Despite the fact that he was regarded as an outstanding engineer, he seemed to be a very poor administrator, although no one quite knew what was wrong with him.

Despite extensive oil and gas resources, diamonds, hydroelectric potential, and rich agricultural land, Angola remains poor, and a third of the population relies on subsistence agriculture.

Despite a strong lineup anchored by the potent Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, poor pitching kept the team below third place for most of the next decade.

Despite the club's poor record, several Rockies hitters gained notoriety for their exploits at the plate, assisted by the thin and dry air of Denver, which purportedly allows balls to carry farther than they would at sea-level ballparks.

Despite the movie's poor box office and critical reception at the time of its original release, it is gradually becoming a favorite among fans due to its dark nature, brief but entertaining kaiju battles, and the return of series veterans Ishiro Honda and Akira Ifukube.

Despite these changes the highlands remained very poor and traditional, with few connections to the uplift of the Scottish Enlightenment and little role in the Industrial Revolution.

Despite poor performances from the usually steady Chris Capuano and more nagging injuries to Ben Sheets, the Brewers found themselves in a heated pennant race with Chicago's North Siders.

Despite the poor launch publicity, Spore was still a commercial success.

Despite his family's poor background, he performed well after entering the Church and rose quickly through the ranks.

Despite many development plans and efforts, the state of telecommunication sector in the country remained extremely poor up to 1994.

Despite poor writing and plotting, spy fiction endured.

Despite the large number of mainlanders who consume Spam, and the various recipes that have been made from it, Spam, along with most canned food, is often stigmatized on the mainland as " poor people food ".

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

Despite his poor health, he still welcomed a steady stream of visitors from family members, business partners, political associates and his constituents.

Despite the excommunication, John will continue to make amends to the Church, including giving alms to the poor whenever he defiles a holy day by hunting during it.

Despite praise from critics and fans for her vocals on the three-month Street Angel tour, Nicks was crushed by the focus on her weight and the poor reception of the album itself.

Despite the arrival of additional settlers, including whites, slaves and free blacks, from Bermuda and the receipt of relief supplies from Virginia and New England, the Eleuthera colony struggled for many years because of poor soil, fighting between settlers, and conflict with the Spanish.

Despite the poor quality of Albania's roads, most of the country's freight was conveyed over them in a fleet of about 15, 000 trucks.

Despite the army's access to the armaments factories of Lille, the Army of the North suffered from severe supply difficulties which kept the soldiers ' already poor morale at a permanently low level.

Despite his bloodline in that age when people died young and younger, the orphaned Conrad grew up poor by the standards of the nobility and was raised by Burchard, Bishop of Worms.

Despite the destruction wrought on the countryside, the city castle held out in spite of repeated attempts over twelve days to take it, and the Turks left the island unsuccessfully because of poor logistics and an epidemic that decimated their ranks.

Despite his importance for the period, Dexippus has been declared a " poor " source by the modern historian David S. Potter.

Despite the therapeutic effectiveness and proven success of CBT, treatment availability is significantly limited by a lack of trained clinicians, poor geographical distribution of knowledgeable professionals, and expense.

Despite all these notable successes in diagnostics and detection techniques ectopic pregnancy remains a source of serious maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in countries with poor prenatal care.

Despite being outscored over the season, the Diamondbacks posted the best record in the NL with 90 wins and 72 losses.

Despite the acquisitions, the team failed to improve and finished with a record of 82 – 80, in second place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography ( accounts differ ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he went back to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early in the morning of February 9, 1981.

Despite being well out of playoff contention the Cubs went 24 – 13 under Quade, the best record in baseball during that 37 game stretch and was hired as manager on October 19.

Despite entering December with a record of 8 – 3, Dallas lost its slim grip on 1st place in the division with losses to the New York Giants and San Diego.

Despite his by now well established superstardom, Bowie, in the words of biographer Christopher Sandford, " for all his record sales ( over a million copies of Ziggy Stardust alone ), existed essentially on loose change.

Despite ceasing to record new material between 2002 and ( most of ) 2005, Brooks continued to chart with previously recorded material, including a top 30 placing for " Why Ain't I Running " in 2003.

Despite the early predictions for success, the Astros had a mediocre 44 – 44 record at the All-Star break.

Despite a fallout from record sales, Brown enjoyed something of a resurgence in this period starting with cameo roles in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit and Rocky IV, as well as guest starring in the Miami Vice episode " Missing Hours " ( 1988 ).

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 his new record deal, he had a falling out with The Beast Crew when he signed over fellow member Champtown ( the two have become friends again since ).

Despite an AL-worst 63-99 record, the team drew over three million fans for the second consecutive year.

Despite the team's 2-14 record, they sold out six of their eight home games in 2006.

Despite finishing with a 6 – 10 record in the 2005 – 2006 season, the Eagles ranked second in the NFL in merchandise sales, and single-game tickets for the next season were sold out minutes after phone and Internet lines opened.

" Despite the difficulties in recording the album, Crow told the BBC in 2005 that: " My favorite single is ' My Favorite Mistake ,' it was a lot of fun to record and it's still a lot of fun to play.

Despite questions lingering about the team's struggling offense, the team compiled a 49 – 39 record by the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, good enough for second place in the NL West.

Despite self-confessed lack of vocal talent, he released horror-themed singles during the early to mid -' 60s, the most popular " Jack the Ripper ", covered live and on record by garage rock bands including the White Stripes, the Gruesomes, the Black Lips and the Horrors for their debut LP.

Despite the album's record sales it wasn't able to top the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 2.

Despite this, they still finished the 1973 season giving up fewer points ( 150 ) than in 1972, and recorded a 12-2 record, including their opening game victory over the San Francisco 49ers that tied an NFL record with 18 consecutive wins.

Despite their defensive flaws, the Dolphins ' powerful offense led the NFL in scoring ( 513 points ) and total yards gained ( 7, 064 ), and helped the team reach an AFC best 14-2 regular season record.

Despite their defensive problems, the Bills finished the season with an AFC best 13-3 regular season record.

Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six-record contract with Atlantic Records, who in 1989 wanted a new record by March 1990.