Paul Finebaum: What's a loss from your favorite sports team you still can't get over?

[BleedGopher]

For me the obvious two are the 2003 Michigan game, which is still too soon to discuss. (Followed up by the MSU game the week later where attendance nearly dropped in half...sigh).

And the 2019 wisconsin game. GameDay, jumped out to the early lead and then bitch slapped with our biggest rival and a BT West title on the line.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophers1992]

It’s Michigan by far.

Quinnipiac 2023 as well if we’re talking all sports.

 

[pregameatblarneys]

I’d add the ‘05 Wisconsin game at the Dome where a fumbled snap in the end zone lead to a TD and a 4 pt loss. Could have taken the safety and still won

 

[Married@SiebertField]

For me the obvious two are the 2003 Michigan game, which is still too soon to discuss. (Followed up by the MSU game the week later where attendance nearly dropped in half...sigh).

And the 2019 wisconsin game. GameDay, jumped out to the early lead and then bitch slapped with our biggest rival and a BT West title on the line.

Go Gophers!!

Ditto & the 1981 and 2023 hockey finals losses along with the Georgia Tech Elite Eight loss (the SEC crew screwing Minnesota all afternoon long down to the Willie Burton technical still burns deep)…

 

[STPGopher]

For me the obvious two are the 2003 Michigan game, which is still too soon to discuss. (Followed up by the MSU game the week later where attendance nearly dropped in half...sigh).

And the 2019 wisconsin game. GameDay, jumped out to the early lead and then bitch slapped with our biggest rival and a BT West title on the line.

Go Gophers!!

What you said. I'll add IU 2000. Just after beating Ohio State. Also that season the loss to Northwestern.

 

[LesBolstad]

I’d add the ‘05 Wisconsin game at the Dome where a fumbled snap in the end zone lead to a TD and a 4 pt loss. Could have taken the safety and still won

Remember, it's a Minnesota sports team so if we take a safety WI scores a TD on the last play anyway.

 

[Married@SiebertField]

I’d add the ‘05 Wisconsin game at the Dome where a fumbled snap in the end zone lead to a TD and a 4 pt loss. Could have taken the safety and still won

Still say on fourth & two feet with Maroney we should have gone for it on fourth down—no different, really, then being inside the one on fourth down and going for the winning touchdown. Indeed, even if we had not botched the punt there was a decent chance Wisconsin would have driven for the winning touchdown.

 

[PTSD@Dome’03MI]

Two most heartbreaking memories:

1. I was at the Dome for 2003 Michigan football collapse.

2. I watched on TV as my heart sank in 1989 when the Robb Stauber led Gopher hockey lost in OT to Harvard

 

[fmlizard]

I’d add the ‘05 Wisconsin game at the Dome where a fumbled snap in the end zone lead to a TD and a 4 pt loss. Could have taken the safety and still won

I still remember that game, the only football game I ever watched from a suite. Right on the goal line of the fateful end zone, the opposite end zone to where I always stood as a student, row 1 on the goal line at the Dome. My roommate at the time was a very casual wisconsin fan and left with a couple minutes remaining. I had to walk home and in the door and inform him they won that game.

2003 Michigan is still the most painful, 2019 wisconsin hurt too, and 2023 Quinnipiac in hockey was also a peak Minnesota Sports Moment, made worse because I live in St Pete now and was at the game. There were tons of Minnesota people there just waiting to party all night on the streets of Tampa and...womp womp

 

[Crosby]

It’s Michigan by far.

Quinnipiac 2023 as well if we’re talking all sports.

My two exactly. Very hard to rank which one was worse.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Two most heartbreaking memories:

1. I was at the Dome for 2003 Michigan football collapse.

2. I watched on TV as my heart sank in 1989 when the Robb Stauber led Gopher hockey lost in OT to Harvard

And Skarda hit the post in OT...

