Okay, so this weekend really sucked in regards to my sports teams. They either blew a big lead against a team they shouldn't have, or they lost big in a game they needed to and could have won. So, it got me to thinking about an article that I wanted to write for a while. What are the 5 worst losses that I have lived through? Sadly I knew what they were right away. So here they are in order of how much they hurt to least. Well, they all really hurt.

1) Notre Dame versus Boston College - 1993. This game came 1 week after the first "game of the century". ND had just defeated Florida State, the #1 ranked team in the nation the week before in an amazing game. All ND had to do is squash unranked BC. Easy task, right? No. Some how ND's defense just couldn't stop BC at all. What is this? Is Doug Floutie playing qb? Nope. I guess ND was looking ahead towards the National Championship game. Well, they looked too far ahead. ND came back in the last two minutes to score to take the lead. Less than a minute left, BC drove down the field and hit a 40 yard plus field goal to win the game. And the worst part? ND had a chance to pick off an easy pass to end the game, but it slipt right out of their hands. Just like the National Championship. This was the first time that I learned what true heartbreak. It was horrible. I didn't think I could survive or feel anything like it.

2) Notre Dame versus USC - 2005. Until this game came along. ND had over achieved all year long. We weren't suppose to be this good in Charlie Weis' first year. We weren't. Our offense was amazing all year long as Brady Quinn and co. were able to score on everyone. USC came in with the #1 ranked team. The best offense in the nation and no one thought that ND had a chance. But, the game was at home. The green jerseys were on and luck seemed to be on our side. So, with 2 minutes left, Brady Quinn scored on a qb keeper to give ND a 3 point lead. And then ND started to hold USC. We sacked Leinart, and kept the offense in check. It was 4th and 9 with about a minute left. And then he hit Dwayne Jarrett for a 62 yard gain. But usc had no time outs. Leinart rolled out and was hit at about the 1 yard line, the ball squirted out, the clock ended the game was over! And then the officials got together, said that the ball went out at the 1(yeah, it was more like the 3) yard line, put 9 seconds on the clock. The Leinart tried to score, he was met at the line and stopped. But then Reggie Bush came out of nowhere and pushed him into the endzone and the game was over. I almost died right on the spot. It was horrible. I wanted to cry.

3) NY Mets versus St. Louis Cardinals - Game 7, NLCS, 2006. We were one game away from the World Series and the game was at home. It looked like we had a good chance of winning it if Oliver Perez came through. And he did. 7 innings, 1 runs. And Endy Chavez came up with the greatest catch ever. Then the top of the ninth came. The Cardinals got a bs 2 run homer from their catcher. I thought it was over. I was ready to go home. And then the first batter reached. Then the second one. Down 3-1, Cliff Floyd came up and struck out. Then Jose Reyes hit a liner that seemed to tail away from Jim Edmonds and would have tied the game. But no, Edmonds made a good play on it and all of a sudden there were 2 outs. But, Paul Lo Duca came up and got on base. Bases loaded, 2 outs, down by 2. Who didn't dream of this situation? Up came Carlos Beltran who was known for giving Cardinals players and fans nightmares with what he did with the bat. We were in good hands. And then, strike 1. Strike 2. Oh no, here came a nasty curve and he didn't even swing!! No swinging????? I couldn't believe it. I ran to my car and drove home. I didn't want to deal with anyone then. I wanted to die.

4) Notre Dame versus Michigan State - 2005. We had started out the season all right. 2-0. Beat Michigan in Michigan. We had an easy game at home, against Michigan State. Until the game happened. ND went down big. We were down like 24 points at one point. But then something magical happened. We came back. We had a tremendous second half and ended up tieing the game in the fourth quarter. Who would have thought that? Brady Quinn to save the day. So, we went to overtime with all the momentum on our side. Got the ball first. And on a third down Brady barely missed the full back that would have given us a first and goal and maybe a touchdown. But we had to settle for a field goal. And then on Michigan State's second play, the busted it for a touchdown and the game was over. I wanted to cry again. It was horrible.

5) St. Louis Blues versus Detriot Red Wings - game 7, Conference Semi-finals, 1996. This could have been our year. We had taken the #1 team, the hated Red Wings to a game 7. Surprisingly we took a 3 games to 2 lead but lost game 6. Now we were back in Detroit for game 7. We had lost our #1 goalie in the first game of the series on a cheap shot by the Red Wings, but John Casey had played amazing. He was amazing and somehow we were in a game 7. And on it went. Tied 0-0 in the second overtime, a harmless slap shot by Stevie Y somehow got over the shoulder of Casey and went in. I can still remember the sound. The ding of the puck hitting the cross bar and going in and the thud of my heart hitting the floor. I couldn't move for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe our chance to take out the Red Wings was over. That was the closest we ever came to making it to the Stanley Cup finals.