What sporting result has been the hardest for you to get over?

The impulse is to say Italy losing to France in the final of Euro 2000, Del Piero missing an estimated 74 chances to kill the game off, Wiltord scoring with the last kick of the game, and then fucking Trezeguet, of all people, scoring the winner in extra time. Set us back six years, that result did.

That one time Tim went out in the quarters, I was inconsolable for a week

Celtic examples = too numerous to mention

The no-contest between the Godfather and the Blue Blazer was also a particularly difficult time for me

That one time Tim went out in the quarters, I was inconsolable for a week

-- That mong guy that's shit, Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:47 (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Thought you would have gone for the Dusty Finish to HHH/Jericho on RAW back in 2001.

lol xp

Watford 3 Wolves 0

Helicopter Sunday was tough, as was losing the UEFA Cup Final in '03.

Helicopter Sunday was tough,
-- onimo, Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:51 (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

^^^before I Googled this, thought you were zinging Matthew Harding.

lol

lol me too

Being a supporter of 'Cups for cock-ups' Manchester City, there are plenty to choose from. The obvious one is the relegation to the third tier in 1998. I was miles away on a beach in Brazil listening to the World Service, and proceeded to get blind drunk to try and pretend it wasn't really happening. the reality only really sank in when I went to my next home game, a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield. Grim.

England going out of the World Cup is always a desolate moment as well, as it only comes around once every four years.

francisco cabrera

david volek

Losing an epic ping-pong game to my younger brother, when I was 13.

What onimo said. I think Helicopter Sunday was the worse of the two though. The weekend after Seville, losing the league on goal difference with Alan Thompson missing a penalty to rub salt in the wounds was a fucker as well.

Helicopter Sunday was tough, as was losing the UEFA Cup Final in '03.

Replayed game vs Rapid Vienna = most depressing game of football ever

Penn State and, later, Ohio State beating all-time great University of Miami football teams for the College Nat'l Championship.

Thought you would have gone for the Dusty Finish to HHH/Jericho on RAW back in 2001.

Man, that was really pathetic, it's true

Replayed game vs Rapid Vienna = most depressing game of football ever

Aye that was pretty fucking horrible. I was only 13 at the time. I remember the sense of outrage more than the games.

Knocked the stuffing out of Celtic for years after

I usually get over Scotland and Celtic defeats quite quickly, and can often find excuses to justify the defeats, but aargggh, Helicopter Sunday makes me angry and sad even now.

as far as Old Word sports go:

Cov being relegated at Villa Park of all places, losing after being 2-0 up at the half.

losing on pens vs Germany in the Euro 96 semis, mostly because after that Holland game i'd let down my protective shield of cynicism and had started to Believe. Uri Geller, why did you powers abandon us?!

biggest disappointment in rugby may actually have been tihs past weekend's collapse against Wales. maybe i'm just feeling that most keenly because it's so recent.

i'm inured to failure by the England cricket team so that has never been crushing, and tho i keep up with the results for Warwks but i'm not all that vested in them.

Old Word = Old World

I think the elephant in the room for most of us is the Cincinatti Tent Pegs' amazing comeback to hypercock Los Angeles Brain Hemorrhage in the preliminary final of the 2001 etc etc

Cov being relegated at Villa Park of all places, losing after being 2-0 up at the half

there is only Juan (one) Pablo Angel

Chelsea relegated via play-offs in 88, with pitch invasion to add to the shame. Only top flight side to ever get relegated via play-offs!

Also, losing FA Cup quarter-final replay to Sunderland 2-1 in last minute in 92. Was convinced that was the best chance i'd ever get to see Chelsea in a final.

England's exit in Germany was well rough, altho by the time Henry scored against Brazil I did feel a bit better. All in all the shootout defeats in '96 and '98 felt worse to me (but I had been even more naive/delusional about success then). At the time England's last game at Old Wembley was horrible too (but eventually made up for). National team-based answers seem quite boring tho.

National team-based answers seem quite boring tho.

