My worst sports moments of all-time

I wanted to do a blog post to commemorate the ending of the football season which always feels more significant than the ending of all other sports.  At first I wanted to do a post on what it's like being a fan and watch your team win it all, but since I'm a Jets, Mets, and Knicks fan I still don't know what that is like, so I had to scrap that idea.

WTF are those? Vases? Are they vases?

Then I was going to do an end of the year ranking of all 32 starting QB's but that feels like a beginning of the season type of post, not for the end of the season.  The playoffs are too fresh in my mind for me to objectively rank them.
As I was trying to think of a topic I was watching the Giants superbowl parade in NY. Many old HS friends were posting pictures of themselves at the parade. Justin Tuck, a defensive lineman for the Giants, said (in reference to Metlife stadium, which they share with the Jets), "you can be sure of whose house it is". Then while watching Sportscenter, one of the anchors made the off handed comment that "There was a parade in NY...and Mark Sanchez wasn't there". All of a sudden, the Giants win which I had been celebrating mere days earlier (well, I was more celebrating the Patriots loss), had now become a source of pain. Then I realized that all I know from sports is pain. That got me thinking of what the worst sports moments in my life were.


5. 2000 World Series (Mets vs Yankees)

Let me set the scene. The Yankees are coming off of back to back championships so Yankees fans are in rare form. They've never been more annoying, self centered and entitled (with apologies to my mother and brother. They are the exception).  I HATE the Yankees, I hate what they stand for, I hate that smug look on Derek Jeter's face, I hate how they get all the breaks, and most of all I hate Clemens. During the season Clemens had intentionally thrown a ball at Mike Piazza's head giving him a concussion, then in game 2 he threw a piece of a shattered bat in Piazza's direction and claimed that he didn't do it intentionally. (He later gave about 4 more excuses. Curiously he left out the "I'm really a terrible human being" excuse).  At this point I was beyond furious. The Mets finished the season with a better record than the Yankees.  The Yankees had clearly become the bad guys and it was time for some sweet justice to be served courtesy of the Mets...or so I thought. The sports gods had different plans because the Yankees beat the Mets 4 games to 1 (almost all the games were really close nail-biters) to clinch their third world series in a row. If you think Yankees fans were bad before, they achieved a whole other level after that win.  Those few months after the world series might have been the worse of my life. The fact that I didn't get suspended from school for fighting is a testament to my self-restraint.


4. 1994 NBA finals (Knicks vs Rockets)

This is a very unique time for me. I'm 7 about to turn 8. I like basketball but I'm not old enough to understand how rare a finals appearance really is.  I'm still a kid and I still have child-like beliefs. Why wouldn't my team make it to the championship. Heck, why wouldn't my team win? They're my favorite team, they're suppose to win.  Not the stupid Rockets.  No one I know even cares about the Rockets.  The series was a closely fought series between evenly matched teams (in fact, this series is what made basketball my first love).  It goes the full distance to 7 games. Olajuown and Ewing have played great, Olajuwon winning the points battle, Ewing winning the rebounds and blocks. Game 7 starts and while I'm not old enough to remember every moment, I do remember thinking that John Starks was shooting, and more importantly, missing a lot. In fact he went he only made 2 of the 18 shots he took that night.

For the next week I had nightmares of Starks throwing things at me. He never hit me but it was still scary.

In his quest to be the guy who won the championship for NY, he wound up costing us the game, the series and me personally, my first championship ever (the childhood championship is one of the most underrated things in this world. Only second to extreme hyperbole). This also served as my "Santa Claus isn't real moment" when you realize the world is a colder and darker place than you had been led to believe.

3. 2004 season AFC divisional game (Jets vs Steelers)

This is Doug Brien who you will eventually find out is not very good at physics

Aka the "Doug Brien" game.  This game featured a rookie Ben Roethlisberger who... well played like a rookie.  The Jets started the season 5-0 that year before losing a close game against the also undefeated Patriots because Justin McCareins dropped a sure TD pass in the endzone that would have given the Jets the lead and the game.  The Jets then preceeded to limp into the playoffs at 10-6. After an impressive OT win vs the Chargers the Jets were slated to take on the Steelers. The game was in Heinz field and pretty much went they way a Steelers game would go ( a low scoring defensive struggle).  Fast forward to about 2 minutes to go and the Jets had a chance to break a 17-17 tie with a 47 yd fg which at the time would have been one of  the longest fg ever made in Heinz field in the playoffs. He missed it by about a foot. Now the Steelers and their rookie QB who had already thrown a pick had the ball with under 2 minutes to go. Everyone assumed they would play conservatively but instead Big Ben dropped back to throw and threw another pick that was returned to Steelers territory. After a few run plays Brien had a fg attempt from 42 yds. I knew we would win and get a shot at the Patriots for a chance to go to the superbowl. He BARELY missed a 47 yd fg, no way Brien would miss this 42 yarder.  Guess what happened (seeing as how this game is one of the most painful losses for me, the outcome should be obvious).  Brien missed it, the game went to OT and the Steelers ushered in the era of having two RBs with their 1-2 punch of Willie Parker and Jerome Bettis. The Jets D was so tired by this point that Jerome Bettis consistently broke 3-4 tackles before he could be brought down. When asked after the game what happened, Brien said he tried to hit the second fg harder because he missed the first one. Now common sense tells us that if you missed a 47 yd fg by a foot, when you're 5yd closer you don't have to hit it harder.  Not only did Brien ruin that season, he ruined the next few seasons as well, because the Jets overreacted and drafted kicker Mike Nugent with a 2nd round pick. Mike Nugent currently plays for Cincinnati.