 

[UpAndUnder43]

05 Wisconsin game was the last game I watched with both my parents. So that one hurts for 1000 reasons.

 

[MilosRevenge]

Two lessers but I still think about.

1993: loved Wacker. Won three in a row 59-56 vs Purdue, beat rising Northwestern, kept Wisconsin from a national title. Led 21-9 at Illinois with less than five minutes to go. Lost 23-21. Could’ve been 4-2 in the B1G.

2008: this board was electric. 7-1, ranked #20 hosting 6-2 Northwestern. Reusse was eating crow over Brewster. Tied game in third quarter. Eight minute, 19 play drive to the two yard line. Monroe misses 20(!) yard field goal. Lose on pick six on final play.

Followed by no show against Michigan, blown 21-7 lead at Wisconsin and 55-0 against Iowa.

 

[Doc Gopher]

1962. Last game of the season. Gophers intercept pass to cinch the Big 10 title.
Wait a minute, referee calls bogus roughing the passer penalty on Bobby Bell. Gophers lose
14 to 9.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Two lessers but I still think about.

1993: loved Wacker. Won three in a row 59-56 vs Purdue, beat rising Northwestern, kept Wisconsin from a national title. Led 21-9 at Illinois with less than five minutes to go. Lost 23-21. Could’ve been 4-2 in the B1G.

2008: this board was electric. 7-1, ranked #20 hosting 6-2 Northwestern. Reusse was eating crow over Brewster. Tied game in third quarter. Eight minute, 19 play drive to the two yard line. Monroe misses 20(!) yard field goal. Lose on pick six on final play.

Followed by no show against Michigan, blown 21-7 lead at Wisconsin and 55-0 against Iowa.

In with you on 2008. Felt like we were headed somewhere. Michigan and Wisconsin were having bad years, I bet if we would have beat NW we would have been favored every game as long as we kept winning. Instead it was the beginning of the end for coach brew. His high water mark.

 

[upnorthkid]

That Quinnipiac game will live in my head forever as a Gopher hockey first fan who got crushed down in Tampa.

On the football side
There are many games with Michigan on the list. last year mainly because i was there. 2015 halloween game with the leidner shit show at the goal line (one of the last ones me and all my buddies did together before life got busy).

Bowling Green; the fact that team finished 9-4 despite laying 3 absolute eggs that year, man what could've been

2019 Iowa also on there as it was a classic losing to iowa where we outplay them in almost every facet but find a way to lose despite having a more talented team followed by the blowing college gameday. post psu high, still remember seeing the signs hanging in the dorm windows for the win total at 9-0 and thinking maybe this could be one of those magic years, only for it to get dashed followed by the little bit of hope with the NW win only to be killed again by WI.

 

[howeda7]

Ditto & the 1981 and 2023 hockey finals losses along with the Georgia Tech Elite Eight loss (the SEC crew screwing Minnesota all afternoon long down to the Willie Burton technical still burns deep)…

The GT game was rough. But we would have gotten smoked by UNLV in the Final Four. The 1997 Final Four game against Kentucky is more painful.

 

[LesBolstad]

The GT game was rough. But we would have gotten smoked by UNLV in the Final Four. The 1997 Final Four game against Kentucky is more painful.

Convinced we win the natty with a healthy Harris. He played that KY game on one leg.

 

[Clairemont Gopher]

I’d add the ‘05 Wisconsin game at the Dome where a fumbled snap in the end zone lead to a TD and a 4 pt loss. Could have taken the safety and still won

I have replayed that last 2 minutes many times. First of all, I wanted Russell in the game to get those tough yards and not Maroney. With 4th and one, it was clear to me that Mason had to go for it. The defense was gassed and at least a tying field goal by the Badgers seemed imminent. Tough spot for Glen to be in as a 4th down failure would have been hard to defend.

 

[Clairemont Gopher]

What you said. I'll add IU 2000. Just after beating Ohio State. Also that season the loss to Northwestern.

