I started thinking about this after watching Michigan's wacky heartbreaking loss to Michigan State Saturday. I'm sure most Michigan fans(I am not one of them) will remember that game as one of their most heartbreaking sports moments.

 

My biggest one and it's not even close: Superbowl- Bengals/ Forty Freakin' Niners - Jan 1989. Joe Montana - 34 seconds !!!! Enough said. I cried like a little girl (and I was 26 yo at the time).

 

Others: Laettner- Damn him . Hits shot 10 of 10 at the buzzer to defeat the Unforgettables.

 

Corbin-Mayfield in '77 state championship game at Richmond. Corbin scores on the last play of the game to make it 14-13 Mayfield. The Hounds go for the win instead of the tie. The two pt conversion fails as the Corbin running back is stopped right at the goal line. Hound lose by a point.

 

Also, Reds lose in the seventh game of the 1972 World Series to Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace and the A's. I was only 10 at the time but it hurt. However, a few wiffle ball games later I felt better.

 

What about some of you folks? What broke your heart the most?

Duke beating Ky with last sec shot. Never forget it and hate Duke in all they do and hope even their academic teams fail.

The two I really felt at the time:

 

1) 1999 NFC Championship. Minnesota was 15-1 that season and was rolling. Gary Anderson had been money all year from inside the 40. Missed that chip shot and the Falcons won and went to the Super Bowl.

 

2) Trinity/St. Xavier basketball, 2002. Wasn't much of a year for Trinity that season and a win against X would have saved a pretty miserable year. Rocks were ahead by a point near the end when X hit a miracle runner from deep as time expired to steal the game. Trinity would go on to lose the first game of district play. Rough year with the one high point stolen away.

The three I think about the most now:

 

1) Dayton at Xavier, 2003: Flyers were riding a nine-game win streak that included a victory against Dwayne Wade's Marquette. Finally had a shot at breaking the streak. Nope. David West goes for 47 and 18 and the Flyers, while staying fairly close the whole game, never really threatened to steal the victory. (Close runner-up: Dayton at Xavier, 2005. "Who the heck is Will Caudle?": a question I still wake up in a dead sweat pondering the answer to.)

 

2) USA vs. Ghana, World Cup 2010. Had our chances but an inattentive back line (stunning for our defense, he said sarcastically) gave away a ludicrous game winner off a long ball in extra time. I don't know if that group of Yanks was good enough to beat that Uruguay team in the next round, but it was still the best chance the USA had to reach a World Cup semifinal in the modern era. I was completely devastated when we gave that one away.

 

3) Louisville at West Virginia, 2005. A 3-OT classic in Louisville's first year in the Big East. Cards would have won the league with a victory. Instead WVU won, took the league trophy and went on to beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl that season.

Personally, mine came in this year's Cov Cath vs. Highlands game when there was a clear handball by Highlands in the box by a player that I will not name, leading to a pk which gave Cov Cath a 1-0 victory. Very heartbreaking for all HHS players and supporters.

Boogie and Walls loss to WVU probably bothered me more than any other loss of a team that I followed that I wasn't personally involved with.

1974 State Championship Beechwood loss to Murray. I know nothing pre Rash at Beechwood counts but it was a heartbreaker.

Edited October 19, 201511 yr by Mark
Typo

My son being injured and never playing another down of football....

Personally, mine came in this year's Cov Cath vs. Highlands game when there was a clear handball by Highlands in the box by a player that I will not name, leading to a pk which gave Cov Cath a 1-0 victory. Very heartbreaking for all HHS players and supporters.

 

Handball by Highlands?

As a player, losing the state championship game - partly for the loss and partly if not mainly due to knowing it was over for my athletic career.

On the high school level it would be when Owsley County lost by 5 to Breathitt County in the 1983 regional basketball championship game. We had a 28-4 record going into that game. Breathitt had managed to get a couple of transfers eligible after the Christmas break and both of them started for the Bobcats that night. Joe B Hall was at the game in Hazard's Memorial Gym. What made it so hurtful is I had coached these kids in middle school and watched them turn into a very good high school team. And at a school the size of Owsley (presently 214 enrollment, probably 250 in 1983) is you don't get very many chances to make it to Rupp. We were fortunate enough to make it back to the championship game two years later in 1985 and lost to a better Breathitt team, who had a front line that went 6'9, 6'9, 6'7. They were better in '85 but I have always felt we had the best team in '83. For what it's worth the officating left a lot to be desired in the '83 game. When one team shoots around 50 free throws and the other 10 for a game something is not right. Especially considering that Owsley didn't press very often and played 2-3 zone for the majority of the game and the other team pressed full court the entire game. That game will always be my biggest heartbreak and unforgettable.

 

On the college level it would be a toss-up between when Rupp's Runts lost to Texas Western in the title game in 1966, and the loss to Duke on the last second shot in the 1992 regional finals.

 

At the pro level it would probably be when a very powerful Reds team lost to Baltimore Orioles in the 1970 World Series. Brooks Robinson was a defensive wizard in that series. Close behind is when the Reds lost to Oakland in the 1972 World Series. Unheralded catcher Gene Tennent played out of his mind, I think hitting 4 or 5 homers in that series, and the A's pitching held up enough to beat Cincy in 7 games.

1. Laettner's Shot.

 

2. Montana's drive, '89 Super Bowl.

UK basketball losing in 1993 to Michigan in the Final Four. Only two times in my entire bracket-picking life have I picked UK to win the Big Dance & 1993 was the first time ('96 was the other). Mashburn is my favorite Wildcat of all-time & I was sure he would end his career as a National Champion, but it wasn't to be.

 

I think it hurts worse when you expect to win and should win, which is why the '92 Duke loss doesn't bother me as much as it does others. But in 1993 I thought UK would win and they should have won.

I'm a Jacksonville Jaguars fan...

1) The shot

 

2) UK's loss to AZ in 1997 National Championship

 

3) UK's loss to UConn in 2014 National Championship

 

4) Tim Krumrie's broken leg