- 2 days ago
No 28-3 comments, episode aired in 2005
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00and hard to breathe. Someone's taking a sandpaper to your nerve endings. A dozen squirrels join the
00:05battalion of butterflies frolicking in your gut. Your Adam's apple swells up to the size of a
00:10basketball, and no matter how hard you try, you can't swallow. You, sir, or madam, are about to
00:17choke. It's a condition all too common in sports, and very often, the winner is the one who chokes
00:22the least. In this show, ESPN Classic ranks the rank. Those moments of truth that became moments
00:29of infamy. Here we go, then, down, down, down, into the pit of despair, home of the 20 biggest
00:37chokes of all time.
00:4120.
00:44With a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Game 7, 1992 NLCS. The Pirates pitching falter
00:51and Jose Lenzera gave Atlanta an extra out. The Braves trailed by one when pinch hitter
00:56Francisco Cabrera stepped in.
01:00We end up in a situation where now we have the winning run on second base, one out away
01:06from going to the World Series.
01:08Who won?
01:10Long line drive, let's see it!
01:11Long run and there!
01:12Here comes Brady!
01:14Here's the throw to the plate!
01:15He is!
01:17Braves run!
01:18Braves win!
01:20Braves win!
01:21Braves win!
01:24You see the umpire go safe and he just, I mean, his heart goes. I mean, it's just, it's
01:30hard to describe that feeling.
01:32My heart just sunk. It was, uh, it was like, we were right there.
01:37But the Braves were one of the teams of the 90s, and they were a better team than the Pirates.
01:42So how was this a choke if they were supposed to win anyway?
01:46Hello? It's the Braves.
01:48We were that close.
01:50And the Pirates obviously blew a lead that inning, but in Pittsburgh, the scapegoat's
01:54always been Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds couldn't throw out Sid Green from left field.
01:59He got rid of the ball and generally was pretty accurate with it, but he just made him step
02:04to his right just one step.
02:06Could he have made a better throw? Yeah, of course he could have made a better throw,
02:09but it should never have gotten to that point.
02:13Wow, what's this? Mark Madden using an inside voice?
02:16He seems much more intelligent talking about baseball than football.
02:22That's my opinion.
02:24But yeah, they should have never gotten to that point if they were, but again, they weren't
02:29the better team.
02:33It was the turning point for the franchise.
02:36They haven't had a winning season since.
02:37That was their last chance to win a World Series.
02:39It wasn't going to happen again.
02:4519.
02:47They were a great team, so were we, and it was a matter of breaks in that game.
02:53Jackie Smith.
02:53Really, they did get the breaks.
02:56The biggest break of all in Super Bowl XIII went to Pittsburgh when Dallas tight end
03:01Jackie Smith, a future ball of fame, dropped a pass in the end zone that would have tied
03:06the game at 21 in the third quarter.
03:09Oh, no, drop!
03:11Drops in the end zone!
03:12Jackie Smith all by himself!
03:14Oh, Jackie was so wide open in the end zone, it was incredible.
03:20Very simple, easy touchdown pass that if he had caught could have changed the whole complexity
03:24of that ball game.
03:25He's got to be the sickest man in America!
03:28If Jackie Smith had dropped that pass in a regular season ball game, you know, it would
03:33never come up.
03:34It's unfortunate it had to be in the Super Bowl because people will always remember that.
03:38The Cowboys had to settle for a field goal and they never closed again.
03:4518.
03:4618.
03:48Super Bowl XXV, 8 seconds left.
03:51Players on both sides knelt to those ritualistic and holding huggles.
03:55Alone, Buffalo Scott...
03:56He missed a Super Bowl winning kick.
03:59Either it should be higher on the list, or you could say it shouldn't have been down to
04:05him in the first place because they were supposed to beat the Giants handily.
04:10But it either shouldn't be on the list, or it should be higher on the list.
04:15But it shouldn't be at 18.
04:19That would line up the 47-yard field goal attempt.
04:21That would overcome the Giants' 2019 lead.
04:25Pretty simple for Buffalo.
04:27They're at the 10.
04:282-16 left.
04:29All my job was was to get inside the 30-yard line.
04:33Somewhere around the 30-yard line because Scott told me, I'm good for 50.
