Is an undefeated regular season something to be proud of?
ESPN.com's Patrick Hruby doesn't think so. In a list of some of the worst sports banners currently hanging from the rafters of sports arenas, the Pats' 16-0 banner in Foxboro made the cut.
Why? That's easy — because the team didn't finish the year undefeated. Two words: David Tyree. Or, as Hruby says, "Somewhere, Mercury Morris just giggled."
And the criticism is appropriate. It's hard not to have mixed emotions about the 16-0 banner. On the one hand for the Patriots and their fans, it was an accomplishment to be proud of. On the other, it simply crystallized the tremendous opportunity the Patriots and their fans had in their hands … before they lost to the Giants in the final moments of Super Bowl XLII.
Other banners that made the list were the Washington Mystics' banners celebrating the WNBA's highest attendance for 2002 and 2003.
Sports teams can get a little too into things, as a couple of Hruby's banners indicate.
Hockey player Eric Staal was hailed for making the 2008 All-Star team. Tough to imagine the Red Sox or Patriots bedecking their stadium every year with individual banners congratulating players on making an All-Star team.
The Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League loved Randy Livingston's play so much, his jersey was retired. It's the development league for the NBA, for crying out loud. Livingston would have much rather been the last man on the bench for an NBA squad.
