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It was addressed in the original post. It's a very sacred spurs event in light of 2006.
It was a crazy game, and there was a lot of drama before the Olympics happened too. When John Wooden wasn't named coach, Bill Walton decided against playing. Later, Swen Nater also dropped out because he didn't want to play for another coach.
There's a really interesting movie about it, from the Russian perspective-- totally biased, but still entertaining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Vertical
It was addressed in the original post. It's a very sacred spurs event in light of 2006.
I think at least one of the Lakers teams that had Kobe Bryant on it and ended up in the lottery has to be on that list too. I know there were plenty, just pick 1
Drafting Lonzo Ball with the #2 pick also deserves honorable mentions
86 Redsox
literally any of 16 pitches could of ended the series.
Hit, hit, hit, passed ball, error.
#1 - the mighty, legendary Spurs losing a game 7 vs the ing chicken Nuggets! In the infamous words of the Chuckster, that's turrible! BAAAAAAHHHAAHAHA!Thought I would start this thread since there's been a couple of massive sports failures this year that are already infamous. Let's see where they rank.
Note: A sports failure is something that is completely unexpected, and not tied to seeding or even Vegas odds. I don't consider the 2007 Dallas Mavericks loss to the Warriors a catastrophic failure since everyone knew the Warriors were a bad matchup. Also, the failure needs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (or jaws of expectations). Chris Webber's infamous timeout was a failure, but Michigan was down when he called it. Same with the Russell Wilson interception. Even Scott Norwood's missed FG wasn't a really a choke, since he wasn't very good from that distance anyway.
- 10. Jean Van De Velde at the 1999 British Open.
9. Buster Douglas handing a seemingly invincible Mike Tyson the first loss of his career.
8. The San Antonio Spurs blowing a 5 point lead with 28 seconds left in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals.
7. Atlanta Falcons blowing a 25 point 3rd quarter lead in Superbowl 51.
6. The 1980 USSR Olympic hockey team, a team that beat an NHL All Star team in a friendly, losing to an American team made up of college kids.
5. The 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning, who entered the post-season with the best regular season record in NHL history, getting swept by an 8th seed.
4. The 2011 Texas Rangers twice blowing 2 run leads with 1 strike away to lose Game 6 of the World Series.
3. The New York Yankees blowing a 3-0 series lead in the 2004 ALCS to their hated rival the Boston Red Sox.
2. The New England Patriots quest for a perfect season ended by Eli Manning and the 10-6 Wild Card New York Giants.
Some honorable mentions:
- The 2015 Golden State Warriors blowing a 3-1 series in the Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Greg Norman squandering a 6 stroke lead at the 1996 Masters.
- The Steve Bartman Game.
- The Minnesota Vikings losing the 1999 NFC Championship game after a miss late Gary Anderson (who hadn't missed all season) failed to seal the game.
- The 2006 Dallas Mavericks essentially being half-a-quarter away from the le, but blew a double digit lead to the Miami Heat.
- The "this is going to be fun" 2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers. 4 Hall of Famers on the team, first round sweep.
Now on to number 1. Drum roll... .
1. The 2018-2019 Los Angeles Lakers.
After the huge FA splash the Lakers made by signing Lebron, expectations of 2nd seed were common, dark horse contender was labeled. This is the NBA, a star driven league, and having a top 3 player in the league basically guarantees a playoff berth. Any organization would have to be massively incompetent to not at the very least sneak into the playoffs with in' Lebron James. Not only did the Lakers fail to make the playoffs, they only managed to win 35 games, and they HAD LEBRON JAMES! How is that even possible? Laker fans will cite injuries, but losing Lonzo was addition by subtraction, and Lebron still played 55 games (in an era where superstars of his age will play only about 70 games anyway. He only played 69 on the le winning 2015 Cavs). Furthermore, Lebron's record in those games was 28-27. A winning percentage not good enough to get into the post-season.
To fail to even play .500 basketball when you have Lebron for 55 games represents a total organization failure from top to bottom, from training to scouting to developing to front office decision making to on-court morale. It's not a choke like the other examples, just an embarrassing ins utional meltdown we've never seen in the NBA or any other sport. Compare their season to the team across the hall. The Clippers took two games from the Warriors with Lou Williams as their best player. The Clippers also traded their best player away (Tobias Harris) mid-season for what was basically picks.
Lakers fans will spin this, but again, YOU HAD LEBRON JAMES! And once more, to put things into perspective, the team you share a building with had Lou Williams (who the Lakers once had
#1 - the mighty, legendary Spurs losing a game 7 vs the ing chicken Nuggets! In the infamous words of the Chuckster, that's turrible! BAAAAAAHHHAAHAHA!that ! Losing to the higher seed is a failure
"losing to the higher seed"
Correction: his name is LeBron James. Who is this LeHype fella you speak of?
USA sports history*
Boxing, golf, and hockey aren't American sports. I looked at some famous chokes in tennis and they weren't really compelling. All the great soccer chokes ended in Mario Party, so I can't take them seriously. Though I suppose that invincible 1950s Hungary team flaming out at the World Cup deserves an honorable mention.
Having to finish off in the shower for someone who tries to pass off as some modern day Valentino has to rank up there.
2004 Olympic basketball squad was the biggest stain in sports history, tbh. Embarrassment to an entire nation
So DeRozan blowing Game 7 is worse than LeBron pulling an 05 Kobe?#1 - the mighty, legendary Spurs losing a game 7 vs the ing chicken Nuggets! In the infamous words of the Chuckster, that's turrible! BAAAAAAHHHAAHAHA!
Any HOF players on that squad that comes to mind?
Iverson... Odom is a hofer? Nobody else
Not just AI my amigo:
I actually considered that, but that team was defective from the start. They were losing to Puerto Rico by 20. They weren't overwhelming favorites to win the Gold. I know Laker fans like to reference this to put it on Duncan (whose stats/performances were fine), but everyone knew that team was going to struggle going in. It's not like they were perceived as unbeatable, like the Soviet hockey team.
Jim got a Bronze medalPERIOD. Permanent stain on his legacy.
That team was a 100% failure, midst c'mon
Team usa is always favorite to win, if it's not then the team is already a failure.
Failure, of course. Top 10 failure in sports history, no. We'll give it an honorable mention.That team was a 100% failure, midst c'mon
Team usa is always favorite to win, if it's not then the team is already a failure.
I'd argue it's a bigger failure than the 2004 Lakers, which should be your #1
Where does 8 fall in these rankings? That was a #1 seed bowing down to and Grind
Braves were down 1-3 in the NLCS. Ozzie Smith's farewell
Played @ Munich
Was that the series where Sjax rough ed Dirk's mind?
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