Never Play Again With a Choker
The xl Biggest Chokers in Sports History
0 of twoscore
Traditional proverbs exist damned—it's all most whether you win or lose. Which means it's all about how you finish.
Fail to practise and so, and you'll be remembered as a choker. An athlete tin accurately be labeled equally a choker for ii reasons:
1. He or she routinely come up short in the biggest games or when the game was on the line. They weren't "clutch."
2. He or she wasn't a career choker, simply so famously blew it in a crucial game that the moment forever defines his or her career, fairly or non.
Non even Henry Heimlich could have helped these athletes. Be forewarned: This slideshow is accompanied by gagging noises and faces slowly turning blue.
To the chokes!
40. Phil Mickelson
1 of 40
You never desire this written about you lot:
In the 5-year span between 1999 and 2003, he had half dozen second-place or third-place finishes, and he holds the tape for the near second-identify finishes in U.Southward. Open history with five.
Or this:
A magician with cards and, on occasion, with every lodge in his large, black bag, Mickelson—a.k.a. Lefty, a.k.a. World No. ii, a.thousand.a. the Best Player Never to Have Won a Major—is currently pulling off the neatest trick of all.
Mickelson has won four majors in his career and is a fan favorite, and so he goes low on this list. Just it is undeniable that for years, he was known every bit a great golfer that couldn't win the large ane.
39. Matt Hasselbeck
ii of forty
Hasselbeck wasn't a career choker, but when he made this proclamation in the 2003 Wildcard Round against the Packers, well, he probably set himself up for one of the most embarrassing chokes of all fourth dimension.
And I'll never forget it.
38. Patrick Ewing
3 of 40
Ewing was derided for years in New York for coming upwards curt in the playoffs, to the signal that even Mike Lupica defended him.
He was a peachy player, merely when information technology came time to prove it in the playoffs, he rarely e'er did plenty.
Great histrion. Keen guy. But non clutch.
37. Karl Malone
4 of twoscore
Beak Simmons doesn't think he was clutch:
We're not accepting any Karl Malone arguments - he was an incredibly consistent player, but someone who could never make his team better when it mattered. We accept 17 years of evidence to back this up. I'm glad his stats were great, and I'one thousand certain we'll have people pushing his case in the years and decades to come, merely if you wanted to win a title from 1985 to 2000, Karl Malone would not take been ane of your commencement ten picks.
Yup, I think that pretty much sums it upward.
36. Michelle Kwan
5 of 40
For those of you lot not up-to-speed on your figure skating news, here was ESPN's accept on Kwan:
Though she has been generally considered to exist the world's best effigy-skater for the by five years, Kwan was twice upset past American teenagers in the Olympic Games -- first past Tara Lipinski in 1998 and so past Sarah Hughes earlier this year. In both cases, she was obviously tight and failed to skate anywhere near her best, declining to win fifty-fifty though the judges were clearly dying to requite the four-time earth champion the gold.
It'southward hard to call a woman who won a silver medal in 1998 and a bronze medal in 2002 a choker. But when you are judged as the best, anything less is deemed a choke.
35. Vladimir Guerrero
6 of 40
In 171 playoff at-bats over 44 games, Guerrero has managed simply two domicile runs and a .664 OPS.
To put that into perspective, his career OPS is .931.
Yikes.
34. Joe Pisarcik
7 of 40
Probably not fair to only put this one on Pisarcik, but he was the quarterback on the play who ultimately fumbled this one. Why they didn't take a knee, I'll never know.
33. Scott Boswell
viii of 40
I don't empathise much nearly cricket, but this was obviously a horrific choke. See for yourself on the video, and acquire for yourself in this explanation from The Guardian:
Two overs costing 23 runs isn't that rare in i-twenty-four hour period cricket only when they consist of ix wides - eight in the second over, including five on the bounce - then information technology is a rare feat indeed. Scott Boswell had been human of the match when Leicestershire beat Lancashire in the semi-concluding, so information technology was no surprise when he was selected ahead of Devon Malcolm for the Lord'south showpiece confronting Somerset. Simply under the pressure that comes with a major final Boswell'due south chest-on, circular-arm action disintegrated and Somerset cruised to victory. A month later Boswell was released from his contract.
That just sounds bad.
