Despite the strong start, the team played poorly in May and June and entered the All Star break at 47 – 48, still leading the NL West.

Despite many decades as a leading producer, there is little risk of depletion.

Despite these shortcomings, and his promise to step down at the end of the transition, Bozizé contested the 13 March 2005 presidential elections in which all of the leading opposition candidates were allowed to run except for Patassé.

Despite pressure from the government of the United States, the Chilean Congress, keeping with tradition, conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president Jorge Alessandri.

Despite reports that there had been an influx of arms in the weeks leading up to the election and reports of some ' disturbances during campaigning ' - including attacks on the presidential palace and the Interior Ministry by as-yet-unidentified gunmen-European monitors labelled the election as " calm and organized ".

Despite these problems, the growing inflow of American silver from mid-16th century, the justified military reputation of the Spanish infantry and even the navy quickly recovering from its Armada disaster, made Spain the leading European power, a novel situation of which its citizens were only just becoming aware.

Despite the excommunication of Bruce and his followers by Pope Clement V, his support slowly strengthened ; and by 1314 with the help of leading nobles such as Sir James Douglas and Thomas Randolph only the castles at Bothwell and Stirling remained under English control.

Despite having received no military education, Julian proved to be an able military commander, obtaining an battle of Strasbourg | important victory in Gaul and leading a Roman army under the walls of the Sassanid Empire's capital.

Despite public or media opinion, national studies have indicated that severe mental illness does not independently predict future violent behavior, on average, and is not a leading cause of violence in society.

Despite this impairment to his bowling shoulder, his team played with an aggressive strategy leading them to lose only one Test match and no other matches during the tour, honouring his pre-series pledge.

Despite this virtually all cars in Sweden were actually left-hand drive and the neighbouring Nordic countries already drove on the right, leading to mistakes by visitors.

Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States and the world, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading hub for high-tech innovation and development, accounting for one-third ( 1 / 3 ) of all of the venture capital investment in the United States.

Despite not becoming a full-time starter until the tenth game of the regular season, Dorsett led the team in rushing with 1, 007 yards, scored 13 total touchdowns, and was the team's third leading receiver with 29 receptions for another 273 yards.

Despite his injury problems, McNair finished the season as the second leading rusher on the team with 337 yards and scoring 8 touchdowns.

Despite the fact that this event took place in the series Star Trek: Enterprise, before the formation of both the Federation and the Prime Directive, it reflects the views of space-faring humans and their allies in the years leading up to the creation of the Federation ( ENT episode " Dear Doctor ").

Despite being acknowledged as the leading expert on the Australian Constitution, he was never appointed to the High Court of Australia.

Despite the absence of brown recluses from the Western U. S., physicians in the region commonly diagnose " brown recluse bites ", leading to the popular misperception that the spiders occur there.

Despite having warned of the difficulty of provisioning Britain for a long war, he was blamed for the shortage of shells in the spring of 1915 – one of the events leading to the formation of a coalition government – and stripped of his control over munitions and strategy.

Despite the conquest of Nice by a Franco-Ottoman fleet, the French remained unable to advance into Juarez, while a joint Anglo-Imperial invasion of northern France, led by Charles himself, won some successes but was ultimately abandoned, leading to another peace and restoration of the status quo ante in 1544.

Despite losing leading scorer Tom Gugliotta for half the season, the Timberwolves went on to post their first winning season at 45 – 37, making the playoffs for the 2nd straight season.

Despite his humble origins, he showed great ability in running the affairs of state, leading a revival of Imperial power and to a renaissance of Byzantine art.

Despite this, Thiệu agreed to join the coup against Diệm in November 1963 in the midst of the Buddhist crisis, leading the siege on Gia Long Palace.

Despite private misgivings about the Bay of Pigs invasion, he remained noncommittal during the Executive Council meetings leading up to the attack and never opposed it outright.

