Your Top 5 Most Painful Sport Losses

[Pyser]

had a great debate with a friend about our top 5 most painful sports losses ever. Watched it, played in it, heard about it.

not talking a 50-14 super bowl loss. i mean the kind where you sit and watch the tv for another half hour, because you cant move.

im sure this has been done on this board, but im starting anew, after my search came up empty. my top 5:



1) Devils - Rangers 94 ECF Game 7. Matteau in double overtime.

2) Giants - 49ers 2002 Playoffs. Giants blow a 24 point lead, game winning fg never happens from bad snap, holder throws a desperation ball, incomplete. Next day NFL admits pass interference should have been called, giving the Giants a much closer fg attempt...but still doesnt give them a new snapper.

3) Giants - Eagles 2010 regular season - Fuck you DeSean Jackson. Fuck you Matt Dodge.

4) Mets - Cardinals NLCS 2006 Game 7 - Chavez makes that catch...then Beltran strikes out LOOKING with the bases loaded to end it.

5) Devils - Hurricanes 2009 Quarterfinals Game 7 - With 80 seconds left, the Devils led by 1 goal. With 32 seconds left, they trailed by 1 goal.

[gstelmack]

2007 Pats / Giants Super Bowl.
2006 Pats / Colts AFC Championship game. Just catch the 3rd-and-4 pass!
1986 Red Sox / Mets Game 6, the Buckner game. Less painful now that I care much less about MLB.

Not sure I can come up with two more.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Pyser

had a great debate with a friend about our top 5 most painful sports losses ever (pro sports, not when your team lost in the high school regionals).

not talking a 50-14 super bowl loss. i mean the kind where you sit and watch the tv for another half hour, because you cant move.

im sure this has been done on this board, but im starting anew, after my search came up empty. my top 5:



1) Devils - Rangers 94 ECF Game 7. Matteau in double overtime.

2) Giants - 49ers 2002 Playoffs. Giants blow a 24 point lead, game winning fg never happens from bad snap, holder throws a desperation ball, incomplete. Next day NFL admits pass interference should have been called, giving the Giants a much closer fg attempt...but still doesnt give them a new snapper.

3) Giants - Eagles 2010 regular season - Fuck you DeSean Jackson. Fuck you Matt Dodge.

4) Mets - Cardinals NLCS 2006 Game 7 - Chavez makes that catch...then Beltran strikes out LOOKING with the bases loaded to end it.

5) Devils - Hurricanes 2009 Quarterfinals Game 7 - With 80 seconds left, the Devils led by 1 goal. With 32 seconds left, they trailed by 1 goal.

Great list, mine would be virtualy identical.

[Mustang]

5. 95 NFC Title Game : Dallas v GB
4. 98 Wild Card : GB v SF
3. 03 Divisional Playoffs : Philly v GB (4th and F'n 26...)
2. 07 NFC Title Game - Giants v GB (So close)
1. 97 Super Bowl XXXII - Denver v GB

They lose to the Bears this last weekend it would have vaulted to #1

[Rizon]

That game in the late 90s, Monday Night Football, where the Dolphins led the Jets something like 70-0 in the 2nd quarter, only to end up losing somehow.

[panerd]

Mizzou

5. OU: big 12 title game (nationial championship appearance on the line)
4. Oklahoma 77-0
3. Colorado 5th down
2. Nebraska Kicked Ball
1. Tyus Edney

[SirFozzie]

2003 ALCS Game 7
2007 Super Bowl
86 mets/Sox
2009-10 Celtics/Lakers Game 7
2011 Jets-Pats

[Telle]

Well I'm not a huge sports fan, but I am a fan of Buffalo teams.. and so I have two.

