What are your most heartbreaking experiences as a sports fan?

40-15 - I'll get this one outta the way

2015 ALDS Blue Jays lose game 6 to Kansas City....everything had to go wrong for us to lose this game and ultimately the series...until I see them win a WS I will forever be salty about this one

2016 NBA Finals - I loved watching GSW that year (tried to tune into every single one of their games) and I root against Bron Bron every year so for them to throw away the GOAT season in such an awful manner was heartbreaking to watch....the way LeBron fans acted in the summer that proceeded was sickening

2014 Wimbledon - Oh look another Fed heartbreaker at the hands of Djokovic (of course it has to be Djokovic). At the time, this seemed like Fed's last chance to win a major and he had BP at 4-all to serve for the championship after making an epic comeback...another chance at a Cinderella ending that ended in horror

2010/11 World Juniors - May seem like a niche tournament to Americans, but to Canadians, Northern Europeans, and Russians this tournament definitely holds value. Losing in the finals after choking away a 3-0 lead to the Russians ruined my night lol

2018/19 UCL - Still don't know how FCB lost either of these match-ups....I had just landed a new job in the '19 one so that took away a lot of my anger but it doesn't take away from the fact that they were both pathetic chokes. 2019 stung even more since TOT likely gets destroyed in the finals

2012 Olympics - Canada's women's team loses in extras to the US...Sinclair plays the game of her life scoring a hatrick and those damn Yankees kept coming back and low-key cheated to lure that hand-ball at the end. Cheered against everything USA for the rest of that Olympics LOL

2001 Raptors - I was a pretty young dude when this happened but it was the first true heartbreak the then young Raptors had experienced. Little did I know at the time that it was the beginning of over a decade of incompetence for this franchise. Had VC sunk that shot the trajectory of the Raps could've been very different throughout the 2000s. Thank god for Masai, Kawhi and Lowry (and DeMar for being good enough to be traded for Kawhi lol)


What are some of your most heartbreaking experiences as a sports fan?

2006 NLCS game 7 - Best Mets team of all time and would have beat Detroit in the World Series. Thanks Heilman and Beltran

2007 collapse and losing the division and playoff spot on the last day of the season. Thanks Tom Glavine

2015 World Series - should have won games 1 and 5, strong case for choking away game 4 at the end as well. Thanks Cespedes and Duda

2015 NFC Championship - The worst choke in one game that I’ve ever seen for one of my teams. Seattle was a sort of boogeyman for the Packers at the time, beating them during the Fail Mary game and the first game of the season. Thanks Bostick

Knicks - every season

Rangers - 2015 Stanley cup against the Kings. Refs were so one sided in that series they gave the Kings game 1

1) Jaime Lannister losing to Loras Tyrell.
TOTAL DISGUST. @Red Rick
2) 40-15
3) AO09 F
4) Rome06 F
5) Olympics12 F
Apart from those in no particular order Nole Olympics16, USO11 SF, Wimbley08 F, USO09 F, IW18 F.

clout said:

he had BP at 4-all to serve for the championship

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He had BP at 3 all, not 4 all.
Nevertheless this one was a heartbreaker at the time.

Italy v. South Korea, 2002 World Cup (football/soccer).

Stannis Baratheon said:

1) Jaime Lannister losing to Loras Tyrell.
TOTAL DISGUST. @Red Rick
2) 40-15
3) AO09 F
4) Rome06 F
5) Olympics12 F
Apart from those in no particular order Nole Olympics16, USO11 SF, Wimbley08 F, USO09 F, IW18 F.

