OT - Most heartbreaking non-M related loss you've been a player or a fan of?
It was the topic on ESPNU this morning with Mcelroy & Kanell. My favorite was the guy who threw a no-hitter in high school state championship game and lost somehow because the game was called due to rain. He said it was the only high school playoff game ever called due to rain in North Carolina.
What's your best...or worst story?
Fuck you Brandon Bostick
It's January 22, 1989. It's late in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. The Bengals somehow lead the 49ers 16-13 despite not having scored an offensive touchdown. Could our goofy team really win a championship? Will the sports gods really let the Bengals pull this off? The answer to both questions is No. Montana hits John Taylor in the end zone with 34 seconds left to win the game. And there will be no Ickey Shuffle.
This memory hurts my heart.
When Sheed left Robert Horry wide open...
Came here to post this. Was at this game and will never get over it.
My one memory that sticks with me is some other guy punched an aluminum sign going down the stairs to the concourse. Every single person that followed him down those stairs hit that same sign.
I was just about to type this but decided to check the comments first.
A. Rodgers hail mary against the Lions 2015. Everything about that just sucked, including the Lions.
- Stupid f*cking Rodgers
- Phantom penalties
- Why not put Calvin back in the end zone on defense?
C'est la vie
Tie between Bartman game and the Cubs 1984 playoff game v. SD when Leon Durham did a Buckner before anyone knew what a Buckner was and Cubs lost series 3-2 after leading 2-0 and a chance to get annihilated by the 1984 Tigers juggernaut.
Bill Buckner - 1986 World Series. Ground ball between his legs. Mets win. Uuuugggghhhh…
People tend to forget that both the Bartman & Buckner games were only game 6 and each team still had chance in game 7. But in reality they were both done after game 6. Bill Simmons appropriately called them "dead-man walking" games.
I'm terrible with years and specific plays, but baseball reminds me of the Tigers losing games with freaking all-star pitching because those guys then couldn't make simple throws off grounders for outs. Maddening.
2006 World Series. It was brutal.
This was my answer as well. The Tigers were by far the better team on paper and the Cardinals just caught fire at the right time combined with the Tigers forgetting how to play defense.
Fucking pitchers errors.
2009 Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 loss still hurts. After the 5-0 win to go up 3-2, I thought for sure the series was over.
Came here to say this
Yes! The Wings didn't do the job, true, but I'm still bitter about the not called too many men. Plus, we had Nick taking the last second shot that would've forced an overtime that we would've won but Fleury came up with a great save. Put it all together and it hurt.
Close second is FINALLY making the Cup finals in 1995 (first in my lifetime and I was born in the Kennedy administration) and getting swept by an inferior team that used obstruction and ruined NHL hockey for Brian.
This one for me as well. Game 6 and 7 were both games where the wings were there but couldn't get the bounces
Lorenzo Charles' stupid dunk to beat Phi Slama Jama in the 1983 NCAA Final. I still watch the replay hoping Benny Anders will steal the pass to Derek Wittenberg.
Well the year was 1990....high school team dominated all season and was a small Class CC team in Michigan. We thought we were going to make it to the Silverdome. At least we thought that until we ran into the Division 1 high school team called Detroit St. Martin Deporres. Their RB played CB at Michigan. Their FB went to UNLV on a full ride because he wanted to be a RB thought every Big 10 team wanted him as a LB. Their OL were all over 280 lbs. We had nobody on the team that big.
I am still bitter that my chance to play for a state title was ruined because we had to play a private catholic school that could recruit. 90% of their roster wasn't even from Michigan. 5 kids were from California. They should have had to play up to Class A. At the time I believe they had won 17 of 21 state titles.
Anyway......Go Blue!!
DePorres was an absolute juggernaut. My uncle who is in the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame and the Catholic League Hall of Fame will still go on rants about DePorres and how ridiculous of a talent advantage they had year in and year out of their competition.
