Worst Game You Ever Saw

[Red Wolf]

In honor of the miserable Cheez-It Bowl between TCU and Cal that featured nine interceptions and went to overtime with an incredible score of 7-7, I thought I'd start this thread. This isn't really about that time your favorite team lost and it made you sad. This is about that time you watched a game and at the end you assumed that any neutral observer would swear off the sport forever.

 

First game that comes to mind for me, is Arkansas State vs Florida Atlantic in football back in 2005. Like the Cheez-It Bowl, it was a low-scoring game that managed to go to OT to prolong the misery. This time however, it was a whopping 0-0 score, the first game to end 0-0 since overtime had been instituted in college football. It even beat out that Virginia Tech-Wake Forest game which ended 6-3 in 2OT, by ending 3-0 with Arkansas State winning. Fortunately, this was before every single game was on TV or streaming and before Twitter so the VT-Wake game overshadows it.

 

The next one I think of was when Arkansas State played at Little Rock in basketball in 2013. It wasn't a scoring black hole, but it was a fun black hole. It was so brutal to watch because there were 59 fouls called. That's 1.475 penalties per minute! There was no chance for the game to have any flow and it just ended up being a free throw contest. With that many fouls you'd think there had been a bunch of fist fights or something, but no, the refs were just calling anything, everything, and nothing. I actually didn't watch a regular season college basketball game for two years after that game.

[FiddySicks]

Someone recently did a write up about the 2008 Sun Bowl. I watched every play of that garbage ass game.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

 

Having seen plenty of games of the Arena Football League, the Stump Merrill Yankees, and the Nets, I find that there are too damn many to choose from.

 

But, just to play along, I will nominate Andy Hawkins's losing no-hitter against the White Sox in 1990.  Chicago had a four-run "rally" that consisted of two walks and three Yankee errors; this allowed the Sox (who threw in two errors of their own) to win this game in which they got no hits.

 

The game so disgusted the baseball establishment that they re-wrote the no-hitter rules to ensure that Hawkins could not appear on the list of officially-recognised no-hitters.

 

This revision had the unfortunate effect of removing from the official no-hitter list Ernie Shore, David Palmer, and Harvey Haddix, all of whom had previously been mentioned with various footnotes: Shore relieved Babe Ruth after Ruth was ejected for arguing following the walk of the game's leadoff hitter, picked off that runner, and then retired the next 26 men; Palmer had a rain-shortened five-inning perfect game; Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings before losing the game in the 13th inning.

[Kramerica Industries]

Among games I can remember watching personally, the 2015 Week 2 meeting between the Cowboys and Eagles has to be up there. I think the game even ended with a semi-respectable final score, but it was genuinely two teams playing total garbage football the entire time. Troy Aikman even had to speak out towards the end about just how awful the game was. I've seen games end with lower scores than that one, even during that season, but I never remember seeing a game I thought was just pure horse  quality. 

[WJMorris3]

2007: Steelers 3, Dolphins 0 on Monday Night Football, with the lone score basically as time expired.

[AstroCree]

The worse I ever attended goes to a Mets-Yankees game in 2009 at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time I ever went to a game as the opposing fan so it seemed like a fun experience. Unfortunately, that game was a trainwreck from beginning to end as they lost 15-0. I remember going to the bathroom and hearing a Godzilla roar thinking to myself “Did Matsui hit a damn HR?” Of course, I most of my friends are Yankee fans so they started to getting on my case throughout the entire game. 

 

The only upside was that this was Sunday’s game and not Friday’s game. That’s the worst game I ever saw on TV. I still get angry thinking about that game. Damn Castillo. USE TWO HANDS YOU IDIOT!!!!! 

 

Losing to the Yankees is not fun. 

[Dilbert]

The worst game i ever attended was the 2011 Liberty Bowl Cincinnati vs Vanderbilt. The game itself was good. No issues there (plus Cincinnati won). The reason it was the worst game was because prior to kickoff I sustained a painful injury. It was during the brief period of my life in which I experimented with contacts and it just so happens I had left my sunglasses back at the hotel. Prior to kickoff one of my friends I was with accidentally hit me in the eye with her rally towel. I was in a lot of pain and spent most of the game in the stands with my eye shut. After the game back at the hotel I was still in a lot of pain so I spent New Years Eve alone in my room. The bus ride back to Cincinnati the next morning I was still in a lot of pain. Because New Years Day fell on Sunday, the eye doctor was closed on Monday to observe the holiday. The oncall doctor came in just for me and told me i had a scratched cornea. I was on several eye drops for a couple months and I have never worn contacts again. As a gift my friend made a shadow box of the said towel with a certificate for enduring pain and survival. It sits outside my bedroom door.

