Bottom 10, Part 2
As promised, the second half of my worst moments as a sports fan.
(Note: reading this blog and being a fan of the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Cubs, El Tri or Arizona Wildcats Men’s Basketball team may induce nausea, headaches, raging fever, rage and the innate desire to throw objects through and at windows. Enjoy!)
5. Golazo!
(2006 World Cup, second round, Mexico vs. Argentina)
Over time, I have come to realize that even though you may love your team to death and hope for the best out of them, sometimes reality must set in. So even though you cheer for a team that had a decent regular season and somehow made the playoffs, you have to hope for the best but expect the probable (early success, eventual loss at the hands of a true contender). Suffice to say, this has been the case for the majority, if not all, of my life when it comes to the Mexican National Football Team. While they have had success on a small scale (see: CONCACAF Gold Cup) and advanced from the group stage in every World Cup since 1994, no one has really expected them to make a huge splash. Yet, being a fan kind of requires you to ignore all that noise and hope that somehow, against the odds, your team can pull it off and make a deep run (Twss? Yes). After the bitter taste that was left in my mouth following the 2002 World Cup, I was pumped to see El Tri get another shot at the quarterfinal round, something that had eluded them since 1986. So here we go, Argentina vs. Mexico for a spot in the round of 8. Mexico kept us believing, fighting the Argentine team to a 1-1 tie and dragging the game into extra time. In the first extra session, Argentina scored one of the most ridiculous goals I have ever seen in my life. Maxi Rodriguez, receiving a deep pass from a teammate, bounced the ball off his chest and nailed a strike from beyond the box (WITH HIS LEFT FUCKING FOOT) to send a stab in the gut to everyone hoping for a Mexico victory. While it was only a 1 goal margin and there was plenty of time left (22 total minutes), everyone knew that it would take a goal just like that one to win the game. People often speak of their heart dropping when something unexpected and bad happens. For me, this was the first time having such a feeling. While only 1 goal behind, it felt like 3, and as soon as that ball hit the back of the net I knew that I would have to wait another 4 years to see Mexico make a run at the World Cup again.
Note: I’m about to go Kill Bill Vol. 1 on y’all and put number 3 first (It is the third most, but the 4th is a direct result of the 3rd).
3. The Hip Check
(2007 Western Conference Semifinals, Game 4, San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns)
The Suns, after losing home court advantage in Game 1, seemed destined to lose the series. Not only did the NBA decide to overlook the Bruce Bowen kicking incident (fuck yo couch he kicked Amare on purpose and you fucking know it), but it seemed like the “tougher” (read: more contact inducing team in a non contact sport) was going to win the series. The Game 3 refereeing had been a joke, prompting “The FIX is on TNT” signs. Game 1 could have just as easily been a Suns win if not for a certain French idiot headbutting a Canadian national treasure, cutting said treasure’s nose open and keeping him out for crucial stretches of the final minutes (look, all I’m saying is that the Suns had a WAY better chance of winning with Nash on the floor than without him. Comprende?) of the game. The Suns, now down 2-1 and doing their best to make it a 2-2 series going back to Phoenix, stepped it up. A crucial miss by Ginobili in the final minute was rebounded by the Suns and immediately placed in the hands of the greatest free throw shooter of our time. With less than 24 seconds to go and the Suns up by 3, the Spurs had no choice but to foul. However, for Robert Horry, it wasn’t enough just to wrap up Nash and stop the clock. No, he CHECKS Nash, hockey-style, into the announcer’s table, prompting all players on the court (and including a couple on the bench…) to come to the scene of the crime. Horry clearly had higher intentions in mind, since anyone that has been ballin’ in the NBA for 13 years like he had should obviously know that a Flagrant foul results in 2 FT’s and possession of the ball for the other team. And boy, did he hit a home run. Amar’e and Boris Diaw, clearly doing what any respectable human being would do in sticking up for their boy when a buffoon that is still butt chapped that the Suns traded him for acting like a little bitch hip checks him into a table, end up reprimanded in the form of a one game suspension (Horry? Gone for the rest of the series. But if you wanna call that an equal trade, then your parents were probably working for the Vikings when they traded 13 players for Herschel Walker). The Suns may have won the game, but the Spurs would, thanks to Horry’s roughhousing and David Stern’s infinite stupidity, take the series. The Suns, however, still had a shot, as they now had homecourt advantage in a de facto best of 3. The downside? Losing two of their best players for a game that they absolutely had to have.
4. Just Short
(2007 Western Conference Finals, Game 5, Phoenix Suns vs. San Antonio Spurs)
After the events of #3, David Stern decided that it would be in the best interest of the sport and its fans to suspend two of the Suns’ best players for breaking a little known rule and playing zero part in an altercation started by a Spurs player. Despite this, the Suns still managed to hold a lead against San Antonio for the majority of the game, up until Bruce Bowen nailed a patented corner 3 late in the game to give the Spurs their first lead of the night (or in a long while anyway, I forget). After that, it was GG. While the Suns weren’t completely eliminated yet, their infamously short rotation did them in in the end, as D’Antoni kept the same 6 core players in for the majority of the game, including Nash and Marion for over 40. The fatigue factor was too much, and in Game 6 the Spurs raced out to a giant lead that no Suns run could overcome. The Suns, in the end, lost 3 games as a direct or indirect result of over physical play (Nash’s bloody nose Game 1, the bad refereeing in Game 3, Game 5 thanks to the Horry check). It’s a damn shame too. This series was a de facto NBA Finals, as the winner was deemed the favorite against the field. Well, the Spurs went on to win consecutive series against the Jazz (5 games) and the Cavaliers (4 game sweep) to take yet another title. The Suns? Left to another off season of agony in a season in which fate was too much for 110 points a game to overcome.
