A collapse for the ages?
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by user Debo
The St. Louis Cardinals are on the verge of the biggest collapse this side of Jean Van de Velde. While they finally notched a win Wednesday and again today, they had previously lost seven straight games, certainly not something you want to do going into the playoffs, let alone when you're letting a big division lead slip away in the process. The Cards are 1 1/2 games up on the Astros going into Saturday. They have the schedule to their advantage, with only two games left at home against the Brewers. The Astros, on the other hand, play their final two at Atlanta, who seems to still be playing hard despite being out of the playoffs for the first time since 1990.
IF the Cards end up blowing it, it could go down as one of the worst collapses in baseball history, right next to the 1978 Red Sox, with their downfall capped off by the infamous "Boston Massacre" and then Bucky "F---ing" Dent's (as he's lovingly called by Red Sox fans, although I can't hold too much hatred towards him since I wasn't alive at the time) homerun in the one-game playoff.
Let's take a look at some more of the infamous choke jobs in sports history.
Jean Van de Velde - An obvious choice here, this guy was 3-over-par through 71 holes of the 1999 British Open, and then he realized that he was Jean Van de Velde and triple-bogeyed the final hole, forcing a three-man playoff which he ultimately lost. Ironically, he will be forever remembered for this incredible showing of crap, moreso that he would've been had he won it outright. Do you even remember who ended up winning the '99 Open? (It's Paul Lawrie)
What even boggles my mind more was his caddie. What exactly was this guy doing? Where was he? It was kind of like watching The Fast and the Furious, in that it's very painful to watch, and you really can't believe that the stuff on the screen is seriously happening, but you want to keep watching just to see if it could possibly get any worse, and when it's all done, you just laugh your ass off and ask your friends if they saw the same crap that you just did. And after all these years, I still can't decide if Van de Velde's performance can match up with Paul Walker's in terms of humanity in its lowest, most pathetic form.
I remember watching that round live, and although I was pretty young and not completely aware of the world around me, I was old enough to realize that Van de Velde put on a pathetic performance for the ages. After all, you can't swing a club very well when your hands are around your neck, am I right? Plus, he's French, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that he choked.
2004 New York Yankees - Now this is one I am very happy to talk about. The Yankees were the first team in MLB history to lose a 7-game series when they were up 3-0. There were so many memorable moments in this series, from Big Papi's walk-offs to A-Rod's ball slap to Schilling beating the Yankees with literally one ankle. Words really can't describe the sheer joy that I felt during these 5 or 6 days.
2003 Cubs - Two words: Steve Bartman
(To cut the guy some slack, the Cubs still should've won that game and they still had a chance take the series in game 7, but he's the Cub's version of Bill Buckner. Nobody really remembers that there was another game after each of their infamous blunders that could've wiped away their places in history. Do you really think we would recognize the name Steve Bartman had the Cubs won game 7 and gone to the Series? I doubt it.)
1992 Houston Oilers - Up 35-3 in the 3rd quarter against the Bills in the 1992 AFC wild-card playoff, the Oilers apparently forgot to play all 11 players on defense the rest of the way and ended up losing 41-38 in overtime. Probably the worst collapse in NFL history, considering how fast the Bills came back and the fact that it was in the playoffs.
Speaking of the Bills, that win led them to their third-straight Super Bowl, and their third-straight Super Bowl loss. To prove that it wasn't a fluke they went and lost again the next year in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for them, people tend to remember their lack of success in the Super Bowl rather than their success, specifically against the Oilers, in the rest of the playoffs.
2005 Arizona Wildcats - The Wildcats squandered a 15-point lead in the final four minutes against eventual National runner-up Illinois in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Anyone else who watched this game live probably still remembers it. You could argue that it was as much a comeback by the Illini as it was a collapse by the Wildcats, but either way, it was a classic game.
I'm sure there are countless others, but those are some of the notable ones. Will the 2006 Cardinals join the list?
Date
Fri 09/29/06, 9:05 pm EST
