Worst Loss

1. 1998 3A Football Texas State Quarterfinals- Lamesa 28 -Breckenridge 0. We were ranked #1 in state pretty much the entire year, had a dominant team (beat Merkel in a monsoon 60 something to 7 or so) all year, absolutely the class of 3A that year. All the seniors on the team decided they could get hammered the night before game (which was in Lubbock, a 3 hour drive from B’ridge) and promtly got smoked. Crushed me as a 15 year old freshman.

2. 1996 Rangers Playoff series against the Yanks – Everyone knows the reasons.

3. 2006 NBA Finals Games 3-6. Still hate D’wayne Wade to this day.

There where some NASCAR races that I took harder than that though, back in the days when I gave a shit about NASCAR.

Hard to remember exactly what races they where, but I think the 2002 Brickyard 400 was one of the worst. Indy is Tony Stewart’s home track, and one of his life goals was basically to win a race there. That year it looked like he was gonna do it, too – he lead most of the race but something happened (IIRC, the stupid crew chief made a bad call on 2 tires vs 4 late in the race) and he wound up finishing something like 11th. That was a real dickpunch for little 12 year-old me.

remains the toughest for me. Maybe because that was the first playoff team. My dream is for the Rangers to meet the Yankees again in the playoff and defeat them. Sweep them.

1. Rangers in 1996.
2. Giants in Super Bowl XXXV
3. UConn, 2006 Elite Eight – to George Mason.

1. Obviously the 96 Rangers. That team was good – it should have beaten the Yankees. That really upset me.

2. Steelers losing to the Cowboys in the Super Bowl – I hated the Cowboys growing up, and Neil O’Donnell throwing two interceptions on consecutive (I think) drives really annoys me still. There was also a playoff game when a young Brett Favre lost to the Cowboys around then that still bothers me. Green Bay thought it would be smart to play their corners about ten – fifteen yards off the line – Aikman tossed it to Irvin for one ten yard gain another and it was over. Ugh.

3. All these Rice losses in the college world series the past decade. Obviously we won once, but they lost way too many. The losses to Oregon State in 2006 still bother me – OSU should never have won one, much less two, CWSs, and that Rice got shut out TWO GAMES IN A ROW… ugh.

There’s way too many, most of my life I’ve been cursed with bad sports teams.

because that stupid tight end just dropped a wide open touchdown at the end of the game. Barry Sanders would go on to win the Heisman trophy that year in what is probably the best year ever by a running back.

That was my junior year of college, I’d covered a couple of games for the school paper that year (including getting to interview David Carr and Bernard Berrian after the Oregon State win), Carr’s senior year, team was undefeated and ranked No. 8 in the nation, and had a really long home winning streak. All of that ended when Boise State came to Fresno and beat the ’Dogs.

For me, the worst was in 1997-Edmonton vs Dallas game 7…Todd Marchant blows by Grant Ledyard and then has a breakaway against Moog…Marchant goes top shelf, beats Moog and punches me (and all Stars fans) in the gut at the same time.

Byrd VS Evangel(HS FB Louisiana)….Traded TDs whole game and late 4th were driving and RB gets wide open run down sideline and fumbles ball with no one near him and it rolls thru endzone.

LSU VS Bama was pretty rough the last two years. Oh and the Capital One Bowl against Iowa.

But my top is still Dodgers VS A’s and that friggin Kirk Gibson homerun. And the fact the Rangers lose every time I go to the game. Against Rays 2 yrs ago on the walk Hamilton bases loaded game. Against Astros in June. Padres the year before that. And even the twins in Extras like 5 yrs ago

2006 game 3 NBA finals, by far Number 1
but one game that always sticks in my crawl is the regular season game in like ’06 or ’07 when Tex clearly hits a fair shot down the line and the umpire freaking BLOWS it calls it foul and we lose

1991 NFC Championship- Leonard Marshal destroys Montana, and Roger Craig has, I believe, his only fumble of the season. Giants recover, Matt Bahr hits his 5th field goal for a 15-13 win. Denies SF 3 straight Super Bowls.