32. Gary Anderson
nine of 40
"He will always exist known as the guy who was a function of screwing up the Vikings trip to the Super Bowl, even though he had this magnificent flavor."
That pretty much sums information technology up. Then does this, from Sports Illustrated:
He never missed a field goal, hitting 39 straight. And he never missed an extra point, going 67-for-67. The showtime kicker in NFL history to go an entire season without a miss.
Until the biggest kicking of his career.
Amazingly, agonizingly, the person with more field goals than any kicker in NFL history, 420 for his career, hooked 1 barely wide left as Minnesota closed in on a trip to the Super Basin.
That kicking would take given the Vikings a 10-point lead late in the quaternary quarter and put the game out of reach. Instead, the Falcons collection for a late touchdown and won in overtime.
31. Ernest Byner
10 of 40
A brutal fashion to lose the 1987 AFC Title Game.
30. Patty Sheehan
11 of 40
This one hurt. From USWomensOpen.com:
At the Atlanta Athletic Club, it looked as if 1990 would finally exist the yr. Early in the 3rd round, Sheehan had a seemingly insurmountable 12-stroke lead over Betsy Rex. How could she lose? Only information technology was a wet week. Iii days of rain caused repeated delays and forced the field to play 36 holes the final day.
Sheehan, and then 36, was exhausted, and her concentration wavered. She played the last 33 holes in nine over par, relinquishing her lead and the title to King by a stroke.
29. Jim Joyce
12 of 40
Information technology was a terrible call, and information technology cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
At to the lowest degree Joyce was human plenty to admit as much.
28. LeBron James
13 of 40
You should probably read this commodity by Tom Haberstroh of ESPN written before Game half dozen of this year's NBA Finals. I like this stat:
They've found that James has scored simply 11 points in the fourth quarter in the Finals, which comes to an average of 2.2 points per game in that quarter, down from his average of 7.6 points in the previous three rounds this season.
Oh, and in instance yous were wondering near Game 6, CaniusHoops.com breaks that down for us:
In the 4th quarter of Game half-dozen, LeBron James went 3-5 for seven points (1-ii from downtown) with ane offensive rebound and 1 turnover. Not horrendous numbers. The well-nigh shocking number to me, nonetheless, is that in what was perhaps the biggest game of his career, the most talented basketball player on the planet only touched the brawl on 9-of-23 Heat possessions. 2 of his five shots came in agony fourth dimension (under two minutes left), while for the rest of the quarter, James seemed much more than interested in beingness a facilitator than a scorer.
And we oasis't even talked about his final game against the Celtics a season earlier in the playoffs. People may desire to see LeBron and Miami choke, only to this point, he'due south done nothing but given them their wish.
27. Alex Rodriguez
xiv of 40
Is Alex Rodriguez a choker, namely in the playoffs? The New York Daily News wondered the same thing:
He carried the Yankees to their 2009 earth championship with one of the slap-up postseason performances of all time, seemingly ridding himself forever of the label of October choker.
In the two years since, nevertheless, he has striking .180 over fifty at-bats, with two doubles, no home runs and six RBI. For his half-dozen Yankee postseasons other than 2009, A-Rod has hit .224 over 143 at-bats with four dwelling runs and 15 RBI.
Can you exist a choker if you were as proficient in 2009 (.365 boilerplate, .500 OBP, 15 runs, six home runs, 18 RBI, 2 steals, one Earth Series ring) every bit A-Rod was? Or was that an abnormality acquired by the sheer number of playoff appearances he has with the Yankees?
His numbers outside of his 2009 season don't lie. More oftentimes than not, A-Rod has been a postseason bosom with the Yankees.
26. Scott Norwood
15 of forty
On one hand, a 47-k field goal is no easy task.
On the other hand, Scott Norwood had the leg for the kick and had a adventure to go down in the history books equally the man who made one of the most clutch kicks in NFL history.
He didn't. The Bills lost their showtime of four Super Bowls, and history will always retrieve Norwood as the human who kicked it wide right.
25. Fred Chocolate-brown
sixteen of 40
Oh, he threw it to the wrong man! He threw it to Worthy!
We ever call back Jordan'due south shot. But Georgetown nonetheless had a hazard to win when Fred Brown of a sudden forgot what team he was playing for.
Pressure tin do funny things to people.
24. Brett Favre
17 of forty
Brett Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
He was besides a repeat choker in postseason play in the second half of his career.