2. The Bartman Game
(2003 NLCS, Game 6, Chicago Cubs vs. Florida Marlins)
“Once you jump on the Cubs bandwagon, you never jump off.”
It’s difficult to love the Cubs, yet just when you are ready to give up on them, they give you something like 2003. Only 88 wins, but they had the most potent playoff weapon: Twin Aces. Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were dominant that year, and they had not lost back to back games all season. Despite losing Game 1 in Wrigley, they rebounded to take 3 straight and a 3-0 lead in Game 6 at home. 5 outs away, with one of their aces (still) on the mound, the Cubs were on the brink of reaching the World Series. And then… it all fell apart. A foul ball down the left field line was batted away by a fan, a ball that had a slim chance of being caught by Moises Alou for the second out. Instead, the next pitch was a wild one that put runners on 1st and 3rd. We should have all known that it was over then. What Bartman did was something that all of Chicago feared happening: the Cubs unnerving. And so they did. Alex Gonzalez botched a potential double play ball, leaving the bases loaded and helping the Marlins on their way to an 8 run 8th inning that put the series at 3-3. Even then, the Cubs still had their other ace Kerry Wood to punch the franchise’s first World Series ticket since 1945, but he choked (as he has so admitted), and for the first time all year, the 1-2 punch lost successive games and the Cubs, just like that, were doomed again to watch another team celebrate on their turf. Bartman was subject to all kinds of abuse for doing something most of us would have done based solely on instinct. But it was enough to send the jittery Cubs over the edge and to another catastrophic loss. Wood and Prior would have at least given the Cubs a chance against the Yankees, but it was not meant to be, that season or ever. Overused, Prior and Wood’s arms gave out and never received another opportunity to give the North Siders a coveted championship. Bartman has ultimately been forgiven by most rational Cubs fans, but so far no amount of hoax killings or good luck charms have helped the Cubs, as they have now lost 9 consecutive playoff games and are well on their way to a second consecutive losing season and few bright spots on the horizon. The torture continues. Then again, maybe we should be ready to give up on them again…
1. The Rugby Game
(2005 Elite Eight, Illinois Fightin’ Illini vs. Arizona Wildcats)
Since winning the 1997 National title, the Wildcats had only 1 Final Four appearance and a couple several close calls. This was one such occasion. Back and forth Illinois and Arizona went, exchanging blow for blow until the 7 minute mark, when the Wildcats went on a torrid run to bust out a 15 point lead with less than 5 minutes left. I was ready to celebrate when suddenly, the Illini remembered they were a ridiculously good 3 point shooting team. Led by Deron Williams, they chipped and nibbled at the lead. I stood in front of my TV not wanting to believe what was happening, hoping that somehow the U of A would hold onto the lead and just scare us for a little bit. But the Illini kept chipping and chipping away, and before I knew it the game was tied. I immediately accused the refs of homering, since the game was being held in Chicago (I love that city, but damn it has only caused me pain). My fears were confirmed when I hear the announcer exclaim: “They’re letting them play rugby down there!” And yet, despite blowing that lead, there was still a chance to win it at the end. Tied 80 all, Hassan Adams decided to up his NBA stock then and there and took one of those long two pointers that he so loved and was so bad at making instead of handing the ball to Salim Stoudemire, who had been lights out. Clank. OT. In the overtime, the Illini continued their ridiculous run, but for some reason Arizona had ANOTHER shot to win it at the end. 3 seconds left, Hassan with the ball AGAIN shoots another long two (this one an even worse shot than the first) instead of looking for a better shot or passing it up. Another bad miss that led to the clock running out. The put back went in, but it was too late. Never in my life have I wanted to throw my TV through a window so bad. I was angry, sad, crushed, depressed. To blow that lead IN THAT WAY and STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN IT ONLY TO HAVE THE SAME FUCKING GUY TAKE THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PERCENTAGE SHOT IN THE GAME TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 It was, well, devastating. While I doubt either team would have won the title (North Carolina was the overwhelming favorite), it was still a shock to see something like that happen. These kinds of losses are the ones that hurt the most: watching a team build a large lead only to not have them follow through at the very end, when it matters the most. The U, however, recovered (unlike the Cubs), and behind Derrick Williams, went on a magical Elite Eight run in 2011 after years of mediocrity following that loss in 2005. May we Wildcats never have to endure pain like this again.
Well, that was sufficiently depressing. Fortunately for me, the Top 10 moments blog is upcoming!!! So stay tuned for that. Deuces!
