The Taranaki Mountain Airs are sitting on 0-16, just two games away from a winless season in the National Basketball League.
Without wanting to take sides, we can only wish coach Daryn Shaw and his team all the best in the final outings against the mid-table Manawatu Jets and Super City Rangers.
The Mountain Airs are indeed in rarefied air with this record - we hunted down winless seasons from around the world, and how the beaten and battered coaches coped.
Detroit Lions (NFL) 2008
The American football team lost all 16 matches leading player Dominic Raiola to lament: "I've got to live with this...it's on my resume." Another said it felt like a train rolling down the tracks, one they couldn't stop. And it had all started so well, with a perfect 4 - 0 pre-season. Coaches are experts at finding an escape hatch. Rod Marinelli announced "there's people going through a lot worse than this." He got an assistant coaching job with the Bears the next year, and now works for the mighty Cowboys.
Eastern Suburbs (ARL) 1966
The glamour Sydney league club were winless but you can't keep a good man down. Coach Bert Holcroft, an Englishman, went on to write extensively about his specialist topic - rugby league coaching. The club responded to the disastrous season by introducing a logo for the first time the next year, complete with motto: "Easts To Win." They also gave former club prop Jack Gibson his debut as a coach, the beginning of a storied coaching career which changed the shape of league.
Lions (Super Rugby) 2010