There was the 2010 NFC Championship game, shown higher up. There was his terrible interception in overtime against the Giants in the 2007 NFC Championship. In that location was his overtime heave and interception in 2003 against the Eagles in an NFC Divisional game best remembered for Freddie Mitchell's reception on 4th-and-26.
Or you could betoken to his half dozen-viii playoff record after the Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996 and his 24 interceptions in those games.
Favre will go depression on this listing because of his Super Bowl victory and his numerous wins. But you can't deny that, in the second half of his career, Favre only wasn't very skillful in the biggest games.
23. Mark Teixeira
18 of 40
Mark Teixeira is putrid in the playoffs.
In 31 games and 121 at-bats, he is hitting .207 with three home runs, 13 RBI and a .322 slugging percentage.
Ugh.
22. Lolo Jones
19 of xl
Go get 'em in 2012, Lolo!
21. Alex Gonzalez
20 of 40
Talk about Steve Bartman all you want—the Cubs blew a iii-0 lead AFTER his incident, and all because the Cubs gave up eight runs that inning.
And Alex Gonzalez could have ended the whole affair after merely one run scored if he had fielded that play cleanly and turned ii.
Instead, the Cubs lost, and Bartman became one of the infamous and unfairly-labeled goats in sports history.
20. Gerry Thomas
21 of 40
This one is so infamous, the game itself is remembered as "Wide Right I."
Florida State came into the game ranked elevation overall, and Miami was No. two. After this victory, Miami would go on to win a National Championship, while Florida State lost to Florida, finished eleven-2 and was ranked fourth in the nation.
19. Dan Mowrey
22 of twoscore
(Get to 12:40 on the video)
Poor Florida State—Wide Correct Two happened the next year.
This time, Miami was No. two and Florida State No. 3 heading into the contest.
Both teams would finish eleven-1, though Miami's alone loss would come in the Sugar Basin against No. 2 Alabama in a game for the National Championship. Oddly plenty, Florida Country (No. two) would stop the twelvemonth ranked higher than Miami (No. 3).
18. Curtis Strange
23 of forty
Curtis Strange probably wants to forget the 1995 Ryder Cup. From Sports Illustrated:
He remembers standing in the 16th fairway with a half dozen-iron in his easily and Nick Faldo in the trees. All he had to do was hit the green to become dormie with ii holes to play. He knew that the half-point would win the Ryder Cup for the U.S. and finally justify Lanny Wadkins's controversial decision to make him a helm'south pick.
Of course, Foreign pushed the shot far right, and he was shot himself later that. Every bit was the American team.
Information technology was also the beginning of the end for the U.S. team, which after melted in the heat of a white-hot Ryder Cup Sunday. Strange failed to go upwards and downwards from right of the dark-green at the 16th, then missed short par putts at the 17th and 18th holes to lose to Faldo. Strange wasn't the just American to slip up, but due to the way the terminal matches unfolded, and because he went 0-3 overall as a helm's selection, he was cast as the Man Who Lost the Ryder Loving cup after the U.Due south. bowed to the underdog Europeans fourteen-13.
17. Darius Washington, Jr.
24 of 40
Here's your context, from ESPN:
He seemed on his manner during his freshman flavor of 2004-05, when he averaged 15.4 points per game and a squad-all-time three.eight assists, good plenty to earn Conference United states of america Rookie of the Year and freshman All-American honors.
But reality gave him its offset hard bite that season in an agony-of-defeat moment few who witnessed information technology will ever forget. Downward two with no time left in the concluding of the 2005 C-USA tournament, a 19-twelvemonth-old Washington stepped to the line with three gratuitous throws at his disposal. Hit all three, and Memphis would upset 6th-ranked Louisville and advance to the NCAA tourney. Hit two, and the game would keep in overtime. Hit one or none, and the Tigers' NCAA tournament dreams would be over.
Information technology's hard to exist too hard on a freshman in a high-pressure situation. Merely if y'all're on the court, it'southward all about results.
In other words, a choke is a choke.
xvi. John Carney
25 of 40
How could he exercise that?
fifteen. Kyle Brotzman
26 of forty
The video does a bang-up job of summing this one upward.
And man, oh man, you've really gotta experience for the child.
14. Dan O'Brien
27 of 40
Gee, Reebok, retrieve you maybe got a little ahead of yourselves?