04:36He's going to run with it, and he picks up the first down, 48 seconds.
04:42Kelly throws.
04:43It's caught by McKellar.
04:44Nice catch.
04:45That was a clutch drive for him to do that against a terrific defensive team.
04:51It'd be 47 yards from right here.
04:54All the things you did from preseason to training camp, before training camp, before working
04:59out, comes down to one game, one kick.
05:03No good.
05:07No good.
05:32No good.
05:48No good.
05:53No good.
05:55No good.
05:59Scott Hoke was voted almost yearly by players as the guy they liked the least.
06:05Somehow, when he was born, the tact gene was just missing.
06:10And Hoke has a two-foot putt on the 10th green to beat Nick Faldo and win the Masters.
06:17Look at here.
06:22He misses a two-footer to win the Masters.
06:25If he makes the two-footer, he wins the Masters.
06:28When you looked at him, you knew what he was thinking.
06:31Choke.
06:32Even Scott Hoke, you didn't want to see that happen to him.
06:36You miss a putt like that, and you're never coming back.
06:40Hoke didn't.
06:41Missing a two-and-a-half-footer coming back, he lost the playoff to Faldo.
06:45He got it.
06:47Nick Faldo.
06:49Afterwards, Hoke was a real stand-up guy about it, and he said there was a miscommunication
06:54between my brains and my hands.
06:56He probably still can't get it out of his mind.
06:58How did I miss that?
07:04Sixteen.
07:04Sixteen.
07:05Sixteen.
07:08Ultimate goal this weekend is get that ticket to Barcelona.
07:11And then after that, you know, Olympic gold is always number one,
07:14because you can go out any day and break the world record.
07:17This is a lock.
07:18It's not that he was just going to make the Olympics.
07:21He was going to go to the Olympics and do something great.
07:24DeKathlete Dan O'Brien was featured in a nationwide ad campaign before the 92 Olympics.
07:28But in the pole vault, he missed at a beginning height of 15 feet 9 inches, earned no points in
07:34the event, and failed to make the U.S. team.
07:37The pole vault is not easy, but you usually go for a low height, you make it, and then you've
07:43got those points, and then you move on.
07:47And it's not even close.
07:49I remember, of course, immediately writing down zero points for him for that event.
07:53And one of the great decathlon experts of all just chimed out, he's not making the Olympic team.
07:58It's over.
08:00He made that height a thousand times.
08:04And again, it shows you the pressure in the Olympics.
08:07And he saw the reality on his face that, oh my God, not only am I not going to get
08:12the gold medal or challenge for it, I'm not even going.
08:15It's unbelievable.
08:16You've got to wait four more years to try that again.
08:18You know, I'm going to sit home, but I pity anybody that comes up against me in the next four
08:23years.
08:23It was a stunner, and that ad campaign went up in smoke.
08:3015, 15, 15.
08:33Now we're ready.
08:34And the pitch, one on a missed by two.
08:37And the crowd on its feet, hoping that this is it.
08:41One strike away, they were already poised on both foul lines waiting to burst onto the field.
08:47Game 5, 1986 ALCS.
08:50Up three games to one, the Angels blew a three-run lead in the ninth.
08:55Donnie Moore was brought in to face Dave Henderson and gave up a two-run homer to put the Red
08:59Sox ahead.
09:0115 feet.
09:03Donnie Moore at the bout.
09:05One and two to Henderson.
09:07I knew I didn't have much of a chance against Donnie Moore, a guy that had 35, 40 saves that
09:11year.
09:12I just went up there and tried to make contact, and the rest is history.
09:16The 2-2 pitch is a high drive to deep left field.
09:20Down and going back, it is gone.
09:23Dave Henderson has come up with a two-out, two-run home run.
09:27And the Red Sox have turned the tables on the Angels.
09:32People couldn't believe it.
09:34It was just, you know, I don't remember a more depressing moment in Angels' history.
09:40That must have just killed the Angels fans every time they see it, because it felt like Donnie Moore grooved
09:44him a pitch.
09:45He did not groove him a pitch.
09:46He threw a ridiculous out-of-the-strike zone pitch, and Dave Henderson had a home run.
09:50Reeling from their 11th inning loss in Game 5, the Angels lost Game 6 and 7 by a combined score
09:57of 18-5.
