Your worst days of your life as a sports fan v2

[neo_prankster]

Where do I begin?

 

Aztecs passing up opportunities to join Pac-12 in the 90s.

Bolts losing to SF in Super Bowl XXIX.

Pads getting swept by the Yanks in 98.

XFL 1.0 folding.

Gwynn's retirement.

NHL 2005 Lockout wiping out a whole season.

Bonds tying Aaron's HR record at Petco Park.

Pads firing Bochy.

Bolts losing to NE in the 2006 playoffs after posting a 14-2 record.

Bolts hiring Norv Turner the following offseason.

NFL Europe folding in 2007.

Arena League taking 2009 off.

Bolts moving away two years ago.

AAF folding with two weeks left.

[Digby]

Too young to remember Buckner, and fell asleep before the Boone homer, waking up to read the unfortunate score on the Bottom Line at 3:30am. So the Red Sox futility was more of a low-boiling constant source of angst than it was a single horrible day. At least before 2004.

 

I guess my contenders are:

 

2010 World Cup, USMNT loses to Ghana in the knockout stage. Sure, maybe knockout stage is always good, but this one felt like such a missed opportunity when I was younger and more optimistic about our men's team. An eminently winnable game with what felt like a favorable bracket draw path the next couple rounds. I got too hyped up such that it felt like such a let down in the end!

 

2017 USMNT vs T&T -- obviously this was much worse from an underachievement perspective. But it was more like the merciful end of a long, terrible time (the late Klinsmann era and too-little-too-late attempted Arena rescue) than the abrupt end to a fun party, so in a way that makes it less of a single bad shock. 

 

2010 NBA Finals Game 7 -- I am very much of the "If Perk didn't get hurt..." church of Celtics fans. And losing to effing Kobe is never something I can deal with. Worse than losing to the Yankees most of the time. I think a common thread in my great big-game disappointments has been my team getting off to an optimistic, maybe lucky start, and then watching with crushing resignation as the inevitable sets in without enough time to fix it (this game, USMNT at the Confed Cup, every single Revolution MLS Cup appearance, the Grady Little incident...)

[CS85]

This isn't too terribly specific, and thus may break the rules of the thread, but whatever.  Basically every Bears season there's a game where the Bears look so inept and broken that I sit in silence for the better part of a day, wondering just why God decided to make me a fan of this dumpster fire.  As I laid in bed brooding, my wife asked why I keep watching when it makes me so angry/sad/defeated, and I told her I didn't know, but I can't give up. 

 

I feel like there's a ton of non-Patriot/Golden State Warrior/LeBron fans out there where this moment happens annually (or several times a year).  It's not exactly a singular moment so much as the realization that once again your lousy team is a fraud with zero chance to win a title.

[jmoe12]

I think a top 10 11 should about cover it. I'll echo @CS85's thoughts about watching a team you love fall apart just like you knew they would. This last weekend's Bears games was the epitome of that feeling, but in terms of specific days, here's my list.

 

11. September 9, 2018: Packers vs Bears. This will be a theme throughout the list. Aaron Rodgers is my least favorite human being in the entire scope of history. I hate his precision, I hate his stupid smug face, I hate his State Farm commercials, but most of all I hate the inevitability that he will beat the Bears. No lead is safe, no team is good enough to beat this man, and I'm doomed to watch him slice through our defense for the rest of time. 

10. April 28, 2012: Derrick Rose tears his ACL vs. the 76ers. I didn't realize the consequences of this at the time, but the aftermath and being robbed of one of the most entertaining players I've ever seen hurts quite a bit.

9. November 10, 2014: Packers vs. Bears. Aaron Rodgers throws 6 touchdowns in the first half against the worst Bears defense I have ever seen. This loss came immediately after getting curbstomped by the Patriots the previous week. I don't think I've ever cheered for a worse team than that one.

8. February 7, 2007: Super Bowl XLI. For whatever reason this loss doesn't bother me as much as the more recent Bears disasters, as I was just happy to be there. Still not a great feeling to lose the Super Bowl.

7. April 4, 2005: Illinois loses to North Carolina in the National Championship. I was five years old when this happened, and this was the first team that I ever really got into. Dee Brown and Deron Williams were my heroes. I remember my parents finally letting me stay up long enough to watch the end, and being absolutely devestated when they lost. I think this was the most I cried over a single sporting event.