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10. Ajax winning the 2011 Eredivisie beating FC Twente on the final day.
9. Netherlands losing 2008 Euro's QF to Russia. Guus Hidding worse traitor to the nation than Anton Mussert.
8. Basically every football match I decide to watch. The gamesmanship and reffing makes me wish I was a pro player so I could kick people for a living.
7. Me losing my local u10 tournament 3/4th place match after being up 6-1 in the deciding tiebreak.
6. Sven Kramer taking the wrong lane while being on pace for Olympic Gold at the 2010 Olympic 10km speed skating and subsequently getting disqualified.
5. Me being the only one missing when my middle school football tournament final went to a penalty shootout
4. Alberto Contador crashing out of the Tour de France in 2014. Only reason this isn't also in 2nd is my other man Vincenzo Nibali won that race.
2*. Andy Roddick losing Wimbledon 2009. Also known as "I know how you feel". **** off Rog you oblivious, priviliged **** you have no idea
2*. 2010 WC final. Howard Webb and Andres Iniesta left be me with a vicious hatred of bald ***** (@Tiki-Taka )
1. Christopher Froome. His entire existence (@Federer and Del Potro )

* Mostly depending on how much I've talked to Dutch Fed Policia members.

Honorable mentions are me losing horrendously at beer pong while trying to impress a girl who was never gonna be interested in me, all 9,000 times my brother beat me at ping pong, and the one time I stopped my coaches penalty with my face. Yes people, Scott Sterling is a Red Rick parody.

1999 champions league final - a nightmare in the last minutes
2000 euro final france- italy
2006 schumacher suffers puncture at interlagos (last race) ...and some others

I was once up 2 sets playing table tennis w my husband. That never happen to me. But managed to mug up so hard and lose the next 3. Will probably never be that close again.

Red Rick said:

2*. 2010 WC final. Howard Webb and Andres Iniesta left be me with a vicious hatred of bald ***** (@Tiki-Taka )

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2000 euro - playing italy .. another memorable match with the flying dutchmen

alexio88 said:

2000 euro - playing italy .. another memorable match with the flying dutchmen

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I was too young to be peak saltmine.

Minnesota Vikings - my hometown team is generally good but always fails in the big games. Some examples: 1998 loss to the Falcons to go to the Super Bowl (15-1 season with record breaking offense with the breakout of Randy Moss), 2009 debacle against the Saints also in the NFC title game. Four super bowl losses during the 70's were bad too but at least I was too young to experience them.

Twins continuously being owned in the playoffs by the Yankees.

Red Rick said:

10. Ajax winning the 2011 Eredivisie beating FC Twente on the final day.
9. Netherlands losing 2008 Euro's QF to Russia. Guus Hidding worse traitor to the nation than Anton Mussert.
8. Basically every football match I decide to watch. The gamesmanship and reffing makes me wish I was a pro player so I could kick people for a living.
7. Me losing my local u10 tournament 3/4th place match after being up 6-1 in the deciding tiebreak.
6. Sven Kramer taking the wrong lane while being on pace for Olympic Gold at the 2010 Olympic 10km speed skating and subsequently getting disqualified.
5. Me being the only one missing when my middle school football tournament final went to a penalty shootout
4. Alberto Contador crashing out of the Tour de France in 2014. Only reason this isn't also in 2nd is my other man Vincenzo Nibali won that race.
2*. Andy Roddick losing Wimbledon 2009. Also known as "I know how you feel". **** off Rog you oblivious, priviliged **** you have no idea
2*. 2010 WC final. Howard Webb and Andres Iniesta left be me with a vicious hatred of bald ***** (@Tiki-Taka )
1. Christopher Froome. His entire existence (@Federer and Del Potro )

* Mostly depending on how much I've talked to Dutch Fed Policia members.

Honorable mentions are me losing horrendously at beer pong while trying to impress a girl who was never gonna be interested in me, all 9,000 times my brother beat me at ping pong, and the one time I stopped my coaches penalty with my face. Yes people, Scott Sterling is a Red Rick parody.

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WC 2010 was a banger.

1972 Olympic games in Munich was of course heartbreaking for the terrorist attack and murders that took place, but on a smaller scale in that Olympiad, Jim Ryun had been the premier American track star of the late 60s and early 70s, the first high schooler to run a sub-four-minute mile, and had been the youngest member of an American Olympic track team when he was 17. In his qualifying heat for the 1500 another runner bumped into him and Ryun tripped and fell to the ground, unable to qualify. An appeal to the Olympic committee was denied and he could not run in the 1500. He subsequently served in the House of Representatives.