10:12One of the oldest stories and one of the most continuous narratives in tennis is choking.
10:18You know, that was tough to watch, because it was such a collapse of epic proportion.
10:24One point away from being ahead 5-1 in the third set of the 93 Wimbledon final,
10:30Janna Novotna suddenly got ahead of herself and dissolved in a rash of unforced errors.
10:35She lost 21 of the next 28 points.
10:39Steffi Graf, the grateful beneficiary.
10:41The worst thing a tennis player can do, in her mind, she saw the trophy in her hands,
10:46and all the things that she was doing naturally, she began to get jerky.
10:50She was so nervous. I never saw a person so nervous in my life.
10:54And she's way ahead.
10:55As soon as Steffi saw that Janna was becoming frail, going for the match, she just took it over.
11:05Bit by bit, Novotna fell apart, and it was such a tragic ending to what would have been a remarkable
11:11story.
11:11There you said, Malk Mishra.
11:14You ended up watching that match not impressed by Graf, but in awe of how awful Novotna was.
11:24Graf wins, poor Novotna's called forward, and the Duchess of Kent obviously said something that triggered the tears.
11:31And that image of the Royal consoling the cheque is something that you'll never forget.
11:3913-13.
11:41Five outs to go.
11:43As next year finally arrives.
11:47Choke?
11:48There was no choke.
11:50Oh, but there was, there was.
11:52The Cubs were five outs from the World Series, leading the Marlins 3-0 in Game 6, 2003 NLCS.
12:00And then a fan, Steve Barton, reached for a foul ball.
12:0413-13.
12:07Three-two pitch.
12:09Fly ball to left, toward the line.
12:11Alou over, and leaping up, Alou cannot make the play.
12:15He could have had that ball, a fan interfered with him.
12:18I can't believe that a fan would do that.
12:23Why did Moises Alou blow up the way he did?
12:25It's almost like he was rattled.
12:27If Moises Alou had kept his call, maybe his team would have kept his call.
12:32Ground ball towards short.
12:33Gonzalez has it.
12:34Follows it.
12:35And everybody is safe.
12:37I think a lot of people in America said, uh-oh, here it goes for the Cubs again.
12:42Swing and a line drive down the left of the line.
12:44It ties the game.
12:46Mordecai drives one into left center field.
12:48Back toward the alley is Alou.
12:50That ball is off the vine.
12:52Three runs, they're going to score.
12:54I cannot believe it.
12:55And sure enough, the bottom fell out just like that.
12:58It happened in about two and a half minutes.
13:00It was bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
13:02The Marlins with an eighth run, eighth inning, have defeated the Chicago Cubs.
13:07And you knew it was over.
13:08The next night didn't matter.
13:10Kerry Wood didn't matter.
13:11You knew it was over.
13:12And the Fish go to the World Series.
13:15He had another game after the, uh, Steve Bartman incident.
13:20He had another game.
13:22And I thought, let me look it up.
13:25They had another game at Wrigley Field.
13:27So it wasn't even like, look, you had a Florida team in fall in Chicago.
13:35Should have been a sweep if they were that good.
13:42Someone wins, someone loses.
13:44That's what sports are all about.
13:45No joke.
13:47We always wait in Chicago for that billy goat.
13:50The billy goat was Steve Bartman.
13:52Hey, they played the game.
13:53There's nothing to prevent them from getting the final five outs even after that.
13:57And to castigate him, to criticize him, and to just paint him as this guy who blew it all,
14:04that's just wrong.
14:05I said it wasn't a joke.
14:07Okay, you know what?
14:08Shut it up.
14:08Shut the camera off.
14:09I'm done.
14:10It wasn't a joke.
14:14Wow.
14:15Wow.
14:16I know it wasn't him, James Belushi.
14:20But he's got the blues, brother.
14:24Great teams know how to close the deal.
14:27They know how to close it.
14:29They've got that killer instinct.
14:31Portland didn't know how to do it.
14:33The Trailblazers led the Lakers 75-60 with 10 and a half minutes left in Game 7 of the 2000
14:39Western Conference Finals.
14:4115-point lead?
14:42That's a chokehold, isn't it?
