Despite this, Caligula relentlessly tormented his uncle: playing practical jokes, charging him enormous sums of money, humiliating him before the Senate, and the like.

* Ivan Rodriguez ( 2003 ) — Despite only playing one season with the Marlins, he put up some the of the best offensive and defensive statistics by a Marlins catcher and was a key cog in the 2003 World Championship team.

Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi as well as a new playing field, the team struggled ; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times.

Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs.

Despite an initially poor reception, it became a great success, playing 400 times in the next two years.

Despite much speculation that he would retire at the end of the 2006 season, Hird played out the 2007 season, playing 17 of a possible 22 games.

Despite that, Frowde became vital to OUP's growth, adding new lines of books to the business, presiding over the massive publication of the Revised Version of the New Testament in 1881 and playing a key role in setting up the Press's first office outside Britain, in New York in 1896.

Despite being offered a contract by nearby Middlesbrough, the offer made by Dodgin was too attractive to turn down, so he signed for Fulham and moved to London, playing as a wing-half and inside-forward.

Despite a 20 point improvement from last season's efforts, the team failed to reach the playoffs for the second straight year, the first time the Colorado club would do so in their 17 years playing in Denver.

Despite the title Alice is a mere spectator in their fight rather than playing a more active role.

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 a two-goal effort ( one on a shorthanded breakaway ) from Linden ( who was playing with cracked ribs ), Vancouver lost the game by a 3 – 2 score.

Despite this seeming approval, the financiers only approved a production budget of $ 6 million, forcing the crew to hire most of the cast playing the Hickory basketball team and many of the extras from the local community around New Richmond.

Despite officially retiring from the sport, he continued playing football with the veteran players of Biscay, donating the money collected from these games to charities.

Despite losing their drummer Mick Shrimpton ( R. J. Parnell ) as he inexplicably explodes onstage, the film ends with Spinal Tap playing a series of sold-out arena shows for enthusiastic fans on their Japanese tour.

Despite having under 20, 000 inhabitants, Groesbeek has two clubs playing in the Topklasse, the country's highest amateur level, at the same time ( De Treffers, and Achilles ' 29 ).

Despite finding RADA " straight-laced ", and being told by his tutor that he could never aspire to do more than playing villains in Z-Cars, when he graduated he joined the Everyman Theatre Liverpool Company, eventually becoming the theatre's Artistic Director.

Despite the extra effort needed in playing, many organists prefer tracker action because of a feel and a control of the pipe valve operation.

Despite playing regularly for the national side, Matthews put in 38 games for Stoke in 1938 – 39, helping them to a seventh place finish – there would not be another full season of Football League action until 1946.

Despite the group's competent musicianship, some subsequent singles employed session musicians – including Big Jim Sullivan, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Vic Flick – with contributions from the band, although the role of session players on Herman's Hermits records has been exaggerated in the rock media and in liner notes on their ABKCO Records Retrospective ( which does not credit the Hermits ' playing ).

Despite their Beatlesque image, the band's use of minor chords, haunting harmonies, and folky acoustic guitar playing — as heard on their debut single " Laugh, Laugh "— was stylistically very similar to the later folk rock of The Byrds.

Despite playing in the 1996 Rose Bowl, 1997 Citrus Bowl, 2000 Alamo Bowl, 2003 Motor City Bowl, 2005 Sun Bowl, 2009 Alamo Bowl, 2010 Outback Bowl, 2011 TicketCity Bowl, and 2011 Texas Bowl, the last bowl game Northwestern won was the 1949 Rose Bowl.

Despite this achievement Canseco later called his Yankees tenure " the worst time of life " due to receiving limited playing time.

Despite never playing live, they were interviewed by a fanzine named SCUM, in which Sid Vicious proclaimed " I'll just be the yob that I am now ".

Despite the Spiders ' second half run, the Beaneaters swept the series, five games to none.

Despite only five appearances throughout the entire show, Vicious is arguably the series ' main antagonist, or at any rate the only recurring one.

Despite recent gains, 40 % of the population lives below the poverty line, more than double the rate five years ago.

Despite the popularization of these five events, there is no fine line separating them from other extinction events ; indeed, using different methods of calculating an extinction's impact can lead to other events featuring in the top five.

Despite those efforts, he failed to gain control over Hungary and Bohemia in the Bohemian War ( 1468-1478 ) and was even defeated in the Austrian-Hungarian War ( 1477-1488 ) by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to maintain residence in Vienna until his death five years later ( see Siege of Vienna ( 1485 )).

Despite their simple construction, the tentacles of hydras are extraordinarily extensible and can be four to five times the length of the body.

Despite the good news off the field, and winning four out of five games to start the season, the Wizards just missed out on a playoff berth with a loss to the New York Red Bulls on the final day, finishing with a 10 – 14 – 8 record.

Despite issuing orders that the 60 million francs were to be spent on the construction of five new canals in France, Bonaparte spent the whole amount on his planned invasion of the United Kingdom.

Despite a strong push in the middle of the 2007 season, winning five straight games, the Vikings lost their final two games to finish the season at 8 – 8, missing the playoffs.

Despite out-gaining the Saints on offense by nearly a twofold margin, the Vikings were severely hindered by five turnovers, including a Favre interception in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter ( in Saints territory ).

Despite having completely dropped out of the public eye for five years after the gold-selling Test for Echo ( which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 ) and the band being relegated almost solely to classic rock stations in the U. S., Vapor Trails reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week of release in 2002 with 108, 000 albums sold.

Despite Gorbachev's attempts to discourage Russia's electorate from voting for him, Yeltsin was popularly elected as president, handily defeating five other candidates with more than 57 percent of the vote.

Despite his inability to contribute with either bat or ball in England, Benaud was the only bowler selected for all five Tests of the 1954-55 series when England visited Australia.

Despite the complexity of making the map, Beck was paid just five guineas for the work.

Despite the controversy, five years after the premiere Paul McCullough of Take One observed that Night of the Living Dead was the " most profitable horror film ever [...] produced outside the walls of a major studio ".

Despite the UNIP boycott, the elections took place peacefully, and five presidential and more than 600 parliamentary candidates from 11 parties participated.

Despite the departure of Stevie Nicks, Christine remained loyal to Mick Fleetwood and her former husband, recording five songs for the band's 1995 effort Time.

Despite this, the Labour government remained in power for the full five year term.

Despite a final victory against Napoleon, five of seven coalitions saw defeat at the hands of France.

Despite Asser's comment that the dyke ran " from sea to sea ", it is now thought that the original structure only covered about two-thirds of the length of the border: in the north it ends near Llanfynydd, less than five miles ( 8 km ) from the coast, while in the south it stops at Rushock Hill, near Kington in Herefordshire, less than fifty miles ( 80 km ) from the Bristol Channel.

Despite its size, the equivalent of five city blocks long with a three story high conning tower, it has so far remained undetected.

Despite active research spanning five decades, extensive regulatory actions, and an effective ban on their production since the 1970s, PCBs still persist in the environment and remain a focus of attention.

Despite being released from the play after five weeks, Milland felt that he had gained valuable acting experience.