2.  2006 NLCS (Mets vs Cardinals)

He either just lost the game or saw a bird.

The Mets had tied the Yankees for the best record in the league.  They had a great bullpen (that was hurt by Duaner Sanchez getting into a taxi accident in late August causing the Mets to trade one of their promising bats in Xavier Nady for an over the hill Roberto Hernandez and inconsistent Oliver Perez). When the season ended, the Mets were projected by some as the favorites for winning the World Series. The Mets made it to game 7 of the NLCS, after sweeping the Dodgers, one game away from the world series. Game 7 was a great game that featured an homerun stealing catch by Mets outfielder Endy Chavez.

We have to win now. The sports gods would never have such a great play occur in a loss...Right?

The Cardinals broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 9th with a 2 run homerun. In the bottom of the ninth Carlos Beltran came up with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Beltran had owned the Cardinals throughout his career and everyone knew it.  With an 0-2 count, ROOKIE Wainwright threw a curveball right over the plate and Beltran, the wily veteran, took a huge hack at it and sent it 3 rows in the stands choke artist took a call strike 3. No swing.  Game over.  I was dumbfounded. I was sure that he must have called time out or Wainwright balked or SOMETHING. No way he just watched the season end.  I (and most Mets fans) never forgave him after that. He never had a chance in NY after that. That he wasn't the type to show emotion didn't help because it almost made him seem disinterested.  I accept that he tried but I'll always remember him as the guy who looked at the Mets best chance for a championship in my lifetime disappear with a called strike 3.

1.  2010 season AFC Championship game

I was so sure this was the year the Jets were going to the superbowl.  They had a great balance of offense and defense. Sanchez had a ton of 4th quarter comebacks that year.  All my hater friends said they wouldn't beat Peyton Manning and the Colts.  They did. Then they said there was no way they would beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. They said it would be similar to their last meeting the Patriots won 45-3.  When I reminded them the Jets had beat the Pats earlier in the season they said it didn't matter. When I reminded them that the Jets starting safety was injured 3 days before the aforementioned blow out they said it didn't matter. The Jets beat the Patriots.  Now the only team in their was was Big Ben (now owner of 2 superbowl rings) and the Steelers. I had never been so hyped for a game. I was even looking at prices for SB tickets just in case (a rookie mistake on my part. You NEVER count your eggs before they hatch. Or put you eggs all in one basket. Maybe I should just stop eating eggs). The game started and...the Jets quickly spotted the Steelers 24 straight points. I was devastated. Not again. I couldn't believe it. The Jets offense, which had started slow all year finally had it catch up with them. A 24 point lead for the Steeler defense was almost the definition of futility. The Jets never gave up. They scored 19 straight points and Big Ben got the ball back with 3 minutes to go and the score 24-19.
Fast forward, it's 3rd and 6 with one minute and change to go.  Big Ben is flushed out of the pocket, runs to his right and throws a low ball that his receiver needs to dive for. The catch is made about 6 inches above the ground giving the Steelers another first down and the game.  People say football is a game of inches and it has never been more true than in that moment. I must have looked at that replay 100 times praying that the receiver trapped it or lost control as he came to the ground.
 After the game was over I needed to take a walk. I shut my phone off and just left. I don't really remember where I went or when I got back.  I was so sure that was my year to finally root for a championship team. I was so sure. The Jets would have beaten arguably the 4 best QB's in the league at the time to do it so no one could criticize the road. It would have been the hardest road to the superbowl.  They were so close. What made it worse was the wave of "there's always next year" I got from friends who felt bad. Anyone that has rooted for sports knows "next year" is a nice idea but means nothing.  Especially in football.  It's so hard to build a superbowl caliber team. Every year only 3 or so teams are actually able to do it. Injuries, free agency, chemistry , there are so many ways to have a season derailed. When you get lucky enough to keep a superbowl caliber team into the playoffs and you don't come through it hurts.

P.S. Some of you may be wondering about the Longhorns.  Of course I am a longhorn fan. However, I grew up on the east coast not watching college football or basketball.  I came to UT fall 2004. If in fall 2003 you had asked me what a longhorn was, I would have guessed some type of unicorn on steroids. If you asked me where they played I would have guessed Alaska ( because I'm pretty sure Alaska has unicorns). So while that Texas/USC game was awesome, and I was rooting hard for UT their win will never be the same as one of my childhood teams winning. It just can't be.