Biggest choke in history?

[rwperu34]

[blackjack777]

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Very good one. I think the Blazers got off easy because the Lakers turned into a dynasty.


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I was at all those games as a beat writer in those days. That was my favorite series I have ever covered, you had Tiger Woods, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and tons of celebs in the crowd. It was a back and forth series, every game rocked.

What people don't realize is HAD Portland won the game, they would have gone to the finals and probably beaten the weak Pacers.

Had the Blazers won the title they NEVER would have traded Jermaine O'Neal, who exploded that next season on the Pacers roster. Dale Davis would have stayed in Indiana, and who's to say the Lakers go on their run with the Blazers and O'Neal still on their roster.


That 4th quarter choke changed many lives and the direction of an entire franchise.

[BigSoonerFan]

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A few years ago the New Orleans kicker (Carney??) missed a PAT after the Saints scored a miracle touchdown that had like 12 laterals on the last play of the game. They needed to win to make the playoffs. I remember thinking how it must suck to be a Saints fan today. To go from total elation like that to total despair. (I went through something similar when the Packers gave up the 4th and 26).

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I went through the same thing last week as a fan of the Sooners and Cowboys!

[BigSoonerFan]

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Van De Velde's is way worse than Norman's or Mickelson's. Any pro who needs only a double-bogey on the 72nd hole of major to win, and gets a triple....well that's hard to top.

Scott Hoch missing a very short putt for a major is close.

Norman had a bad day...not a mental and physical meltdown like Van de Velde.

PS. Shouldn't some USA international basketball team be in here too, as far as choking..?

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Wow are you ever mistaken about Norman. He had a mental and physical breakdown for 18 holes, not just one. I have zero doubt if you asked professional golfers which choke was the worst, then Norman was the worst.

As for Phil vs Van de Velde, it is close. Phil makes a poor choice and hits his tee shot into the corporate tents and it bounced back into play. He makes a terrible decision to go for it and makes double bogey. Van de Velde hits his ball into the bleachers to the right of the green (which is not out of bounds) and bounces BACK across the creek into a horrible lie. He attempts to dig it out and dumps it into the creek. His shot was infinitely tougher than Phil's. He then goes on to get up-and-down for triple and a playoff. If it were not for the bad luck of bouncing across the creek, he would have easily won the tourney. Phil got a lucky bounce and STILL lost. The 18th hole at Carnoustie was playing much, much tougher than the 18th at the US Open. Add that to the fact that Phil was the #1 player in the world at that point and I consider the choke to be worse.

[BigSoonerFan]

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As far as recent times, Van de Velde wins this hands down, IMO. It was so painful to watch. Given the layout at Carnoustie, he could have gone wedge-wedge-wedge, three putt for the title. Instead he made a bad decision off the tee and they kept getting worse until he nutted up and made a clutch sand save to force a playoff

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He may have made a bad decision off the tee, but those fairways were the tightest ever and even a 2-iron would've been tough, and then he would've had another 2-iron into the green. As you remember, the drive didn't hurt him at all since he hit the adjacent fairway. He choked on the 2nd shot and put it into the bleachers where he got screwed when it went back across the creek. He had two choices there, either hit the fairway or go for the green. Considering how far away the fairway was, going for the green was just as good an option. It just took him two tries to get there. :-) His decision-making wasn't that bad, but his execution and luck was horrible.

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The reason Mickelson doesn't compare is that he had to par a VERY difficult par-4 in order to win, and a bogey only guaranteed him a playoff. The nonsense about his scores on the last three holes ignores just how tough those holes were. He made a bunch of terrible shots on 18 to be sure, but his chances of winning outright were far less than that of Van de Velde.

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The par 4 he had to par was much easier than the one at Carnoustie, but his choking was that he made worse decisions and worse execution.

[TheNoodleMan]

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Very good one. I think the Blazers got off easy because the Lakers turned into a dynasty.


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I was at all those games as a beat writer in those days. That was my favorite series I have ever covered, you had Tiger Woods, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and tons of celebs in the crowd. It was a back and forth series, every game rocked.

What people don't realize is HAD Portland won the game, they would have gone to the finals and probably beaten the weak Pacers.

Had the Blazers won the title they NEVER would have traded Jermaine O'Neal, who exploded that next season on the Pacers roster. Dale Davis would have stayed in Indiana, and who's to say the Lakers go on their run with the Blazers and O'Neal still on their roster.


That 4th quarter choke changed many lives and the direction of an entire franchise.

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There was nothing weak about that Pacers team. It would have been a very tough series.

Its also wild baseless speculation to say that they never would have traded away JO if they won a title. They traded him because he wanted more playing time. I fail to see how the Blazers winning a title would have created any more minutes for him.

[Victor]

who was that kicker who hadnt missed a kick all year then missed in the playoffs for the win?

ok, i looked it up. 98 playoffs, minn vs atl. vikes were winning by 7 with 2+ min left and gary anderson (who was perfect all year) missed a gimme 38 yarder to seal it. atl scores and wins in ot.

[srjunkacct]

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who was that kicker who hadnt missed a kick all year then missed in the playoffs for the win?

ok, i looked it up. 98 playoffs, minn vs atl. vikes were winning by 7 with 2+ min left and gary anderson (who was perfect all year) missed a gimme 38 yarder to seal it. atl scores and wins in ot.

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IIRC, the kick was tipped at the line of scrimmage.

[tuq]

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who was that kicker who hadnt missed a kick all year then missed in the playoffs for the win?

ok, i looked it up. 98 playoffs, minn vs atl. vikes were winning by 7 with 2+ min left and gary anderson (who was perfect all year) missed a gimme 38 yarder to seal it. atl scores and wins in ot.

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IIRC, the kick was tipped at the line of scrimmage.

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I thought he just flat missed it, a classic announcer's jinx.

From an impartial observer's perspective that was a stellar game. 15-1 Vikings vs. 14-2 Falcons. Yet the media marginalized ATL despite having a huge year from Jamal Anderson, a healthy one from Chris Chandler (think he made the Pro Bowl that season), and a star-studded defense.

Still with all that they walked a tightrope which required the Andersen miss, a late TD drive, a couple of huge defensive plays and a score in overtime. Very entertaining but I don't know how much of a choke the Andersen miss really was, as there were several things that happened after that which cost them the game as well.

[Victor]

ya the whole team botched that game. i remember denny green could have ran out the clock late in the game but a few incompletions kept way more time on the clock than should have been. also, i remember madden saying, just before the kick, "ga is automatic from here"