14:44Well, at least they got the choke right.
14:46Portland lost 89-84.
14:51I'm at that game, and I'm thinking it's over.
14:54So I'm typing away.
14:56I'm burying the Lakers.
14:57This is it.
14:57They're over.
14:58We're like six or seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
15:01Phil just called a timeout.
15:02Listen, man.
15:03We're going to win this game.
15:04Don't even worry about it.
15:05Two points at a time.
15:06That's what we've got to do.
15:07It's a 10-4 game.
15:09And I kind of look up at the scoreboard, and it's a little closer.
15:13And so then the Lakers messed up here, and they did that, and I look up, and what the hell
15:17is going on?
15:1915 goes to 13, goes to 11, goes to 7, goes to 5.
15:23They made the Lakers the best team in the league.
15:27They won 67 games.
15:30It's a choke to lose to them.
15:32There's no shame in losing to Shaq and Kobe.
15:38If the Blazers choked, that means everybody else who lost to the Lakers that year choked.
15:47For the next two years, also.
15:50It's a three-point game.
15:52The Blazers can't fire you.
15:53And you start saying to yourself, my God, they're going to blow this game.
15:58They looked tentative.
15:59They were taking quick shots.
16:01They weren't working the clock.
16:03They were just flopping, saying, take me.
16:05Go ahead.
16:05Beat me.
16:06Kick me some more.
16:06Had nothing.
16:07Play it.
16:08To Shaq!
16:11D-up a little bit.
16:12You know, rebound once or twice.
16:14You know, they just didn't get it done.
16:16Portland needed to make one shot.
16:18They make one shot.
16:19Laker Dynasty maybe never is.
16:21That is one of the pure chokes of all time.
16:24Just pure.
16:3011-11.
16:3211.
16:33Two teams playing the same shit.
16:35Same league, same division.
16:37It was that neighborhood rivalry that intensified because we had a big lead.
16:42Suddenly that lead evaporated.
16:44That lead reached 13 and a half games on August 11, 1951.
16:49But the Dodgers squandered every bit of it, going 26-23 and being forced into a three-game playoff against
16:57the Giants.
16:57If they won two out of four, we won three out of four.
17:01We just didn't play well.
17:03We didn't execute well.
17:04We didn't hit well.
17:05The pitching staff got overworked.
17:07The time just went boom, boom, boom, boom, and there was a lot of pressure, a lot of mental and
17:12physical pressures.
17:13With a full run lead in the ninth, redemption seemed within reach for the Dodgers.
17:18They still led by two runs when Bobby Thompson came to battle.
17:21I got to the home plate, but I looked out.
17:24There's Frank.
17:25I hadn't even known that they had changed pictures.
17:29Back and forth.
17:30There's a long drive.
17:32I tell it me, I believe.
17:33The Giants won the pellet.
17:35The Giants won the pellet.
17:37The Giants won the pellet.
17:38The Giants won the pellet.
17:40I didn't realize what had happened.
17:42I was the last guy to get the home plate, and I'm on deck.
17:46And they're going crazy.
17:47They're going crazy.
17:49Oh, oh.
17:53Only time in my life I ever gave a thought to suicide.
17:57If I were close to the Brooklyn Bridge, no Larry King.
18:01I don't think it's that serious.
18:03But, had the Giants, had the Dodgers gone 27-22 instead of 26-23, they're not even playing another game.
18:18They're not even playing a playoff.
18:22For the pennant.
18:23I remember going from the mound to the clubhouse.
18:26And that's a long walk.
18:27It wasn't that one pitch that beat us that year, because I could have gotten a hit in September in
18:34a certain game,
18:35or Jackie could have, or Campy could have, or Peewee could have.
18:38And we'd have won that game, and we wouldn't have had to play in the playoffs.
18:47There's no way in hell that a number one seeder is supposed to lose to number eight.
18:52You got Gary Payton and Sean Kemp and the veteran coach,
18:56and you got the home court advantage.
18:58Seattle choked big time.
19:01Seattle, best in the West, was served up Denver as a first-round appetizer in the 94 NBA playoffs.
19:07The Sonics won the first two games by an average of 17 points.
19:10And they choked on the appetizer, losing three straight.
19:13And a number eight, beat a number one seed for the first time.
