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OT: What is YOUR worst choke job in the history of sports???

Maryland blowing a 20-point lead and losing in 2001 ncaa basketball semifinals to Duke.

The ten-billion times Terrapins have been favored in ncaa lacrosse title game, but came up short.

Sorry Zappa, but '79 Orioles going back to Baltimore up three games to one...
I don't consider losing a 3-1 lead in a seven game series against an equal opponent to necessarily be a choke. That just happens in sports.

TBH I think we throw the "choke" word around far too loosely.
 
To mention tonights LAX game again vs OSU.. BTN 8pm.. The last RU LAX game vs PSU was a major choke... for PSU

Up 3.. 14-11 with under 7 minutes left.. they gave yup goals at 6:37, 5:04 and 0.008 to allow a tie and go to OT.. and Rutgers scored golden goal at 2:21.

Maybe not the worst ever.. but was a satisfying win for the good guys to pull that out, even though they never should have been in that position.
 
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The answer is the 1964 Phillies. If you don't know the story, you should google it. In short, they led the NL for the entire season. Were up by 6.5 games with 12 to play. World Series promos were created by the media. Tickets were printed. Going into a 7-game homestand, Gene Mauch decided to go to a 2-man rotation of Bunning and Short. They lost 10 in a row and finished 2nd.
As a Met fan I say thank you for telling me this wonderful story. Can't say I remember it, I was only 1 year old.
 
I was on my couch and getting up, half standing, ready to walk over to the tv and turn it off....I froze in the half stance....
I remember how it was the talk of the day in the school hallways between classes.
 
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This is an interesting and very subjective topic .

Mets up 7 with 17 to play and blew the whole lead in 14 games in 2007. That was a prolonged choke against teams like the marlins . Maybe the worst.

Yankees up 3-0 on Boston and lose the series .

Pete Carroll not running with marshawn . I don’t know if that’s a choke , but maybe the worst call in football history . Russell Wilson doesn’t get enough flak for throwing a terrible pass too

Fassel and the Giants choking away that playoff game against the 49ers . I know the Buffalo comeback over houston was bigger . But the giants were just a comedy of errors in that one.

Red Sox - Stanley and schiraldi in 1986.

Falcons choking away super bowl against pats.

John starks game 7 1994

Rutgers related - 1999 hoops team choking away a bid down the stretch . Hodgson dribbling off his leg symbolizes that stretch of losing something like 4 of last 5. You can also put the 2004 team choke up for discussion too

Some will put Townsend drop in end zone. I wouldn’t, but it’s fair game for discussion .
John Starks tried to shoot himself after game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals. Don't worry, he missed.
 
The answer is the 1964 Phillies. If you don't know the story, you should google it. In short, they led the NL for the entire season. Were up by 6.5 games with 12 to play. World Series promos were created by the media. Tickets were printed. Going into a 7-game homestand, Gene Mauch decided to go to a 2-man rotation of Bunning and Short. They lost 10 in a row and finished 2nd.
That was going to be my all-time pro choke. I remember it well as do the 10th grade classmates in my Spanish class that fall. Our teacher was a huge Phillies fan and each day he would put "the Tastycake Scoreboard" on the blackboard - Los Phillies ganaron (yeah!), los Yanquis perdieron (yeah!). Then, during the collapse, nothing. And we all got one grade lower than we deserved in Spanish that grading period.

As for RU, the second round pre-season NIT game game the year after RU lost in the post-season NIT to Michigan, stands out. RU dominated the entire game, which was played at Chapel Hill (despite the fact that Rutgers would have been the higher seeded team) until the last 5 minutes or so, when everything went in reverse including the refs. It seemed obvious to me that it was all a fix with ESPN wanting Carolina in the Garden the following week and we got screwed. I've never doubted that RU would have won that game had the fix not been on.
 
2008 was not a choke job . I don’t think they had a lead .
Both years they were 1 game out with 2 to go

2007 Mets​

The 2007 Mets had a commanding seven-game lead with 17 to go. They proceeded to lose 12 of those games, including one in which Tom Glavine got shellacked and didn't complete the first inning.

The stunning collapse saw the Mets slog through a 1-6 homestand against the Nationals, Cardinals and Marlins.

2008 New York Mets​

The 2008 Mets, led by manager Willie Randolph, held a 3.5-game lead in the NL East, and with only 17 games to go, New York looked like a sure thing. However, the Metropolitans won just seven of the remaining contests to blow the division lead.

What's worse is the Mets had also choked the previous year (as we'll see in the next slide), becoming the first team ever to blow a 3.5-game lead in consecutive Septembers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

No, they definitely choked both years.
 
2007 yes.