6. May 10, 2015: Lebron buzzer beater in Game 4 vs. the Bulls. For as much as I hate Aaron Rodgers, Lebron is right up there in terms of always beating my team. After the Rose buzzer beater in the previous game I thought this time would be different, but as soon as Lebron pulled up for the shot I knew this series was over. 

5. June 1, 2014: Blackhawks vs. Kings Game 7. I'll admit that this loss doesn't hurt that much in the context of winning three Stanley Cups, but losing in overtime in Game 7 is always heartbreaking.

4. October 10, 2017: The USMNT loses to Trinidad & Tobago to miss the World Cup. Something that should never have happened, but something we totally deserved. We still haven't recovered from the aftermath, and I'm questioning whether we ever will.

3. January 23, 2011: NFC Championship Game: The next-closest the Bears had come to winning it all. This one didn't hurt quite so much as I thought it would as I was still fairly young and the pain felt duller than the #2 and #1. This game wasn't taken from us at the last moment, instead I was forced to watch us slowly fall short as Caleb Hainie threw a pass to BJ Raji for no apparent reason. Seeing the Packers win it all two weeks later hurt even more.

2. December 29, 2013: Aaron Rodgers 4th & 8 to Randall Cobb. Those same damn Packers. The day Aaron Rodgers finally retires will instantly hit the top ten of my best days of my life as a sports fan.

1. January 6, 2019: Cody Parkey Double Doink. Especially in the context of this season to see the first good Bears team in years fall apart in the most predictable way possible was heartbreaking. That was our shot at the Super Bowl, as it's clear that whatever worked last year is now gone.

Edited October 22, 2019 by jmoe12
How could I forget the 2011 NFCCG

[Needschat]

The city council and mayor of Schenectady NY coming to an impasse over the construction of a multipurpose arena, one that would have housed the Tri-City Comets of the American Basketball Association, circa 1974.  The facility would have more than likely housed World Hockey Association and later American Hockey League teams, Major Indoor Soccer League, and indoor lacrosse teams as well.

 

In 1977,  "upset" residents of Schenectady at a meeting with proposed Eastern League team owners and city officials voicing their concerns that a baseball stadium would bring a teenage drinking element to the park and too close to their quiet neighborhood.  Despite the over 30 teenagers and myself, speaking for my father at 13, telling these people that NOT having the park why there were gatherings of teenagers, the city officials delayed construction of the park.  The owners moved their White Sox affiliate an hour north to Glens Falls. 

[Kramerica Industries]

I reserve the right to add to this list later on, if I can remember to, but whichever day it was - May 23, 2018 if I'm not mistaken - when the Lightning lost Game 7 at home to the Capitals in the ECF definitely ranks towards the very top of the list, more than the other Game 7 ECF defeats because this was at home instead of on the road. It was disappointing but not a huge shock to the system to lose those decisive games in 2011 and '16 in Boston and Pittsburgh, but losing the last two games in 2018 with the decisive game at home, and especially because they were trailing pretty much the entire game at that, was one big wet fart of a way to end a season that they definitely could've won the Cup.

 

(And 2019 doesn't really end up on any list of mine because of two reasons. 1) It was over the space of a week, not any one day; even if I knew trouble was lurking after the way Game 1 ended, it could've just as easily been an irrelevant footnote as well when it was all said and done, and 2) it was the first round, which dulled the irritation considerably in a somewhat perverse way. Like, it was embarrassing as hell, but at least it was quick and I didn't have my hopes inflated by a deep playoff run preceding it.)

[DG_ThenNowForever]

My expectations are pretty low, so I don't know that I have a huge worst moments list.

 

Seattle losing to the Pats in the Super Bowl sucked, but at least the Hawks won the year prior. It sucked because 1.) the Seahawks were once up two scores in that game, 2.) Marshawn should have run it and 3.) goddamn Patriots.

 

It sucked when that dork on Glendale's city council compared a bunch of hockey owners to dead firefighters in order to keep a failing hockey team in a failing location instead of moving to Seattle. I don't want or need the Seattle Coyotes in my life, but the opportunity cost there was not kickstarting Seattle's arena-building process. If the Coyotes had moved in here in 2012/13, a new arena would have been built by now.

