Here’s my list. I stopped at “6” – but not because that was all the moments that came to mind. To my mind, these simply were the worst. And after reaching the devil’s digit, it seemed to me a spurious waste of time to go any further. Of my six killer moments of shock, awe, grief and communal self-flagellation beyond the fact, two are from UH; two are from the Houston Astros; and two are from the Houston Oilers. Three had to do with football; two sprang from baseball; and one other (the biggest one) came from basketball, without it emanating from any of the “Choke City” moments in Houston Rockets history. I’m sure all of you hotter Rockets fans could, and will, find a way to work our pro dribblers higher on your own lists of “worst Houston moments in competitive athletics. In the meanwhile, here’s my painful entourage of self-indulgent sports suffering, my “6 Worst Days in Houston Sports History:”
(1) April 4, 1983, NCAA Basketball Division 1 Championship Game: North Carolina State 54 – University of Houston 52.
1983 NC State Coach Jimmy Valvano: The Face We Are Forced to Remember.
With the score tied 52-52 and seconds left for one more possible shot, NC State inbounded the all to Derek Whittenbourg on the side in the UH half of the court. Phi Slamma Jama UH center “Akeem” Olajuwon hung back to defend the basket, but suddenly, something happened to distract him from that most important job. – The incoming ball trickled off the fingers of Whittenbourg as he attempted to catch in the inbounds pass. It almost looked like a free ball. It was enough to make Akeem feel he could leave his place and pursue the play. He left his post, advancing toward Whittenbourg and the bouncing away ball. Just as quickly, Whittenbourg pursued and snatched up the ball before anyone else could get it and, just as quickly, he arched a high unmeasured shot at the basket from 30 feet out. The ball fell short, but there was no Olajuwon in the paint to either snatch or bang the ball away so the game could go to overtime. Instead, lanky Lorenzo Charles of NC State raced into the moment, grabbing the air ball lob and slamming it into the hoop as the clock ticked down to the end of the game. The NC State Wolfpack had rallied from a double-digit deficit to defeat the Houston Cougars, 54-52, at the buzzer, setting in motion a stream of soon and forever consequences for blowing a game we should have won going away: The obvious penalties begin with one that fellow sufferer Bob Hulsey recalled the other day when I was writing about another local heartache loss: (a) We are forced to remember the name and image of Coach Jim Valvano running up and down the court in Albuquerque in post-game celebration. They show the dad gum clip every year in prelude to the drama of the NCAA Finals; and (b) this loss, more than any other factor, is the probable reason that UH Coach Guy Lewis steadily has been ignored for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, a real shame in itself.
(2) October 15, 1986, Game 6, 1986 NLCS: New York Mets 7 – Houston Astros 6. (16 innings) (Mets win NL Pennant, 4 games to 2.
Mike Scott never got to see Game 7 of the 1986 NLCS.
Going into the top of the 9th, the Astros led the New York Mets, 3-0, behind a dominant effort by starter Bob Knepper. Everything seemed aligned for a Houston victory to tie the Series at 3-3 in games won, forcing the Mets to pee in their pants at the thought of facing nemesis Mike Scott of the Astros in the deciding championship game the next day.
Then, as all these stories today bind together on common ground, here came the “then it happened” part.
The Mets got to Knepper and the Astros in the 9th for 3 runs that tied the game and hurdled things into extra innings. The Astros tied the game again in the 14th on the now famous homer by Bill Hatcher in the 14th – and they almost rallied to tie the game again in the bottom of the 16th. With Glenn Davis running at second and Kevin Bass at the plate, Mets reliever Jessie Orosco leaned in to try to quell all hope. He did it. He got Bass to swing at one in the dirt and all hope was done.
There would be no Mike Scott in Game 7. There would be no tomorrow for the Astros. There would be no first pennant for Houston for another 19 seasons down the road. The knife-twists of championship game losses are often hard to see when they first happen, but they do tend to produce the images of the mind that seem to most often come out on nights down the road when we can’t sleep anyway. It’s a state of mind call hell.
(3) January 1, 1979, The Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 35 – Houston Cougars 34.
Kris Haines of ND allegedly catches tying TD pass from Joe Montana (with PAT) in-bounds as time expires.