Despite Chamberlain's organisational skills and immense popularity, many Conservatives still mistrusted his Radicalism, and Chamberlain was aware of the difficulties that would be presented by being part of a Liberal Unionist minority leading a Conservative majority.

Despite an over $ 100 million budget, the film earned only $ 7. 6 million in its opening weekend, leading the Los Angeles Times to call it " one of the year's biggest flops ".

Despite the arguments by the Giants, the league upheld O ' Day's decision and ordered the game replayed at the end of the season, if necessary.

Despite the move away from the Valley, Charlton were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up at the end of 1985 – 86, and remained at this level for four years ( achieving a highest league finish of 14th ) often with late escapes, most notably against Leeds in 1987, where the Addicks triumphed in extra-time of the play-off final replay to secure their top flight place.

Despite the championship, the team did not draw enough fans to stay solvent at the major league level, as Detroit was at the time one of the smallest cities in the National League and its rapid industry-fueled growth was still several years in the future.

Despite general agreement that the rainbow uniforms identified with the team had become tired ( and looked too much like a minor league team according to the new owners ), the new uniforms and caps were never especially popular with fans.

Despite the success in domestic cups, Liverpool was 17th in the table over the second half of the season to finish the season eighth, their worst showing in the league since 1994, failing to qualify for Europe's Champions League for a third straight season.

Despite the ongoing merger, it was a commonly-held view that the NFL was a far superior league.

Despite an array of new signings made in the 2000 – 01 season, Arsenal were runners-up in the league for a third year in succession.

Despite the efforts, Feyenoord underperformed once again in the national league, finishing in a disappointing sixth place.

Despite the lack of a home stadium, the Warriors made it to the league championship series before being swept by Sonoma County, 3-0.

Despite their on-field success, the Pride suffered as a result of having one of the lowest average attendances and being the farthest team from the core of the league.

Despite losing as much as $ 4 million on the CBL, Mallett initially promised to bring the league back in 2004.

Despite only recording 12 home runs, the Greys led the league with 137 stolen bases.

Despite being hampered by injuries prior to and during 2005 – 06, the Flyers lived up to those expectations in the first half of the season, reaching the top of the league standings in January while simultaneously holding a ten-point lead in the Atlantic Division.

Despite investment in the team including Tore Andre Flo for a club record £ 12 million, European success beyond the Champions league group stages again proved elusive.

Despite this, McGrady led the league in scoring with 28. 0 ppg, made the All-NBA 2nd Team and his 4th consecutive All-Star Team.

Despite the team's poor play, Dwight Howard continued to develop and blossom in his third year in the league, culminating in his first selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

Despite the team continuing to play well, their popularity continued to fall, with the team finishing twenty-first in the league in attendance for the season.

Despite the shortened 66-game NBA season due to the NBA lockout, the Spurs won 50 games and tied the Chicago Bulls for the best record in the league.

Despite the disappointment, Williams proved to be one of the elite point guards in the league, averaging 19. 4 points and 10. 8 assists per game, second in the league, despite playing the entire season with a lingering ankle injury.

Despite these personnel changes, PSV went on to win their 21st title, making it the third time in the history of the league that a team won four championships in a row, after HVV Den Haag ( 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903 ) and PSV ( 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 ).

Despite being a foundation team in the league, St Kilda have only won a single premiership, a famous one-point win in the 1966 VFL Grand Final.

Despite having a two-year contract, NBC announced shortly after the season that it was getting out, as the season's later games had garnered the lowest ratings for a major American television network since the Nielsen ratings had begun tracking them, and the league folded shortly afterwards.

Despite its small land area, Singapore has a population, economy and armed forces that place it in a similar league to small, but full-fledged nations like New Zealand, Ireland, Israel and the Nordic countries ( i. e., Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden ), rather than semi-dependent microstates.

Despite attracting less media attention than AFL and rugby league, soccer is Australia's highest participation football code, with both boys and girls at junior level, as well with men and women at senior level.