 

I think that's really it. The Bills will never be an NFL power and I wasn't paying attention during their run in the early 90s. I've seen the Sounders fall apart in the playoffs multiple times, but they won it all in 2016 and that's still pretty awesome. Syracuse basketball has had some near-misses, but they won in 2003 and it was awesome. And my basketball fandom is too mercurial (i.e. tied to players instead of teams) to really have a gut-punch loss.

 

TL:DR - the Patriots can suck an egg.

[monkeypower]

Back in 2009, the Hitmen went 59-9-4. They were top in the WHL by three points, they won the conference by 19 and their division by 43(!) points. They swept the first three rounds of the playoffs before laying an egg in the finals and losing the first three games. They forced a game six but ended up losing in overtime and 13 year old me was devastated. They ended up winning the WHL the next year though.

 

The Ducks losing the Conference Finals in 2015 and 2017 was tough too, especially after the game five comeback and finally winning a game seven during the Oilers series in 2017.

 

There was a period of time when I was younger where I also liked the Flames in addition to the Ducks. In 2004, the Flames losing the Stanley Cup ruined 8 year old me. Being so young I got caught up in just how much the Flames took over Calgary during those playoffs. That run was a crazy time in the city.

[PrimalCookie]

March 19, 2019 was both the second or third best (also related to the 2018-19 season) and worst day of my "sports life."

 

On one hand, the Magic were finally in the playoffs, at home, for the first time in 7 years. It was the first time I had ever been to a playoff game of any kind, much less a playoff game for my favorite favorite team. I've never seen the Amway Center that crazy. The crowd was the loudest it's ever been. For a day, the entire city was painted blue. Even if the Magic make the playoffs ever year again, I don't think that initial experience will ever be the same again for me.

 

On the other hand, the Magic lost in heartbreaking fashion. After, all 18,000 of us were just walking out of the arena in defeated silence. Game 4 was still great, but by that point we as a fanbase had accepted our fate. Maybe I (alongside everyone else) got a bit overly optimistic after Game 1. Either way, it was a crushing blow, and I learned just how much of an emotional connection I have to the Magic as my mood sunk for days after. 

[Digby]

10 hours ago, Digby said:

Too young to remember Buckner, and fell asleep before the Boone homer, waking up to read the unfortunate score on the Bottom Line at 3:30am. So the Red Sox futility was more of a low-boiling constant source of angst than it was a single horrible day. At least before 2004.

 

Hold on, I take this back. I forgot about the last day of the 2011 regular season. That was probably the worst of all for me in an “oh my god I can’t believe I am witnessing this calamity before my very eyes.” And it made all my favorite teams happy and it was the culmination of a miserable roster and it led to losing Francona for, May I remind you, Bobby V.

[JerseyJimmy]

>2006 NLCS Game 7 (this one above all else, and it's the main reason I hate the Cardinals even more than the Yankees)

>2011 AFC Championship (I think this hurt more than the 2010 game because of the failed comeback)

>Super Bowl LI (I'm not even a Falcons fan)

[Sport]

18 hours ago, DG_Now said:

My expectations are pretty low, so I don't know that I have a huge worst moments list.

 

Seattle losing to the Pats in the Super Bowl sucked, but at least the Hawks won the year prior. It sucked because 1.) the Seahawks were once up two scores in that game, 2.) Marshawn should have run it and 3.) goddamn Patriots.

 

 

I lived in Seattle for this one. I got hammered at Sully's in Queen Anne with a coworker who was also from somewhere else. He's a Bills fan as well so we were all Hawks that day. That was devastating because I really wanted to go to a championship parade and get a free day off from the job I hated, but also because goddamn Patriots. The bartender popped a bottle of champagne and started to fill glasses before the interception play, which as a Bengals fan made me instantly nervous. 

 

I got on the bus and everyone looked like they'd been whacked across the face by a twoxfour and I wanted to yell "YOU WON IT ALL LAST YEAR, YOU BABIES", But I was glad to hear from a couple Seahawks fan coworkers that winning the previous year made it easier to stomach than if they'd never won at all. I can't imagine what 28-3 must've done to Falcons fans who didn't even have that to keep them warm. I'd literally stop watching football if that happened to me.

