Most heartbreaking loss EVER for the city of Boston?

[Green Hell]

Probably everyone is going to go with 18-1 but to me, if your a basketball fan and someone who really believed this Celtics team was the better team, this stings just as bad.

First EVER Game 7 loss to the Lakers. And Bill Russell was in the stands watching those play, I'm sure getting to relive a bit of 1969... up until the very end that is.

Bill Russell, 11 time NBA champion, who said to KG back in 2008:

"I think that you're going to win at least 2 or 3 championships here. And if you don't, but I see you playing the way you should play, I'll share one of mine with you. This is a genuine friendship thing I'm talking about. But if you play the way you play and you dedicate yourself to doing it, they will come. It's like that field of dreams: if you build it they will come. You may have to put your arms around a couple guys and take em with you. But you can't drag em, you got to put your arms 'around them' and take them with you. And you have no idea how proud of I am of you. I couldn't be more any proud of you than I am my own kids."

The same Bill Russell who was booed on his way to award Kobe Bryant the Finals MVP (for shooting 6/24 from the floor).

And as for KG and the Big 3?

This may be any of their last years in green. Any one of them.

Let that sink in a minute.

[jasail]

Did not find the C's loss to be that devastating.  Despite all the externalities 'at play' this Celtic's exceeded expectations.  Every game from Cleveland on was something I wasn't expecting to be watching.  I also do not hate this LA team the way I grew up hating the 80-90's Lakers or the way I hated the Yankees prior to 04. I am no fan of them but the passion isn't there b/c Boston wasn't competing with them for most of this decade.  The combination of lowered expectations and less passionate hate made this loss easier to swallow, despite all of the history it washed away. 

18-1 was no doubt a tough loss , but I am not that big of a Pat's fan.  I watch it on Sunday's during the fall, but it is more an excuse to get together with buddies and eat nachos and drink beers.  So while disappointed the heartbreak wasn't there for that. 

I went with Game 7 2003.  I am in my mid-twenties and a big Sox fan. I hadn't experienced the heart break of Dent or Buckner.  So the heartbreaking losses associated with the Sox were nothing more than lore.  After watching that game devolve the way it did, I really thought that there were forces working against the Red Sox. Plus I was at an age where I couldn't detach myself and say 'hell it is just a game.'  So for me this was the perfect storm.

[JBcat]

I think it has to be Bill Buckner.  We have been very spoiled this decade and the 18-1 and this year's Celtics loss really stung but in 86 to come that close to a World Series title for what would have been the first title in 68 years was very painful for this city.  

[jasail]

I think it has to be Bill Buckner.  We have been very spoiled this decade and the 18-1 and this year's Celtics loss really stung but in 86 to come that close to a World Series title for what would have been the first title in 68 years was very painful for this city. 

I was only a pup when this loss happened so I don't really know how devastating it was at the time. I know what it means historically, but I don't remember what it was like the day after. However, through a historical perspective it wasn't the series clincher, it was a Game 6 that tied the series.  So while it did change the tone and gave the Mets hope, Boston had a great chance to win Game 7 with Hurst on the rubber. 

[Lucky17]

Len Bias.

Second worst: Reggie Lewis.

[Chris]

I am not sure this is in the top 10, let alone the top 5.  While it was a great run, the fact that they made it past the second round was a surprise to most people, so I can hardly call it heartbreaking when they lost in game 7, on the road, to the defending champions.  It certainly wasn't fun, but it shouldn't have taken everyone by complete surprise the way a lot of other have.

[nickagneta]

I think it has to be Bill Buckner.  We have been very spoiled this decade and the 18-1 and this year's Celtics loss really stung but in 86 to come that close to a World Series title for what would have been the first title in 68 years was very painful for this city. 

I was only a pup when this loss happened so I don't really know how devastating it was at the time. I know what it means historically, but I don't remember what it was like the day after. However, through a historical perspective it wasn't the series clincher, it was a Game 6 that tied the series.  So while it did change the tone and gave the Mets hope, Boston had a great chance to win Game 7 with Hurst on the rubber. 