1993 basketball class B state quarterfinals, lost to Muskegon Heights by 3 at Grand Rapids Juco. Entered the tournament a mediocre 11-9, then blasted #6 (18-2) Pennfield at their place by 30. Whipped Hillsdale then Albion in the district finals. Then knocked off #12 Coloma and #2 Comstock at Mattawan's new gym. Half our town made the 2+ hour trip to Grand Rapids to see us come up 3 points short of playing Fint Powers at Crisler. The 'Heights blew their doors off, so through transitive property we were 3 points short of getting our asses kicked by Saginaw Buena Vista in the state finals.
I was the 6'4 starting center all season after barely getting off the bench my junior year. Still my favorite time in my life. Breaks my heart that so many kids across the country had those memories taken away last year.
Coldwater?
yep, you can see our old gym in my avatar.
I still have the news highlights from that game. Didnt one of your teammates go off for 30 + points that game? My high school played in the quarterfinals that day against Pewamo-Westphalia at Breslin and I taped the news highlights from our contest and it had your game on it too.
It was my Junior year and we lost to Pewamo; however we got our revenge on them my Senior year and beat them in a rematch in the quarterfinals and went on to beat Orchard Lake St. Mary's, Diallo Johnson, and David Bowens to win the State Championship game.
ha, wow. yes, I think he had 37 that game which is a lot considering most of our games were in the 60s. Think I only had 8 points. I was really good at taking charges the entire season, but those officials weren't having it. I fouled out with about a minute to go. I think 3 of my fouls were block/charge calls that in my opinion all went the wrong way. It was the worst feeling in the world to lose that game, but what a magical run we had.
That's really awesome that you guys were able to avenge that loss and win it all the next season. Great memories for sure!
Yes indeed
Outside of marrying my wife and the birth of my kids, it is probably the 3rd best moment of my life.
If it makes you feel any better my Sophomore year (I was not on the team that year) our school was Class B in 1992 and destroyed Muskegon Heights in the Regionals by 20 points. We dropped down to Class C my Junior year (1993) and we should have made it to State too that year, but we laid an egg in the 2nd half against Pewamo-Westphalia and lost by 10.
Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS. That was Leyland's best team, they had everything they needed to win the World Series, were leading in Boston, ready to come home up 2-0 with JV pitching, then the bullpen grand slam happened.
2009 Stanley Cup Game 7 was bad but I missed watching it live so it doesn't hurt so much.
2013 Game 7 Wings vs Hawks was tough - they blew a 3-1 lead in the series and lost in OT. The Wings were clearly already on a downswing (they were a 7 seed and barely made the playoffs in the shortened season) but winning the series vs the Ducks, then taking the lead vs the Blackhawks gave me some hope they could go on a run.
These ones all resonate- was in Chicago for '13 and hadn't been talking any shit because I was waiting for it to be over but everyone was SOOOO cocky after they routed Detroit game 1. Naturally Hawks come back and inevitably win the cup but man, that was all pretty tough.
There was a suuuuuuper weak penalty shot in game 6 I'm still a little salty about.
And especially after the Tigers had been knocking on the door pretty much every year since 2006. The cumulative effect of all those postseason defeats made 2013 especially painful.
BlueinOK took what I was gonna say so I got these that stick out to me ....
Michigan v Louisville 2013 (bball)
Michigan v Iowa 2016 (football)
Michigan v OSU 2006 (football)
Michigan v Texas 2005 (football)
Lions v Cowboys 2015 playoffs (led until 2 min left in the game ... refs screwed them mightily)
I don't know if people realize how rare it is for flags to be picked up like that.
Here's a link if you want your daily Lions dong punch. I have nothing left by the way. I'm basically a eunuch at this point in my Lions fandom.
I think they were explicitly trying to exclude Michigan games from this thread
I never liked the Rico Blasi Miami teams as they tended to be annoying but I was sorta pulling for them in the 2009 championship game since they were the upstart and when does Miami of Ohio ever get a shot at a national title in anything? Blowing a 2 goal lead in the final 2 minutes and then losing on a fluke deflection in overtime of a national championship game is possibly the most soul crushing loss I have ever seen or will ever see
This wasn't a loss, but I will be pissed forever about Jim Joyce screwing Armando Galarraga out of that perfect game!