[GriffinM6]

- 2012 AFC Wild Card (aka the Tim Tebow OT Game)

- Getting swept by the Bruins in the 2013 ECF

- Jake Arrieta shutting the Pirates down in the 2015 NL Wild Card

- The day Hines Ward retired

- Losing the 2017 Orange Bowl against Wisconsin

[MJWalker45]

November 6,1995 - Art Modell can suck it!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 hours ago, McCarthy said:

 

I lived in Seattle for this one. I got hammered at Sully's in Queen Anne with a coworker who was also from somewhere else. He's a Bills fan as well so we were all Hawks that day. That was devastating because I really wanted to go to a championship parade and get a free day off from the job I hated, but also because goddamn Patriots. The bartender popped a bottle of champagne and started to fill glasses before the interception play, which as a Bengals fan made me instantly nervous. 

 

I got on the bus and everyone looked like they'd been whacked across the face by a twoxfour and I wanted to yell "YOU WON IT ALL LAST YEAR, YOU BABIES", But I was glad to hear from a couple Seahawks fan coworkers that winning the previous year made it easier to stomach than if they'd never won at all. I can't imagine what 28-3 must've done to Falcons fans who didn't even have that to keep them warm. I'd literally stop watching football if that happened to me.

 

Exactly. I'm also not a true Seahawks fan; I just live here. The Super Bowl parade was awesome and so was the feeling of living here during a championship experience. The Sounders and Storm have won since, but it simply can't compare to a GD Super Bowl, which is essentially the trophy among trophies in the American sports landscape.

 

The loss against New England was a gut punch for sure, but not as flattening as it otherwise could have been.

[Red Wolf]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:38 AM, AustinFomBoston said:

I also hate the 07 Cowboys & Packers.

Patriots would have beaten either of those teams if they didn’t allow the :censored:ing Giants to win. 

 

Cowboys would have won. Whatever deal with the devil the Patriots made came with a clause that said that they couldn't beat anybody from the NFC East in the Super Bowl. There's no other explanation for losing to Eli Manning twice and making Nick Foles look like Joe Montana.

[AustinFromBoston]

7 minutes ago, Red Wolf said:

 

Cowboys would have won. Whatever deal with the devil the Patriots made came with a clause that said that they couldn't beat anybody from the NFC East in the Super Bowl. There's no other explanation for losing to Eli Manning twice and making Nick Foles look like Joe Montana.

Except they absolutely demolished the Cowboys earlier that season. 
 

Giants (also Baltimore) were the only teams that  really threatened them. 
 

Packers would have been fun matchup to see. 
 

[Lights Out]

The day the Expos moved

The day the Chargers moved

Shaun Livingston's injury

Game 6 against the Rockets

[Dalcowboyfan92]

5 hours ago, AustinFomBoston said:

Except they absolutely demolished the Cowboys earlier that season. 
 

Giants (also Baltimore) were the only teams that  really threatened them. 
 

Packers would have been fun matchup to see. 
 

 

Had Dallas beaten the Giants, I would've felt majorly confident that Dallas would beat Green Bay. Favre had never beaten Dallas in Texas Stadium, and they had a late season, heavyweight matchup that Dallas won (and they rang Favre's bell).

 

Would Dallas had beaten New England? I don't know. Considering how the Giants also lost and triumphed in the rematch; Dallas would've still had a chance. They wouldn't have been as huge an underdog as New York was (considering they were the NFC's #1 seed), but they'd still be treated as massive underdogs.

 

However, considering their matchup early in the season, that New England came in and stomped Dallas, Dallas would've not been able to keep up.

 

Who knows what would've happened? All I know is; it's all Patrick Crayton's fault.

[Red Wolf]

8 hours ago, AustinFomBoston said:

Except they absolutely demolished the Cowboys earlier that season. 
 

Giants (also Baltimore) were the only teams that  really threatened them. 
 

Packers would have been fun matchup to see. 
 

 

The only way to know for sure is to get the entire NFC to conspire to let Washington win the conference and see if they magically beat the Pats.