Biggest Choke Job in Sports | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Biggest Choke Job in Sports

HuskyHawk

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I think we can soon add either the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning or 2019 Blue Jackets. Tampa Bay was the most dominant team in the league by a wide margin and is down 3-0, playing in Columbus tomorrow. So either they are going to choke away a great regular season, or Columbus is going to blow a 3-0 series lead.
 

David 76

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As a Yankee fan, if I could choose between changing the result in 2001 or 2004, I would change 2001.
After 9/11 baseball stopped. It resumed in New York with President Bush throwing out the first pitch. New York was hurting but baseball took on a new meaning, offering hope to a grieving town. The Yanks seemed like a team of destiny. It was just wrong that the D'backs won.
 

storrsroars

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As a Yankee fan, if I could choose between changing the result in 2001 or 2004, I would change 2001.
After 9/11 baseball stopped. It resumed in New York with President Bush throwing out the first pitch. New York was hurting but baseball took on a new meaning, offering hope to a grieving town. The Yanks seemed like a team of destiny. It was just wrong that the D'backs won.

You could also say that it was fitting, given the Diamondbacks' nicknames are "D-bags" and "Snakes". Imo, their winning the 2001 season officially ushered in the past 18 years of US d-baggery and snake-iness. Going from balanced budgets and relatively decent wealth distribution to the Patriot Act, record deficits and concentration of wealth among a precious few.

Yes, the Yankees lost in 2001. And so did 99% of the rest of us.
 
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You could also say that it was fitting, given the Diamondbacks' nicknames are "D-bags" and "Snakes". Imo, their winning the 2001 season officially ushered in the past 18 years of US d-baggery and snake-iness. Going from balanced budgets and relatively decent wealth distribution to the Patriot Act, record deficits and concentration of wealth among a precious few.

Yes, the Yankees lost in 2001. And so did 99% of the rest of us.
Think you can call that the worst day in our history. As if the tragedy wasn't enough, it completely changed America and the world and all the change was horrible. It reshaped everything in a bad way.
 
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As a Yankee fan, if I could choose between changing the result in 2001 or 2004, I would change 2001.
After 9/11 baseball stopped. It resumed in New York with President Bush throwing out the first pitch. New York was hurting but baseball took on a new meaning, offering hope to a grieving town. The Yanks seemed like a team of destiny. It was just wrong that the D'backs won.

I agree and its not even close 2004 was more embarrassing, 2001 way more heart breaking. The 2004 team was an unlikeable Yankee team with guys in the clubhouse like Sheffield(even though he was putting up MVP numbers), Lofton, Arod, Kevin Brown. The 2004 team was playing with fire all year the pen was shot by October Mariano blew a save against the Twins in game 3 of the ALDS too, of course who knows if they beat the Cardinals in the World Series that year.
 
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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Gstate warriors. Last night they blew a 31 point lead in the second half....five minutes into the third quarter in fact, at home.

Let's see if they recover for the series, but still an epic collapse.
 
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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Gstate warriors. Last night they blew a 31 point lead in the second half....five minutes into the third quarter in fact, at home.

Let's see if they recover for the series, but still an epic collapse.

Even if they do win this series, if they fall short of the Finals, it won't be difficult to point to that moment as the beginning of the end of their dynasty.
 

HuskyHawk

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Well the Tampa Bay Lightning just got swept 4-0.
 
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The 1978 Sox won 12 out of their last 14 to tie for the division lead. What choke?

They blew a 12 game lead in late August! If that’s not choking, I don’t know what is? My Sox friends were so upset they celebrated when Munson died in plane crash in 79, real classy...
 
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I’m still not following. Is this during the regular season or a tournament? If a regular-season, to what purpose? If a tournament, have they never heard of a neutral site? Adding up game scores seems silly. If you can’t play a best-of series then do a knockout and be done.

It is a tournament during the regular season. Each country has their own league, but there is also the Europa league and Champions league. The top teams from the top leagues qualify for the Champions league. The next tier of teams qualify for the Europa league. All of the rounds are home and home legs until the championship game which is held at a neutral venue with the date and location already set.

In addition to the CL and EL, countries have their own tournaments. The English Premier League has the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup, then the top teams are also playing in the CL and EL, while the EPL regular season is going on. Playing at a nuetral venue is logistically a nightmare, and giving each team a home game is 1) more fair, and 2) better for the fans. As an example, Manchester City has a chance to win the 4 championships this year. The Carabao Cup, the FA Cup, the Champions League, and the EPL regular season. They play 38 regular season games. If they make the Champions League Final it will be their 63rd game of the season.