Reebok congenital a huge campaign around Dan O'Brien and fellow decathlete Dave Johnson leading upwardly to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Whoops. At the Olympic trials, O'Brien passed on lower heights in the pole vault, missed 3 times at xv-9 and was out of the Olympics.
Here's why O'Brien isn't higher on this list—he won gold for the decathlon in the 1996 Atlanta Games. So while he undoubtedly choked in historic manner in 1992, he at to the lowest degree wasn't a career choker and redeemed himself in 1996.
xiii. Nick Anderson
28 of 40
(Go to the 4:38 marking on the video)
It was Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals when Nick Anderson had his chance to exist a hero. Except of form that wasn't what happened. From the Orlando Sentinel:
Anderson stepped to the line with 11 seconds left and the Magic up three. He missed both free throws, but got his rebound and was fouled again. He missed those, too. Houston ended up tying the game and winning in overtime.
If Anderson had hitting whatever of them, the whole series confronting the Rockets could have been altered.
Instead, the Magic got swept, and are still looking for that first victory. Anderson never quite got over missing those free throws, and he recently told Sentinel colleague Mike Bianchi, "Information technology afflicted the way I played. It afflicted the way I lived."
12. Scott Hoch
29 of twoscore
(Become to the vii:18 marking on the video)
It was sudden-death playoff at the 1989 Masters, and all Scott Hoch needed to do to defeat Nick Faldo and win the tournament was sink a two-human foot putt. It would take redeemed his bogey on 17 or the birdie he missed on 18 that would have also won him the tournament.
And he missed it. And Faldo went on to win the tournament.
Newspaper men everywhere probably lamented the fact that his last proper name wasn't spelled "Hoke." Then, they would have had a headline gifted to them from the gods themselves:
You Tin't Spell "Choke" Without "Hoke."
Every bit it were, I'g certain "Hoch Job at the Masters" probably sufficed.
11. Chris Webber
thirty of 40
Yous can't talk about Chris Webber without talking about this timout.
It will follow him forever.
10. Asafa Powell
31 of twoscore
(Asafa Powell isn't really in this video. That's the bespeak. He does get a mention at the 1:52 marker, notwithstanding.)
Somehow, Asafa Powell has simply finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in the past two Summertime Olympics. Why is that a surprise? Consider this (from The Sun):
He has broken the 10-second barrier legally more times than whatever other athlete — 66 — with a personal best of 9.72secs.
And Powell knows that people are now equating him to a choker.
Powell admitted: "Other people accept been saying that when I get to the championships I freeze up and don't exercise what I'm supposed to practise.
"My coach has said information technology's a mental trouble but for me a modest office of it was mental and a small part was physical because I kept getting injured every year.
To be the best, y'all have to beat the best in the biggest races. Anything else is only a fancy statistic.
ix. Lindsey Jacobellis
32 of xl
"2d to last jump, and she goes down on a showboat pull a fast one on!"
It'south no pocket-size accomplishment to earn a silver medal, which Jacobellis did at the 2006 Turin Games. But when a gold medal is guaranteed, and y'all lose it because you pull a trick late in the race that you don't state?
That'southward a choke, ladies and gentlemen.
8. Jean Van De Velde
33 of 40
When this video is the second matter that comes upwards in a Google search for Jean van de Velde, well, you know he is remembered for his asphyxiate.
And information technology was one of epic proportions. Needing merely to shoot a double-bogey half-dozen at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, the following happened instead, forcing a three-way playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie.
Lawrie won the playoffs. Jean van de Velde, tragically, won only infamy for his meltdown on the concluding hole.
seven. Jana Novotna
34 of 40
This lucifer in 1993 wouldn't be the terminal choke for Novotna. From Franz Lidz of Sports Illustrated in 1998:
2 years later on swooning and sobbing, "No-No Novotna, the lady from Chokeoslovakia," as she was chosen past a San Francisco sports columnist, squandered an even more than commanding lead in the third round of the French Open up. She had vi lucifer points for a six-7, half-dozen-4, six-0 win over unseeded teenager Chanda Rubin but blew them all, and then missed three more at 5-4 earlier losing the terminal gear up 8-6. Novotna merely made things worse by telling the press, "I didn't really experience I had the friction match under control." At v-0, 40-0 in the concluding set! Say what?