-- blueski, Thursday, 7 February 2008 14:05 (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

^^^Maybe this, but then again "Penalty shootout elimination in the 2004 Division three play offs to Mansfield" makes me seem small.

Going out of Euro 96 as a result of the England v Holland thing was probably harder than watching us getting beat off England. Well, it stopped "getting beat off England" being the biggest disaster of that tournament.

Dom, I saw NTFC get beat 1-0 by a late goal against Grimsby at Wembley in a Div 2 paloff final in 1998(?). as an honorary Cobbler it was a try experience in a number of different ways. i als saw them get knocked out of the LDV Vans at Turf Moor. heady times, those. difficult, but not quite the hardest results to get over.

that's barely fucking legible.

I think this game is my definitive answer:

Rangers 2 Dundee United 0 (Ibrox Park, 7/5/97)

I think that'd be as a direct result of travelling through Duston to get to Sixfields, spending time in that area of N'pton actually ruins your ability to write English.

xp

Dom, I saw NTFC get beat 1-0 by a late goal against Grimsby at Wembley in a Div 2 paloff final in 1998(?). as an honorary Cobbler it was a try experience in a number of different ways. i als saw them get knocked out of the LDV Vans at Turf Moor. heady times, those. difficult, but not quite the hardest results to get over.

-- Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 7 February 2008 14:11 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

Also, this match didn't bother me because we would have had our skirts lifted up if we'd have got promoted that year, Derby's points performance 07/08 would have been about three times as many ours.

i can believe that, having seen them play. my mate made us stay behind in the stands at Wembley looking grim and depressed 'cos he wanted to get on telly.

Although lol at the Chronicle and Echo at the time being all "Well, Northampton has a top flight rugby side and a top flight cricket side, why not a top flight football side?" I think they illustrated this article with a photo of John Frain, thus answering their own question.

Team Europe losing to Team USA in Weber Cup 2007 after throwing away a 3 match lead losing 5 matches in a row

i was really fucked off about Linford Christie's two false starts in Atlanta ("just let him sprint with them anyway!").

Italy vs South Korea, 2002
Bradford beating Liverpool to stay up the day Wimbledon (who had done themselves no favours losing to Southampton) got relegated.

Becker 2-6 7-6 6-4 7-6 Agassi (from 2-6 1-4), 1995 Wimb sf was pretty sickening. Untrammelled genius demolition of the Leimen Lech for an hour then it all started to unravel.

Man City 3-1 Everton, FAC r6 replay, March '81 upset me hugely. We'd beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Southampton and I actually thought we were going to win it. Paul Power lobbed a comically out-of-position Jim McDonagh for City's late equaliser at Goodison on the Saturday and then we capitulated to three quick goals in the second half at Maine Road. On the way home from the first game, I remember hearing Gordon Lee on the radio just before we went into the Wallasey tunnel: "Three drawn cup-ties today - I doubt the replays will all go the way of the home team." Way to go, Gordon - banking on the law of averages to keep us in the Cup and, oh, he was wrong anyway.

This season's Goodison derby was the angriest I've been after a game in a long time.

If I supported Everton this season's Goodison derby would probably have been the most angry I had ever been about anything

15/12/96 Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro
INTER 3 4 SAMPDORIA

Branca (12) Montella (7)
Berti (42) Montella (56)
Branca (46) Franceschetti (85)
Mancini (88)

followed a couple of months later by...

02/02/97 Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro
MILAN 2 3 SAMPDORIA
Weah (37) Mancini (1)
Weah (57) Mihajlovic (74)
Carparelli (79)

Blimming Samp. I support neither of the Milanese teams, but have a fondness for both because I saw them so regularly. Of course If I was a Sampdoria fan it'd be a different story.

Fortunately my best Italian team, Atalanta, whopped them 4-0 a few weeks later.

Sorry for the shite formatting there. You'll gather that I watched healthy leads disappear in both cases.

FA Cup Final 2003. Quite probably the only time a sporting event has actually made me cry.

