The Agony of Almost: Remembering Some of the Most Devastating Collapses in Sports History
- karinnaleonard
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Last week, baseball fans were treated to the best two words in sports: Game 7. After Seventy-four grueling innings of beautiful, heart-stopping baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers walked away from the series with another championship; the Toronto Blue Jays, their fans, and the entire country of Canada were left devastated. For many, the end of this World Series didn't just sting. It rekindled memories of past pains and reopened the wounds of some of the greatest collapses in sports history. Because in sports, the agony lingers longer than the celebration. Sometimes the pain is about more than the final score, as one team's triumph is forever linked to another's heartbreak.
Super Bowl LI
If there's one moment that showed how quickly glory can vanish, it was Super Bowl LI. The year was 2017 as the seasoned New England Patriots took to the field at NRG Stadium to face off against an Atlanta Falcons team that had never won before. If you weren't a Patriots fan, chances are you were rooting for Atlanta. Tom Brady’s greatness had reached a point where dominance turned to hatred, and the Falcons had the opportunity to get their first-ever ring. As a victim of the 2015 Malcolm Butler goal-line interception, I found myself strongly in that camp.
Midway through the third quarter, Atlanta led 28-3. It felt over, and you couldn’t help the urge to begin celebrating. Just minutes away from football immortality, the Falcons were ready for the glory of winning their first championship. They would never score again.
What followed became one of the most improbable and devastating comebacks in sports history. The momentum didn’t just shift; it completely unraveled. Fans could only sit and watch in disbelief as the Lombardi Trophy slipped away. Possession after possession and drive after drive, the Falcons' lead continued to slip away until the game was tied 28-28 and headed to overtime.
Tom Brady was named Super Bowl MVP, but the real hero of the night was James White. The running back had 20 points and recorded a Super Bowl record of 14 receptions—a record that still stands today. It was White who delivered the final blow in overtime, with a two-yard touchdown run that sealed New England’s comeback. The scoreboard read 34-28 as the Patriots celebrated another chapter of greatness, while the Falcons were left with a final score that would haunt them forever.
2016 NBA Finals, aka, The Block
A rematch for the ages, just one year after the Golden State Warriors had beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games to win the 2015 title, the two teams met again in the 2016 Finals. The Warriors entered the series coming off an improbable regular season where they went 73-9. Yes, you read that right, seventy-three wins. In their final game of the regular season, Golden State beat the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104, securing history as they broke the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record for the most wins in a single season. This wasn't just a great team—it was maybe the greatest team ever. And then the playoffs hit.
In the first round, the Warriors got their first taste of despair when Stephen Curry slipped in a pile of sweat in Game 4 versus the Houston Rockets. After already missing games 2 and 3 with an ankle injury sustained in Game 1, this setback only added insult to injury. He was diagnosed with a grade 1 MCL sprain and missed the first three games of the next round against the Portland Trail Blazers. In Game 4, he made his return in resounding fashion with 40 points—17 of them being in overtime. His comeback was electric, but the injury lingered. His rhythm was off, his explosiveness was different, and he just wasn’t quite the Steph who has redefined basketball.
The Western Conference Finals pushed Golden State to the brink. Down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, they clawed their way back, but by the time they reached the Finals, the Warriors were exhausted, bruised, and unmistakably human. Despite this, the Warriors came out hard and led the series 3-1 going into Game 5. The Cavs went on to win the next two games, and on June 19th, the two teams met in Oracle Arena for a Game 7 that would live on forever.
For the full 48 minutes, the game was close. Every possession carried the weight of possibility, with the largest lead being just an eight-point margin when the Warriors went up 54-46 two minutes into the third quarter. The game continued back and forth, and with four minutes left, the score was tied 89-89.