Last summer Novotna stood once more at the threshold of a breakthrough. The scene was again the final at Wimbledon; the opponent this time was 16-year-old Martina Hingis. Novotna outhit and outran Hingis and won the first set six-2. Hingis squared the match with a six-three win in the second before Novotna broke to a 2-0 lead in the deciding set. Novotna was a point away from 3-0 when Hingis took over, sweeping the next v games and winning the set, friction match and title 6-3. This time the culprit seemed more a strained intestinal muscle than a mental clutch, but the design, alas, was all too familiar.
Novotna had a great career and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. But on the biggest stage, she frequently came up pocket-size.
half dozen. Donovan McNabb
35 of 40
On one hand, McNabb is the greatest quarterback in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles.
On the other paw, McNabb's tape in NFC Championship games (1-4) and the Super Bowl (0-ane) doesn't exactly advise he came up big in the biggest games.
five. Tony Romo
36 of 40
If y'all want an interesting look at why Romo may not exist equally much of a choker as is often suggested, cheque out this article past Scott Kacsmar of Cold, Difficult Football Facts.
Kacsmar makes a compelling argument that Romo is comparable in the clutch to a quarterback that rarely is derided for his play at crucial moments, Philip Rivers. Still, in games where "Romo had the ball in the fourth quarter or overtime and was either tied or trailing by ane-viii points" in the past ii years, Romo is 0-5 (10-18 for his career).
And one of Romo'south defining moments volition e'er exist this botched snap against Seattle in 2006.
I'one thousand a firm believer that Romo is often given a worse rap than he deserves. That being said, he hasn't exactly proven himself to be a consistently clutch performer in his career, and as of now, he deserves to exist on this list.
4. Byung-Hyun Kim
37 of xl
Byung-Hyun Kim most cost the Diamondbacks with ii blown saves in the 2001 Globe Series against the Yankees. From Sports Illustrated:
Scott Brosius saved the Yankees with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth, then Alfonso Soriano singled home the winning run to give New York a iii games-to-two border.
The Yankees were ane out away from defeat for the second straight night when they victimized Kim again.
A day earlier, information technology was Tino Martinez who tagged him for a two-out, two-run shot in the ninth so Derek Jeter homered in the 10th to win it.
The Diamondbacks would get on to win the side by side two games and have the serial, but the image of Kim hunched over the mound after blowing his 2nd salvage in Game 5 volition remain a part of World Series lure.
3. J.R. Hildebrand
38 of 40
Y'all take to feel just horrible for J.R. Hildebrand. One turn away from winning the 2011 Indy 500, and that happens.
Ouch. Simply ouch.
ii. Bill Buckner
39 of 40
Y'all know that he famously permit a grounder through his legs in Game vi of the 1986 World Series.
Merely what accept yous been ignoring about the entire state of affairs?
For one matter, Boston still had a gamble to win Game 7, which they failed to do.
And he was a pretty solid role player who finished his career with 2,715 hits and a .289 batting boilerplate. He wasn't great, but he wasn't some slouch, either.
Even so, he is on this list because—though he never deserved the scorn he received in Boston for years—he absolutely should have made that play. He choked. And off-white or not, that moment has since divers his career.
one. Greg Norman
40 of 40
The Shark often sunk himself.
There was 1986, when Norman led all four majors after 54 holes and but came abroad with a victory at The Open up Championship, including his famous falter at the Masters. In that tournament, Norman led through the first nine holes on Sunday, blew his pb, stormed dorsum to necktie the leaders on the 17th hole and promptly bogeyed the 18th.
In that location was the post-obit year at the Masters, when he went into a three-style playoff with Steve Ballesteros and Larry Mize. After Ballesteros was eliminated, Norman put himself into position for a birdie. Information technology was all for nada—Mize striking a miraculous 45-m chip and Norman missed his birdie, losing the tournament once again (with a bit more bad luck this time).
And so there was the 1996 Masters, in which Norman came into Sun with a half dozen-stroke lead on Nick Faldo. He promptly shot a 78 for the day and lost to Faldo by 5 strokes, who shot a 67.
My name is Timothy Rapp, and I put the "grrrr" in Swagger.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/918802-the-50-biggest-chokers-in-sports-history
Belum ada Komentar untuk "Never Play Again With a Choker"
Posting Komentar