 

The worst game I have ever witnessed game wise was a 2017 FC Cincinnati match against Rochester. The game was officiated by Guido Gonzales Jr who has been known to issue fouls and cards at any given thing. This match he clearly made everything about him. It is the worst officiating I had ever seen in any sport. While the fouls conceded were nearly even (18 for Cincinnati, 17 for Rochester) he issued 10 cards (8 for Cincinnati and 2 for Rochester). One card was a controversial second yellow. Tempers were very high on both sides and he let the game get out of hand. Another card was for dissent and a straight red card was for "violent conduct" from our backup goalie on the bench. He along with our assistant coach were ejected and suspended. There were also 3 penalty kicks awarded (2 for Rochester, 1 for Cincinnati). Fans booed him every chance they could, including on his next game he officiated in Cincinnati. Both Cincinnati and Rochester, along with the USL voiced there concerns about what happened to PRO (Professional Referee Association) who assigns each games officials in the United States. He has no business officiating games. He still is officiating today albeit as a VAR ref, which now that we are going into MLS and will experience a full season with VAR, I am still not confident in his decisions.

 

 

[Sykotyk]

I'm a Browns fan, so I'd have to consider it for a while.

 

41-0 on Christmas Eve to the Steelers. Just an absolutely horrific game.

[Cosmic]

My older son's first ever sporting event was a 1-0 OT loss for the Sabres. It wasn't an especially putrid game, but imagine being a 4-5 year old... nothing to really cheer for, not even a good boo when the other team scored. Lots of skating in circles for 63 minutes, then the tiny little puck goes in the Sabres' net way on the other side of the building, and everyone gets up and leaves.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

My first MLS Sounders game was a 0-0 tie with Chicago. It's kind of a miracle I've kept on going.

[Digby]

Worst personal viewing experience was that very first 1996 MLS Cup, between DC and LAG at neutral site Foxboro, MA. It was a profoundly strange and different sports viewing experience, my section loaded with traveling DCU supporters beating the hell out of their drums and a stunning overtime winner. But it was the worst because, in true New England October fashion, it was about 43 and absolutely pouring rain the whole time.

 

in terms of actual play on the field — a Rockies/Nationals game in 2011 or so where the difference ended up being a 3rd inning balk. No further scoring. Forgive me for not remembering further details but there may not have been further details to remember.

 

Splitting the difference between those two — the only time I’ve ever had Monster seats at Fenway Park was a few years back at a very early season game. Luckily it was sunny, but still another mid 40s day in Boston, which is not terribly pleasant when you’re 40 windy feet above the Mass Pike. Clay Buchholz started for Boston, which predictably made for a five-hour 9 inning game. I was not warm.

[Sport]

I've been to too many, but here's the worst for each of my teams:

 

Bengals
Steelers monday night football last season. Bengals were up 17-0 and then it started to rain and the Steelers came back to win. I sat in the pouring rain and watched the choke-job with so much angry certainty that they were gonna blow the game, which they, of course, did. I left while all of the worst people alive danced around me, soaking wet and mad at myself for even going to the game. The only reason I went was because we buried my grandfather that morning and I wanted to think about something else. So it was an all around great day. 

 

Blue Jackets

Penguins - December 2010. Imagine 25,000 of the worst people alive invade your arena, their team wins 7-2 as your team looks scared and embarrassed in their own barn, their fans wave terrible towels in your face, one of their fans vomits on your shoes at Rbar. Another one of their fans vomits on himself in the seat next to you. It's the most poorly behaved crowd of people I've ever seen at a sporting event. :censored: the Penguins forever. 

 

Reds

Cubs - sometime in 2017. The Cubs were in the middle of their victory tour around baseball. My friend offered me super last minute tickets, but didn't tell me that because they were digital tickets they were subject to change location depending on the game. I thought they were his normal seats down the first base line. The seats were last row upper deck, the crowd was roughly 165% Cubs fans. We stayed 3 innings and then left to get drunk at Tin Roof. 

 

Ohio Bobcats

MAC Championship game 2006. My freshman year and they had a deal where the students got a bus ride to the game in Detroit and a ticket to the game for a stupidly low price. It was like $10. I'd watched exactly one of their football games that year, but I thought it'd be fun to go see Ford Field and hang out with my (future ex)girlfriend. The Bobcats got torched by Central Michigan and the game was never close, but because we took the bus we had to wait until the game ended. My girlfriend took offense to some (imagined) slight by me (as she was wont to do) and sat at the front of the bus away from me for the trip home, which took almost 8 hours. I dated her for another four years. 