1991 Super Bowl - "Wide Right"
1999 Stanley Cup - "No Goal"

[Radii]

1. Game 6 2003 NLCS, Bartman and the ridiculous 8th inning that followed
2. Panthers vs Pats Super Bowl, Carolina may not have won but Kasay's kickoff out of bounds haunts me
3. Game 7 2003 NLCS

Dunno why you'd specify pros only! 1987 ACC Tournament finals (I'll hate vinny del negro forever) and 1987 NCAA Tournament loss to Syracuse(I'll hate Rony Seikaly forever) and 1994 2nd round loss to Boston College that ended UNC's sweet 16 streak would all be on here too.

[NoSkillz]

5. 1985 American League Championship Series: Kansas City beats Toronto 4 games to 3 - this was the first year the leagues went to a seven game series and it cost the Jays, as they'd blow a 3-1 series lead in losing to the eventual WS champs.

4. 2007 NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Ottawa beats Buffalo 4 games to 1 - This series wasn't really close but it qualified as a huge upset, as the Sabres were the President's Trophy winners that season with 113 points. Daniel Alfredsson's overtime winner in game five was notable for the tears it brought to my wife, who was with me at the game that night - she made me leave the building while the league was presenting Ottawa with the Prince of Wales Trophy, saying "they're taking our trophy!". Good times...

3. 2006 NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Carolina beats Buffalo 4 games to 3 - This series was a heartbreaker, as the Sabres came out of the lockout with a team completely built for the "new NHL" and had steamrolled through their first two series in dominating fashion over Ottawa (4 games to 1) and Philadelphia (4 games to 2, with an 8 goal game and a 7 goal game). This series would go back and forth but was notable for the fact that the Sabres would lose 4 of their starting 6 defensemen to injury and seven starters overall by the 7th game, ultimately losing 4-2 in that 7th game. The Canes would go on to win the Cup that season.

As a Buffalo sports fan, I'm sure you can guess the next two:

1b. 1999 Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas beats Buffalo 4 games to 2 - The "No Goal" series. Yeah, it was upsetting the way it went down but meh - Dallas ultimately was the better team.

1a. Super Bowl XXV (1991): New York Giants 20 Buffalo Bills 19 - WIDE RIGHT!

[AlexB]

Without a shadow of a doubt Swindon 4 Leicester 3, First Division (now Championship) Play Off Final in 1993.

Glenn Hoddle's Swindon went 3-0 up, only for Leicester to get three goals in ten minutes to draw level by 70 minutes (including the calmest classiest finish by Steve Thompson you will ever see given the circumstance to make it 3-3) and there was only going to be one winner at that point

But Steve White decided to launch himself and win an unjust penalty to make it 4-3 and break our hearts.

1993 Football League First Division play-off Final - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Closely followed by Leicester 0 Blackburn 1 in the 1992 playoff final, when the cheating David Speedie also dived to win a penalty, but there wasn't the rollercoaster in that one.

3 - England 1 Germany 1 in 1996 European Championships (England lose on penalties)
4 - England 1 Germany 1 in 1990 World Cup (England lose on penalties)
5 - England 1 Argentina 2 in 1996 World Cup (Hand of God)

Thanks for cheering me up FOFC

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Radii

Dunno why you'd specify pros only! 1987 ACC Tournament finals (I'll hate vinny del negro forever) and 1987 NCAA Tournament loss to Syracuse(I'll hate Rony Seikaly forever) and 1994 2nd round loss to Boston College that ended UNC's sweet 16 streak would all be on here too.

sorry, shouldve been more clear. college is perfectly acceptable. your sunday night bowling league, or traveling soccer team is not

[Butter]

1. Bengals lose to Steelers in the Carson Palmer-blows-out-his-knee-on-the-first-play game in the Wild Card Round. I am convinced the Bengals were on their way to the SB that year.

2. Reds lose to Mets and Al Leiter in 1999 one game playoff for the Wild Card.

3. Reds commit 4 errors in Game 2 of the 2010 NLDS against Philly. That game was there to be had, but the Reds let it slip right by.

4. 1995 NLCS, Reggie Sanders and Ron Gant strike out like 100 times against the Braves, and the Reds get swept. Every game in that series was awful.

