Most depressing sports memories

[Seadragon76]

Super Bowl XL stings a bit still, but I've gotten over it. I could sit here and gripe about the ref's and the Steelers, but a true fan realizes that blaming the refs for the shoddy calls are just nothing more then signs of poor sportsmanship.

What hurts more is the 1994 NBA Playoffs...

Seattle, the number 1 seed that season out West, lost Game 5 to freaking Denver that year. It bothers me to this day how a team like the Sonics of that season could lose... Oh, hell. Not just lose but freaking collpase to a far more weaker opponent like the Nuggets. It just drives me batty....

[KevinMcD]

SB XXV - Wide Right

SCF 1999 - No Goal

1999 NFL Playoffs - Music City Miracle

2006 Eastern Conf. Finals - Sabres lose in Gm 7 vs Carolina

[VitaminD]

Okay, let's go around the horn.

Flyers:

- Losing to the Oilers in the 1987 Cup finals in seven after fighting back from 3-1 down.

- Blowing a 3-1 lead to the Devils in the 2000 ECF.

- Falling to the Lightning in seven in the 2004 ECF after coming back to tie that series.

- Pretty much every other year in the Bobby Clarke Era.

Phillies:

- Blowing a 10 game lead to the Cardinals to lose the 1964 NL Pennant.

- NLCS's 1976, '77, and '78

- Joe  ing Carter

- Pretty much every season since then.

Eagles:

- NFC title games 2001-2003.

- T.O. growing a brain.

This is just scratching the surface. I'll start here, and toss in:

1980: Leon Stickle missing the offsides in the Cup Finals (Islanders v. Flyers).

1983: Jeremy Weaver's dad mistakenly rules a caught pop-up to be dropped, costing Holl-Murphy Funeral Home the T-Ball Championship in the Haddonfield Little League. (Some grudges die hard, but Ethan caught it cleanly behind the mound - I saw the whole thing while playing shortstop... )

1988: Fog Bowl: Bears 20, Eagles 12.

1991: Bryce Paup knocks Randall Cunningham out for the season in Week 1.

1995: A glassy-eyed Dante Calabria goes 1-for-everything from the field, and the half-court prayer goes for Arkansas at the end of the first half of the NCAA Final Four.

1996: Darvin Ham. Broken backboard.

1997: Miles Friggin' Simon avenges Arizona's season-opening loss in the Hall of Fame game v. UNC.

1998: Makhtar Ndaiye. 'Nuf said.

EDIT: SabreGuy just jogged my memory with the Jose Mesa reference. How I forgot that, I'll never know. I still b*tch about his lethal brainlock. LET THE BUNT FALL, JOSE!! IT'S AN EASY DOUBLE PLAY! I saw Mike Schmidt do that for years, and it worked every time. (Of course, I later had the extra misfortune of Mesa coming to Philadelphia so I could watch him screw things up on a daily basis. Did I mention Omar Vizquel is my favorite baseball player of all time?)

[SabreGuy]

Wow, this is a tough one for me. I root for teams with a long history of bitter defeats (Bills, Indians, Sabres).

Here's my big ones.

Baseball: Jose Mesa's collapse against the Marlins in the WS. I really thought we were gonna win that one. I was depressed for a good month after that. Last season's final week was REALLY bad, but nothing like that WS loss to the Marlins.

Hockey: This one is tough too, and Bret Hull's "goal" ranks right up there, but really, seeing the Hurricanes hoist the cup this year was the worst. I was on my honeymoon during the Eastern Conference finals, so I missed most of that dissapointment, but when I saw Carolina hoist the cup, I just KNEW that if the Sabres had found a way to win the conference finals, that would have been their cup.

Basketball: Eh, my high school team lost in the state tourney one year I was there, and I travelled to see the game. I really don't love basketball, so there's not too many painful memories associated with it.

Football: Oh dear god, I don't know where to start here. I'd say it's a virtual tie between the "homerun throwback/music city miracle" and "wide right." The only reason "wide right" isn't a lock is because I ended up winning $500 on a squares pool because of it. (lol) The playoff loss to Tennessee, though... oh man, I went in to serious depression because of that game. I've never gone from depressed, to SO happy, back to crushing, unbearable depression SO quickly before. I don't think I'll ever be right after that.

[See Red]

#1 - 13-3, Homefield througout the Playoffs - Jacksonville 30 : Denver 27

That was as heartbreaking for me as watching Aaron Boone trot around the bases in the '03 ALCS. I was crushed (no pun intended). Hard to look back and think that the Broncos could've been the first team to win three straight champions. I still vividly remember the next days Denver Post. 'Orange Flush' was the headline -- the image was of Terrell Davis pulling the collar of his jersey to cover his face.

edit: But god damn those were some gorgeous uniforms!

[fonz]

The Ducks losing game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003

[oz615]

Any loss to the Florida Gators automaticlly depresses the out of me.

[baseballking99]

Red Sox Comeback against the Yanks in 2004 alcs

USC loss to Texas in 2006 Nat'l Championship game

[IceCap]

The Chargers loss to the Jets in the playoffs two seasons in OT.

[BlueSky]

The Saints, 1967-1999 and 2001-2005.

[CZzyzx41]

1987 World Series - Rooted for the Cardinals in that one. Step-dad woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me they'd lost Game 7. Couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

1988 World Series - By this time I'd adopted the A's as my second favorite team (Padres had been my team starting with 1987). Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser shatter what was a good October.

1989 MLB Season - Padres can't beat out the Giants for the NL West lead (thanks Walt Terrell!) and then the earthquake in the World Series (I had family in NoCal).

1990 World Series - In what became my last series as an Athletics fan, the Reds take them down. I hated the Nasty Boys and Eric Davis and Chris Sabo and the rest of the team. I'd never root for Oakland again.

