Biggest Sports Chokes In Last 20 Years

[KamaAina]

which lets B*ll B*ckn*r off the hook by five years.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/sports-chokes

Somehow they failed to pick up Thomas Bjorn's Van de Velde-like gag job in a pot bunker at the Open Championship.

[joeybee12]

1. Choke, to me, implies, someone should have won....

I don't know if Miami was all that much favored over Dallas.

[Renew Deal]

5. I agree

I think the better team won. :shrug:

[hughee99]

9. It depends on when you look at it.

At one point, teams seem somewhat evenly matched, at another point, one may gain a significant advantage that allows for a "choke".

At the start of the '04 ALCS, the Red Sox were actually favored in the initial vegas odds. Down 3-0, obviously that changed greatly.

I mentioned the '07 Pats below, but they had just played a fairly close game a few weeks earlier, so it SHOULDN'T have been a huge spread (though I think it was), but they hadn't lost all year, so the win was still expected.

[joeybee12]

10. And they had recently beaten NY so the revenge factor was in the Giants'

favor...I had a bad feeling before that game.

[Auggie]

2. Cleveland's 2007 ALCS loss to the Red Sox

Should have won up 3-1.

[joeybee12]

3. Nah! nt

[KamaAina]

4. Alabama vs. Auburn last year

24-0 second-quarter lead down the tubes at home. :scared:

[RT Atlanta]

13. That certainly falls under the heading "choke"

Auburn scratched and clawed its way back into that one too... slowly and methodically on D and O.

The D manned-up big time midway through the 2nd Q and held the Tide to a field goal the rest of the game (after spotting 'em 24). One of the crucial steps to the turnaround was causing this fumble:



If not for the fumble, it would've been 31-0....

War Eagle!

[lazarus]

14. but

wasn't Auburn heavily favoured in that game? I can't remember. If they were, wasn't going down 24-0 a choke in the first place?

[Awsi Dooger]

15. Alabama was a 3.5 point favorite

NT

[lazarus]

17. that's weird

given that Auburn was undefeated and Alabama had lost twice. Thanks.

[hughee99]

6. Where's the love for the '07 Pats? n/t

[trotsky]

11. No kidding.

They're reaching on a few of those, AND they leave off 18-1? Silly list.

[thatsrightimirish]

7. 2002 SF Giants

5-0!

[Redbear]

8. a "choke" requires sucumbing to internal pressure

Its not enough to lose a big lead. The loss of the lead must relate directly to the pressure.

[taterguy]

12. I don't think this year's Indy 500 qualifies

99 people out of 100 would have done the same thing Hildebrand did: Keep accelerating until the race was over.

He just barely clipped the wall.

There's no way your adrenaline would have let you hit the brakes, unless you have ice water in your veins.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. Jean Van de Velde doesn't qualify

That's the worst announcing job in golf history, and the outcome is remembered vastly different than it should have been. Johnny Miller is one of the few analysts to come forward in Van de Velde's defense, stating that the ABC commentators blew it. He didn't name them but I will: Mike Tirico and Curtis Strange.

Van de Velde cleared the hazard comfortably on his second shot. Minus the worst golf break of all time, he should have been in the drop area with 4 shots to get down to win the title, from 10 yards away. Instead, the ball ricocheted off the grandstand pipe and came back to the one place that put him in jeopardy, in deep rough in front of the bern. It's completely unprecedented and the odds against it happening were incalculable.

I remember watching it from a time share in the hills of Tennessee, livid that the ABC analysts were so inept. One of the reasons that telecast never received the proper scrutiny is the huge storyline gripping the country at the time. JFK Jr's plane had gone down the day before.