top 10 worst sports events of my life

for some people, sports elicits a gauntlet of emotions ranging from [to be simplistic] good to bad. this list as been compiled to rank the worst sports events of my life. with the exception of number 4, this list includes only games that i watched live on tv or in person.¹ not all of these events are from a single game; some of them take place over a the course of a few days or in a best-of series. [i have excluded the time when magic johnson announced that has the hiv virus. to reduce that to a sporting event would diminish how significant it was on a social level; the news transcended sports and raised awareness of hiv and aids at a time when it was much needed.]

10. michael chang loses to patrick rafter in 1997 us open semifinals

reason : for some reason or another, i have always been a fan of michael chang. entering the 1997 us open, he was ranked number 2 in the world second only to pete sampras. after sampras was eliminated in the quarterfinals that year, michael chang only needed to win the us open to take over the number 1 ranking. i thought that he would win, but he ran into a buzz saw in patrick rafter who beat him rather handily in straight sets [6-3, 6-3, 6-4]. chang never got close to being number 1 ever again, and probably tells this story to his family and friends all the time.

9. the bills lose to the giants in super bowl xxv [1991]

reason : for the record, the bills were the better team this year; they just weren't the better team in this particular game.² i suppose the the reason why i wanted the bills to win so much [and the giants to lose] is directly related to number 5. i still remember thinking that norwood would miss the kick, which of course he did. that was an instance where it felt terrible to be right.

8. byu loses to utah in 2005's holy war

reason : i attended this game, which made this much worse. byu hadn't beat its rival utah in 4 meetings, and this seemed like the year to break that streak. the cougars fell behind early, only to come back and tie the game by the end of regulation. of course they lose in overtime, making the ute fans too happy. another reason why this was disheartening was the way byu kept making the same mistakes: being unable to contain a scrambling quarterback who was making first start, giving up big plays on third downs [including a touchdown on 3rd and 26], etc. although the best part of this game was eavesdropping on a bitter byu fan complain to his children the entire game.

7. the phillies lose game 6 of 1993 world series

reason : when i saw mitch williams come into the game for the save, i knew the phillies were going to lose. ten minutes later, teammates are trying to crawl up joe carter's butt as i questioned why mitch williams was even in the game [and perhaps more importantly why anyone would want to crawl up joe carter's butt].

6. unlv loses to duke in 1991 final four semifinals

reason : unlv was 34-0 entering this game, and i thought that no one would beat them that year. in came coach k and christian laettner to shatter that belief. when the blue devils beat the runnin' rebels by two points, it was more than a narrow defeat for me. it was one of earliest feelings of dejection that one feels when their team loses a close game when the stakes are high.

5. the 49ers lose to the giants in 1991 nfc championship game

reason : this is the year where the 49ers played giants in one of the most anticipated regular season games ever. both teams were 10-1 and had only lost the previous week before their match-up. the 49ers prevailed in that monday night game winning 7-3. the two teams met again in the playoffs, this time with the giants winning on a last second matt bahr field goal. the giants didn't even score a touchdown, as they won 15-13 on five field goals. furthermore, roger craig fumbled the ball deep in 49er territory to set up the game-winning field goal for the giants. this was also the game where the giants injured joe montana, causing him to miss all but one game for the next two seasons. needless to say, the 1991 giants are the spawn of the devil.

4. kobe bryant forces the lakers to trade shaquille o'neal in summer of 2004

reason : if the news that jerry buss was the main proponent to trading shaq didn't surface, this event would be much higher. until the beginning of this year, i was bitter towards kobe for his role in the trade of shaq. i thought that kobe forced the lakers' hand into trading shaq; the lakers' management thought that he would have left the lakers via free agency if shaq was still on the team [and rightly so]. but it seems as though kobe has been telling the truth when he said that he never gave the lakers an ultimatum and that it was jerry buss who spearheaded the action to trade shaq and consequently end the lakers' mini-dynasty.

3. eric lindros gets concussed in game 7 of 2000 nhl eastern conference finals

reason : the flyers were leading the devils 3-2 when eric lindros returned from post-concussion syndrome in game 6. the devils won that game to force a game 7, in which scott stevens delivered a borderline cheap and possibly deliberate elbow to lindros' head, causing another concussion. at that very moment of that hit, i distinctly remember thinking that lindros may never play again³ and that he may be dead seriously injured. as a result, the legion of doom [lindros, leclair and renberg] was never more.

2. the lakers lose to the pistons in 2004 nba finals

reason : i have never been as mad at a team's play than i was with the lakers' in the 2004 finals. they played with no heart or conviction, and it was obvious that shaq and kobe didn't want to play as a team. the lakers had the two best players in the series, yet it was the pistons who showed everyone how to win a championship. the lakers should have won with the talent they had, but they deserved to lose with the way they played. what makes this loss even worse is my belief that if they had won this series shaq would have never been traded the following off-season.

1. the cubs lose to the marlins in game 7 of 2003 nlcs/ the red sox lose to the yankees game 7 of 2003 alcs

reason : when the lakers lost to pistons, i have never been as angry; when the cubs and red sox lost to the marlins and yankees, respectively, i have never been as sad. the strange thing about these losses is the fact that i am not a fan of either of these teams. yet when the cubs lost one day and the red sox the next, i remember being so disappointed that i had no desire to watch any sports at all for quite a while. the best reason that i can give as to why this had such a big of an effect is my desire to see two underdog teams who hadn't won a title in a long, long time play each other in the world series. [remember this is before the red sox won two titles, acquired a bevy of bandwagon fans, and basically turned into the yankees.] what made it worse was the way they lost after leading in the deciding game [the cubs were also 5 outs away in game 6 while the red sox likewise were 5 outs away in game 7]. to this day i can only wonder what if.

¹ if events from video games were included, a 17th inning game-winning chipper jones home run off kaz ishii would probably make this list.
² this was the first game where the winning team's coach got a gatorade shower.
³ he did play again, but he was neither as good or as comfortable on the ice.