Most bitter defeat as a sports fan?

Tskware

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Jan 26, 2003
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Lets leave UK out of the discussion because 99% of us are Kentucky fans. Other than UK, what are the worst losses to take you can remember as a fan:

Two come to my mind

First happened when I was a soph at Henry Clay HS, semifinals of the state tourney, the year Edmonson County won. We were by far the highest rated team left in the tournament, and were up by double digits in the 4th quarter against Christian County, some of my friends had already left the arena to go stand in line for Finals tickets when the wheels just completely fell off, and lost by two. To be that close to a state championship when you are a teenager, only to see it go down the drain, was really a tough pill to swallow.

Second was pretty recent actually. I had tickets to game 3 of the Divisional series of the 2012 Reds v. Giants series, when the Reds were already up 2-0 and Homer Bailey threw a brilliant 1 hitter in front of a raucous SRO crowd . . . only to lose in 10 innings anyway, and then went on to lose the series. Thing is, I already had NLCS tickets in my pocket, plus the Reds had already emailed me the order blank for World Series tickets. I have no doubt this was my last and best chance to ever see a WS game in Cincy . . . not that I am still bitter or anything.

Honorable mention was seeing fellow Kentuckian Kenny Perry throw away the Masters in the last two holes with a 2 shot lead. Really really hard to watch/
 

jwheat

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I lost an epic game of battlefield last week.

I didn't sleep for days afterwards.
 

elwood_blue

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I've been a Dodger fan as long as I can remember. In the 1977 World Series Reggie Jackson hit 3 home runs on 3 consecutive pitches in game 6, and the Yankees went on to win the series. I cried myself to sleep (I was almost 7) and remembered having to deal with all the bandwagon NY fans at school in the ensuing weeks. That was when my hatred of the Yankees started. I bitterly hated Reggie Jackson. I remember my cousin giving me a Reggie bar one time and I threw it across the road.
 

DSmith21

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If you are a Cowboys fan, this has to be near the top of bitter defeats. 38 year old TE Jackie Smith drops a 4th quarter game winning TD in Superbowl XIII. The Steelers win by 4. Smith is a Hall of Famer but this is what he is best remembered for doing.

 

mhroe1984

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Well Tskware you beat me to it, but easily for me it's the Reds blowing it in the 2012 Divisional playoff vs. the Giants. Reds won the first 2 games in San Francisco with the series coming home to Cincinnati and all they had to do was win 1 more game to clinch and go to the NLCS. Giants win 3 in a row and game 5 wasn't even close if I remember correctly. That really hurt. Reds won 97 games that year and certainly seemed like a team more than capable of winning the World Series, then they completely choke in the playoffs. Steelers vs. Bengals playoff game when Carson Palmer blew his knee out is a very close second.
 

cat_chaser

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My sophomore year of high school we blew an 18 point second half lead in the first round of the regional tourney. Our school was approximately 10 years old at the time and we had never won a game in the region. To make matters worse, the team that beat us went on to make a miracle run to the state semifinals. Could have been us.
 

*CatinIL*

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***This, back when I cheered for the Cincinnati Reds (***Before Nov. 27th 1978)...
 

weused2luvhim2

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The Niners and Cowboys game and the Dwight Clark catch. A lot of people think that was the end of the game, but everybody forgets Danny White hit Drew Pearson down the middle and a horse collar tackle kept that Dwight Clark catch from being irrelevant. Nothing but green in front of him. The horse collar of course was completely legal then. Of course made illegal ironically because of a Cowboy's player.
 

I need this

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Vikes/Falcons 1998 NFC Champ Game. Was at the Metrodome for that bed ishing. That game has dramatically shaped my general views on life due to the age I experienced it at. I've had a pretty easy life so I can definitively say that that day was top 5 worst for me ever.

Not sure I could have handled the Wisconsin loss at that same age. Would have not recovered.
 
May 22, 2002
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If you are a Cowboys fan, this has to be near the top of bitter defeats. 38 year old TE Jackie Smith drops a 4th quarter game winning TD in Superbowl XIII. The Steelers win by 4. Smith is a Hall of Famer but this is what he is best remembered for doing.


Ummm, that was a 3rd quarter play when the Cowboys were trailing by a touchdown. (21-14).

You got the teams correct though.
 

WildcatfaninOhio

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Northampton Saints starting hooker, team captain, and resident bone-head Dylan Hartley curses the ref and gets red carded during the 2013 Premiership finals against arch-rival Leicester Tigers. Happened moments before halftime. He cost Northampton the game. I was stunned for days.
 

gerald007

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Miami/OSU Fiesta Bowl. Buddy got me great tickets for the game. Miami played terribly, McGahee got his knee exploded, and they still won the game. Until Terry Porter called the phantom interference penalty, right in front of me, lol. What the TV didn't show was that he waited so long to throw the flag that the fireworks went off, the Miami kids were celebrating the win at midfield, then he threw the damn flag. The energy was gone after that. Most bitter loss, other than UK, I've ever had. That game spurred my hatred of OSU fans after dealing with them for the week before and after the game. Awful human beings.
 
May 2, 2004
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Other than UK, I am a reds and Bengals fan, so there haven't been too many singular heartbreaking games since 1990 (when I was 7 and had more important things on my mind). Mostly just general disappointment.

Probably the 2006 wildcard game against the steelers or game 3 of the 2012 nlds.
 

