after the Clipper collapse: time for a ten worst sports defeats thread

[DemPGH]

As I posted over there, #1 is easy.

1. Game 7 of the 2001 World Series: Diamondbacks 3 Yankees 2.

The home team won all 7 games in this series, but this particular loss was a real tough pill to swallow, because it is arguably (and very sadly) the only real, actual blemish on the sterling career of one Mariano Rivera. Ahead 2-1 in the ninth inning, Rivera actually blew the save.

2. Objectively, Super Bowl 42 from Feb. 3, 2008 deserves mention, even if you are no Pats fan. They had a chance to go 19-0 and win a championship, but lost to the inconsistent NY Giants, 17-14 in the S.B.

[DemPGH]

I hadn't the foggiest clue as to what 7-1 referred to until I saw "Brazil" and "Germany," so I can pretty safely assume that what's being referred to is soccer.

And oh, another #2. 2004 ALCS, the Yankees blew a three-games-to-none lead in the series to lose four straight to the (gulp) Red Sox. Infamy, I say!

2. Objectively, Super Bowl 42 from Feb. 3, 2008 deserves mention, even if you are no Pats fan. They had a chance to go 19-0 and win a championship, but lost to the inconsistent NY Giants, 17-14 in the S.B.

That's not "worst defeat", that's "greatest victory."  Let's get our words right here.

A-ha, perhaps empathizing with the enemy for just a minute. The football on the helmet catch is one of the most unbelievably great S.B. plays all time, to be remembered with Marcus Allen's thrilling run in S.B. XVIII and Montana to Taylor in the closing minute of XXIII.