JOCKpost Top 10: Biggest Playoff Disappointments in Sports History

Losing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals wasn’t the way the season was supposed to end for LeBron and the 2010 Cleveland Cavs. Not living up to expectations is one thing when there isn’t a lot expected of you, but when you have the best record in the regular season, and have the best player in the world on your team, not winning a championship is borderline unacceptable.

And while LeBron and company may not have been the great team that everyone thought they were, there is still something about having such an awesome regular season to only choke when it comes to crunch-time in the playoffs.

Thankfully for LeBron’s sake, this isn’t the first time a team that has had such a great regular season has failed to live up to the hype once it matters.

So here is a top 10 list of the biggest playoff disappointments in sports history.

#10 – 1992 San Francisco 49ers – For all 49er fans, this season was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. Their leader, and possibly greatest quarterback in NFL history, Joe Montana, had been injured for the better half of the past 2 seasons and new QB Steve Young had come in and completely taken over as leader of the best team in the regular season. Young, who won the NFL player of the year while leading the 49ers to a 14-2 regular season, guided an offense that led the league in scoring along with setting numerous offensive franchise records. The 49ers would go on to lose in the NFC Championship to the Dallas Cowboys, in what would be the last season Montana played in a 49ers uniform before being traded to the glorious city of Kansas City. 49ers fans asses haven’t unpuckered since.

#9 – 2006-07 Ohio State Buckeyes Football – From the start of the season, The Ohio State Buckeyes were ranked #1 in the nation, and this continued throughout a dominating 12-0 regular season. The Buckeyes had a Heisman winning QB in Troy Smith, and they had already beaten the #2 team in the nation with a victory over arch-rival Michigan in the last game of the Big 10 season. After an almost 50 day layoff, which included the Heisman buffet tour for Troy Smith, the Buckeyes would go on to lose horribly to the Florida Gators in the National Championship. The Tim Tebow worship hour started shortly thereafter.

#8 – 2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers – While the 2010 season was an extreme disappointment (THIS WAS YEAR 7 – IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE FUCKING YEAR!!!), it still doesn’t compare to the 2008-09 season where the Cavs had a league leading 66 victories in the regular season. And even though the 2010 roster on paper looked like a team that was ready to make a run in the playoffs, the 2008-09 Cavs had a team chemistry that no other team in the league could match – LeBron wasn’t worried about his teammates boning his mom, Shaq wasn’t in the way slowing the offense down, and Mike Brown didn’t coach like he had no idea what the f**k he was doing. The 2008-09 Cavs would eventually go on to lose to Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals thus continuing the daily suicide watch of all sports fans in Cleveland.

#7 – 2001 Seattle Mariners – Ken Griffey, Jr. and Randy Johnson were long gone, but the Seattle Mariners were still playing their way to a 116 win season, which is still the American League record. The team had taken on a new identity with 7 different All-Stars including League MVP Ichiro, and the surprisingly powerful Bret Boone (Dude had 141 RBI’s that year – Where the hell did that power come from?). But with this type of season comes a certain responsibility come playoff time – You’re supposed to WIN! Unfortunately, the Mariners fell to the Yankees in the ALCS, and Lou Pinella hasn’t taken a s**t since.

#6 – 2006  Detroit Red Wings – I’m admittedly a casual hockey fan at best, but whenever playoffs come around it seems that Detroit is consistently being mentioned on SportsCenter.  And even though I try to fall asleep for the 30 seconds that they play hockey highlights, I at least know that when you are a #1 seed, and you are playing a #8 seed, you are supposed to dominate. Especially when you are a #1 seed that led the league in points, winning the Presidents Cup by a rather large margin. But as you probably figured out by the way the rest of this list has gone, the Red Wings would lose to the #8 seed Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, forever being remembered as the only hockey team to make this top 10 list – I am sure they will be eternally crushed.

#5 – 1998 Minnesota Vikings – When the Minnesota Vikings took the chance on drafting Randy Moss in the first round, it immediately gave them a weapon that no other team in the NFL had. The 97′ Vikings offense, led by Moss and the best QB in Super Tecmo Bowl Randall Cunningham, not only set the NFL scoring record but they also were only the 3rd team in NFL history to win 15 games. After demolishing the Cardinals in the Divisional round of the playoffs, the Vikings would lose 30-27 to the Falcons in what still has to be one of the most sickening moments for a kicker in league history – a 38 yard field goal after Gary Anderson had made 39 straight.

#4 – 1906 Chicago Cubs – I know what you’re thinking – who gives a s**t about the 1906 Cubs? No one that could have possibly been around in 1906 would be reading this article, but none-the-less I feel the Cubs always need to be on any list that mentions failures, disappointments, or anything of that nature. The 1906 Cubs led the National League with 116 wins, which was an astounding 20 games better than the next best team in the League (The Reds were 51.5 games back in case you were wondering). But we’re talking about he Cubs, so you know they will find a way to f**k it up…and they did. The Cubs would go on to lose to their crosstown rivals, Chicago White Sox, in the first World Series in club history. 2 years later in 1908, the Cubs would win their last World Series, which is then followed by the worst losing streak in sports history.

#3 – 1973-74 UCLA Bruins Men’s Basketball - When you think of bad ass teams in College Basketball history, John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins have to be at the top of that list. The winning streak that the Bruins put together is something that wasn’t even close to being sniffed until the recent dominance of the UConn Lady Huskies. But even though the Bruins had dominated for such a long time, the 73-74 season was the fart that cleared the room. Not only did they finally snap their 88 game winning streak in the regular season, but they would also end their streak of 7 consecutive National Championships when they lost to NC State in the National Semi finals. It was a total buzz kill of a way for Bill Walton to end his Senior year.

#2 – 1991 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels Men’s Basketball - The Jerry Tarkanian led, Runnin’ Rebels, were as awesome of a basketball team to watch as I have ever seen with my own eyes. Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, and Greg Anthony were all eventual top 12 picks, and although they were coming off of a National Championship victory the year before, this star-studded of a team couldn’t complete the undefeated season. The Rebels would finish the season with a 34-1 record, with their only loss coming to those c********rs at Duke in the Final Four. It was definitely payback for UNLV crushing Duke the year before in the National Championship 103-73. It is still the largest margin of victory in a championship game.

#1 – 2007 New England Patriots – The 2007 New England Patriots were by far the best offense I have ever seen. And even though they were from Boston, the team was full of people you wanted to root for. Tom Brady, Wes Welker, and Randy Moss would all have career seasons, as the Patriots would be the first and only team to ever finish the regular season 16-0. Patriots fever had caught on throughout the nation, as their winning streak would continue until they reached the Giants and Eli Manning. For the first time all season, the Patriots looked like the inexperienced team, as Bill Belichick and company would lose in the Super Bowl in what is one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Tom Brady has been miserable ever since.