Watching that clip makes me physically ill ti this day. Ugh
Has to be the USMNT loss to Trinidad and Tobago that knocked us out of the 2018 World Cup. Especially since we all spent the second half feeling like the US still had a way in through the back door because both Honduras and Panama were losing in the second half.
Then the series of gut-punches started. Honduras and Panama both equalized in the 53rd. Honduras pulled ahead in the 60th. Panama pulled ahead in the 88th. All the US needed was one goal to go their way in one of three games! I was watching all 3 at once, and it was so much worse to have eggs in 3 different baskets and see all of them fail to pan out all at the same time.
Ugh I still cannot believe that happened...
Only Craig Ross is old enough to remember these.
1966 Red Wings finish 4th, after finishing 1st in 1965 with Terrible Ted Lindsay's comeback.
That team was upset by Chicago but the Wings returned the favor in 1966 to put them in the finals v the defending champ Canadiens.
Loaded with veterans, like Bill Gadsby, Andy Bathgate and Dean Prentiss, 20 plus years in the league without a Cup, and Delvechio and Gordie, Conn Smythe Winner Roger Crozier in net, they won the first two games in Montreal.
Only one other team had lost the first two and come back to win the Cup.
Then lost 3.
OT in Game 6 at Olympia, not televised in Detroit, and the Pocket Rocket slides into the net with the puck under him.
Tears.
67 Tigers, finish with 4 game series at home v the Angels. Rainouts Thursday and Friday, so DH Saturday and Sunday, with BOsox hosting Twins, the other contenders.
Tigs give up 6 in the 8th to blow game 2 on Saturday after winning game 1.
Need a sweep to tie winner of Boston-MN game, win game one, lose game 2.
More tears.
The list of heartbreaking losses I've been in the stands for is long, but mostly M-related.
One non-M that stands out is 2013 Western Conference Semis watching the Red Wings lose to the Blackhawks @ the United Center in OT of game 7. Just a devastating blow and pretty much the end of the Wings run of dominance.
One that's high on my list but wasn't in attendance for:
2019 Wimbledon final, Roger up 8-7 in the fifth serving at 40-15...unbelievable sadness
I was in the third row for that one. Massive letdown for sure. But as a tennis fan in general, hard for me to be heartbroken about being able to see that match live. Probably would feel worse about it having only watched it on TV.
This was at 15-15 at 8-7 in the 5th. Next two serves were aces, crowd was insane, and then...Djokovic happened. Again.
WOW that is epic!!!! Wimbledon is such a beautiful experience and I can't even imagine how great it was to be at the final there.
My greatest tennis moment was at Rod Laver in 2017 when Roger returned to glory and beat Rafa in 5 sets. Will never forget it, and probably never top it.
1987 Game 5 Pistons at Celtics in the Garden. Bird steals the inbound pass from Isaiah feeds to DJ who laid it in...can still hear that Boston announcer in my head. Pistons would've closed it out in the Silverdome in Game 6 and then given the Lakers a better Finals test.
And then the phantom call on Laimbeer the next year when the Pistons were on the verge of winning it all...
I was waiting for these to show up. The Bird steal and listening to Johnny Most’s goddamn play by play for years was hideous.
I threw a perfectly good piece of pizza at the television after witnessing that play.
That was the one that was on the top of my list. The game was all but over and then that. I was in school in Boston at the time and it was "Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird". I thought we finally had them. And the series ended with Isiah's "he'd be just another good guy" comment.
I moved to Chicago for a job the following year so I wasn't in Boston when the Pistons finally took out the Celtics but I got to Chicago just in time for you know who.
2016 World Series Game 7. After Rajai Davis tied it up I was absolutely sure Cleveland would close it out.
Great topic! Long time (suffering) Vikings fan here. The 1999 NFC Championship Game stings to this day. High flying offense, Randy Moss, a kicker who didn't miss all season, and the game was at home. Well, the kicker missed, and the Falcons went to the Superbowl. Vikings probably would've lost to Elway's Broncos also, but still... That game sucked!