^^^made me cry as well, I had £30 on Arsenal to win 2-0 with Ljungberg scoring first.

"DANIEL AMOKACHI... AGAIN!!!"

FA Cup semi-final, 1994.

I'd spent that whole season convinced we were going to beat Man Utd in the final with Klinsmann scoring the winner. It hurt for months.

1995, Matt. Sorry 'bout that.

(Still, the quarterfinal at Anfield was a beautiful thing, eh?)

Oh yes. The comeback against Southampton was fun as well.

Actually I'm not sure if it's FA Cup 94 or Gareth Southgate missing in Euro 96. That hurt more than any World Cup.

ARGH 95 YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

I don't hate Italy, they beat us fair and square!

You don't subscribe to Kerr's CHEATING BASTARD REF theory about the free kick at the end then?

Nah

When Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title during the prime of his career. Fucking travesty.

I like France. I like Germany too, but they must never win anything again.

i dont know whose 2004 loss was worse, the yanks or the democrats

As per outernational footie regrets, mine are the WC-74 and WC-78 finals. I'm truly completely & utterly dissappointed that those were won by, well, those who won.

<i>I hate Brazil winning anyway whatever the occasion<i?
<i>care to elaborate<i/>

2 things..
1)the team never seems really good, just relying on the brilliance of, say, 3 players.

(and also, I know it's a paradox)
2)the fact that Brazil could probably send 16 teams to the world cup and still "up" the level.

(wait I could simplify that.. Brazil is ALWAYS the favourite.. and I always root for underdogs)

The Rose Bowl January 1, 1981 Michigan 23 Washington 16

I was 7 and remember crying my eyes out after

Sorry, brah.

aww

but now that i think about it washington won the next year so i got over it so what am i talking about.

i guess my answer is the year the mariners won 116 games and lost in the playoffs. who knows when they'll have a team like that again.

I don't hate France that much? Am I missing something? Should I?

I was going to post Trez doing his "4-0" hands at Gary Caldwell in response to this but you already posted it yourself.

When Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title during the prime of his career. Fucking travesty.

Aye Ali was involved in a few fucking travesties, just ask Ken Norton. Twice.

Having thought about this, I think the answer might be Scotland vs Russia in WC82, Hansen and Miller collide. I was probably just still young enough to still have faith in Scotland ever achieving anything.

Hansen's a prick.

how is it decided that in some sports uk/gb will play nationally together (davis cup) while in others play as constituent parts (football)?

the more popular the sport, the more likely there will be national fragmentation

re the Trez 4-0 gesture - maybe he was provoked by some insult himself

Aye, but that just means I hate Trezeguet, not France.

some xposts

naw, he's just a cnut. probably. it's funny when Christian Dailly does it, not so funny when someone's doing it back to us.

I love France. Bixente Lizarazu man. The Pierre Littbarski of the nineties.

"but now that i think about it washington won the next year so i got over it so what am i talking about."

Screw you, i was and Iowa fan (and am now an alum). Damn, I remember some dude with a funny name (Napoeleon??) running rampant over the hawks.

All of mine are fairly recent, off the top of my head France’s loss to Italy in the World Cup finals, Detroit losing to Edmonton in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Detroit’s loss to Miami in the NBA eastern conference finals and a game from last week which I stil don’t want to talk about.

Argentina > France > Germany > Brazil > Italy.

Also, USA’s loss to England on the second day of last years Rugby Union World Cup. England looked like piss and we could’ve squeaked out a win if it were not for terrible skipping.

... Don't laugh.

Swap Italy with Germany and bump Brazil for Portugal. And there's always a place in my heart for Romania, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

Oh I am all about the Eastern European nations illuminated by a genius or two.

I could say that I WILL be sad when Man U beats Lyon but I think I'm actually for ManU...although it's a close call since Benzema blows my mind.

i think it was the 1997 NBA playoffs, Lakers v. Jazz, kobe 1.0(like 10x more confident(!) and 1/10 as good as he would become) airballs the series away. they lost a lot during those years so it wasn't so much that, the jazz were just so evil empire at the time it was like uggghh. I guess the Lakers became that for the losers in the rest of the country but count them rings bitch!

