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Worst choke job in Pitt sports history?

Pitt Uconn during the Vonteego Cummings days . Uconn i think was ranked #1.

At the field house, up 4.....9 seconds left AND THE BALL.....

Pitt manages to piss away a signature moment.

But the greatest choke of all time was Greg Norman blowing a big stroke lead on Sunday at the Masters
 
I would have to say SMF predicting a national championship or bust for the soccer team, calling them the Alabama of soccer, was one of the more epic choke jobs in Pitt history.
Final Four
Elite 8

Eliminated in PKs in a game that ended in a draw.....without their best player, who didnt play most of the season. I was right. Have you gotten help yet for your disability?
 
If you never impersonated Kirk Gibson during a whiffle-ball game, hobbling to the plate, nearly dying after a big cut, and then rounding second with a fist pump after hitting a home run, were you even a baseball fan?
It wasn’t the Bucs, so Pitt79 has never seen it😄
 
one of my favorite swings watching growing up was the Hawk, Andre Dawson. Cant describe it but he did something weird with his back foot and his swing was just fun to watch.

Bagwell and Sheffield's stances were cool to watch. Craig Counsel's stance made me want to jump thru the tv and punch him, his wife and his kids in the face.
Not the same sport but Jamaal Wilkes shooting free throws was bewildering to watch
 
1993 Penguins losing in playoffs to the Islanders is it for me. They were the two time defending champs looking for a 3 peat and this team was better then their previous two championship teams. Let’s not forget the 1992 team swept through the previous years playoffs going 8-0 in the conference and stanley cup final. This team was even better. They had so many hall of famers that you needed two hands to count them, the team was on the 17 game win streak and it would have been longer except the season ran out on them, they had the best player in the history of the game in his prime, and the Islanders were without their best player.

I guess they though they could sleepwalk through the round. They were wrong.
Agreed on this. The islanders had no business winning even one game of the series let alone four of them.
 
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48-14 and its not even close. PSU destroys our championship dreams in epic fashion after we were smashing them 14-0 on our home field no less. It destroyed the program for 30 years.
Correct answer. Again, none even close to that disaster. Sad to say I was in attendance. Houston gets an honorable mention.
 
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Correct answer. Again, none even close to that disaster. Sad to say I was in attendance. Houston gets an honorable mention.
I have to disagree. There are probably a thousand negative terms that would accurately apply to that game, most involving expletives … but I don’t think ‘choke’ is a valid one. They weren’t a significantly lesser team than Pitt; this wasn’t like 13-9. And while Pitt did take that initial lead, it wasn’t that huge of a lead, and there was a great deal of time left.
 
Plus I haven't watched a baseball game on TV other than the Pirates playoff games 2013-15 since 1992. I kind of remember that though, I did see replays of it.
It’s ok. I only saw replays of it myself. In general I’m far more like you regarding watching pro or major college games that don’t feature my favorite teams. For me, those seasons effectively end when my team is done. I’ll steal a glimpse at the football and basketball NC games here and there, and some of the Super Bowl ( which is more of an event than a game). But NHL or MLB, emphatically no.

I’m particularly bitter about the NHL after the recent Crosby fiasco so those (expletives) can kiss my tuchas. And I only tune in to the Pirates if I hear they may be in the process of some outrageous epic fail, like when they were on the verge of being no-hit for the second straight game the other day (they ruined it by getting a hit…idiots…that would have been Cooperstown material for sure).
 
No no no no. 48-14. Followed by the loss to Allan Pinkett and the Domers in 82.
48-14
1982 loss to ND
Wanny kicks it to Gilyard

When you dive deeper, the ND loss might have been the most devastating. True, PSU knocked Pitt from #1, but the Panthers recovered o win their bowl game, climbed to #1 again in 1982 and did not lose again until that fateful day against the Irish. Turnovers and gaffes killed Pitt that afternoon against a middling ND squad coached by a boob. From that point, Pitt never saw #1 again. That was the day the earth fell from under Pitt's feet.
 
Agreed on this. The islanders had no business winning even one game of the series let alone four of them.
While the Pens certainly should have won the series, they did struggle with the Islanders that year. Only went 4-3 during the season. Would have been nice if the series went that way.
 
How about this one. Two words: Barry Goheen. Best team in the country and Evans refused to foul back when it was 2 shots for a foul on a 3 point shot. With a certain guy named John Calipari as his assistant who told him to foul. Evans told him to eff off it was his team. They win this game there may never be the Danny and the Miracles. Asked about it if there was 1 team in the country you didnt want to play he said without a doubt Pitt. If I'm right they beat Kansas in the Maui classic earlier in that year by about 30.
 
48-14
1982 loss to ND
Wanny kicks it to Gilyard

When you dive deeper, the ND loss might have been the most devastating. True, PSU knocked Pitt from #1, but the Panthers recovered o win their bowl game, climbed to #1 again in 1982 and did not lose again until that fateful day against the Irish. Turnovers and gaffes killed Pitt that afternoon against a middling ND squad coached by a boob. From that point, Pitt never saw #1 again. That was the day the earth fell from under Pitt's feet.
I’ve always felt the exact moment the downfall started was when Julius Dawkins fumbled the ball at midfield after a first down catch. Pinkett then busted a long TD run to stretch a 3 point lead into a 10 point lead.
 