In no particular order.
And I realize I got many

Wimbledon 2019 final
Copa Libertadores 2019 final
Davis Coup finals of 2008 (redemption in 2016)
Wimbledon 2008 final
Miami San Antonio 2013 NBA Finals Game 6. Leading by 5 points to championship with 28 seconds left (redemption the following year)
Copa Libertadores 2004 semifinal

ollinger said:

1972 Olympic games in Munich was of course heartbreaking for the terrorist attack and murders that took place, but on a smaller scale in that Olympiad, Jim Ryun had been the premier American track star of the late 60s and early 70s, the first high schooler to run a sub-four-minute mile, and had been the youngest member of an American Olympic track team when he was 17. In his qualifying heat for the 1500 another runner bumped into him and Ryun tripped and fell to the ground, unable to qualify. An appeal to the Olympic committee was denied and he could not run in the 1500. He subsequently served in the House of Representatives.

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That reminds me of Mary Decker tripping and falling many Olympics later. That saddened me a lot back then.

clout said:

40-15 - I'll get this one outta the way

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Nuff said

1, India getting kicked out of 2007 Cricket World Cup in Group Stage!
2, 40-15

gn said:

1, India getting kicked out of 2007 Cricket World Cup in Group Stage!
2, 40-15

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I'll be honest I'm not educated at all when it comes to cricket but it seems like a fascinating sport!

Sentinel said:

That reminds me of Mary Decker tripping and falling many Olympics later. That saddened me a lot back then.

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I feel like anytime an Olympian gets hurt while in competition or loses in such a terrible way (there's a wide variety of them), I'm going to feel a great deal of pain and pity for them since competing at an OLY event is such a once in a lifetime experience for several people and for a lot, they've trained at it for years and years.

clout said:

I'll be honest I'm not educated at all when it comes to cricket but it seems like a fascinating sport!

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Same here, fun-looking sport.

2009 champions league semi. Every footballer fan will know how unfair that game was. We deserved Chelsea vs Man U in the final again.

Indy 500 1992

"Michael is slowing down."

Valentino Rossi losing his cool and kicking Marquez and having to start at the back in the next race in 2015--he would've won the 2015 title even if he had let Marquez make that dangerous pass but he let his emotions get the better of him.

Newcastle losing the league title in 1996. How the hell did they surrender that lead?

The opening monologue to Wide World of Sports, showing the agony of defeat, of an Olympic Ski Jumper falling on the jump ramp over and over again. However, I just received an E-mail of the following, which is a sad reminder of today's Sad sports commentary:

"We need to be heard!!!.....Lets start one! I am a member of Golf's lower 99%. I am an indifferent golfer, and there is no way I could ever make it to the professional level. I will never put in the practice time to be the best. I will never have the shots, skills, or mental toughness to "Make It" in the sport. I just never felt like working all that hard at it.
However, I am a part of the golfing community and, as such, feel I should be paid by the top 1% of golfers for what I do! It isn't FAIR that those players who have worked harder, have studied the game, have better equipment, and are more skilled and dedicated should make all the Big Money.
Where is My Share? I am a Victim! The top 1% should pay for my club memberships, green fees, lessons, and cart rental...plus, buy me new clubs, balls, clothes, and shoes, and pay me some of Their Winnings. They can Afford it. They are "The Rich." The whole system should be changed to accommodate people like me. I think we should get together and occupy a Golf Course and demand that those who are better at what they do, pay for us who generally Suck! Whining should get us something--maybe we will make the cover of Time Magazine or Sports Illustrated and garnish some public sympathy.
*ell, during this election year we may even get a law or two passed by Legislators who want our votes.

P.S. Do not mention this to tennis players. We thought of it First."

This is a wonderful use of sarcasm to teach a thought process "common sense" lesson. How many of you on Talk Tennis recognize yourselves? You know, that group of you too cheap to pay for lessons, instead try to get better by picking other peoples brains for free...thinking a better racquet will make you a Pro...or string combination?

I leave you to argue over which of you thought of this concept of the 1% paying for your mediocracy, first, Golfers or Tennis Players.

