Sports Can Break Your Heart! What is Your Worst Sports Heartbreak?

[Jim Schue]

This University of Louisville nonsense right now is coming dangerously close to breaking my back on caring about college basketball. Does that count as heartbreak?

 

I'm thinking of looking up some Penn St. fans for perspective on this one.

[Getslow]

I'm thinking of looking up some Penn St. fans for perspective on this one.

 

Gross. Exactly my point on how gross college athletics are.

 

This is 2015. Amateurism is pointless and having sports tied to institutions of higher learning is pointless. It's time we evolved.

[HammerTime]

Brossart losing to Bracken County in the districts is easily #1 for me.

[Hatz]

High School: 1980. Senior Year. 6-0 and winners of 15 of our last 16. Boyle at Russell County. Winner wins the District and plays in the Regionals. Scored on the first play of the game and went up 6-0. Dominated the first half but no more points. Two interceptions killed two drives, one of the INT's in the end zone. Second half we had another INT and Russell County pounded our side where our starting DT and LB were out. Lakers took 13-6 lead but with :23 left we scored on a long pass. Went for 2 points and the win. Ran a sweep/pass play. Never run it before. I swear the DB for Russell County tipped it with a fingernail. Lost. 13-12. For all intense and purposes the dream of my sports life was over, though there were three games left to play.

 

UK Basketball. A lot to choose from. Ironically the '92 game didn't bother me as UK did everything they could to win and Duke was just one shot better. Wisconsin still hurts. 38-1 and you feel the seasons was a bust. Lousy way to feel. Georgetown game in '84 still hurts because the Cats dominated the first half and just could not buy a basket in the 2nd half. All kudos to the Hoyas but the bricks came before the wall did. The '93 and '95 NCAA losses hurt too. I believe the UK "team" (not talent) was better than Michigan and UNC both of those seasons.

 

Reds. The '72 series still hurts me. The Reds were the better team but the A's were "clutch." I don't think the A's knew how great they were until they pulled it off.

 

Dolphins. The "Sea of Hands" game vs Oakland in '74. Though banged up, I believe if my Dolphins can hang on they will beat the Steelers and win their 3rd straight Super Bowl. They got old really fast that year after being so young in the previous three. Morris was out for the season by then, Jake Scott was hurt early in the game and missed the rest of it. Had he been in at DB I don't think Clarence Davis makes the catch.

[Habib]

When Carson Palmer blew out his knee against the Steelers.

 

This is probably mine. I was still naive and idealistic about the Bengals and was totally drinking the Kool-aid. The shock of going from a huge completion to Chris Henry down the sideline to the camera panning back to Carson Palmer writhing in pain was dramatic.

[InItToWinIt]

Carson Palmer's knee is the first thing that comes to mind.

 

Even though we won, my last high school basketball game as a player was the most emotion I've ever felt. Easily.

[GreyFox]

1988 Super Bowl.

I had season tickets since before the first SB the Bengals were in and that one hurt but nothing close to the 88-89 season.

 

At that time I was living in Charleston SC as I just got out of the Air Force. I was about the only Bengals

Fan except for Stanford Jennings brother who was also in the military stationed there. We watched the game together with my in laws at their house. After Stanford Jennings returned the kickoff for a TD to take the lead our phone ring off the hook from my boss at the time and other fellow co workers congratulating me for the Bengals winning the SB. I told them they just jinxed the Bengals and sure enough a couple mins later I was heart broken. I literally couldn't sleep for a couple days and it took years for me to get over that loss. It still hurts.

[HammerTime]

This is probably mine. I was still naive and idealistic about the Bengals and was totally drinking the Kool-aid. The shock of going from a huge completion to Chris Henry down the sideline to the camera panning back to Carson Palmer writhing in pain was dramatic.

 

I was about 15 rows up in the end zone right where it happened. I noticed him laying on the ground right away while everyone was still cheering. I immediately had a sick feeling in my stomach.

[FarBeyondDriven]

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.

One of my friends played on that 83 Owsley County team. He has told me about that game many times.