Wannaskan Almanac for Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Losers!

I coached again this spring.  I swore that I wouldn't do it again.  I really do think I would make a better former coach than a present one.  Still, I get to work with young people and teach them soccer and life skills.  

This spring we went through a losing season.  Our final record was 5 losses and 2 ties.  It is a long fall for a coach who only had 1 regular season loss against 37 wins before this season.  That doesn't mean that as a team we can't learn from this.   We have become tighter and we did improve through the season.  

That made me think of some of the toughest losing streaks that there have been in sports.  

Between 1990 and 1993, the Buffalo Bills were the toast of the town in the AFC.  They had a great team and made it to the Superbowl each of those years.  And four times in a row they were not just beaten...they were destroyed.  They ended up losing each of their Superbowl appearances by and average of around 21 points.  

We're number...2!

Who do you think has the longest losing streak in the NFL?  If you guessed the Detroit Lions...you are close but wrong.  The Chicago Bears Cardinals lost 29 games between 1942-1945.  Back then the seasons were between 10-11 games.  That means the Cardinals lost for almost 3 straight years.  

The real tragedy is those football pants

Between 1996 and 2007 the Caltech Basketball did not win a game.  They lost 207 consecutive times. I am sure this cut down on their recruiting ability.  

Caltech...not known for basketball

Of course, you can't talk about losing streaks without talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs.  This is not just because I am a lifelong Montreal Canadiens fan.  The Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup on May 2, 1967.  I was born in December of 1967.  I have never had to endure watching the Leafs lift the championship trophy.  As a matter of fact, the last image of the Leafs with the Cup was discovered on a cave drawing in Southern France.  

All this is said to get to this point.  In games...in events...in life...we don't always win.  That doesn't mean that the game, event, or life was a waste of time.  Sometimes it just means that we participated.  That we were there and put forth the effort.  We held the torch for a few seconds while it passed through our life.  That in itself should be worth as much as a medal.