Shalom

Watching GGG getting robbed twice against Canelo. Still have to regularly rinse away the salty taste this left in my mouth.

Watching Fed squander match points like a gambling addict wastes coins.

The undisputed number one gotta be the 2006 WC final. I don't even.

Feds loss last year at Wimby despite 2 mps
Arods loss to Fed at the Wimby final back in the day..

40-15 by far. Still painful.

Tennis:
Wimbledon Final 2019
Wimbledon Final 1988

Football:
UEFA Euro Cup Final 2008 (GER-ESP)
FIFA World Cup Semi Final 2006 (GER-ITA)
German Bundesliga final round 2000/2001 (Schalke being "Meister" for just a handful of minutes)
UEFA Champions League Final 1998/1999 (Bayern losing it all in extra time)

Various:
Tour de France 2003 stage 19 (Individual Time Trial, Ullrich crashing in the rain)
Tour de France 1998 stage 15 (mountain stage to Les Deux Alpes, Ullrich losing the Tour because he forgot to eat properly that day)

This.

1986 European Cup final loss to Steaua on penalties was hands down the worst one. Among recent events, the collapse against Liverpool in the semifinal last year was also a tough pill to swallow. Some of Spain's defeats at the World Cup and Euros hurt more than others, too many to list in some order.

Can't think of many tennis heartbreaks other than some of Lendl's losses at Wimbledon.

Tiki-Taka said:

1986 European Cup final loss to Steaua on penalties was hands down the worst one. Among recent events, the collapse against Liverpool in the semifinal last year was also a tough pill to swallow. Some of Spain's defeats at the World Cup and Euros hurt more than others, too many to list in some order.

Can't think of many tennis heartbreaks other than some of Lendl's losses at Wimbledon.

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I'll trade you the 5-1 for the 1-0, deal?

Fun fact, only national game I ever attended was Netherlands-Spain friendly in Rotterdam. We won 1-0

Clay lover said:

Valentino Rossi losing his cool and kicking Marquez and having to start at the back in the next race in 2015--he would've won the 2015 title even if he had let Marquez make that dangerous pass but he let his emotions get the better of him.

Newcastle losing the league title in 1996. How the hell did they surrender that lead?

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The 217 and 109 aka Kevin Keegan's overloaded attacking formations. It did look lovely at times. I've softened up to Kevin Keegan over the years. No doubt I was laughing at the time when Kevin Keegan gave his famous ''still fighting for this title'' rant.

Sysyphus said:

Watching GGG getting robbed twice against Canelo. Still have to regularly rinse away the salty taste this left in my mouth.

Watching Fed squander match points like a gambling addict wastes coins.

The undisputed number one gotta be the 2006 WC final. I don't even.

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We'll always have Canelo crapping his pants at the weigh in while the lovely music played.

Some off the top of my head. Coudl go a little deeper in future.

The 2011 defeat to Barcelona in the champions league final didn't really cause much heartbreak, or any heartbreak. 2009 would have, we still had a very strong team when you compare to 2011 but Barcelona were just on different level. (in both finals) Making us look like little boys. United game plan in 2009 was all wrong. Yes, always easy to say such things. Bottom line is Barcelona just too good.

A draw against West Ham on final day of 1995 season would have caused heartbreak. Man United had to rely on Liverpool and Liverpool were up to the task, we were not. I didn't even get to stay at home to watch it all. Back in the days when you have to go out for dinner with parents and you have no say in the matter. All of a sudden Blackburn are getting beat by Liverpool. It's on. No, it isn't because ''he gets the ball, he does **** all, Andy Andy Cole.'' United legend and all but come on! haha Love him.

Ronnie O'Sullivan's loss to John Higgins in the final of the masters in 2006. 10-9. What a match and a sickening beautiful clearance from John Higgins in the final frame.

1. Nearly-age-40 Navratilova's loss in the 3rd set of the Wimbledon 1994 final to "I'm injured but can bound around like a deer" 19-year-old Martinez. Would have been a majestic 9 Wimbledon crowns, something that would have been extremely special in the pre-Nadal state of tennis.