1993 IHL Finals - Gulls get swept by Fort Wayne

1994 IHL - San Diego Gulls get sold and move to Long Beach as the Ice Dogs. San Diego spends a year without a hockey team.

1996 MISL - The San Diego Sockers fold after the season ending what was the sports most successful franchise. I'd enjoyed watching 8 of their 10 championships and never missing the playoffs (I didn't know about them until 1984).

1996 MLB NLDS - After winning my heart all year long and sweeping the hated Dodgers to win the division, the Padres then get swept by a far superior Cardinals team. I still don't like Brian Jordan or Dennis Eckersley.

1998 World Series - Rich Garcia misses strike 3 to Tino Martinez in Game 1. One pitch later, Langston coughs up a grannie. Game 3, Hoffman who had been dominant all year hangs a slider to Scott Brosius.

Game 4, 2002 NBA Western Coference Finals - Robert Horry breaks my heart

2003 NLCS and ALCS - Aaron Boone breaks my heart with one swing. The Cubs can't beat the Marlins after being up 3 games to 1 and within 5 outs of the World Series. What a World Series that would have been. Some things aren't meant to be.

2004 NBA Western Conference Semi-Finals - Timberwolves win by 3 over the Kings in game 7. No matter how good the Kings get, they just can't seem to get to the NBA Finals.

December 30, 2004 - The San Diego Sockers officially Cease operations. Raj Kalra officially finds his way on my hit list. He was already on the hit list of many, far more wealthy and connected individuals.

2005 MLB Season - In what was probably the most blatent statement against the current alignment, an 82-80 Padres team makes the playoffs over superior teams like the Phillies, Mets, Marlins and I might even make an argument about Washington and Milwaukee. They then went on to be completely embarassed by the Cardinals in 3 straight games. Including the 1987, 1993 and 2003 I've never been more embarassed to be a Padres fan.

June 30, 2006 - The San Diego Gulls officially cease operations. Just as I'm about to shell out money for 2007 Season they fold. San Diego now has lost two teams that were very successful in their leagues, failed to secure any basketball team for more than a few seasons and is in line to lose it's professional football franchise which would leave us with the Padres and a 4th division developmental soccer team. The NBA, NHL, MLS and even the MLL want nothing to do with this city. We can't even build an NFL franchise a stadium. How will we possibly get a soccer-only stadium and new arena for hockey and basketball built? Add in our rising crime rates, traffic problems and politicians and it's really an embarassing time to be a San Diegan.

[McCall]

Off-hand, can't remember the year, 1997 I think, but the infamous "Kicked touchdown" by Nebraska against Mizzou that led to the Huskers comeback victory...

IT SHOULDN'T HAVE COUNTED!!!!! Tigers were robbed...

[PeytonManningRocks]

There are a bunch of them for me...

-2006 NBA WCQF Lakers-Suns Game 6....once we lost that I knew we were in trouble.

-2003 NBA WCSF Lakers-Spurs Game 6....yea I know we had already won 3 straight titles, but I wanted a four-peat, to get Phil Jackson his 10th title.

-Any of the recent Colts playoff losses, especially the one against Pittsburgh

-Chargers/Colts last year

-Dodgers' losing 13 of 14 late July

-2002 NHL WCQF Kings-Avs Game 7, we just got shelled. That was our best chance at a good run.

And how can I forget Texas-USC

Surprisingly enough, out of all the events I've been to, my teams have won most of them, the most disappointing game I ever went to had to be the Dodgers-Padres game a month ago near the end of our losing streak.

[rams80]

The last 3 Rams-49ers games.

[Sport]

I just blew a 21 point lead to Oklahoma with my created team (University of Alaska Inuits) in the final two minutes of the national championship game of NCAA Football 2007. that is pretty freaking deppressing.

[SHoUP]

[FloPoErich]

2001 Super Bowl... I still can't believe we lost to the patriots....sigh....

[MadmanLA]

Evey Leafs loss in the playoffs.

The year the 76ers beat the the Raptors in the eastern finals. If Carter had hit that last second 3 pointer the Raptors would have made it to the NBA finals.

That was the infamous Graduation Day game.

They actually aired that game on NBA TV over this past weekend.

[tBBP]

1999 NFC Chamionship Game. Bucfan56 said it, too: BERT EMANUEL HAD THAT BALL. HE CAUGHT IT YOU HEAR ME? (Not to mention had Tampa Bay won that game, Shaun King woulda been the first rookie QB to take a team to the Super Bowl, if not in history, then definitely in a long time!)

Or how about the Sugar Bowl national championship about a decade ago: UF 52, FSU 20. I can still remember all the "sugar sweet revenge" t-shirts being flaunted by all them Gator loyalists. Still irks me to no end to think about that.

And if not for the Jaguars' total smackdown of the Steelers Monday night, this whole WEEKEND would have been depressing (Tampa lost AGAIN, FSU lost--I needed ONE of my squads to pull through and Jacksonville did it. WHEW!!!)

[Shumway]

Whatever it is, I'm sure Matt Millen is repsonsible.

John Paxson ruined my Disney World vacation in 1993. Thunder Dan didn't get his title because of him...not to mention Barkley.

When I was younger I sort of liked the hometown teams(as opposed to now, where I hate the Eagles and Flyers with a passion...Phillies are alright), so Joe Carter put a definite damper on the fall of 1993. However, today, if that were to happen, I'd probly enjoy it.

Last year's MLB playoffs killed me. Being an Angels and Cards fan, I thought I might see my two favorite teams in the Series. Nope, they both had to blow it.

...A.J. in' Pierzynski....Josh Paul CAUGHT THE BALL.