5. Bengals lose SB XXIII on the final minute Montana-Taylor connection. Bengals dropped an interception on the play or two before, which makes it all the more difficult to swallow. But I was pretty young, so this didn't leave as big as an impression on me as the others.

[Logan]

The Beltran K-looking would be on there for me without a doubt, as would the loss to Florida on the last day of the season that made the 2007 September collapse complete.

The next two slots would be filled by the Knicks' Charles Smith being unable to hit one of 439 putbacks, and John Starks going 2-18 in Game 7 of the 94 Finals.

And I know this is a "pro" thread but screw you and let me sulk. #1 would be Rutgers losing to West Virginia in triple overtime in the final game of the 2006 regular season, costing us the BCS bid. There was a horrible blown call on a Steve Slaton fumble which had a huge effect on the outcome, and Rutgers' James Townsend also dropped an easy TD late in the 4th that may have won the game.

[Pyser]

you know, im changing the title. if you lost in your t-ball league and cried for a week, i want to hear about it

[Pyser]

ill add a personal one:

Early 90's indoor soccer - I score the game winning goal with 8 seconds left. With 2 seconds left, my best friend, playing in goal, lets a game tying goal go between his legs. Still mad at him.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Pyser

you know, im changing the title. if you lost in your t-ball league and cried for a week, i want to hear about it

In tball, I went to tag a runner on his way to 2B. I tagged him with my glove but the ball was in my other hand. I ended up throwing my glove in the trash after that game cause it was the glove's fault.

[molson]

No particular order:

-Colts over Pats in AFC Championship game
-Yankees over Red Sox in '03 ALCS
-Michigan St. over Syracuse in sweet 16 in 2000 (my senior year at Syracuse, the orange had a big halftime lead, but then the Spartans decided to just shoot up 3's the rest of the game - and most of them went in. It would have been nice for the Orange to get past the sweet 16 once in my 4 years there).
-Oilers beating Bruins in the '88 and '90 Stanley Cup. I remember being so excited for the Bruins to be in the Stanley Cup - and then they just got utterly dominated both times.
-A's beating Red Sox in '88 and '90 ALCS (See Oilers beating Bruins).

Not on my list
-'86 World Series (for some reason, the elation of the 1986 ALCS game 5 win overshadows the World Series for me - it was my first great sports memory, and it was a day game - I don't think I stayed awake for any of the World Series games).
-Giants over Patriots in the Super Bowl. Maybe I just saw it coming. Maybe I was just so dissapointed in the gameplan that I knew they deserved to lose and I was just pissed off at the Patriots, rather than hurt.

[Karlifornia]

Stanford losing to Alabama in the second round in 2004. I thought that was a championship caliber team. They even led the Tide 53-40 with 7 minutes left. Aw, man

[Drake]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

2003 ALCS Game 7

To this day, I still blame my wife for this game.

Through the rest of that series, whenever the Sox needed a lift, I would have my wife flash her boobs at the TV. They were like magic.

(Aside: the genesis of this particular mojo is a confusing story about her jumping out of the shower during the LDS, streaking nekkid through the house to get something from the bedroom and some un-remembered timely thing happening for the Sox both as she was going to the bedroom, then coming back. You know how these things work.)

Bottom line was that the Sox rode my wife's boobies into Game 7.

After the sixth inning, my wife said she was tired and going to bed. She said (and I quote), "There's no way they can botch it now. Congratulations!"

I said, "Nooooooooooooooooo!"

But she would not be swayed.

I slept on the couch after that game. I laid awake for like three hours trying to convince myself not to go into our bedroom and smother her to death with a pillow.

But then I remembered...she'd still have her boobs in 2004.

And, indeed, she did...she got them out in the bottom of the 9th of Game 4 of the ALCS because I made the mistake of telling her, "This is all your fault, anyway. They were destined to win last year, but you failed them. You took your boobs and went to bed."

My wife said, "You and your superstitions are insane! Look, I get them out and nothing happens! They are not magic boobies!"