19:17The crowd and the players stand in stunk disbelief.
19:24I think you also have to place an emphasis on, was that more of Seattle losing and Denver winning?
19:30And I have to say that was more of Seattle basically playing booty basketball.
19:34From a choke stand point, yeah, I'd have to.
19:37Booty basketball.
19:41They went up two games to nine, lost three games in a row in the last two in overtime.
19:49They had to win one game.
19:53I'm having trouble trying to find a comment for you people.
19:57I have, you know, really, I'm going to stay the shot.
19:59Is it the biggest upset?
20:01No, because I think Denver had a little bit of talent that year,
20:03but they never obtained that championship.
20:06It's just a big shock to us.
20:08I mean, everybody predicted us to be in the championship and even win it.
20:11Now we're out in the first round.
20:13Definitely a Celtics joke.
20:15No excuse.
20:20Nine, nine, nine.
20:24After 71 holes of exquisite shot making and radar putting,
20:29John Vandeveld was positioned to win the 99 British Open.
20:32The first Frenchman to do so in 92 years.
20:35He could afford to double bogey the last hole.
20:39Even that was asking too much.
20:41Winning a major championship for somebody like that would have been a life-changing experience.
20:46I mean, it ended up being a life-changing experience, but not the one he had in mind.
20:50There's some groans, Rossi.
20:53Oh, my goodness.
20:55He carried the burn on the right.
20:57That's the other side, folks.
20:58Yeah, went right out on that island.
21:00Oh, my goodness.
21:02Three wedges, you're on.
21:04You can three-putt, you still win by a shot.
21:07So now, what does he do?
21:08He airmails it way right of everything.
21:10Taking a couple of bounces around the burn.
21:14Is this real, Mike?
21:15No.
21:15Are we actually seeing this?
21:17He hit three bad shots in a row.
21:20And it's a great debate amongst us types which shot was the stupidest.
21:27And he hit it in the burn.
21:30Then he rolls up his pant cuffs.
21:32It was just God's gift to sports writers.
21:35You get the impression, watching the way he played that hole, that Vanderbilt thought it
21:40would be more interesting to lose the British Open than to win it.
21:49Who the hell was your caddy?
21:51Has he ever been around golf?
21:53You could have putted it and made six from the tee to the...
21:57He makes seven.
22:00Vanderbilt's triple bogey forced a playoff, and he lost it to Scotland's own Paul Lord.
22:05And his response was, well, it was just a game of golf.
22:10I mean, it wasn't just a game of golf.
22:12It was a championship that he should have won.
22:18Eight, eight, eight, eight.
22:22The Giants turned their 2002 NFC wildcard game with the 49ers into a rout, building a 24-point
22:28lead with less than 20 minutes to play.
22:30But the rout turned into retreat.
22:32They lost 39-38.
22:34That's a good one.
22:35That's a good one.
22:36They were up 38-14.
22:38They were up 38-14 and blew it.
22:45Boy, if ever there was a game that reinforced the thought in your mind that momentum is
22:48something real and tangible, that was it.
22:50Touchdown, 49ers!
22:52How about this?
22:53Everybody started panicking.
22:55It just started snowballing, and once you lose momentum...
22:59Touchdown, San Francisco!
23:01It's 38-30!
23:03Everybody is fixated on the breakdown of the Giants' special teams.
23:08But I still want to know, what happened to the Giants' defense?
23:12Caught! Caught! Caught!
23:14Touchdown, 49ers!
23:16High street!
23:17The defense just choked that game.
23:20And yet, and yet, they had a chance at the end.
23:23Here it comes with another bad snap!
23:25And Allen can't get it down!
23:26He's going to throw it into the end zone!
23:28There's a Giant there!
23:29It's incomplete!
23:30Game is over!
23:3249ers win!
23:34That final play was just the final little bolt coming off the car.
23:38I've never been so upset over a sporting event in my life.
23:43I can't say anything more.
23:45We definitely choked.
23:517-7-7-7!
23:53You can tell when a team's choking.
23:56They just lose their aggressiveness.
23:57They become pretty passive.
23:59That's not the atmosphere of this club.
24:01The Red Sox 78.
24:02Boston pinning to the Yankees.
24:04Bucky Dent.
