Despite the major changes made to the team in the offseason, the team wound up with its first winning season since 1997.

Despite making the race very close, in the 161st game of the season, the Dodgers snapped their five-game losing streak – and the Rockies ' five-game winning streak – to clinch the West title.

Despite this particular mission, in winning the Albigensians over by persuasion Dominic met limited success, " for though in his ten years of preaching a large number of converts were made, it has to be said that the results were not such as had been hoped for.

Despite the British economy then being in recession, he led the Conservatives to a fourth consecutive election victory, winning the most votes in British electoral history ( 14 million ) in the 1992 general election, albeit with a much reduced majority in the House of Commons.

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.

“ There is no prospect of ever winning Russian cooperation .” Despite its reservations, the 80th Congress implemented Truman ’ s requests, further escalating the Cold War with the USSR.

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 not making the playoffs, the Brewers had some other memorable moments, as Pat Listach hit. 290 and stole 54 bases while winning the AL Rookie of the Year award, while Robin Yount got his 3000th career hit.

Despite his efforts, he has not been on a title winning first-class domestic team in either the Premier Trophy or the County Championship.

Despite this, some wrestlers, such as Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Ken Shamrock, The Undertaker, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit, became famous for winning matches via submission.

Despite the AFL's New York Jets winning the previous season's Super Bowl, many sports writers and fans thought it was a fluke and continued to believe that the NFL was still superior to the AFL, and thus fully expected the Vikings to defeat the Chiefs ; the Vikings entered the Super Bowl as 12. 5 to 13-point favorites.

The structure of the latter event is such that it … justifies a belief that intelligent design is the cause … Despite the fact that the probability of winning three consecutive 1-in-1, 000 games is exactly the same as the probability of winning one 1-in-1, 000, 000, 000 game, the former event … warrants an inference of intelligent design.

Despite winning the Triple Crown, Williams came in second in the MVP voting to Joe Gordon of the Yankees.

Despite ZZ Top's popularity and success in the 1970s, it wasn't until the 1980s that they started winning major awards and honors.

Despite his injuries, he competed in the Nations Grand Prix at Monza six days later, winning the race after he had persuaded staff at the hospital to bandage him in a manner such that he could sit on his motorcycle and receive a push start.

Despite winning all three main round games, so did France and Spain, and those two teams qualified for the semi-finals from Group I.

Despite over 70 rehearsals between 1862 and 1864, Tristan und Isolde was unable to be staged in Vienna, winning the opera a reputation as unperformable.

Despite winning four terms as President, Blatter has often been dogged by controversy and allegations of corruption.

Despite another nomination for Best Picture and winning two Oscars for frequent collaborator Russell Boyd's cinematography, and for sound effects editing, the film's box office success was moderate ($ 93 million at the North American Box Office ).

Despite only winning numerically the vote in only 1 state ; the relatively electorally small Federal District which holds the capital of Brazil ; the Green Party interestingly came second to Dilma in Amapa, Amazonas, Pernambuco and in Rio de Janeiro in front of Jose Serra.

Despite the fact that the allegations were backed by successive UN Special Rapporteurs and a Canadian Government investigation, Bildt succeeded in winning the public controversy in Sweden, allowing Lundin Oil to pursue its activities in Sudan.

Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal politics, entering the House of Commons in the 1972 election and winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976.

Despite his. 333 winning percentage, Ryan tied for 5th place in the 1987 Cy Young voting.

Despite their avowed claim to appeal to the entire state, in 2009 the Diamondbacks moved their Triple-A Pacific Coast League farm team, the Tucson Sidewinders, to Reno, where they are now known as the Aces.

Despite its on-field success, it was one of the four teams contracted out of existence by the National League after the 1899 season.

Despite the solid offensive performance, the bullpen struggled with 23 blown saves ( a Major League worst ), and the Indians finished a disappointing fourth.

Despite the Rockies record-setting performance, the National League coaches and players didn't vote in any of Colorado's players for the NL Gold Glove award.

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 Lineker's personal performance, Tottenham finished this final pre-Premier League season in 15th place.

Despite Australian rules football's huge popularity in the state of Tasmania, the state does not have a team in the Australian Football League.

Despite the success of these two Robinsons and other black players, the number of African-American players in Major League Baseball has declined since the 1970s.

Despite a serious injury which ruled Shearer out for half the season, Dalglish achieved fourth position with the team in the first year of the new Premier League.

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 Wilson's efforts to establish and promote the League, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1919, the United States did not join.

Despite Japan's high standing in the League, the subsequent Lytton Report declared Japan to be the aggressor and demanded Manchuria be returned to the Chinese.

Despite finishing fifth in Benítez's first season, Liverpool won the 2004 – 05 UEFA Champions League, beating A. C. Milan 3 – 2 in a penalty shootout after the match ended with a score of 3 – 3.

Despite approval from the FA, the Football League determined that the club should not enter the competition, since it had not qualified.

Despite being rejected from the VFL in both 1896 and 1907, North persisted in trying to gain admission into the League.

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 being shut out four times in ten games, the Giants recorded an 18 – 8 September to move into first by three games as the pitching staff achieved a team ERA of 1. 78, the lowest in the National League in a September stretch run since the 1965 Dodgers.

Despite some reluctance on the part of the Athenian leaders, Athens finally accepts Philip II's entry into the Council of the League.

Despite these and a number of other recent improvements the ground remains one of the poorest in League Two and talks are still ongoing with a view to a permanent move to a new stadium located in Church, a small town bordering Accrington.

Despite the improvement from 2006 Rumfield was replaced by Chad Parker, who previously managed the Macon Music of the South Coast League.

Despite financial constraints, Watford won the Southern League title in the 1914 – 15 season under his successor, Harry Kent.

Despite failing to qualify for the Champions League, Rosenborg had enjoyed another great season and it looked like Hareide's beginning reforms were paying off, but 2003 turned out to be his one and only season at the club as he accepted an offer to lead the Norwegian national team in December of that year.

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.