(Just as Dave Roberts stole second.)

She watched every inning of the the rest of the playoffs topless.

[Warhammer]

1986 ALCS Game 5 - Angels lose to Red Sox
2001 Super Bowl Rams losing to Pats
2005 NCAA Basketball Finals Illini lose to the Tar Heels
1989 NFC Conference Championship - Rams lose to 49ers (the loss didn't bother me, it was how the lost)
2008 NCAA Basketball Finals Memphis loses to Kansas

[SteveMax58]

Yeah...mine is pretty similar to Pyser being a Giants fan. But since I dont follow hockey mine is a little different.

1. Giants/49ers Wild Card 2002 - one of the angriest moments of my entire life.
2. Giants/Eagles Game 14 2010 - yeah...if not for this game how different the Superbowl would be.
3. Mets/Braves NLCS G6 1999 - Painful to see the Mets come back from 3-0, tie this game, take the lead, then lose it on a bases loaded walk.
4. Mets/Cards September 21,1987 - Terry Pendleton hits a 3-run HR off Roger McDowell to tie the game in the 9th inning and the Cards go on to win 6-4 in 10. That game was IMO the turning point for the Mets that season and after coming on strong they seemed to deflate after that game and missed the playoffs (of course...no wild cards back then).
5. Giants/Vikings Wild Card 1997 - Giants blow a 9 point lead by giving up 10 points in the final 90 seconds.

[RendeR]

1. 1981 Super Bowl 16 Bengals lose to 49ers 26-21: First half dominated by niner consistantcy and Cincinnati Mistakes leads to a 20-0 halftime lead. Second half is a total mirror image where the Bengals Defense dominates the niners and Anderson puts up 3 TD's. The key moment being a 1st and Goal at the 1 yard line and 4 straight attempts simply didn't get it in the end zone.

2. 1989 Super Bowl 23 again the Bengals and Niners: Montana hits a last minute pass to pull out a win. Game should have been over had Louis Breeden not dropped a game ending interception 2 plays earlier.

3. 2006 NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Carolina beats Buffalo 4 games to 3
Injuries destroyed the best team in the NHL that season. Ripped my heart out watching Carolina run over our AHL defensemen in game 7. Even then we STILL had the game in our hands until late in the 3rd.

4. 1999 Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas beats Buffalo 4 games to 2: Fuck that No Fucking Goal. Should have been waved off and dropped in a circle. You don't allow game 6 of the FINALS in its THIRD overtime to be determined by some worthless piece of shit rule that you DROPPED the very next SEASON!!!!!!

5. 2005 Wildcard playoff. Shitzburgh takes out Palmer on the first offensive play for the Bengals and goes on to barely beat them with Kitna at the helm. Fucking shit ass stealers.

[Toddzilla]

1. Cubs lose NLCS Game 5 to the Padres in 1984
2. Cubs lose NLCS game 7 to the Marlins in 2003
3. Dolphins lose div playoff game to the Chargers in OT in 1982
4. Virginia Tech loses to Florida State in the BCS MNC game in 1999
5. My rec-league basketball team loses the championship game when I was 14.

[markprior22]

Ball goes through Durham's leg in 84 NLCS
Bartman game '03 NLCS
Cowboys lose on "the catch" NFC Champ game
Jackie Smith drops TD pass in the Super Bowl and Cowboys lose
Romo fumbles snap on FG and Cowboys lose to Seattle in playoffs

Thinking back on it....in my lifetime, the Cowboys have either been pretty good or pretty bad. When they've been good, they've normally won. Haven't let me down too often. It's tough to say a loss is painful if the expectation wasn't there to begin with. The Cubs on the other hand, they've only had a couple of legitimate opportunities and have whiffed on both.

[Butter]

Then I'm changing mine.

#2 for me is Ohio State losing to Michigan State in 1998. It was my wedding day, but it was Michigan State so surely the Bucks wouldn't blow this one at home, right? My wedding was about at the start of the 2nd half. I had no idea who won/lost the game until well into my wedding night.