24:06Let's go.
24:06By July 19, 1978, Boston had stockpiled a huge lead over the hated Yankees.
24:13But then the Red Sox withered.
24:14And the tighter they played, the looser New York played.
24:20Boston got off to an incredible start.
24:23They were 51-19 after the first 70 games.
24:26The Yankees fell farther and farther behind the Red Sox until they were 14 games out.
24:31Billy got fired.
24:32We've got Bob Lemon as our manager, who's a very laid-back, relaxed guy.
24:36You know, we just went out and played.
24:38And all of a sudden, you look up day after day, day after day, and we're losing that lead.
24:43I think it was a combination of us playing very well and the Red Sox kind of going into
24:48a little bit of a tailspin.
24:49And then there was a series in Boston where everything was going to be settled in early
24:54September, and the Yankees just cleaned the Red Sox clock, beating them very badly in
25:00all four games.
25:01We lost the lead.
25:03We had to win the last eight games of the season to tie the Yankees for that one-game
25:08playoff.
25:09Boston's choke was complete when it blew the lead in the playoff game, known in lore for
25:13Bucky Dent's home.
25:14A three-run home run from Bucky Dent.
25:17And the Yankees now lead it by a score of three to two.
25:20When that thing was over, I had grown men crying in the clubhouse.
25:24We won 99 games.
25:25And for somebody to say they gagged it or choked or something, that drives me crazy.
25:33Six.
25:35Two and two to Bucky Wilson.
25:39And it's going to go to the back side.
25:41Here comes Mitchell to score the tying run.
25:44You know, people talk about curses and hexes and all those things, and I tend not to believe
25:49in that stuff.
25:50It is a fair ball.
25:51It's my butt there.
25:52But there are some eerie moments when things occur, and you have to look at the person next
25:56to you and say, did that happen?
25:58The game comes on ESPN Classic every once in a while.
26:01And I still watch it, and I still keep thinking the ending's going to be different.
26:06But it isn't.
26:07It still comes out the same.
26:09The Red Sox, one win from taking the 86 World Series, led the Mets by two runs with two
26:15outs in the 10th inning of Game 6.
26:17What could possibly go wrong?
26:26I stormed up into the clubhouse, and then I went and popped the Budweiser.
26:33Here's a player on the team who has pretty much resigned himself.
26:36This is over, guys.
26:39I was pretty sad at the time.
26:40We were pretty down.
26:41And somebody said, let's put on some rally football helmets.
26:46Base hit for Carter, and the Mets are still on.
26:49That's going to be hit to center.
26:50Base hit.
26:51Next thing you know, bang, bang, bang.
26:54And that's going to be hit into center field.
26:56Base hit.
26:57Here comes Carter to score.
26:59And this thing's just blew wide open.
27:02The pitch gets away.
27:05Gets away.
27:06High game.
27:07High game.
27:09We got a break.
27:10You know, and I think you have to be good, and you have to be lucky.
27:14Three and two to Mookie Wilson.
27:17Little roller up along first.
27:19Behind the bag.
27:21It gets through Buckner.
27:22Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it.
27:27Unbelievable.
27:28The Red Sox in stunned disbelief.
27:33Went over, and then over to get the ball.
27:36And it just had nothing but error, you know.
27:38It was probably a ground ball I caught a million times.
27:43I thought it was one of the saddest things that I'd ever seen.
27:47Why did it have to happen to such a good ball player?
27:51There's nothing like getting out of a jam and having another chance and having another day.
27:57Now the pitch on the way.
27:59Now the pitch on the way.
27:59He's took it out.
28:00The Mets have won the World Series.
28:03The dream has come through.
28:06I guess I have to be resolved that it will never change.
28:18Led by Dick Allen's hitting and Jim Bunnings pitching, the 64 Phillies piled up such a lead
28:23that the Champagne was put on ice, but manager Gene Mock gambled and went for the kill.
28:28The Champagne turned to vinegar.
28:30Philly won 92 games, but finished one behind St. Louis.
28:35I think Gene's basic problem was sometimes he would overmanage.
28:39He would try to do too much, and it would backfire on him, as it did in Philadelphia in 1964.
28:46He was six and a half games ahead with 12 games to go, and he wanted to clinch it right
28:50now.
