the heartbreakers: the losses that devastated you most

I'm an OSU fan. With a woman who is a Michigan fan. And we started going together in 1988.

Pick any OSU/UM game in the Cooper era, and they were all heartbreakers for me (with the exception of the ONE win and ONE tie).

 

Eagles superbowl loss 2 years back

 

The 2001 World Series, Mariano blowing the save in game 7. I was in Paris, France of all places.

 

Villarreal. Collina.

 

The 2002 World Series, the Giants came so close to winning it all.

 

Sports fans from western NY have endured a lot of heartbreaks over the years, from 4 straight Superbowl loses by the Bills, Brett Hull's foot in the crease, as well as the Music City Miracle (talk about victory being right in your grasp, only to have it completely ripped away).

 

That was a team effort. Mariano made a big contribution, though, throwing a ball to second away after a come-backer.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hei9cPQctDg

 

I still get a stomach ache whenever someone mentions how the Raiders lost to the Patriots in the 2002 playoffs. That darn tuck rule.

Their superbowl loss to the Bucs a few years back was pretty heart wrenching too, especially in light of how the team has fallen apart ever since. *sigh*

 

Steelers-Chargers AFC Title game. Alfred Pupunu catches a game-winning touchdown when the Steelers (imagine this) fail to cover the tight end. Then he does that stupid cut the top off the football likes its a pineapple celebration that I will never, ever forget.

Of course, the Chargers then advanced to Super Bowl XXIX, and got THWUMPED

 

I'm not sure I can speak for Yodave, but Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS has to be high on his list (and is #1 on mine). I thought for sure the Mets would win after Endy Chavez' miraculous catch, but knew they wouldn't when both he and Jose Valentin struck out with the bases loaded against a career journeyman.

Losing to Pittsburgh in the AFC divisional round two years ago hurt, but when I consider how lucky the Jets were against San Diego the week before, it sort of evened out.

 

Armenian Jedi mentioned earlier 4th and 26 and the 98 playoff game against the Niners where Rice clearly fumbled. But for me Superbowl 32 really sticks in my craw. When ESPN Classic does those Superbowl Highlight shows I refuse to watch.

 

2002 World Series. Game 6. Russ Ortiz mowing down the Angels through 6 innings. Bottom of the 7th inning Giants lead 5-0. Ortiz puts a few runners on and Dusty Baker makes the call to go to the bullpen for F-Rod. F-Rod had been a solid 8th inning guy all year for the Giants and Spiezio battles through a tough set of pitches and eventually F-Rod makes a mistake and Spiezio pounds it for a 3-run homer. At this point it began to feel like a guillotine game. Giants still winning though. Giants get out of the inning with a 5-3 lead. Not as large as one would like but still, as a fan, I was comforted to have the lead and have a dominating closer named Nen in the bullpen still. Giants don't score in the top of the 8th and go back out in the bottom of the 8th with a slim lead. Worrell who had come on to close out the 7th gives up a homer to Erstad. Now it's 5-4. Worrell puts Salmon on and Figgins pinch runs and Garret Anderson gets on, so the Giants go to Nen. Nen had been a dominant closer for the Giants for a few years and although no one outside the Giants management and Nen himself knew at the time, he had a serious shoulder injury which he was pitching through causing him to lose velocity off of his fastball which he could normally get up to the upper 90s. Nen gives up a double to Glaus and the tying and go-ahead runs score. At this point with the home-field advantage that the Angels had and a dominant closer in Percival themselves, the game was over. The series was tied 3-3 and there was going to be a game 7 the next night. However, it was too late for the Giants as the momentum had effectively left them and they went on to lose the series the next night. Being so close to seeing the Giants winning the World Series, and seeing it all slip away, I was so heartbroken I considered suicide. My friends who were with me at the time told me it's not that big a deal and it's just a game, and there's still tomorrow night. But watching that game and then the Giants lackluster performance in game7, I was thinking about it a lot. It's not just a game. To be a fan, is to be fanatic about something. I wanted the Giants to win that World Series more than anything else I have ever wanted in my entire life, but it wasn't meant to be. Now I have to hope that the Giants will eventually end their streak of having not won a World Series since 1954. Maybe it will mean more if I have to wait 87 years like a Red Sox or White Sox fan. The Cubs haven't won one in 98 years either. Seriously. Heartbreaking.

 

From a Kentucky fan.

1992 East Regional Final. Wildcat Point Guard Sean Woods banks in an awful shot to give the Wildcats a one-point lead. In their first year back from probation, led by the four Kentucky boys who stayed and one very good blue chip recruit from New York, the 'Cats are on their way to toppling the mighty Duke Blue Devils and going to the Final Four. Only 2.1 seconds seperate them from one of the biggest upsets in history in the greates college game ever played. The teams come on the floor after a time out, and Grant Hill takes the ball out of bounds. No one covers him. He heaves a cross court pass to Christian Laetner. He jukes one way and goes the other with a fadeaway shot from the foul line. The rest is history. And we still haven't gotten over it.

 

Aaron bleepin' Boone.

I think that's all that needs to be said.

 

BB25, paragraphs are your friend.

 

It's one long paragraph KW.

 

this year Clemson/USC game is #1
#2. 2004 28-24 loss to Georgia Tech, when we completely choked.

 

When Finland lost to Sweden in this year's Winter Olympics in Ice Hockey in the gold-medal game. Words cannot describe the ache in my heart that day.

Watching Colin Montgomerie make a doube bogie in the last hole of the U.S Open this June. A bogie would have gotten him into a playoff and a par would have given him his first major. Mickelson did the exact same thing but he already had three majors so I didn't feel nearly as sorry for him.

Funny how both of those took place this year. Wasn't a good sports-year for me.

 

Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Dodgers defeated the my beloved A's. A walk-off home run by Kirk Gibson, a guy who could barely walk to the plate, off the best relief pitcher in baseball (Dennis Eckersley), and sank the best team in baseball that season. It was an act of God, as far as I'm concerned.


Also, the Raiders-Patriots playoff game in January 2002. Raiders lose due to the "tuck rule", two words that will live in infamy in Raider Nation.

 

Don't you get sick of how often it gets mentioned by the commentators during Raider games? Enough already!

 

True, but the Raiders management (Al Davis in particular), and many Raider fans (including myself to a certain extent) all believe that the league really does have it in for the Raiders, with the long list of questionable calls that went against Oakland at crucial moments over the years. The bonehead "illegal forward pass" call from this past weekend is the latest example. Yes, it sounds like paranoia, but it's times like this that make us wonder if there really is a conspiracy. I suppose the true test will be how the league treats Oakland after Davis steps down or passes away.

 

ah ah, turnabout is fair play. longtime patriots fans remember the phantom roughing the passer call in 1976 while playing the raiders. most things even out eventually.

 

1997 Sweet Sixteen. KU loses to eventual national champion Arizona. KU had the talent but Arizona was playing such amazing basketball at the time that this was phoned in as soon as the brackets were released. It devastated me because that particular 1997 squad (Jacque Vaughn, Jared Haas, Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, and Scot Pollard) was so talented, so dominant, and so genial that I put a lot of stock in that team.

 

1996 Fiesta Bowl: Florida-Nebraska
The Gators got destroyed in one of the worst blowouts ever. I was depressed for weeks but its probably better to lose this way, knowing the other team is clearly better.