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1993 Penguins losing in playoffs to the Islanders is it for me. They were the two time defending champs looking for a 3 peat and this team was better then their previous two championship teams. Let’s not forget the 1992 team swept through the previous years playoffs going 8-0 in the conference and stanley cup final. This team was even better. They had so many hall of famers that you needed two hands to count them, the team was on the 17 game win streak and it would have been longer except the season ran out on them, they had the best player in the history of the game in his prime, and the Islanders were without their best player.

I guess they though they could sleepwalk through the round. They were wrong.
What happened in that series was the Neanderthal NHL saw no problem with letting a team of goons clutch grab and hold a far more superior team so as to negate the advantage.
 
1987-88 Hoops team letting Vanderbilt's Barry Goheen shoot the 3 that sent the game to overtime in their NCAA loss. That was the best Pitt hoops team of all time....3 Parade HS All Americans...Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Bobby Martin.....loaded but they couldn't overcome Paul Evans coaching...
 
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Can’t answer for Pitt but I definitely know the answer for WVU 🤪

I honestly wouldn’t have any idea what would be number 2. We have historically overachieved (given recruiting shortfalls, no recruiting area, etc) and have a history of beating who we should beat and losing to superior teams..with the occasional upset.

I would probably venture to say that WVU has the biggest gap between number 1 and 2….in terms of how big the gag job was. And you’ll never convince me that something else wasn’t at play. Perhaps I’m in denial because we rarely “pitt”……but boy was that a massive choke.
 
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Pitt Uconn during the Vonteego Cummings days . Uconn i think was ranked #1.

At the field house, up 4.....9 seconds left AND THE BALL.....

Pitt manages to piss away a signature moment.

But the greatest choke of all time was Greg Norman blowing a big stroke lead on Sunday at the Masters
Yep. I was there. Threw my water bottle full of chew spit, cap on, at El Amin when he hopped up onto the scorer's table. Missed him though.
 
Can’t answer for Pitt but I definitely know the answer for WVU 🤪

I honestly wouldn’t have any idea what would be number 2. We have historically overachieved (given recruiting shortfalls, no recruiting area, etc) and have a history of beating who we should beat and losing to superior teams..with the occasional upset.

I would probably venture to say that WVU has the biggest gap between number 1 and 2….in terms of how big the gag job was. And you’ll never convince me that something else wasn’t at play. Perhaps I’m in denial because we rarely “pitt”……but boy was that a massive choke.
This has to be the most honest post that someone from another fan base has posted on this board. There has to be some kind of award for this.
 
48-14
1982 loss to ND
Wanny kicks it to Gilyard

When you dive deeper, the ND loss might have been the most devastating. True, PSU knocked Pitt from #1, but the Panthers recovered o win their bowl game, climbed to #1 again in 1982 and did not lose again until that fateful day against the Irish. Turnovers and gaffes killed Pitt that afternoon against a middling ND squad coached by a boob. From that point, Pitt never saw #1 again. That was the day the earth fell from under Pitt's feet.
The ND loss for sure. At home, ranked #1.

Up 6-3 about to have great field position and Casper fumbles the punt. ND recovers and goes up, 10-6. Flynn got hurt early in the game or else he could've broken the game open with a return.

Another play from that game I always looked at was Dawkins' fumble. The chance to go up 19-17 or 23-17.
 
I had to go to the box score to completely understand your point. I guess losing a game when you are winning 6-5 going into the top of the 9th is pretty common. But losing 19-6 is not. Still, what difference does it really make if we had lost 7-6 or 19-6?

In 1992, the Pirates were winning 2-0 against the Braves going into the bottom of the 9th and ended up losing 3-2. I guess had the game been at home, we could have lost 13-2. LOL!
You mean the game that Satan came to when he collected the soul of the Pirates organization after making the agreement with Danny Murtaugh in 1971? Satan never forgets a contract. Chuck Tanner was such a nice guy that Satan took a pass in 79.
 
You mean the game that Satan came to when he collected the soul of the Pirates organization after making the agreement with Danny Murtaugh in 1971? Satan never forgets a contract. Chuck Tanner was such a nice guy that Satan took a pass in 79.

LOL -- but what happened with Murtaugh in 71?
 
The ND loss for sure. At home, ranked #1.

Up 6-3 about to have great field position and Casper fumbles the punt. ND recovers and goes up, 10-6. Flynn got hurt early in the game or else he could've broken the game open with a return.

Another play from that game I always looked at was Dawkins' fumble. The chance to go up 19-17 or 23-17.

The ND game infamously featured "Duke's play." It was a rough day for Bethel Park's Rick Dukovich. (I thought it was Rick who fumbled the punt.)
 
Pitt Uconn during the Vonteego Cummings days . Uconn i think was ranked #1.

At the field house, up 4.....9 seconds left AND THE BALL.....

Pitt manages to piss away a signature moment.

But the greatest choke of all time was Greg Norman blowing a big stroke lead on Sunday at the Masters

The Khalid El-Amin game. I was there. He jumped up on the scorer’s table to taunt the crowd and got pelted by about 100 pieces of trash.
 
Can’t answer for Pitt but I definitely know the answer for WVU 🤪

I honestly wouldn’t have any idea what would be number 2. We have historically overachieved (given recruiting shortfalls, no recruiting area, etc) and have a history of beating who we should beat and losing to superior teams..with the occasional upset.

I would probably venture to say that WVU has the biggest gap between number 1 and 2….in terms of how big the gag job was. And you’ll never convince me that something else wasn’t at play. Perhaps I’m in denial because we rarely “pitt”……but boy was that a massive choke.
Actually, WVU has 2 of them, and both of them were against Pitt!
Wanny played in one, and coached the other one!
 
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