Biggest choke in history?

[BigSoonerFan]

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Are you guys all under the age of 21 or something?

The OBV answer is the Buffalo Bills vs. Houston Oilers playoff game.

(And the Bills did it with a backup QB)

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The Houston/Buffalo game had a lot to do with Buffalo. Yeah the Oilers blew it, but its got nothing on Van de Velde, he choked all on his own.

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Needing to make only a 6 on the par-4 18th hole at Carnoustie Golf Links to secure the British Open on Sunday, Van de Velde squandered the championship in excruciating fashion, clanging one shot off the bleachers, dumping another into the water, chunking yet one more into a bunker before finally making a triple-bogey 7.

That put him in a three-man playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie, who won the championship by three shots in the four-hole format.

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I actually think Phil Mickelson choked worse last year in the US Open.

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Mickelson blew a 2 shot lead with 3 holes to play. Van de Velde blew a 3 shot lead on the final hole. It's Van de Velde by a wide margin.

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That's your opinion. The British Open course was much tougher than that hold Mickelson Played. VDV actually made a clutch up-and-down to get into a playoff. Phil didn't make a clutch anything on the last hole. He choked from start to finish. This after winning two majors and being the top player in the world if he wins. Bigger choke in my opinion. Not even close is right.

Yet both pale in comparison to Norman.

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..?

[Assani Fisher]

Jets/Broncos 98 AFC Championship

[Assani Fisher]

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How about Chris Webber calling a timeout in the 1993 NCAA championship game?

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/add_webber_chris.html

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They were losing that game at the time he called the timeout and he was trapped with time running out.

[Jeff W]

1993 Bills-Oilers AFC Wild Card

Oilers led 35-3 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Bills won 41-38.

[THAY3R]

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How about Chris Webber calling a timeout in the 1993 NCAA championship game?

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/add_webber_chris.html

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They were losing that game at the time he called the timeout and he was trapped with time running out.

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Yet you cite the Jets/Broncos game?

[Zoelef]

USSR National Hockey Team, "Miracle on Ice", 1980 Olympics

Top that!

[pergesu]

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Jets/Broncos 98 AFC Championship

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You mean the 19th straight home game the defending NFL champs won? The game where Terrell Davis, league MVP, broke his own record of most rushing yards in a complete season?

Blowing a 10 point lead at half time was hardly a choke.

[tuq]

This sort of question almost HAS to go to an individual sport like golf. None of the team sport examples above excite me that much. For example, nobody cited the 2000 Blazers-Lakers meltdown. Bills-Oilers 1993 is close but 1) there was a ton of time left, 2) Frank Reich sort of had a knack for that sort of thing, and 3) the Oilers actually trailed near the end of regulation and drove for a game-tying field goal, which goes a long way to erasing their stigma as far as I'm concerned.

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...which he lost to Paul Lawrie - who must have had his rental car turn around halfway home in order to participate, so unlikely was the playoff.

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.

[CardSharpCook]

Oilers/Bills is always going to rank amoung the all-time greatest chokes. What about from this year's bowl season, Minn's 38-7 blown lead? That happened in less time too:

"Tech (8-6) appeared finished after Minnesota (6-7) took a 38-7 lead with 7:47 to go in the third quarter. But the Red Raiders mounted a furious comeback, scoring 31 unanswered points in less than 20 minutes."