Boston may be the City of Champions but she certainly has felt the pain of championship game (or series) defeat. Before the Red Sox won in 2004 they were a cottage industry of big-game failure unrivaled in professional sports. The Celtics, Bruins and Patriots have also all experienced their fair share of disaster come title time. Here, in ascending order, are the ten "almost" championships that hurt Hub fans the most.
10. 1985 Patriots, Superbowl XX
The Patriots actually led 3-0 in the first quarter of this game. But the "team of destiny" that won three straight playoff games on the road and finally "squished" the hated Dolphins in a meaningful game was simply no match for the Chicago Bears and their all-time great defense. The final score of 46-10 wasn't even that close. The "Patsies" went from a joke to near greatness to worse than a joke (remember the scandals that rocked this team after the Super Bowl?) in the span of one season.
9. 1946 Red Sox
Ted Williams had one shot at the world series and batted .200 Only on the Red Sox would the star and "greatest hitter who ever lived" be hit on the elbow by a pitch in an exhibition game four days before the World Series started. At least Johnny Pesky would get redemption in '04.
8. 1985 Celtics
Before this Finals, the Celtics had never lost to the Lakers in eight championship series. Unfortunately, apart from the "Memorial Day Massacre" in Game One, this Finals was all Lakers.
7. 1930, 1946, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1977, 1978 Bruins
What do all these Stanley Cup Finals losses have in common for the Bruins? They were at the hands of the hated Montreal Canadiens. Aargh.
6. 1967 Red Sox
Too bad Jim Lonborg wasn't able to pitch more on better rest in this World Series. Instead, the Impossible Dream met the indomitable will of Bob Gibson and Gibson won. The Red Sox would have to wait until 2004 to exercise their revenge upon the Redbirds.
5. 1978 Red Sox, AL East tiebreaker
Ok,ok, so this one wasn't a championship game. But it was Red Sox-Yankees for the right to go to the playoffs after an epic regular season. Bucky F-ing Dent has long been a curse word in New England but Lou Piniella's blind stab in right field was the real back-breaker. Those kinds of plays always used to go the Yankee's way when they played the Red Sox. The game ended with poor Yaz popping up with the winning run on base- what a nightmare...
4. 2010 Celtics, NBA Finals
This one hurt in so many ways. The Celtics should have won Game Six and never had to worry about a Game Seven. The Celtics were a better team than the Lakers for most of Game Seven. The Celtics always beat the Lakers in Game Sevens. Kendrick Perkins would have made sure the Celtics won either Game Six or Seven if not for his most untimely injury. The only solace Celtics fans could take away from this one was that the team wasn't supposed to even be in the Finals.
3. 2007 Patriots, Super Bowl XXLII
It wasn't so much that the most prolific offense in the history of the NFL scored only 14 points against a team they had beaten 38-35 just weeks before. It wasn't even that they couldn't finish off an unbeaten streak that would have finally shut the '72 Dolphins up. Nope, it was that David freakin' Tyree made the deciding play of the game.
2. 1987 Celtics, NBA Finals
Well at least Larry beat Magic once in the Finals. Magic's Baby Hook in Game Four was as shocking an occurrence as the Garden has ever seen and sent the Lakers back to L.A. up 3-1 rather than tied at 2-2. It still hurts to this day to watch Magic dribble, lean and let go with that impossible game-winner
1. 1986 Red Sox
Oedipus had nothing on this tragedy. The absolute nadir of New England professional sports.
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