I swear to God, I almost let OSU losing that game ruin my wedding night. I mourned it for a couple of minutes, then got back into action. I am glad I didn't actually witness that, but even NOT having seen it, it is still at #2. That was the one year that OSU overcame Cooper's crappy coaching and actually beat Michigan on sheer talent. That was the year they were destined to win the national title. Alas.

[Rizon]

Oh yeah, Kirk Gibson hitting that miraculous homer against Eck in Game 1 of the World Series, even though he had like 5 broken ribs, 3 broken legs, a broken arm, broken collarbone, blown knee, broken back, tennis elbow, and Eck hadn't allowed a run in like 82 straight games. First time I suspected sports might be rigged. Anytime I see that play on TV I want to cry and smash stuff.

[johnnyshaka]

No particular order...

2006 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 1: Oilers blow a 3-0 lead AND lose Roloson for the remainder of the playoffs...despite making it to Game 7 this is where they lost the Cup.

Kirk "Fucking" Gibson.

Jeremy Giambi. And why the hell was Jeter where he was on that play?!

Steve Smith.

World Juniors gold medal game the last two years...ugh.

Eagles losing the Super Bowl in '05.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Oh yeah, Kirk Gibson hitting that miraculous homer against Eck in Game 1 of the World Series, even though he had like 5 broken ribs, 3 broken legs, a broken arm, broken collarbone, blown knee, broken back, tennis elbow, and Eck hadn't allowed a run in like 82 straight games. First time I suspected sports might be rigged. Anytime I see that play on TV I want to cry and smash stuff.

I still think that it was actually Chuck Norris hitting for Gibson.

[rowech]

Super Bowl XXIII -- Bengals lose to the 49ers. Nothing else is even close. To lose Krumrie in that game was huge. To get the lead so late was unreal. To have it taken away with 34 seconds was just something devestating. I was friggin 12 at the time and figured they would be back the next year which they probably should have been. In fact, statistically they were much better than the year before. Now almost 35 and they aren't even close to getting back.



The loss to the Steelers in 2005 hurt because I thought they had a real chance that season. It still isn't even close to the Super Bowl. The only thing that can ever get rid of that feeling is a title.

The 1995 NLCS was pretty brutal. Getting swept by the Braves and watching Reggie Sanders just lay an egg was awful. To get that far with such a good team and just to blow it was pretty hard to take.

[johnnyshaka]

Hey Drake, you and your wife want to come over to watch the World Series? If you have to work, that's OK, send your wife along.

Great stuff, though. I'm going to have to try and convince my wife to start doing something like that...the possibilities are endless!!

[jbergey22]

1. 1998 NFC Championship - Gary Anderson misses the FG to send the Vikings to Miami, Atlanta comes down and ties it up late in the game and win it in OT. Vikings were 17 point home favs and in the control the entire game until the very end.

2. 2010 NFC Championship - Losing in OT to the Saints in a game the Vikings outgained the Saints by a large margin. Favre threw that int late when they were in FG position late in the game

3. 2003 Gophers vs Michigan - A very rare time where the Gophers were ranked high and undefeated. They were up 28-7 going into the 4th quarter against a good Michigan team in the metrodome and found a way to blow the game. and watch their season fall apart

4. 1987 NFC Championship - I was very young at the time but I remember Darrin Nelson dropping a ball near the end zone that would have knocked off the powerful Redskins that year. If it wasnt for the players strike that year the Vikings could have been playing that game at home.

5. Nothing specific but I will just make mention of the numerous games the Twins have played against the Yankees that they manage to blow late and watch Rivera close it out after that.

[Sublime 2]

Pats vs Giants 2007 Superbowl

Celts vs Lakers Game 7 2010 Championship

Sox vs Yanks Game 7 2003 ALCS

Pats vs Packers Superbowl XXXI - Not that I expected them to win but I was only 12 years old and it was my first MAJOR blow.