1990 Final 8- Frickin’ Ga Tech beats Michigan St. when Kenny Anderson hits a shot clearly after the buzzer. Heathcoate’s last really good shot at a title.

2006 NBA Finals

1) WSU-Vanderbilt Second Round game in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. This was my junior year of college, and the year WSU broke out and became awesome. It was the most in love with a sports team I’ve ever been and at one point of the season they looked like a Final Four contender. They slipped a bit late in the year, but still looked pretty awesome.

They had one glaring weakness: the way they played defense meant they got shredded by elite three point teams. They could be expected to beat any team that couldn’t hit threes, but an otherwise bad team that could would have a chance against them.

And, of course, that meant they got Vanderbilt, the best three point shooting team in the nation, in the second round. The second that bracket was drawn up my heart sank. I knew what was coming. Dick Vitale even called it.

The game was maddening. I was visiting my then-girlfriend for spring break, and watched the thing at her house. It was just so frustrating watching WSU score more easily than I usually got to see them under the Bennetts, but seemingly after every score or two, Vandy would haul up and drain a three.

Very few moments stand out in my memory as clearly as the end of regulation, when Daven Harmeling took a wide open three to win it, and it spun around inside the rim a couple times and fell out. I kind of assumed we’d lose in OT after that. We managed to force a second OT, but the Vandy threes were too much and we lost by 4.

I was completely heartbroken. To go from feeling like they could do something special to not even making the Sweet 16 was a bitter pill to swallow. And I really do think we could have beaten Georgetown, and who knows from there. WSU that season, for the rare time in their history, I feel confident could hang with any team in the nation, save for maybe Florida.

2) Cowboys-Giants, 2007 NFL Playoffs. You all know how this one went. Only time in my life I’ve thought about crying over a sports loss.

3) Since everyone else did a top three, I’ll pick a third. I’ll probably go with the Saints-Cowboys regular season loss in 2006. The fumbled snap sucked, but at that point I was happy just to be there. I certainly didn’t expect to win @Seattle, so that was easy to deal with. The Saints game, though, was brutal. Up until that point the Cowboys were in contention for homefield, and then one of the teams fighting them for a bye just ripped them a new asshole. And worse, they provided a blue print to the league of what to do to the Cowboys. The season was over after that. You knew it watching and it came true the rest of the way.

WSU in the 2002 Apple Cup, but I actually liked UW back then because it was before I went to school. Now that I’ve been a Coug, it annoys the hell out of me. Washington Freakin’ State was on the cusp of the National Championship game and missed out because OSU and Miami kept getting lucky in close games and because of a horrible call by a ref in OT of a rivalry game.

I can’t possibly imagine they’ll ever get that close again.

1) Texas v. Texas Tech — 11/01/2008; We all know what happened in this game; whether you were upset, elated, or indifferent, you know how it ended. I yelled a lot….while in my own home….while my wife had her friends over….would’ve cried, if no one had been around.

2) Manchester United v. Barcelona — 2009 Champions League Final; Barca wins 2-0. Was totally pumped for that day and that match. Felt we had a great chance to prevail. Got to the pub early, enjoyed some great food and a couple of Fullers ESB’s…and then, 10 minutes in, the dagger is inserted. The rest of that week suuuuucked.

3) While not a specific game, the ’96 Rangers playoff series was devastating. Really thought Juando was gonna carry us in that series….ugh.

…and when the Rangers jumped out to a 4-0 lead I was already trying to figure out how I was going to get tickets for Game 5. That and the 1997 Edmonton-Dallas OT Game 7 stick out in my mind.

NFC Championship game Cowboys vs. 49ers.

I ended up getting completely and totally s-faced because we broke out a bottle of Johny Walker Black to drown our sorrows after the Cowboys loss, on top of about a 12 pack of beer already. To this day I don’t think I’ve ever been that drunk ever again.