NO. WRONG. It was over. Every Red Sox fan knew it.

That was the most devastating loss in Boston sports history and it isn't even close. The Buckner error was just the tip of the iceberg on things that went wrong in that series and why it was so devastating. If you weren't there to experience it or remember it you can't explain it away by saying it was only game six or because there was another game or any of the other stuff you might read in wikipedia explaining the event.

The Pats Superbowl loss is tame by comparison and this Celtics loss isn't in the same league as devastating. The Pats had won three Superbowls just years before everyone watching that Superbowl knew the Pats defense was ripe for the picking and that the Pats left too much time on the clock. The Celtics won just two years ago and everyone watching that game knew by about the 4 minute mark of the game that the Celts were getting outplayed and that the refs were going to cut them zero breaks.

The Red Sox hadn't won a WS title in 68 years. They hadn't even been in the World Series in 11 years. They were up big late and were one strike away from winning on numerous occasions. When the simple, easy ground ball was hit down first, a ball that every baseball fan watching the game who had ever played even little league swears to this day they could have fielded without a problem, went through Buckner's legs, the win that was within our grasp was snatched away.

It was that, that, that close. And then......gone.

It's not even close in my book. Except of course if you count the loss of Bias or Lewis, which weren't games. Those were mind numbing, shocking, loss of life, you remember where you were when you heard the news events. Nothing compares to the Reggie loss. But that 1986 World Series comes as close to a death in the family type event as any game can.

[nickagneta]

Len Bias.

Second worst: Reggie Lewis.

Switch em.

Reggie was a beloved figure in this town when he was lost. Bias was just pure shock value of what could have been. Lewis was and then was so sadly taken from us so early.

[csfansince60s]

Len Bias.

Second worst: Reggie Lewis.

Lucky, TP. Bias would have extended the life of the big three for at least 5 more years. Like no one ever forgets where they heard about 9/11 and for us old timers when JFK was assasinated, I know exactly where I was when I heard about Bias, the very worst moment in Celtics. With him, the Lakers and then the Pistons and then the MJ Bulls might not have gone down as such. Len Bias was that much of a beast, a mean, skilled tough as nails bball player, who was better than MJ in college and maybe could have surpassed him in the pros. Devastating, devastating, devastating.

Reggie was a tragedy, but his loss not even close to the ramifications of LB's loss.

My worst Cs moment, which I personally witnessed, was Magic's baby hook. It happened on the end of the floor where my seats were. I wanted to puke!!!!!!!!!

[csfansince60s]

How about selling the Babe to finance a musical??

[GreenFaith1819]

Both CsFansince60's and Nick make great points.

It is sad how some LA Bloggers think about Bias and Lewis - I was chatting with one a week or so ago, and the mindset was to basically get over it.......and then they said that..

"We had no idea how good Bias was going to be."

That was so funny - here was a man that was a dominant in college as Michael was, and "we had no idea how good he was going to be."

I guess that's why we took him 2nd in 86, huh?

LA is So Detached from reality sometimes.

[twinbree]

Len Bias.

Second worst: Reggie Lewis.

Yeah. The losses hurt but at the end of the day it was just a game. These were truly tragic.

@ the OP. Thanks for this list. Truly it does make me feel a little better about this recent loss.

[cornbreadsmart]

Not for the city of boston. There are not enough true fans. This celtic team deserved more.This will always be a red sox city first.   

[Eja117]

Bill Buckner still gives me goose bumps and always will. It was an evil play. It was the Job of sports.

The rest is all sports. That was a real life nightmare. It's totally different.

It would be like...maybe the equivalent would be for Brazil to have Pele get a heart attack and die one second before a likely game winning break away winning goal in the World Cup against their biggest rival.

It was worse than that. It was the terrorist equivalent of an error. It was the Holocost of baseball. Fricking Diary of Anne Frank in slow motion on national television.

You know what. I don't want to talk about it

[connerhenry43]

1986 world series hands down. (please do not call it buckner, so many other factors went into that debacle)

#2, super bowl 42.

#3, the refs taking game 7 from the real champions and giving it to the lakers in 2010.