Bruins vs Flyers Game 7 2010 - There's probably more deserving games, but you assholes were up 3-0 in the series, then 3-0 in Game 7!


Admittedly, a lot of these games are 'newer', but I'm only 25.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Drake

To this day, I still blame my wife for this game.

Through the rest of that series, whenever the Sox needed a lift, I would have my wife flash her boobs at the TV. They were like magic.

(Aside: the genesis of this particular mojo is a confusing story about her jumping out of the shower during the LDS, streaking nekkid through the house to get something from the bedroom and some un-remembered timely thing happening for the Sox both as she was going to the bedroom, then coming back. You know how these things work.)

Bottom line was that the Sox rode my wife's boobies into Game 7.

After the sixth inning, my wife said she was tired and going to bed. She said (and I quote), "There's no way they can botch it now. Congratulations!"

I said, "Nooooooooooooooooo!"

But she would not be swayed.

I slept on the couch after that game. I laid awake for like three hours trying to convince myself not to go into our bedroom and smother her to death with a pillow.

But then I remembered...she'd still have her boobs in 2004.

And, indeed, she did...she got them out in the bottom of the 9th of Game 4 of the ALCS because I made the mistake of telling her, "This is all your fault, anyway. They were destined to win last year, but you failed them. You took your boobs and went to bed."

My wife said, "You and your superstitions are insane! Look, I get them out and nothing happens! They are not magic boobies!"

(Just as Dave Roberts stole second.)

She watched every inning of the the rest of the playoffs topless.

You had a better reaction then me..

And you got a great wife. TITS OUT FOR THE SOX!

[Drake]

In the interest of full disclosure, my wife gets her tits out for pretty much everybody.

[Coffee Warlord]

Game 6, 2003 NLCS
Game 7, 2003 NLCS

I doubt much will ever top that.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Drake

In the interest of full disclosure, my wife gets her tits out for pretty much everybody.

(opens mouth)...

(decides to close mouth without saying anything)

[Sgran]

1. Leon Durham
2. Bartman
3. Jagr vs the Blackhawks
4. Ronnie Harman (for Iowa. I could have warned the Bills fans)
5. The game where that asshole Packer slammed McMahon to the turf.

[Honolulu Blue]

All right, I'll bite:

1. 2009 Game 163, Tigers vs. Twins - Each team had several opportunities to win. Finally, in 12, the wrong team did. This was painful in a couple of ways other than the obvious: (1) The Twinkies didn't do squat in the playoffs against the Yankees. We could've done better. At least, we wouldn't have done any worse. (2) This looked like the end of the good times for Leyland & the Tigers. Last year was 81-81, so we'll see.

2. (tie) various games in 2009 for the Tigers down the stretch against Kansas City. KC was not good this year, but we made them look like world beaters in losing 5 of 6 in September. This cost us the pennant, of course.

3. (tie) '93 playoffs, Lions vs. Green Bay and '94 playoffs, Lions vs. Green Bay. I don't actually remember watching these games, but I'm sure I did. In the '93 game, we beat the Packers at the Silverdome in the final game. Our reward was to face them again, same place, 6 days later. Barry ran wild, but it wasn't enough. In '94, we made the playoffs again and got to face Green Bay again, this time at Lambeau. This was the infamous game where Barry ran for -1 yard on 13 carries. It was impossible for us to overcome that.

I suppose I could add some games from my sports text areers, but I don't remember them well enough. So let's leave it here.

[RainMaker]

1. Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS (Bartman game).
2. Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS
3. Bears vs Colts Super Bowl XLI
4. Bears vs Packers 2011 NFC Championship Game
5. Game 7 1989-1990 Eastern Conference Finals Bulls vs Pistons

[SirFozzie]

where does Blackpool's loss today rank (if you're a Man U hater or a Blackpool fan)

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Drake

In the interest of full disclosure, my wife gets her tits out for pretty much everybody.

We're everybody.

Pix plz.