The Catch (maybe more than an honorable mention)

and

The Aaron “Freaking” Boone HR (that one stabbed me in the heart)

1) Game 6th of the 1985 World Series. I was a 10 year old boy in St. Louis and that one ripped my heart out “Temple of Doom” style.

2) The massacre 24 hours later was nearly as painful.

3) Game 7 of the 1987 Series in that stupid dome with those fans waving their Homo Hankies.
 

I don’t even want to talk about it.

Teams that I root for haven’t won shit so….

But that Leon Lett slide feet first in the snow kicking the ball against Miami after they missed the field goal. Was that on Thanksgiving? You don’t touch the ball and you win. That play and the play where Don Beebe knocked the ball away from him in the Super Bowl are how I remember Leon Lett and his dumbass.

He was winning the fight against Hopkins, but damn he got caught with a body shot from hell.

And both Urijah Faber losses to Mike Brown.

I tend to get really emotionally attached to my favorite fighters. I can’t stop shaking when they’re fighting because of that nauseating feeling you get just watching them like they’re your own kids.

losing in the conference semi to an OT goal against St Edwards after battling back from 3 goals down in the fourth Q

Losing by 25+ to A&M the first time I ever played lacrosse in college. I had never been beat that bad in any sport I played in HS. It was just flat out nasty.

1- Troy 24, Mizzou 14, Sept. 9, 2004. I was a freshman in college and had dove headlong into Mizzou sports. Ranked No. 17 in the nation, a Thursday night game on ESPN2, supposed to be Brad Smith’s coming-out party. Mizzou gets up 14-0 in the first and looks like smooth sailing. Troy rallies off 24 unanswered, and some no-name DeMarcus Ware starts tears the Tigers a new one. I remember shutting that game off on TV and listening to the end of the game in my bed, arms crossed and fuming.

2- Tie between the 2006 NBA Finals and the 1996 ALDS. I don’t feel that I need to expound on either of these.

3- Yankees 8, Braves 6 (10 innings), Oct. 23, 1996. My family lived in Atlanta at the time — I was a big Braves fan — and my dad has snared tickets to Game 4 of the World Series. Things going swimmingly, Braves get out to a 6-0 lead and Denny Neagle mowing them down. Then, one thing leads to another, and that bastard Jim Leyritz hits the biggest homer of his life. I’ll never forget seeing Andruw Jones going up to try to take the homer away and coming up empty. That was a total gutpunch. Then Steve Avery walks in the winning run in the 10th. That was a quiet car ride home.

But another Mav related one would be Game 6 in 2003. Freaking Steve Kerr does them in the 4th.

1. A late september game in 2004 vs. LA (then anaheim) where we lost the lead late and lost in extras and it ended our playoff hopes, a 2006 against the yankees when aki blew the save against giambi with 2 outs in the 9th, last year vs. Boston when Frank Francisco blew it. I was barely old enough to remember us losing in 1996 but looking back at what happened in retrospect, it’s a good thing i wasn’t old enough because i would have put a hole in my wall

2. 2007 Big XII Championship- Mizzou vs. Oklahoma
Ugh.

3. 2009 Elite Eight- Mizzou vs. Connecticut

July 4, 1996 — This game. I’ve mentioned this game a few times before, but I was there, and flipped the fuck out with rage.

January 10, 1982 — This game. 3 days after my 11th birthday. The last time I cried over a sporting event.

January 15, 1995 — This game. 8 days after my 24th birthday. 1995 was my year of penance…everything I ever did wrong in life, or ever will, I paid for by what I went through in 1995. This game was the beginning.

April 29, 2007 — This game. I flew to Oakland to see this game. When Baron Davis hit the 3 pointer from midcourt at the buzzer at the end of the 3rd quarter, I knew we were going to lose.

1) Mavs vs. Heat, 2006 NBA Finals game 3

2) Mavs vs. Heat, 2006 NBA Finals game 5

3) Mavs vs. Heat, 2006 NBA Finals game 6

Honorable Mention: Mavs getting eliminated by Jerkoff Goldne State in 2007