Crushing Losses

Last week, I started preparing myself for the possibility of my favorite baseball team losing to its biggest rival in the playoffs for a third time in the last five years.

As we now know, thankfully, that didn't happen. They even split the first two games out west in the NLDS, so more good stuff. 

In the process of preparing myself last week, I started constructing an idea for #CoachJeff about how the major losses really sting. They stick with you, in some cases more profoundly than the big wins. 

Anyway, as I often do, I bounced the idea off the folks at home and they suggested my attempt at catharsis was, perhaps, a bit like the Bill Buckner scene in the 2004 movie, Fever Pitch. While I respectfully disagreed with my consultants, I had to re-watch that scene. What a great picture!

Then, I reconsidered writing my crushing losses piece and, you know what? I decided to do it anyway. 

So here goes. Many crushing sports losses that still stick with #CoachJeff.

1996 World Series 
Since we are well into the 2026 post season, my first stop on this sadsack journey is the 1996 World Series. If you are in Braves Country, you probably remember Game 4. Braves out to 6-0 lead. Yankees chip away. Closer comes in. Hangs a slider. Boom! The series turns.

But for me, in person, the series started turning the night before. The Braves had won the first two games in New York and came home looking to close things out.

A grad school buddy and I were at Game 3 in Atlanta. The game was tight. It featured a great pitching duel. But the Yankees pulled away, late, and got their first win in the series, 5-2. They wouldn't lose again.

The only question remaining: In the pre-digital age, who is the guy on the left in that photo? We may never know.

Immaculate Reception (1972)
I mentioned this game in a blog post a few weeks back but I need to include it in this list. It is the first example of a devastating sports loss I can remember. If you don't know the play, follow the link and watch in disbelief. 

NBC play by play announcer Curt Gowdy calls it "a Christmas miracle." But just as it was a Christmas miracle for one group of fans, it was the Grinch steeling Christmas for the others.

Three Losses to Rivals
In the spring, I wrote about the rival teams of the Concord Choppers. We won a majority of the games we played against one of our rivals. But the other one, for some reason, beat us three times in a row. In each case, there was some moment that turned the game. After a while, the dynamic seemed to get in our guys' heads.

After they had beaten us early in one season, we faced them again in a rematch a month later. And, as usual, a weird play seemed to turn the game (in this case, it was a faux catcher's interference -- called by the second base umpire after the rival first base coach got somewhat dramatic).

I'll never forget the sight of one of our team leaders pulling the Choppers together late in the game and telling his teammates, emphatically, "I am NOT going to LOSE again to THESE guys AGAIN!" Whatever he said resonated. 

The guys put together a number hits and busted the game open late off the rival closer. They never looked back. We didn't lose to them again. 

Titans-Ravens
There is a reason the Baltimore Ravens are tied for being my least favorite NFL Team. In the early 2000s, I saw them play at the Titans three times and win all three games by a combined five points.

Of the three, nothing was more devastating than the January 2009 playoff loss 13-10. The Titans were the top seed and hosted the sixth seeded Ravens. Three costly Titan turnovers and a missed late delay of game call benefited Baltimore and they hit a late field go to seal the deal. 

Other losses
In the lede, I mentioned the 2022 and 2023 losses to the Phillies. There was also the Braves 1991 World Series loss. And so many playoff losses in the late 90s and early 2000s. And in addition to the Immaculate Reception loss to Pittsburgh, the Raiders lost another close one to the Steelers and, then, who could forget the 1978 AFC Championship loss to Denver. Clearly, I have not!

Then, there is the University of Memphis loss in the championship game of March Madness in 2008. I'll save that one for another time. That one cuts so deep that it should probably be the subject for an entire entry just to itself.

JG