98 Vikings loss to the Falcons i will never forget all the days of my life

i was a 9-yr-old red sox fan when bucky dent hit that home run in '78. actual tears. the only time i've ever cried because of baseball or any other sport.

(although the goddam '86 world series was a near second.)

"98 Vikings loss to the Falcons i will never forget all the days of my life"

That was Pats-esque. What a disaster, can Gary Andersen show his face in the Twin Cities?

The whole game was a series of failures for the Vikes. Andersen's first mistake of the season sealed the disaster, but didn't cause it.

No other single game in any sport haunts me as this one does. It breaks my heart thinking about it.

Super Bowl XXV. I cried and my mom made fun of me. I was 11.

you know, honestly

im not ashamed to say the 1998 vikings title game loss was one of the worst days of my life

the 'juan rincon game' against the yankees in the wild-card playoffs in 2004 was also horrible

pato, please

Today didn't happen, just so you know. Okay? Okay.

#1 seed Sonics getting swept by #8 seed Denver in round 1 of the 1994 playoffs.

the 1-1 draw between ireland and france and the henry handball in paris.

The Toronto Blue Jays provided two that were awful. In the '85 ALCS, they had a 3-1 lead on the Royals, all set for their first World Series; they ended up losing the seventh game on a wind-aided home run by Jim Sundberg. (Seriously--it looked like a shallow fly to right off the bat.) Then '87, when they went up on the Tigers by three-and-a-half with a week to go; they lost the last seven games of the season, all seven by one run, the last three in Detroit. It was Twilight Zone stuff. The '92-93 back-to-backs erased most of that trauma from memory, but not entirely; Toronto fans felt we had the best team in baseball in both '85 and '87. (There was some Twilight Zone stuff in '83, too, the first year they ever contended.)

Yeah that 5-0 humiliation 4 years ago at the hands of the Aussies was the worst, but actually has been made up by events currently taking place.

uefa cup final 03 :"(

I'd have thought the retaliatory nature of the last-gasp league win in 2008 would have tempered my earlier answer of 22nd May 2005. But no. Still hurts.

National team-based answers seem quite boring tho.

― blueski, Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:05 PM (2 years ago)

No no, the scarcity value makes these the only things worth devastation over surely? Clubs get another chance before you know it these days.

Scotland 0-0 Uruguay to go out of the 1986 World Cup. Because everything was set up for qualification - manageable defeats to Denmark and Germany, easy 16-out-of-24 progression scenario, Uruguay being crap, joke early red card - yet they produced nothing, weren't even up to going out with a whimper. Plus being young, you kind of get hopeful about these things.

By rights Scotland 0-3 Morocco in 1998 should have been worse - similar qualification odds, the illusion of momentum, utterly shit performance to the point of humiliation, babyish red card, realisation that never again can victory over an African side be expected, and that Scotland probably never ever going to play a single knock-out game of football now, desolate personal circumstances in being in a bar abroad and the only person who gave a toss about the boring game on the tiny screen - but the lols at Morocco's celebrations turning to shit when they found out about Norway's unlikeliest comeback v Brazil made up for it somehow.

Clubs get another chance before you know it these days.

ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu :"(

athens olympics SF. justine henin d. anastasia myskina from 1-5 down in the third set. that would have been a guaranteed olympic medal for myskina - as it was she was so distraught she lost the bronze medal play-off, too - and would have elevated her career so much from a historical perspective - she could never have been dismissed as a one-slam wonder if she'd closed out that match. plus, she always said an olympic medal was one of her greatest dreams ;_;

the 1-1 draw between ireland and france and the henry handball in paris.

definitely. irritated me consistently for months, then a relapse when the world cup started.

haha yeah. Everton in the 95 fa cup also a good one. Getting fuck by clattenburg against utd doesnt really even surprise anymore, but pedro mendes stings sometimes