June Top Ten Part 1

Jim's top ten for June was in honor of the World Cup's greatest upsets. There are way too many great sports upsets to narrow down to a single list, so I've come up with the top ten sports events that upset me personally. In no particular order, these ten moments really annoyed, flustered, or just plain ticked me off...

1. 2004 Ford 400 - Kurt Busch wins the NASCAR championship. Despite losing a tire and almost running head-on into the pit road wall, Busch came back to finish 5th in the season's final race and maintain an 8 point advantage over Jimmie Johnson for the championship. For those of you not into NASCAR, Kurt Busch is the racing equivalent of Dennis Rodman. Here's a photo of him acting like himself.

2. 1982 World Series - Cardinal beat Brewers in 7 games. I have relatives in Milwaukee, so I was cheering for the Brewers and I couldn't figure out why all my friends were going for the Cards. Harvey's Wall Bangers let me down big time. I was humiliated at being the only person at school on the losing side. It actually made me cry. Hey, I was only 10 at the time.

3. 1983 ALCS - Orioles beat the White Sox. It was my first taste of post-season baseball in Chicago, and the first of many let-downs. I went to three games in one week in August at the old Comiskey and the intense excitement in the stands was thrilling to experience.

4. 2005 Sun Bowl - Northwestern blows a 22-0 lead to UCLA.

5. 1996 Rose Bowl - NU comes back from 24-7 deficit to take a fourth quarter lead only to lose 41-32 to USC. The Wildcats were the better team and fell victim to a couple coaching mistakes.

6. 1984 ALCS - Cubs lose to Padres. I hate Steve Garvey.

7. 2003 NLCS - Cubs lose to Marlins. I still hate Steve Garvey.

8. 1991 NHL Playoffs - Blackhawks lose to Norths Stars. The Hawks were the best team in the league; the Northstars snuck into the playoffs on the final day of the season and were the 16th seed. I was only slightly relieved when the Stars went on to eliminate both the number 2 and number 3 seeds to reach the Stanley Cup finals.

9. 2000 World Series - Yankees vs. Mets. It's the World Series, so turning it off is not an option. But how do you decide? I really can't stand the Mets, so I went with the Yankees.

10. 1997 Nebraska beats Missouri in OT. The Cornhuskers tied the game on a ridiculous pin-ball type touchdown pass as time ran out in regulation. One Nebraska player admitted afterward to cheating on the play, but that didn't stop the voters from giving the unbeaten Huskers a share of the national title with also unbeaten Michigan. Nebraska is one team I forgot to mention in my top ten most despised sports teams - they're worse than the Mets or Steve Garvey.