Tskware

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Miami/OSU Fiesta Bowl. Buddy got me great tickets for the game. Miami played terribly, McGahee got his knee exploded, and they still won the game. Until Terry Porter called the phantom interference penalty, right in front of me, lol. What the TV didn't show was that he waited so long to throw the flag that the fireworks went off, the Miami kids were celebrating the win at midfield, then he threw the damn flag. The energy was gone after that. Most bitter loss, other than UK, I've ever had. That game spurred my hatred of OSU fans after dealing with them for the week before and after the game. Awful human beings.

Not a fan of either team, but that was to this day one of the worst screw jobs I have ever seen.
 

UKwizard

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Dec 11, 2002
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Once upon a time the Bengals were really really good and were winning the Superbowl then this happened:


Fin
 

BlueRaider22

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Super Bowl XXXIV. Titans caught the ball and were stopped at the 1 yd line as time expired. Granted it would've likely only tied the game, but I remember feeling breathless.

Also LSU/UK football 2002......hail mary
 

dezyDeco

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1999 Reds. I can't quite put it in the "bitter" category, because they were never really in that playoff game vs. the Mets, but it was definitely a bad way to end one of the best seasons I've ever seen as a Reds fan. That team was a lot of fun to watch.
 

gamecockcat

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Personal one: Ninth grade, city BB championship. I'm starting PG for Morton JHS. We're playing Winburn who had annihilated us in the regular season. Close game the whole way. We hit a shot to go up one with maybe 30 seconds left. They come back down, work it around a little and their PG hits a jumper over my outstretched hand. To this day (over 37 years ago), I can feel the movement of the air over my fingertips as the ball passes over them. I missed blocking the winning shot by an inch (or less). I get the ball head down court find a guy open for a 15-footer but it misses as the buzzer sounds. Bitter pill, still.

Since living in San Antonio, I've become a follower of the Spurs. Game 6 against the Heat in the Finals 2 years ago, up 5 with less than a minute to go and the Heat hit 2 3s to tie the game and then win in OT. Not even close to UK losing a heartbreaker, but, man, that hurt. Even a thrashing the next Finals only dulled the pain of that one.
 

dezyDeco

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Once upon a time the Bengals were really really good and were winning the Superbowl then this happened:


Fin



Both of the Bengals Super Bowls hurt, but this one, being soooooooo close to victory... really stings. Everything went against the Bengals... Krumrie breaks his leg, Wilson a coke-snorting no-show, Billups drops an easy interception, etc... and they still should have won.

The Carson Palmer incident ranks up there, as others have stated.
 
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2003 Miami Hurricanes losing to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, because of a blatantly bad pass interference call that came about 5 seconds after time expired. It wasn't interference. Pretty perfect coverage. And that Miami team was one of the best ever. Nothing makes a defeat more bitter than when a ref steals the W from you. That result should be different in the history books.
 
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VillaCat

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2003 Miami Hurricanes losing to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, because of a blatantly bad pass interference call that came about 5 seconds after time expired. It wasn't interference. Pretty perfect coverage. And that Miami team was one of the best ever. Nothing makes a defeat more bitter than when a ref steals the W from you. That result should be different in the history books.
Agree entirely, especially when applied to the 1993 Buffalo-Houston comeback game.
 

MWes11

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My sophomore year in HS we won the state championship in basketball but during the game a huge brawl ensued (I got blamed for starting it after the game, which has been proven to be BS). A few of their best players were ejected for throwing punches and starting the fight. We ended up winning by double digits. Fast forward a year and we are playing them in the state championship again with basically the same rosters as the year before. Except they brought in a kid who was just released from prison to play that year. Well, two of our best players (PG played and started at Penn St. for 3 years and the other was a DIII all american) ended up shooting 8-40. We lost by 5. That loss still kills me to this day. My senior year we lost in the Eastern finals for a chance to play in the state championship. We actually over achieved that year but we lost to an inferior team. That hurt as well. Still have the tape of the fight somewhere at my parents house.

The kid who actually started the fight and threw the punches at me is actually Darrelle Revis' money/financial manager now. Go figure.
 

mashburned

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Probably that damn Wisconsin game, tbh.

My thoughts on reds: Hurt me once, shame on me. hurt me twice a hurter can't be hurt no more.
 

rmattox

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game 1 1970 world series Bad call at the plate (I think the runner was Bernie Carbo) set the stage for a miserable world series. I was also bummed when Real Quiet didn't win the Triple Crown. I was really bummed when Arkansas gave a clearly inferior ohiiiiiiiiiiiio state an undeserved win in a bowl game just a few years ago
 

argubs2

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Except they brought in a kid who was just released from prison to play that year.

ended up shooting 8-40

Did he savagely rape them pre-game, forcing them to shoot 20%?

Or are you saying dude was just a lock down defender after playing in the yard for weekly get-out-of-rape passes for so long?

Could rape have been a factor in anything else in this scenario?
 

MWes11

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Did he savagely rape them pre-game, forcing them to shoot 20%?

Or are you saying dude was just a lock down defender after playing in the yard for weekly get-out-of-rape passes for so long?

Could rape have been a factor in anything else in this scenario?
Rape quite possibly could have been a factor, or atleast the thought of rape if they preformed well when he was guarding them. I'm not too sure.
 

MrKentucky

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If UK was included, 2010 WVU.

Since it isn't, it has to be 2013 NLDS. I was at game 3 and had tickets to game 5. I couldn't go because I had class since it was a day game. Thank goodness.