2. S. Williams' loss after serving for the match at the AO (in the semi against Kerber as I recall), only to be sabotaged by the first foot fault call of the entire match. It grinds my gears when Court's cheesy majors record is propped-up by Aussie shenanigans with calls. If Court hadn't gotten to 24 majors by beating nobodies at a tournament the best players skipped (to play World Team Tennis, no less) that would be another matter. Of course, since she played most of her career with three fescue grass majors as a serve/volley player that's also a big asterisk.

3. 40-something Date-Krumm's loss in three sets to an 18-year-old player who made the most obnoxious cheaty noises and who took a very very extended "injury" timeout, followed by a very extended bathroom break.

4. Seles stabbing, followed by the refusal to let her keep her ranking until she fully recovered.

5. Kerber not being defeated by a Japanese journeywoman, whose name escapes me at the moment, in the first or second round of the AO, then going on to win it. If the Japanese player hadn't choked it would have been over for Kerber. I don't see someone who is that weak in any round as a player who deserves to win the same major.

Cheese is what gets me, especially when old players bear the brunt of it. I like men's tennis, especially back when it was played with low-power equipment, but I can't think of any instances that I would call all that emotionally involving. It was a little disappointing when Haas lost his home tournament as an old man, after beating Federer. However, that loss by Federer seemed to be a gift of kindness. Fed dominated him in the first set to show what he was really capable of.

clout said:

I feel like anytime an Olympian gets hurt while in competition or loses in such a terrible way (there's a wide variety of them), I'm going to feel a great deal of pain and pity for them since competing at an OLY event is such a once in a lifetime experience for several people and for a lot, they've trained at it for years and years.

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Happens a lot with pole vaulters.

Paula Radcliffe is another sad case at the Olympics.
Plenty more I can't remember just now.

The 2006-7 Boston Celtics NBA season.

Wimbledon men's finals
2009 ARod's loss to RF
2014 RF's loss to ND
2019 RF's loss to ND

In nearly all alternate universes, the outcomes of all these finals were reversed

Heartbreaking sports fan experiences

Early career retirements:
Martina Hingis
Anna Kournikova
Maria Kirilenko
Justine Henin

golden chicken said:

The 2006-7 Boston Celtics NBA season.

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If anything this season was a complete blessing in disguise. They were bad enough to get a top 5 pick which they used in a trade to get Ray Allen and eventually this gave way to getting Kevin Garnett in the summer of 07. The rest is history

I know it's irrational, but the only time I've ever been truly distraught over a sporting event was during game 4 of the 2011 NBA WCSF where the Mavs on their dream run absolutely demolished the Fakers following what had been a fairy competitive series... and I didn't even watch most of the game! Was working a side gig as a delivery guy at the time and had just arrived at the gym/cafe to pick up the food (this was an unusual driver's job that had a whole day's course planned around the NOVA-DC area, so I wasn't gonna return for 2-3 hrs), and of course the game was on TV. Not that I didn't know the result already 'cause I'd been listening to the radio broadcast on my way to work... but it's one thing to hear what's going on and quite another to see the train wreck unfold before your eyes as the favored Lakers kept embarrassing themselves with Phil barking at the disappearing Pau from the sideline and Kobe looking on even more helplessly than in the equally infamous last game (6) of the '08 finals vs. the Celtics (and Bynum and Odom would later be ejected for their ugly flagrant fouls).

To this day I'm not sure why the live action left me so distressed - I knew the Fakers were goners when Kobe missed that last shot in game 3 to put them in a 3-0 hole (which, for you non-bball fans, no NBA team has ever come back from) - but distressed I was and I must've stuck around the gym for at least 10 minutes while struggling to avert my eyes from the sorry sight. Maybe I knew instinctively that this was Kobe's last shot at his 6th ring, or maybe it was a simple bummer to witness a great team falling apart so spectacularly, but let's say that was a long ride with or without radio on the rest of the way.

