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Worst choke job in sports history (single game)


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#1 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:20 PM

So the US women losing got me thinking, what was the worst choke job in sports history for purposes of this discussion, I just want to confine it to a single game. Additional weight added to a late regular season game or the further it is in the playoffs.

 

Some other recent choices: Duke's epic comeback against Maryland in 2001 at Cole, US losing to Japan in the Women's World Cup, and the Red Sox losing to the O's in Game 162.


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#2 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:28 PM

Ok Peter wants me to add: the Red Sox comeback in 2004. I told him in the "spirit" of this discussion it had to be one specific game.


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#3 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:29 PM

Bill Buckner (and the events that preceded it) in Game 6 of the 1986 WS.

 

The post-Bartman collapse of the Cubs in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS.

 

Locally, people here always remember the Blazers' epic 4th Qtr collapse vs the Lakers in Game 7 of the 2000 NBA Western Finals.



#4 Chris B

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:32 PM

Billy Cundiff and Lee Evans.
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#5 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:33 PM

Bill Buckner (and the events that preceded it) in Game 6 of the 1986 WS.

 

The post-Bartman collapse of the Cubs in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS.

 

Locally, people here always remember the Blazers' epic 4th Qtr collapse vs the Lakers in Game 7 of the 2000 NBA Western Finals.

Buckner happened later in the game on a bigger stage. But Bartman was probably more epic. Hard for me to compare the two, since I was alive for the latter but not the former.


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#6 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:34 PM

Billy Cundiff and Lee Evans.

Yeah that's up there, a bit different since they weren't winning at the time and that's what I was going for. But nonetheless, it fits since it was two plays they should've had.


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#7 bnickle

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:39 PM

MD -Duke up 10 in :55 just might be the correct answer. That's insane. I mean it wasn't the biggest stage, but damn.

 

 

 

The Sox in '86 was pretty huge too though. I mean a two run lead and 2 outs with no one on base.  The tying run scoring on a past ball and the winning run on an error. That's pretty insane too.

 

 

 

I just looked up the WS game in '86. I didn't realize that happened in the 10th inning and not the 9th. So the Sox score 2 in the top of the 10th to take a 2 run lead. Even more perceived momentum for them, or deflating for the Mets.



#8 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:41 PM

Buckner happened later in the game on a bigger stage. But Bartman was probably more epic. Hard for me to compare the two, since I was alive for the latter but not the former.

 

While Buckner gets all of the notoriety, there were a number of things that happened prior to it that it really never should have come to that ground ball going through his legs in the 10th inning. A lot of it falls on manager John McNamara for even having Buckner (an obvious liability defensively) out there with a 2-run lead. And he also sent Calvin Shiraldi out there for his 3rd inning (after already blowing a 1-run lead in the 8th).



#9 DJ MC

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:41 PM

I will always find it amusing that both of those Game Sixes are known by one name (Buckner and Bartman) when the actual chokes came from other people (Schiraldi's wild pitch to tie the game, Gonzalez's error that at worst would have kept it as a two-run inning and probably would have been a double play to leave it at 3-1).


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#10 DJ MC

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:44 PM

MD -Duke up 10 in :55 just might be the correct answer. That's insane. I mean it wasn't the biggest stage, but damn.

 

That's the game that put Duke-MD on the biggest stage, setting up the 20-point comeback in the Final Four (which is another nominee).

 

Bills-Oilers in the '93 playoffs. Or, just Frank Reich's entire career :P


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#11 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:44 PM

MD -Duke up 10 in :55 just might be the correct answer. That's insane. I mean it wasn't the biggest stage, but damn.

 

 

 

The Sox in '86 was pretty huge too though. I mean a two run lead and 2 outs with no one on base.  The tying run scoring on a past ball and the winning run on an error. That's pretty insane too.

Yeah if that were the national championship game, it probably take the cake. but since it was a regular season game and with the way cbb works, didn't really cost Maryland anything (they lost to Duke in the Final Four), it just doesn't carry as much weight with me as the others.


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#12 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:44 PM

That's the game that put Duke-MD on the biggest stage, setting up the 20-point comeback in the Final Four (which is another nominee).

 

Bills-Oilers in the '93 playoffs. Or, just Frank Reich's entire career :P

Bills/Oilers is definitely up there, I forget the stat of how many people turned off their TVs that game but it was a huge number.


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#13 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:46 PM

If you want to talk MD-Duke chokes on a big stage, how about the 2001 Semi-Final? Terps blew a 22-point lead in that one.



#14 glenn__davis

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:46 PM

I'm sure no one here remembers this, but being the Olympic freak that I am, the first thing I always think of is Happy Harada blowing a gold medal for Japan in ski-jumping.  He was the anchor on the team and the first 3 guys had built a huge lead.  He had a jump that was 25 meters less than his first jump and dropped Japan to silver.

 

Also, Jean van de Velde.



#15 bnickle

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:49 PM

The thing about the Sox- Mets is that the two deciding moments back to back were clearly on the Sox. Most of the time when we call a choke job it's often the other team also doing their job, or at least something, that gets them over the hump.

Now, granted, the Mets got 3 hits in a row but the tying and winning runs were totally and completely on the Sox.



#16 DJ MC

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:49 PM

Bills/Oilers is definitely up there, I forget the stat of how many people turned off their TVs that game but it was a huge number.

 

Peter King has a story from that game where at halftime, he was sitting next to the press box phone, and another writer asked to use it. He proceeded to call an airline and make a nonrefundable reservation to Houston the following week.


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#17 You Play to Win the Game

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:50 PM

I think it's pretty crazy how lucky Terps/Ravens fans are that after some epic choke jobs, both teams were able to redeem themselves with a championship run in the next season. Not many fans can say that about this type of thing.



#18 DJ MC

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:52 PM

The thing about the Sox- Mets is that the two deciding moments back to back were clearly on the Sox. Most of the time when we call a choke job it's often the other team also doing their job, or at least something, that gets them over the hump.

Now, granted, the Mets got 3 hits in a row but the tying and winning runs were totally and completely on the Sox.

 

That's a big point.

 

In my mind, the Bills aren't chokers because they lost four consecutive Super Bowls. In the last two, they were clearly the inferior team (and who knows what was up with the one against Washington). But Scott Norwood choked when he went wide-right against the Giants.


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#19 Oriole85

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:52 PM

I can't figure out how to do a poll here, I've tried before -- if someone more technology savvy wants to set one up that be great.


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#20 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 03:52 PM

In individual sports....Phil Mickelson, 2006 US Open.






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