28:50He made a mistake by pitching Bunning and Short with short rest.
28:55He panicked.
28:56He only had to protect a lead, and pretty much everybody had conceded the pennant to him by that time,
29:02but he turned it into a race and lost it.
29:05He kept coming back with him when it wasn't necessary.
29:08I kept pitching him on short rest, and they wound up with a 10-game losing streak.
29:12I did everything the way I did, everything during my life.
29:15I did everything by the seat of my pants.
29:17If I thought this was the thing to do, I did it, and maybe I overdid that.
29:21He had to be inside the clubhouse and know that no one would take the ball.
29:25He did it out of necessity.
29:27He worked with the best.
29:29I don't bring Jim Mark because in 1964, I bring the 25 guys we have in the team
29:36because we don't did the job for him.
29:42Translation, I don't blame Jim Mark.
29:44I blame the 25 guys on the team because we such and such.
29:50Translated that to English.
29:55Miami's going to have to buckle down that chin strap one more notch
29:59because Maryland has come out breathing fire in the second half.
30:03Well, I don't think...
30:04Great comeback.
30:05The first one.
30:07If they choked, I think we deserve to win.
30:10In 1984, Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar riddled Maryland's defense
30:15for 31 points in the first 30 minutes.
30:17But in the second half, the Hurricanes look like a cat gagging on a fur ball.
30:21They suffered the worst turnaround loss in Division I in history, 42-40.
30:26They're down 31 to nothing.
30:30Bernie Kosar is the quarterback of Miami.
30:32I mean, Miami was just starting to bloom as Miami.
30:36You saw the score, and you went, okay, that game's over.
30:42So right now, nothing going right with the University of Maryland.
30:46I called them together, and I told them that we're going to be doing some running.
30:50You owe me a 40-yard dash for every point you give up,
30:53and right now you owe me 31 40-yard dashes.
30:56Bobby Ross brings in Frank Reich,
30:58and they just start to score every time down the field.
31:01And they owe him three laps around the track.
31:04Togging 40 yards.
31:05Holy cow, here come the Terps.
31:08Throwing deep, and he's got a man out there.
31:10Hill!
31:12Touchdown, Maryland!
31:13We just got momentum.
31:15And when you get that and you get on a roll,
31:17it's almost like you can't do nothing wrong.
31:20Usually, you have to lose badly
31:22and then prepare the next week to get yourself to a point
31:25where you can turn the corner.
31:26They actually were able to turn it around in a single game.
31:3042 points in the second half.
31:33I've never seen one like it before.
31:36Just everything went wrong.
31:37And then after the game,
31:39one of our captains puts his arm around my head
31:41and whispers in my ear.
31:42He says,
31:42Coach, do we still have to run those 40s?
31:45My answer was, of course, no.
31:50Three, three, three, three.
31:55Yes, get a shark!
31:57This was finally his time.
31:59He was there.
32:01He was on the precipice.
32:03Who can blow this big a lead
32:06in the final round of the Masters?
32:07There's only one player alive who can do that.
32:10And lo and behold,
32:12he happens to be the guy who has this lead.
32:15He came to the last round of the 96 Masters
32:17with a six-shot lead.
32:19He also came with his tortured history
32:21in such circumstances.
32:23The closer Greg Norman was to winning,
32:25the farther away he was from the green jacket.
32:27He shot a final round 78.
32:30You could see it coming.
32:32It was just that when things start going the wrong way
32:34at Augusta,
32:35it's just a helpless feeling.
32:37It was like watching roadkill
32:40on the side of a highway.
32:41It was like when I was where...
32:45For someone who lived so big,
32:47who was so bold,
32:49to be stripped of his boldness and his glamour
32:51and shown to be not only as vulnerable
32:53but more vulnerable
32:54than you could ever have imagined him to be,
32:56just struck at something in people.
32:59He's been so catastrophically close
33:02in so many major championships.
33:05Nick Faldo has won the Masters.
33:07It was very sad to see
33:09Greg Norman lose that tournament.
33:11And Faldo hugs him on the 18th green.
33:13And later, I go up to Shark and I said,
33:15man, I'm so sorry, man.
33:17How are you feeling?
33:18He said, are you kidding?