With just under two minutes remaining, it was still tied when Andre Iguodala sprinted ahead for what looked like the go-ahead layup. He hesitated one stride to evade J.R. Smith. But that extra step proved too long as it gave LeBron James just enough time to catch up and close the gap. Out of nowhere, LeBron chased Iguodala down and pinned the ball against the backboard. The Block: a play so iconic it became a proper noun. A minute later, Kyrie Irving buried a heavily contested three over Steph Curry—the shot that would haunt Golden State forever. With 53 seconds remaining, the Warriors tried to battle back, but they were only able to add to Cleveland’s total when LeBron split a pair of free throws. Final score: 93-89. The greatest regular season in NBA history had suddenly become the greatest collapse, as the Cavaliers completed the first 3-1 comeback in NBA Finals history.
The Warriors retreated to their locker room, stunned and crushed by the defeat. But moments later, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala made their way back onto the court to congratulate Cleveland. Marcus Thompson II, a Bay Area News sports columnist, described the moment perfectly: "Because even in their heartbreak, they understood what was unmistakable inside that arena. One of the greatest moments in NBA history just went down. No one would ever forget this game, this series, this season. And even though they lost, epically, they were obligated to lose like winners."
The 1994 and 2011 Canucks
For some teams, playoff luck is less of a pattern and more of a curse. No franchise embodies this quite like the Vancouver Canucks. Despite never winning a Stanley Cup, they hold a piece of NHL history that no team ever wants: In 1994, they became the first team to lose a Game 7 in the Final without ever having won the Cup. And then they did it again in 2011—making them the only team in NHL history to lose multiple Game 7s in the Final without ever lifting the trophy. A record so special they had to do it twice. For Vancouver fans, it’s hard to say which heartbreak hurt more.
1994 versus The New York Rangers
The beginning of a hopeful era, the 1994 run was Vancouver's true Cinderella story. After finishing 7th in the Western Conference, the Canucks opened the playoffs against the heavily favored Calgary Flames. After falling behind 3-1 in the series, they fought back to win three straight and advance. In the second round, they steamrolled the Dallas Stars in five games. Then, in the Conference Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canucks dropped Game 1 before storming back to win the next four and earn their place in the Stanley Cup Final. In a battle against the New York Rangers, the Canucks pushed the series to the limit. After taking Games 1, 5, and 6, they forced a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.
The deciding game was not kind to Vancouver. In brutal fashion, the Rangers opened the first period with two quick goals before Trevor Linden cut the deficit in the second, giving the Canucks a flicker of hope. Any momentum was brief, as less than 10 minutes later, the Rangers struck again. Linden scored once more in the final period, but it wasn't enough, and the Canucks lost 3-2, falling inches away from immortality. They had come so far, only to miss their moment by the smallest possible margin—the kind of loss that lingers for generations.
2011 versus The Boston Bruins
What made 2011 hurt so deeply was that this time, Vancouver wasn't the underdog; they were the best team in hockey. This was the most talented roster in franchise history and one of the strongest teams of the salary cap era. They ranked first in the NHL on the power play and third on the penalty kill. They led the league in goals per game (3.15) and allowed the fewest goals against per game (2.20). Everything about this team forecasted success. After decades of waiting, the city was ready to bring the trophy home as the Canucks had a chance to win on home ice. Instead of a celebration, Vancouver was stunned into disbelief. They could only sit and watch as the Canucks were shut out 4-0 in a collapse so jarring that the night ended in chaos. What should have been the franchise's greatest moment turned into a city-wide riot, with flames rising into the same streets where, mere hours earlier, Stanley Cup banners had been ready to be hung.
The pain goes on and on—from the 2013 Maple Leafs squandering away a 4-1 lead with 11 minutes left in the third, to the infamous Bill Buckner error in 1986 that helped cement the Red Sox curse in baseball mythology. There was the 2004 Yankees, forced to watch Boston claw back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS after Mariano Rivera blew the Game 4 save. And in 2018, when the unthinkable happened as the University of Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 16 seed. Collapses so stunning they didn't feel real, and yet, fans always return. You remember the championships, but it's the heartbreaks that stay with you. No matter how many times your team lets you down, you keep watching, convinced that maybe this year will be different. That's the beauty of sports: for every collapse, there's another season waiting.
Edited by: Kelly Cassette
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