The top leagues in soccer don't have playoffs at the end of the season. Every team plays every other team home and away, and the team with the most points at the end of the season is the champion. The EL and CL have group play in the first round, 4 teams in a group (each team 6 total games, 3 home, 3 away), and the top 2 teams advance to the knockout stages, where they play home and away until the championship game.
 
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I think the Sox were up 13 1/2 games in Augu
The 1978 Sox won 12 out of their last 14 to tie for the division lead. What choke?
I think the Sox were up 13 1/2 games in August....running away with the division.
They blew a 12 game lead in late August! If that’s not choking, I don’t know what is? My Sox friends were so upset they celebrated when Munson died in plane crash in 79, real classy...
Yup...remember it well. Bucky Dent.
 
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Happened last night hands down. Most wins ever in a regular season. Swept in first round to a team that never won a playoff series and to lose would have been one thing, but to get swept is all time choke. 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning take this prize.
 
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The Red Sox 2011 collapse was something else.

The Yankees blowing it in 2004 was something else. The Cubs blowing it in 2003 was something else.
 
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Happened last night hands down. Most wins ever in a regular season. Swept in first round to a team that never won a playoff series and to lose would have been one thing, but to get swept is all time choke. 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning take this prize.

Similar to the 1971 Bruins vs Ken Dryden.
 
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OK here's my for sure choke list:

Jean Van De Velde at the British Open in 1999 is probably the king for me. That was absolutely the most indescribable, how does this happen, insane, heart breaking, maddening total and complete collapse right at the end of a tournament i've ever seen by any athlete, ever.

Greg Norman blowing a 7 stroke lead at the Masters was crazy.

Dan O'Brien in the 92 Olympics - Dan and Dave were the absolute poster boys for those Olympics and Dan totally flopped

John McEnroe in the French Open in 84 was wild. He got mad at some camera guy or somethng and the whole thing just went right off the rails.

Give me anyone of three Phil Mickelson (particularly in 2006) or Dan Jansen (old school speed skater) chokes. They did it multiple times.

The Houston Oilers blowing a 35-3 halftime lead against the Bills is something i'll never forget either.

Honorable metion to Jana Novatna's Wimbledon choke in 94 to Steffi Graf. She lost the first set then won the next set 6-1 and was cruising 4-1 in the third set and then literally hit something like 20 shots in a row into the net and lost. It was awesome.
 
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Has someone mentioned the 2011 Texas Rangers? Game 6 of the World Series, they had the Cardinals down to their last strike not once, but twice.

It's really hard to choke on defense, but Nelson Cruz managed it. Up by 2 runs, with 2 outs in the 9th, runners on 1st and 2nd, including the lead-footed Lance Berkman at 1st. David Freese hits a line drive towards the right field wall.
- If Cruz catches the ball, the game is over and they win the World Series
- If Cruz turns around to play it off the wall, he keeps the tying run at 3rd, still with 2 outs and a ~70% chance to win

Instead, he manages to do the one thing that would give up the lead: flails embarrassingly at the ball, lets it bounce off the wall and roll 20 feet past him, allowing Berkman to score from 1st and tie the game.
 
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Gotta sa
Has someone mentioned the 2011 Texas Rangers? Game 6 of the World Series, they had the Cardinals down to their last strike not once, but twice.

It's really hard to choke on defense, but Nelson Cruz managed it. Up by 2 runs, with 2 outs in the 9th, runners on 1st and 2nd, including the lead-footed Lance Berkman at 1st. David Freese hits a line drive towards the right field wall.
- If Cruz catches the ball, the game is over and they win the World Series
- If Cruz turns around to play it off the wall, he keeps the tying run at 3rd, still with 2 outs and a ~70% chance to win

Instead, he manages to do the one thing that would give up the lead: flails embarrassingly at the ball, lets it bounce off the wall and roll 20 feet past him, allowing Berkman to score from 1st and tie the game.

Thats why teams have defensive replacements or should at least.
 
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Gotta sa


Thats why teams have defensive replacements or should at least.

The amazing thing was, Cruz didn't even need to make the catch. All he had to do was say "forget this, I'm not catching it", play it cleanly off the wall, and hold the runner at 3rd. Then all they would have to do is retire Yadier Molina -- or even intentionally walk him and face Daniel Descalso -- to win the World Series.

Forget skill, it was a stunningly low-IQ play in a pressure situation. He choked.
 

David 76

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They blew a 12 game lead in late August! If that’s not choking, I don’t know what is? My Sox friends were so upset they celebrated when Munson died in plane crash in 79, real classy...

they played the Yankees 7 times during the Yankees comeback and got scorched by a combined score of about 118 to 1. Red Sox fans were dying.
 

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