, but he was still a threat to anyone who wasn’t taking him seriously, and even pushed Johny Hendricks to the limit in a controversial split-decision loss.

 

And then Koscheck fell off a cliff. Robbie Lawler blitzed him in Lawler’s UFC return, Tyron Woodley knocked him clean out, Jake Ellenberger choked him out to where Koscheck was foaming at the mouth, and Erick Silva sent him packing with a guillotine choke.

 

These weren’t close fought fights where Koscheck got caught with a punch or was otherwise unlucky. These were fights were Koscheck wasn’t even in the same league as his opponents. You might argue the Lawler one wasn’t that bad because of what Lawler’s gone on to do, but Koscheck wasn’t in that fight at all. The Woodley fight showed that his chin was cracked because he’s taken big shots before and stayed standing. Jake Ellenberger is one of those fighters that the old Koscheck would have outwrestled and cruised to victory over, but instead, Koscheck was left dribbling saliva and unconscious. The Silva fight may have been the worst loss of them all because Koscheck literally walked right into the guillotine choke, making a mistake that even low level fighters rarely make. And what makes them worse is that, Ellenberger loss aside, where he lost in the second round, Koscheck never made it out of the first. Koscheck went from gutting his way through fighting GSP with one eye for five rounds, to losing four in a row, with three of those loses coming inside of a round.

If we're using MMA there are a dozen stories like this. Boxing, too. Guys just hanging around too long after their heyday is over. 

[MDK]

Freddy Adu. Not so much a decline but he was built up so much it felt like a decline. Same with Cherno Samba. Basically I'm listing off megaplayers from CM/FM.

But that To Maderia guy was cracking...