The one (belated) silver lining, of course, was Dirk & Co. finally becoming NBA champs over the even more favored Heat thanks in large part to LeBron "I don't have a fourth quarter" James:


I really don't have anything else remotely comparable, but I will add that the '96 Atlanta Olympics also left me feeling real sorry - not for me this time, but for Mike Powell who fell short of his great rival Carl Lewis in the long jump once again. In fact he failed to make the podium altogether, fighting a cruelly ill-timed hamstring injury which culminated in this feeble last attempt (starts at 6:27):


That face wears years of disappointment when he established himself as the world's best long jumper in history not named Lewis (and arguably Beamon), with a WR of 8.95m which stands to this day, and the guy probably would've won at least one gold medal in a less competitive era. Alas Powell had the misfortune of competing against as the very greatest, and despite two world championships he just couldn't break Lewis' stranglehold on the sport's biggest prize. Even now I think CL's dominance in the long jump is an underappreciated achievement compared to Bolt's in the 100m and 200m - for one thing Al Oerter is the only other Olympian who has won the same T&F event a whopping four consecutive times - and I still find very little to choose between these two antagonists.

Really enjoyed the rest of the '96 Games, starting with the justly lauded Temple of Zeus segment (that's the one with the silhouette imagery) and the inspiring sight of Ali lighting the cauldron, getting starry not only with Lewis but also Michael Johnson's 200m/400m 2-peat and of course the 2nd Dream Team, and ending with possibly the best block party in Olympic history (the late Lil' Richard was, of course, just about perfect for the occasion). The bombing was the only big downer. Still my fave Os ever:


And....

Sudacafan said:

Miami San Antonio 2013 NBA Finals Game 6. Leading by 5 points to championship with 28 seconds left (redemption the following year)

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Think I speak for many when I say I was less upset or disappointed than stunned. Probably the craziest last (regular) 28 sec of any game/match I've seen.

Like you I hated the result of this or the following game, but looking back I'm glad it happened 'cause it's tremendous nail-biters like this that make the NBA Playoffs (IMO) the best sporting event in the world. That huge Ray Allen trey (rightly) gets the most attention, but the Heat still don't win without Bosh being clutch for once and the usually reliable Ginobili making one costly mistake after another. Kinda like life itself, really, which never fails to surprise us:

Sudacafan said:

In no particular order.
And I realize I got many

Wimbledon 2019 final
Copa Libertadores 2019 final
Davis Coup finals of 2008 (redemption in 2016)
Wimbledon 2008 final
Miami San Antonio 2013 NBA Finals Game 6. Leading by 5 points to championship with 28 seconds left (redemption the following year)
Copa Libertadores 2004 semifinal

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If I remember correctly you're from Argentina hence I'm surprised the 2014 WC wasn't on the list...

40-15

US 2009

Wimbledon 2014

Patriots-Giants Helmet Catch

Spurs getting beat by Heat on the Ray Allen 3

clout said:

If I remember correctly you're from Argentina hence I'm surprised the 2014 WC wasn't on the list...

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You are right, I’m an Argie, fan of River Plate.
The WC final of 2014 should have been in my list, I forgot to write it down.
It seems my unconscious mechanism of self defense kicked in. I hate Higuaín ever since.

clout said:

If anything this season was a complete blessing in disguise. They were bad enough to get a top 5 pick which they used in a trade to get Ray Allen and eventually this gave way to getting Kevin Garnett in the summer of 07. The rest is history

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Of course, but watching it in the moment was just...tough.

Ayrton Senna's crash.
The Heysel disaster.
J P Auclair's death.
Ueli Steck's death.

Sentinel said:

That reminds me of Mary Decker tripping and falling many Olympics later. That saddened me a lot back then.

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So strange I was thinking about this the other day, she got her feet tangled up with a young South African named Zola Budd. I had a huge crush on Mary Decker and I was outraged. Only years later did I stop to think about how the incident affected Zola Budd, who I believe never fulfilled her potential as a distance runner.

Serena Williams losing her last 4 grand slam finals in a row....., and the U.S Open semifinal against Roberta Vinci when going for the CYGS against a unknown. I'm still devastated.

1994 World Cup Final when R.Baggio missed a penalty to give Brazil a title. Also Roddick 2009 Wimbledon lost.