[Logan]

My memory may be shaky or I could be getting confused, but I don't think we like Drake's wife, even if we could see her topless.

[Big Fo]

2002 World Cup quarterfinals - USA v. Germany - We outplayed the Germans, were not given a penalty kick for a blatant handball on the goal line, and lost 1-0.

1999 NFL Playoffs - Miami at Jacksonville - A 62-7 loss in Dan Marino's final game.

1996 World Series game 4 - NY Yankees at Atlanta - The Braves blew a six run lead when a win would have put them up three games to one.

2009 Champions League final - Manchester United v. Barcelona - After a promising start to the match for United, Barcelona scored an early goal and dominated from that point on. The final score was only 2-0 but it could easily have been worse. Just an incredibly depressing two hours.

1997 NLCS game 5 - Atlanta at Florida - With the series tied at two games apiece, Florida won this pivotal game 2-1 thanks to useless cunt Eric Gregg giving Livan Hernandez a three foot wide strike zone that enabled him to strike out 15 Braves, most of them on pitches that were impossible to hit without standing on home plate.

[Fonzie]

My list is pretty similar to Mustang's in that it is heavily populated with Packers games, but I'm also a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so my #1 is different. I've included, parenthetically, the thing that most kills me about each:

1. 1985 Cardinals World Series Game 6 vs. Kansas City (Don Denkinger was KC's MVP)
2. 1997 Packers Super Bowl (XXXII) vs. Denver (trading a freebie TD for time on the clock)
3. 2007 Packers NFC Championship game vs. Giants (Favre chokes in OT)
4. 1998 Packers Wild Card game vs. 49ers (the Rice fumble that wasn't)
5. 2003 Packers Divisional Playoff game vs Philly (4th & 26)

[mckerney]

1. Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. Michigan Wolverines - October 10th, 2003
Minnesota was ranked 13th in the country and was hosting 19th ranked Michigan. The Gophers started the 3rd quarter up 28-7, but they gave up 31 points in the 4th quarter to lose 38-35. To make things worse, a win over Michigan in this game would've sent Minnesota to the Rose Bowl for the first time in more than 40 years.

2. Vikings vs. Falcons, 1998 NFC Championship Game
Blergh.

3. Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Holy Cross, 1st Round of the 2006 NCAA Hockey Tournament
The Gophers spent much of the year ranked #1 in the country only to lose in overtime to the lowest seeded team in the tourney. Program hasn't recovered losing 1 NCAA tournament game since then and with Don Lucia being allowed to keep his job for too long they're on pace to miss the NCAA tournament for a third year in a row.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Lakers - 2004 Western Conference Finals
The Timberwolves looked like they might have a chance at making the NBA Finals, but the combination of facing the Lakers in the finals and losing Sam Cassell halfway through the series proved too much. Losing the series also ended the Wolves chance to make a run with Garnett, Spreewell and Cassell; the Timberwolves haven't been back to the playoffs since and they have recently become completely irrelevant due to the decisions made by Glen Taylor, Kevin McHale and David Khan.

5. Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints, 2010 NFC Championship Game
I fucking hate Bret Favre.

[digamma]

1. Georgia Tech vs. FSU, 1992. Georgia Tech up 24-14 late in the game falls 29-24 after a controversial onside kick recovery was awarded to FSU. Painful enough to lose in a heartbreaking fashion in FSU's first year in the ACC, but it literally set the Tech football program back 5 years. Tech was 4-1 heading into that game, and finished that season 5-6. It would be 1997 before Tech went to another bowl game.

2. Georgia Tech vs. Georgia, 2006. Calvin Johnson's best season at Georgia Tech fell apart in the end due to sub-par quarterback play and a personality clash between the defense and said sub-par quarterback. Another game that really hurt the program as a whole, as the next week Tech still didn't have its head on straight and lost in the ACC title game to an inferior Wake Forest team 9-6. It set the stage for Chan Gailey to be fired a season later.

