Most Painful Sports Loss of your Lifetime

[reds1869]

Xavier losing to Ohio State in the 2007 NCAA Tournament is my most painful loss. So many little things had to go wrong in the last few moments of the game--and they all did.

[Hoosier Red]

The 1999 playoff is probably number one for me for a couple of reasons,

1) The Reds didn't "win" anything that year. As much as the Bengals playoff losses stung, and the Reds 3 and out hurt this year, those teams still won their respective divisions. Super Bowl XXIII stung but that team won the AFC.

2) The Reds play over the next 10 years made that sting in 1999 worse. Since 1999 wasn't really a building block, I just can't look at it as anything other than an opportunity missed.

3) The sheer domination, much like what we saw in game 1 against Halladay, at a certain point you knew the loss was inevitable. They'd already scored and you weren't going to.

Hopefully, the New Red Machine will take away the sting of this playoff loss.

[BuckeyeRed27]

1. OSU vs. Florida - Just a totally different team than the one that played the regular season. Really difficult to watch.

2. 1999 One game playoff

3. Jordan pushing Russell and then hitting "the shot" to beat the Jazz in the 97 Finals. This would be #1 except it was only Game 6 so the Jazz would have still needed to win one more.

4. The 2005 OSU losses to Texas and PSU were tough mostly because that was a super talented team that lost two very winnable and very frustrating games that they should have won.

[Todd Gack]

Miami (FL) vs Ohio State.

That game solidified Larry Coker as the coach most Miami fans knew he was: Awful. You let that collection of talent lose to Ohio State? Simply terrible. And Randy Shannon too. Your defenses are soft. . . just like they are now. ANy defense looks great when everyone is drafted.

[TheBigLebowski]

Florida vs. Nebraska in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl, for the National Championship. Everyone was picking us to win and it was an absolute joke. I think Tommie Frazier just scored again.

Pain was eased a little bit when we rebounded the very next season and beat hated rival FSU for the NC in the Sugar Bowl.

[bucksfan2]

Originally Posted by reds1869

Xavier losing to Ohio State in the 2007 NCAA Tournament is my most painful loss. So many little things had to go wrong in the last few moments of the game--and they all did.

Ah one of my favorite games of all time. Ron Lewis was my favorite buckeye for a long time after that shot.

Gus Johnson's call of that game was vintage Gus. When Lewis hit the shot he just starts to scream.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

Ah one of my favorite games of all time. Ron Lewis was my favorite buckeye for a long time after that shot.

Gus Johnson's call of that game was vintage Gus. When Lewis hit the shot he just starts to scream.

I watch that shot and "Holy Buckeye" on YouTube at least once every couple months.

[Homer Bailey]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

Maybe the past three editions of his Michigan squads has clouded my judgment. The mental conception I have of a Rich Rodriguez team has a flashy offense and an awful defense. I also don't know what his reputation with WVU was in big games. It seems like it had to be mixed, no?

I'd say his record in big games was pretty strong. What people also don't realize is that Rich Rod has a career record below .500 in games not quarterbacked by Pat White. Chew on that for a second.

Off the top of my head, RR beat VT in '02 and '03, beat UGA in '05, Ga Tech. in '06, and his team beat Oklahoma in '07 right after he left. They had Miami beat on this run in '03 that won the ESPY (bad video quality):

YouTube - WVU Quincy Wilson

Then this happened. Sickening :

YouTube - Kellen Winslow Jr. 4th Down Catch vs. WVU

He got constantly pounded by Maryland until Rasheed Marshall's senior year, and until White got there.

Regarding the defense, WVU was 7th in the nation that year in defensive PPG, and 4th in YPG behind USC, LSU, and OSU. In 2006, the team was all offense and no defense. White and Slaton just went absolutely nuts, and finished 4th and 6th in the Heisman voting. However, the defense cost them at Louisville (lost 44-34 on Thursday night, I was there, it's probably in my top 10 painful losses).

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by TheBigLebowski

Florida vs. Nebraska in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl, for the National Championship. Everyone was picking us to win and it was an absolute joke. I think Tommie Frazier just scored again.

Pain was eased a little bit when we rebounded the very next season and beat hated rival FSU for the NC in the Sugar Bowl.

That Nebraska team could have beaten the Bengals that year.

[TeamSelig]

WVU/UK elite eight game
1999 play in loss vs the Mets
Bengals/Jets last year in the playoffs

Just a few that stick out right now.

[Captain Hook]

Originally Posted by Cedric

Probably MSU over TOSU in 1998. I still say that was the best college football team I have ever watched.

What an incredible loss and probably the key in getting Cooper fired a few years later. I guess it shouldn't be that bad now that we have Coach Tressel. That loss absolutely shocked me to the core though.

#1 for me as well.That was probably one of the best OSU teams all time.
There has also been a handful of Michigan over OSU loses in the 90s that really stung.

[HeatherC1212]

The OSU losses to Florida and LSU really sucked (the Florida one especially since our new youth director is from there and occasionally rubs that in) and the Bengals playoff game in 2005 when Carson got injured really sucked (I was out of town and my mom was updating me on the game...I was devastated every time she texted me), but the most painful sports loss in my lifetime was when Michelle Kwan came in second to Tara Lipinski in the 1998 Olympic Games. Michelle had to skate first and skated extremely well but then the twerp came out later on and simply perked her way to the gold medal. I'm still convinced to this day that had their skating order been reversed that MK would have come out with the gold medal. I know she still won the silver and all but that heartbreak made her coming third in the 2002 Olympics that much more painful for me.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Homer Bailey

Seriously not trying to rub it in, because I respect the heck out of that UK team.

However, it's amazing how one person's lowest sports moment can be one of another guy's (mine) most memorable good experiences.

The Duke game in the final four IMO might have been vindication, in a sick sadistic kind of way.

WVU fans argued once the seeds came out that they should have been a number one seed over Duke. I didn't think so, but I did think they deserved it over Syracuse. The Orange faltered down the stretch and WVU won the Big East tournament. However, nobody wanted to deny two number one seeds to the Big East. It simply made the conference look better.

The same fans crowed over how they beat pretty much the same Duke team two years ago when they met up with them in the Final Four. Nevermind the fact that this team probably had revenge on its mind and completely dismantled WVU and embarrassed them in the biggest game in program history. And of course, the moment the heart was ripped out of the entire state when DaSean went down.

So to basically claim that you should have gotten a no 1 seed over that team (I agree WVU should have been a no 1 seed, just over Syracuse) and then get throttled by that team was pretty amazing.

Sad thing though about that game is trying to decide who to pull for if you are a UK fan. It's like pulling for the murderers or the rapists. One is hated for obvious reasons (Laettner), and the other knocked Kentucky off in the previous round.

[RedsBaron]

My toughest loss was watching my then junior son Jason's Wayne High School Pioneers lose the WV State Championship AA football game last December in Wheeling to Bluefield. Since Wayne is also my alma mater I would have rooted for them anyway (they did win the state title in 2006 before Jason was in high school), but I really, really wanted my son to get a championship ring.
The 1972 World Series was a huge disappointment. I still think the Reds were the better team. The 1973 NLCS stunk too.
Both of the Bengals Super Bowl losses were tough to take.

[Redlegs212]

Kenyon Martin breaking his leg..
Then losing to WVU in the BEast Tournament last year on the last second bank by Butler..

Unbelievable losses