We lose Middlebrooks in mid-game and Randle-El can't miss.

 

[btowngopher]

03 Michigan, but 05 Wisconsin was the first gopher game that I attended.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

For me the obvious two are the 2003 Michigan game, which is still too soon to discuss. (Followed up by the MSU game the week later where attendance nearly dropped in half...sigh).

And the 2019 wisconsin game. GameDay, jumped out to the early lead and then bitch slapped with our biggest rival and a BT West title on the line.

Go Gophers!!

Was at the Michigan and Wisconsin games. God those sucked

 

[spermophilus]

‘03 Michigan, yes. But, I literally couldn’t sleep after the ‘05 Sconnie game.

However, though I’m a long time season tix holder for FB, that loss in the Natty vs. Quinnipiac, I’m still not fully over it, and can’t believe we lost - and how it all transpired. Go back and look at our roster . . . Quinni-fucking-piac. That we’ve lost to Union College, yes, them, and the aforementioned Q, is really what holds me back from going all in on hockey. I am so glad that we’re in the B1G for hockey, so we at least play “equals” during the conference season. The B1G overall has really gotten better, and those that pine for the WCHA can bite me. I’ll await the fusillade.

 

[thobscheid]

Well, I was a freshman in’03, so that Michigan game was really the ultimate disappointment for me.

 

[Married@SiebertField]

That Quinnipiac game will live in my head forever as a Gopher hockey first fan who got crushed down in Tampa.

On the football side
There are many games with Michigan on the list. last year mainly because i was there. 2015 halloween game with the leidner shit show at the goal line (one of the last ones me and all my buddies did together before life got busy).

Bowling Green; the fact that team finished 9-4 despite laying 3 absolute eggs that year, man what could've been

2019 Iowa also on there as it was a classic losing to iowa where we outplay them in almost every facet but find a way to lose despite having a more talented team followed by the blowing college gameday. post psu high, still remember seeing the signs hanging in the dorm windows for the win total at 9-0 and thinking maybe this could be one of those magic years, only for it to get dashed followed by the little bit of hope with the NW win only to be killed again by WI.

There was the bizarre sequence of events: Tyler Johnson drops the fourth down pass at the two and we give up the ball on downs. But wait, Iowa is called for a late hit. But wait, because it’s a dead ball penalty and fourth down, Iowa takes possession and the penalty is only half the distance to the goal line. Excitable PJ rushes onto the field & is assessed a 15 yard penalty and Iowa now takes care at its 17 yard line out of the shadow of its end zone—crazy. Then we were stuck in the University hospital parking lot for an hour delaying our escape home. (We actually had a good time with the Iowa fans who shared our predicament.)

 

[Married@SiebertField]

There’s also the “phenomenon” of the big Gopher win/upset followed by the seemingly inevitable defeat. (Now I may be cherry-picking, or anti-cherry picking to prove a point.)
1981: Beat OSU; lose to Michigan State
1984: Win at UW; lose to Northwestern
1993: Beat UW; lose to Illinois
2000: Win at OSU; lose to Indiana
2005: Win at Michigan; lose to Wisconsin
2014: Win at Nebraska; lose to Nebraska
2019: Beat Penn State; lose to Iowa
Heck: the epochal 1960 win against Iowa was followed by a home loss to Purdue.
An exception is winning at Penn State in 1999 followed by beating Indiana and Iowa to end the scheduled season. (I know: I need a life.)

 

[Some guy]

A game not seen yet is 1999 Wisconsin

Had they won’t that game in OT and everything else been the same 1999 is a rose bowl year

 

[Sparlimb]

There was a game I was at in the mid 80s were we were up something like 35-7 over Ohio State and choked it all away in the second half. Just went from dominating to playing like total crap. But the Michigan game on Halloween, where I looked at my wife and said we're going to win this game, only to see us choke choke choke. I'll never forget it.