3. Georgia Tech vs. Clemson, 2001. Prior to 9/11, Georgia Tech was playing arguably the best football in the country. They were supposed to play FSU on September 15. That game was moved to the end of the season after the attacks. Things looked on course for the first half of the Clemson game on September 22 until starting MLB Darryl Smith, who was spying Woody Dantzler, got hurt. A prayer from Dantzler connected just before the end of the first half to make the game close. Dantzler ran around, over and through the back-up LB in the second half and Clemson won in OT 47-44.

4. Harvard vs. Penn, 2002. ESPN Gameday came to you live from Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Harvard and Penn were both 5-0 in the Ivies and it was supposed to be a match-up for the ages. Unfortunately, Penn was the only one who got the memo and they ran roughshod over the Crimson.

5. Georgia Tech vs. Clemson, 2002. First of many disappointments of the Gailey era. This one is on here not so much for the game itself but for a self assessment that had to take place after the game. This was the first full football season after I got married, and I was in my typical horrible mood after a Tech loss. We had to run some errands that afternoon, and I was basically silent in the car. My wife basically told me my sulking wasn't going to fly. Because of that I look back at this relatively meaningless game as a focal point for sports disappointment.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Logan

My memory may be shaky or I could be getting confused, but I don't think we like Drake's wife, even if we could see her topless.

Nah. You can like my wife. I like her again now that she's on meds that actually work.

[MJ4H]

Only 2 for me. Nothing else comes close to these two, and #2 isn't even in the same league as #1:

#1) 1998 undefeated Arkansas at undefeated Tennessee. Arkansas jumps out to a 21-0 lead and holds of Tennessee until Stoerner has his foot stepped on and stumbles, fumbling the ball away. Arkansas was literally just running out the clock at that point.

#2) 1995 National Championship game vs. UCLA in basketball. Trailed most of the game, but always felt like we would make a run to take the lead and win the game. It just never happened. Brutally frustrating game to watch and a painful end to a weird season. It's been all downhill from there, let me tell you.

[MIJB#19]

1998/1999 UEFA Champions' League Final
Bayern München was leading 1-0 going into injury time, only to allow two almost identical goals to lose 2-1 in regulation to Manchester United. I wouldn't have wanted to be a FC Bayern fan that day. I was a neutral soccer fan that day, but it's always the first thing I think of around this kind of topic.

2001/2002 KNVB Beker Finale
FC Utrecht was leading 2-1 going into injury time against heavily favored Ajax. One of the most obvious off-side goals in the history of soccer in the last second of injury time put the game level. In overtime, Ajax had momentum going and scored the golden goal. Yeah, maybe I should think of this game first in this topic, as I can remember the 30 mins of total disbelief that I had right after that equalizer.

2010 Olympic Winters Games 10.000 Metres Speed Skating
Heavily favored Sven Kramer, our golden boy, potential sportsman of the decade, was on his way to beat the opposition by a huge margin. A freak coaching blunder and a listening pupil later, Kramer got disqualified for not switching lanes. This too caused me to sit in disbelief for at least 15 minutes.

2002 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Oranje needed a win at Ireland to get past the Irish and stay in the race for a world cup ticket. Our guys outplayed Ireland for a full hour, an Irish defender was sent of and it was turning into a 90% possession game. The Irish got one freak chance and scored 1-0. Oranje kept pushing, putting four of the best strikers in the world on the field, but shot after shot went wide, over, on the bar, on a defender or got saved. Nothing worked, 1-0 final score, Netherlands out, Ireland on to the playoffs against Iran.

For a fifth moment, I can't think of anything right now. People will probably expect me to mention the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but it wasn't a total shocker, we got outplayed and frankly didn't deserve to win. Soccer fans all across the globe will come up with painful world cup losses, and between the 2010 final, the 2006 ugliest game in soccer, aforementioned 2002 qualifer and the penalties in 1998, we've got our own share of sour moments. And I almost went through without mentioning the missed penalty kicks syndrome of Euro2000...