[The_Admiral]

15 hours ago, willmorris said:

2007: Steelers 3, Dolphins 0 on Monday Night Football, with the lone score basically as time expired.

 

No, this game was fun! If it had been 6-3 or something, it would be the worst, but I feel lucky that I got to see that game.

[ninersdd]

16 hours ago, Kramerica Industries said:

Among games I can remember watching personally, the 2015 Week 2 meeting between the Cowboys and Eagles has to be up there. I think the game even ended with a semi-respectable final score, but it was genuinely two teams playing total garbage football the entire time. Troy Aikman even had to speak out towards the end about just how awful the game was. I've seen games end with lower scores than that one, even during that season, but I never remember seeing a game I thought was just pure horse  quality. 

Sam Bradford was the leading rusher for the Eagles that game LOL.

[PrimalCookie]

Not sure if this counts or not, but the 2014 Coke Zero 400. It started off pretty well... and then the rain came. Instead of simply postponing it then (it was obvious on the radar that there was hours of rain to come, with one small “bubble” about an hour away), they waited about 5 hours to postpone it. We couldn’t leave, because if for some stupid reason they didn’t call it and ended up starting lap 40 (or whatever) at midnight then we would’ve just spent a ton of money for nothing. When they called it, we left. The next morning, we took the drive back to Daytona... and immediately a huge crash takes out more than half of the field, including the favorite drivers of all 5 (including me and my dad) family members we brought along with us. A few laps later, Earnhardt crashed and practically 3/4 of the remaining people left, meaning we were almost alone in our section. Finally, the race ended with another rain delay-turned-cancellation, with Aric Almirola winning because he got lucky and happened to be in first when the rain came (IIRC that was the only lap he lead all race). All of the TV and radio stations made a huge deal about the 43 car finally winning again at Daytona, and the whole thing just left a sour taste in your mouth. If this was someone’s first NASCAR race (either being there or just watching from home), I doubt they ever thought twice about the sport (or, to prevent people nitpicking this post, the racing league) ever again.

[PittsburghSucks]

In 1989 I saw my Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs play to a 10-10 tie. Talk about not knowing how to react at the end of a game. The one good thing is the Browns went 9-6-1 to win the AFC Central by a half game. Both the Oilers and Steelers finished 9-7 and were wild card teams.

[Unocal]

Jets/Redskins 1993

 

This was also 3-0, but unlike PIT/MIA, this game did not have awful weather as an excuse for the score

[infrared41]

In person:

NHL: New Jersey at Columbus in 2011-12 maybe? The Jackets were playing the second of back to back games. They had played in Minnesota the night before. The Jackets played like they hated the fact that they were NHL players. They were as lifeless as I've ever seen a professional team. Martin Brodeur scored the easiest shutout of his career. He stopped 15 a whopping shots, all of which basically hit him right in the logo on his jersey. I seriously doubt any of those 15 shots were traveling faster than my 11 year old nephew's slapshot. NJ's enthusiasm was about 11% more than the Jackets. It was an awful game. 

 

MLB: Rangers at Indians, game one of a doubleheader. It was the Rangers and Indians in late August in 1990. If you need any further explanation, you're probably on the wrong site.   Anyway, I left in the 7th inning. No way I was staying for another game that day.

 

NFL: Every NFL game I've been to has been pretty good. 

 

NBA: Only been to two Clippers - Pistons and Knicks - Pistons in the late 80's. The only things I remember about either game are that John Salley had a cool dunk for the Pistons against the Clippers and thinking "hey, that's Patrick Ewing." 

 

On TV the only one that immediately comes to mind is Giants - Cardinals on MNF in 1983. Two terrible teams played to a 20-20 tie. The best thing I can say about that game was a line from "Dandy" Don Meredith that I still remember (and quote as BASS listeners will attest) to this very day - "Maybe justice will prevail and neither one of these teams will win this game." 

 

 

[NYUNDERDOGS]

enough said

[Needschat]

1981 ACHL Schenectady Chiefs vs Salem Raiders.

 

The venue was an "indoor open space," a rink was hastily constructed (but the ice was good).  Only one side had seats.  No sound system.  

Game was played between a semi-pro team (Raiders) and team of former and current DII-III college kids (Chiefs).  The game was close, but what made it terrible were the actions of the Birds, screaming at the refs and getting penalties because of it.