Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

While this references baseball, it's timely to note that roughly four years ago, the Houston Astros were accused of tanking by getting rid of decent players in order to build for the future. They had two consecutive top picks (I believe), with one of them (Carlos Correa) winning World Series MVP last night.

BD Sullivan wrote:While this references baseball, it's timely to note that roughly four years ago, the Houston Astros were accused of tanking by getting rid of decent players in order to build for the future. They had two consecutive top picks (I believe), with one of them (Carlos Correa) winning World Series MVP last night.

I thought Springer was the MVP.

rhickok1109 wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:While this references baseball, it's timely to note that roughly four years ago, the Houston Astros were accused of tanking by getting rid of decent players in order to build for the future. They had two consecutive top picks (I believe), with one of them (Carlos Correa) winning World Series MVP last night.

I thought Springer was the MVP.

Springer was the MVP. Great series. Two of the games (two and five) were two of the ten greatest World Series games I have ever seen. Overall, I would put this in the top ten series of the past 50 years.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

rhickok1109 wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:While this references baseball, it's timely to note that roughly four years ago, the Houston Astros were accused of tanking by getting rid of decent players in order to build for the future. They had two consecutive top picks (I believe), with one of them (Carlos Correa) winning World Series MVP last night.

I thought Springer was the MVP.

Springer was the MVP. Great series. Two of the games (two and five) were two of the ten greatest World Series games I have ever seen. Overall, I would put this in the top ten series of the past 50 years.

Sorry, confused him with the guy who got engaged.

Two games came to mind immediately.

One was the 1984 Jets-Buccaneers game in which the Bucs openly gave the Jets a TD in order to get the ball back so James Wilder could try to break a single-year total yardage record. That did not go over well. It wasn't a "full tank", but at least toward the end of the game it was an open and obvious tanking. See this article for details:

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/17/sport ... inish.html

The other one was the 1977 Detroit/Baltimore game in which the Colts lost on a blocked punt recovered for a TD in the final seconds. There was a bizarre three-way tiebreaker scenario between Miami, New England and Baltimore which some concluded made it more advantageous to the Colts to lose that game to Detroit.

I don't think that the Colts tanked for two reasons: 1) the tiebreaker scenario was so weird that I don't know that the Colts even knew they should have lost that game, and 2) to purposely lose a game on a blocked punt for a TD is a bit unlikely.

However, this was one game where there was a school of thought that a team should lose, and they did so in dramatic fashion, so if it wasn't tanking (which again, I don't really believe it was), then it was certainly weird.

See this article for Rozelle and Marchibroda's reaction to accusations that the Colts tanked:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 4c74163728

Reaser wrote: Only time I'm familiar with where the options were:

A. Your favorite team wins a division championship and has a 1/6 chance of going to the Super Bowl.
or
B. Your favorite team finishes 6-10 and gets the 7th (iirc) overall pick in the draft.

When Seattle scored during the game many 'fans' were complaining and still DURING the game rooting against Seattle and then after the game complaining that they won.

That type of mindset is what I have been dealing with from Jets fans this year. A text I sent a friend on Thursday night as the Jets were demolishing the Bills- "Jets go up 31-7. That sound you hear is some Jets fans throwing bricks through their TVs."

That Seahawks scenario to me was actually:
A. Your favorite teams finishes 6-10, watches ALL the playoff games on TV, and gets the 7th overall pick in the draft.
or
B. Your favorite teams grabs the division title over a rival head-to-head, has a 1/6 chance of going to the Super Bowl, and can trade for the 7th overall pick in the draft if it is so gosh darn important to have the 7th overall pick in the draft.

Evan wrote:Two games came to mind immediately.

One was the 1984 Jets-Buccaneers game in which the Bucs openly gave the Jets a TD in order to get the ball back so James Wilder could try to break a single-year total yardage record. That did not go over well. It wasn't a "full tank", but at least toward the end of the game it was an open and obvious tanking. See this article for details:

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/17/sport ... inish.html

The other one was the 1977 Detroit/Baltimore game in which the Colts lost on a blocked punt recovered for a TD in the final seconds. There was a bizarre three-way tiebreaker scenario between Miami, New England and Baltimore which some concluded made it more advantageous to the Colts to lose that game to Detroit.

I don't think that the Colts tanked for two reasons: 1) the tiebreaker scenario was so weird that I don't know that the Colts even knew they should have lost that game, and 2) to purposely lose a game on a blocked punt for a TD is a bit unlikely.

However, this was one game where there was a school of thought that a team should lose, and they did so in dramatic fashion, so if it wasn't tanking (which again, I don't really believe it was), then it was certainly weird.

See this article for Rozelle and Marchibroda's reaction to accusations that the Colts tanked:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 4c74163728

John McKay ended up getting fined over the 1984 follies.

I've mentioned before that there was another a quasi-tank at home by the Colts in the 1971 regular season finale. They only had to beat the 5-8 Patriots who hadn't won a road game all year and had compiled a sparkling 6-27-1 road mark over the previous five seasons in away games. Instead, Baltimore lost 21-17, which meant that they became the wild card team and would face the Browns, who won their weak division--instead of the Chiefs, who were considered the AFC favorite to reach the Super Bowl.

I had to laugh about the latter linked article referencing the shaky job status of then-Browns head coach Forrest Gregg, with one player talking about the state of the team: "This is a pathetic mess. I've never see anything like it. It has become a cesspool." Unlike the current smooth sailing.

Interesting. One of the people I battle with elsewhere wrote today that tanking in a dynasty fantasy football league is a terrible thing for a league. Doin' it in real football, though- Oh, it is great!

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Not that I believe in it at all, nor am a Steeler-fan who uses those two INTs as an excuse for that particular defeat, but how about the theory that Neil O threw away SBXXX so in the following off-season he could not get signed as much by Pittsburgh and instead go to his favorite team while growing up in NJ - the Jets? Though I vaguely remember actually seeing the press conference at best if I even seen it at all, I believe it was said that late in the ’95 regular season that Neil wore a Jets cap in a post-game press conference.

Onto another sport, wouldn’t you say that the Philadelphia 76ers have been (to utterly no avail at all) ‘tanking’ the last so many seasons?

Nobody grows up wanting to go play for the Jets except Vinny Testaverde apparently...who did pretty well here.

No way he wore a Jets cap in a post game press conference while a Steeler. That would've gotten way way more national attention if that happened.

Always think of the NHL Penguins when it comes to tanking. Not only did it give them a legendary player, but both times it pretty much saved the franchise.

1984, the Penguins out tank the New Jersey Devils and land Mario Lemieux. The Devils played the year honestly and were richly rewarded with decades of success in the future, the Penguins got an all time legend who led them to back to back Cups and eventually became an owner. In 2003-2004 they tank again in an attempt to snare one of the next all time greats, Sidney Crosby. They finish with the worst record in the league by 1 point. However with the 04-05 season cancelled due to a lockout, the league decides on a lottery for Crosby...Penguins were given the best odds and got him, likely saving the franchise once again.