33:18He said, what Nick Faldo did to me,
33:20that meant more than winning the tournament.
33:22He was my friend,
33:23even in this awful time.
33:30And the Oilers have just decimated
33:33the Bills defense.
33:35Marv Levy at halftime told his team,
33:38the world is watching
33:39and you don't want to have to live
33:40with an embarrassment like this.
33:42At the half of the 92 AFC wildcard game,
33:45Houston, behind Warren Moon,
33:48had the Bills completely Buffaloed 35-3.
33:51And then the Oilers were led up
33:52by a backup quarterback, Frank Reich,
33:55and lost in overtime 41-38.
33:59This whole concept of the run and shoot
34:02collapsed in front of what Buffalo did.
34:04Maybe at the 10, at the 5,
34:06in for the touchdown.
34:07And now the Bills are back in this game.
34:12Frank Reich, the backup quarterback,
34:15leads the comeback.
34:16What a throw to Andre Reid.
34:18Frank Reich, basically in the biggest game of his life,
34:23had the best game of his life.
34:24Back to throw, he looks, he throws.
34:26Touchdown! Andre Reid for the touchdown!
34:30It is Bedlam! It is pandemonium!
34:33You can't believe you're really seeing it happen.
34:36You can't believe you're witnessing it,
34:37but it's happening.
34:38The kick is on the way, and it is good!
34:40And the Bills have won it!
34:42The Bills have won it!
34:44Incredible!
34:45Up 35-3. What is there to say?
34:49I guess one man's choke
34:50is another man's dramatic comeback.
35:03The Yankees are three outs away from another pennant
35:06and a four-game sweep over Boston.
35:09I look back on that ninth inning of game four of the ALCS.
35:13Mariano Rivera is on the mound.
35:15The Red Sox are finished.
35:17I mean, in baseball terms,
35:18that is clinically dead.
35:21The franchise with the most World Series championships.
35:25The franchise to whom all others seek to be compared.
35:28This very same franchise,
35:30in the 2004 ALCS,
35:32became the first baseball team ever
35:34to blow a 3-0 lead in the postseason.
35:39Three outs away from sweeping the Red Sox.
35:43I mean, who would have thunk it, huh?
35:44Three outs away.
35:46People in New York booking their World Series tickets for sure.
35:50Tie him inside.
35:51He walked in.
35:51The tying run is on.
35:53And here comes this gritty, gutty group of idiots,
35:57as they call it themselves.
36:00Here is the throw, Robert Stiles, and he is it!
36:02Swing and a ground ball, and up the middle.
36:04Face, head, center field.
36:06Here comes Roberts, and he scores the tying run!
36:09Boston is still alive!
36:12Just as the Yankees thought they were moving on,
36:14you gave them the worst beating in the history of beating.
36:18Ortiz into deep right field.
36:20Back is Sheffield.
36:21We'll see you later tonight.
36:23We were down 0-3.
36:24I think we didn't know any better.
36:27You know, we had nothing to lose.
36:28Damon running to the plate,
36:30and he can keep on running to New York.
36:33Game 6 tomorrow night.
36:36And all of a sudden, the Yankees started to feel that pressure.
36:38What happens now?
36:39You know, we're not going to lose at home, are we?
36:42Swing and a miss!
36:43He threw a fastball by him!
36:45Game 7 coming up tonight!
36:48There was this extreme confidence that they couldn't be beaten,
36:51and it just grew by the game.
36:52There it goes!
36:54Goal!
36:55And Senor October strikes again!
36:58A high drive to deep right!
37:00Grand slam!
37:01Johnny Davis!
37:03They lead it 6-0!
37:05They could have played the Yankees into December,
37:07not lost a game the way that thing was going.
37:09The Boston Redskins have won the pennant with the biggest comeback in postseason baseball history.
37:18To come from that hole against that team, it is something that will live forever.
37:23And Yankee fans, you've got a scarlet letter,
37:25and Boston fans are going to have it on to Yankee fans forever.
37:28I'm sure being seen in the eyes of many as the, uh, the chokers.
37:35Yes, sir.
37:36ESPN Classic slaved and agonized over this ranking.
37:4128-3 will be on the list now, and 3-1.
37:45Both in 2016.
Comments