2008 3.5 up with 17 to go isn't that much. They blew the lead but wouldn't call that a choke.
 

2007 Mets​

The 2007 Mets had a commanding seven-game lead with 17 to go. They proceeded to lose 12 of those games, including one in which Tom Glavine got shellacked and didn't complete the first inning.

The stunning collapse saw the Mets slog through a 1-6 homestand against the Nationals, Cardinals and Marlins.

2008 New York Mets​

The 2008 Mets, led by manager Willie Randolph, held a 3.5-game lead in the NL East, and with only 17 games to go, New York looked like a sure thing. However, the Metropolitans won just seven of the remaining contests to blow the division lead.

What's worse is the Mets had also choked the previous year (as we'll see in the next slide), becoming the first team ever to blow a 3.5-game lead in consecutive Septembers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

No, they definitely choked both years.
Thanks memory hazy on 2008. Didn’t seem that bad considering 2007!
 
For a complete body of work, no one comes close to the Cleveland Browns. $$$$
 
I was 11 and my Little League team went through the regular season undefeated with a tie or two (yes, we had ties back then). We were something around 19-0-2. Lost the World Series two games to one.
 
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No. That was a long kick on grass.
I don't think it was that long. 47 yards. I was at a bar in North Bergen with lots of Giants fans, and I told everyone that he was gonna miss it. Of course I was buzzed at the time. I'll never forget the celebration afterwards.
What a night.
 
The 2005 Rutgers team. Up 27-7 late in the 3rd. We were pounding them, suddenly nothing went right and we lose in OT 33-30 to Illinois.
That choke got a sizeable assist from the Big East refs doing the game. A pass interference call against RU in the end zone gave the Illini the TD, without which RU would have won the game in regulation. That was one of many blown calls against RU by BE football refs including the most famous two that kept RU out of the Orange Bowl (at WVU, 2006) and the Sugar Bowl (against Louisville at home, 2012).
 
I don't think it was that long. 47 yards. I was at a bar in North Bergen with lots of Giants fans, and I told everyone that he was gonna miss it. Of course I was buzzed at the time. I'll never forget the celebration afterwards.
What a night.
I don't think it was that long. 47 yards. I was at a bar in North Bergen with lots of Giants fans, and I told everyone that he was gonna miss it. Of course I was buzzed at the time. I'll never forget the celebration afterwards.
What a night.
That’s long enough. Not a chip shot . It was a miss . The bills offense choked
 
Falcons and 04 Yanks top my pro list with the 64 Phils close behind.
But, there's a bad RU choke I'll never forget. In '78 we had won the EAA and were 21-5.
Lost in the first round of the conference tournament to a bad West Virginia team and had to go to the NIT.
Ended up beating ISU and Bird and going to the Garden, but that team should have gone to the NCAA tourney.
 
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This is an interesting and very subjective topic .

Mets up 7 with 17 to play and blew the whole lead in 14 games in 2007. That was a prolonged choke against teams like the marlins . Maybe the worst.

Yankees up 3-0 on Boston and lose the series .

Pete Carroll not running with marshawn . I don’t know if that’s a choke , but maybe the worst call in football history . Russell Wilson doesn’t get enough flak for throwing a terrible pass too

Fassel and the Giants choking away that playoff game against the 49ers . I know the Buffalo comeback over houston was bigger . But the giants were just a comedy of errors in that one.

Red Sox - Stanley and schiraldi in 1986.

Falcons choking away super bowl against pats.

John starks game 7 1994

Rutgers related - 1999 hoops team choking away a bid down the stretch . Hodgson dribbling off his leg symbolizes that stretch of losing something like 4 of last 5. You can also put the 2004 team choke up for discussion too

Some will put Townsend drop in end zone. I wouldn’t, but it’s fair game for discussion .
Falcons choke was really bad. Run the ball enough and it should not have been mathematically possible for the Patriots to do what they did.
 
November 19, 1978. OC Bob Gibson/Joe Pisarcik. Up 17-12 seconds remain fall on the ball game over. Nope they call for a hand off to Larry Csonka, fumble, Herm Edwards scoops and scores for the win.
As an Eagle fan, that was all-time for me. However, I wouldn't place that in the choke category, that would be All-Time Brainfart category. For me, an epic choke is something that has to build during a game or over a period of time.
 
1979 Masters. Ed Snead has a 5 stroke lead to start the final round. Has a 3 stroke lead with 3 holes to go. Bogey, bogey, bogey missing a short putt on 18 that hung on the lip.
A few years later I was his caddie at Montclair Country Club in a US Open qualifier. No I didn't bring it up 🤣, and no he didn't qualify.
 
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