I was there. Along with family and friends that included by best bud and loyal ND fan from New Orleans, Don Marquis. After surviving an icy road slide through the air off I-10 and over a ditch on the way home to Houston, we shall remember that time as our survival of the Ice Bowl. The game temp was 8 degrees with the strong wind chill from the north taking us down to 18 degrees below zero. Sitting in the stands first required an ice breaker on each metal seat, plus, you had to drink your coffee fast. My first cup froze in my gloved hand within two minutes. After that, I fast learned. It was gulp first. Talk later. Long story short. Cold and the powerful north wind ruled all scoring under chalk gray skies If anyone scored, they had to be moving the ball south. And those facts are the tide behind this story. We simply didn’t know it until the very end. With 7:37 left in the game, the Cougars led Notre Dame by 34 12. ND QB Joe Montana was still playing lame from effects of the flu and I was even beginning to feel compassion for my ND friend from New Orleans. He had come all the way from New Orleans to witness his team play and apparently lose under these sorry conditions. Watch out for competitor sympathy. It will get you every time. We forgot. ND may have been losing, but they had the wind at their backs. That’s when Montana woke up and the breaks also started falling ND’s way. With time running out, Montana had brought ND back to a 28-34 deficit – and the Irish had the ball inside the UH 20 with time for one more play. That’s when Joe Montana found receiver Kris Haines in the end zone, allegedly in-bounds as he made a falling away catch on the far right sideline on the last play of the day. The PAT gave the Irish a 35-34 incredible comeback win, sealing Joe Montana’s mystique in his last college game and heading him off to the Pros for a Hall of Fame career as football’s Houdini. There was no National Championship on the line that frozen day in Dallas. It just hurt bad for Cougars to watch a victory over fable Notre Dame slip so tortuously away on the last play of the game.
(4) October 12, 1980, NLCS Game 5: Philadelphia Phillies 8 – Houston Astros 7 (10 innings) (Phillies Win Pennant, 3 games to 1.)
The returning spirit of Little Joe Morgan was not enough medicine for the Astros against the goblins of 1980.
1980 was the year of double duty damnation in Houston Astros history. A day earlier, the Astros had lost another winnable heartbreaker to the Phillies by a score of 5-3 in ten innings. It was best three of five games proposition back in 1980 and the Astros had home team advantage again in Game Six. Things really looked good going into the top of the 8th. The Astros had a 5-2 lead with Nolan Ryan pitching. How could we lose? Right? Then it happened. The Phillies rallied through several flukey plays to score 5 runs in their eight for a 7-5 lead. The Astros did rally to tie the game, but the Phils won it, 8-7, in ten. It would be another six years before the Astros could again break our hearts near the finish line. (5)
(5) January 3, 1993, NFL AFC Wild Card Game: Buffalo Bills 41 – Houston Oilers 38 (OT).
1993: Bills Celebrate 41-38 Over Oilers in NFL Playoff History
The game was at Buffalo, but the Oilers were mangling the Bills. Early in the 3rd quarter, Houston score the first touchdown of the second half to extend their ridiculous lead to 35-3. Even on television, you could see the old “LovYaBlues” beginning to celebrate on the sidelines. They weren’t chest-bumping back then, but the high-fiving fools were out in full blast. Then it happened. Led by back-up QB Frank Reich, the Bills began to battle back like Popeye on a quick-fix spinach high. First they finally scored a TD. Then they did it again. And Again. And again – and as the Oilers kept going three-and-done. A friend called to ask a rhetorical question: “Can you believe what we are seeing?” By game’s end, the score was tied 38-38. The Bills then won it in OT by 41-38. And I had to call my friend back and ask: “Can you believe what just happened?” Silence reigned. After the game, I had to drive down to the landfill. I had to see if I cold find the rest of my heart, or, that is, the parts that were left of it from earlier burns by the Buffs, Astros, Cougars, and Rockets.
(6) January 6, 1980: NFL AFC Championship Game: Pittsburgh Steelers 27- Houston Oilers 13.
Replays showed Renfro was in, but the refs called him out-of-bounds.
Driving in the second half, but trailing 20-13, Dan Pastorini of Oilers found receiver Mike Renfro in the back of the end zone for an apparent tying touchdown. That’s what the replays seemed to clearly show, anyway, but there was no appeal process in place back then. The field refs called Renfro out-of-bounds. End of story.
Except for one thing. The call just seemed to take the wind out of the Oilers’ sails. They lost old “MO” – even giving up another TD to the home club Steelers – enough to clear the way for a 27-13 Pittsburgh victory on its way to another Super Bowl win.
The disappointment did inspire the famous Bum Phillips “We’re going back next year and kick the door in” speech, but it never happened. Houston was shredded again.
Hope Survives. The Rockets have won a couple of NBA championships since these bleaker days and the Astros have been to their first World Series. Our new pro football Texans are 2-0 in 2011. And all those other fans who go crazy over sports in which hardly anybody ever scores are excited about soccer’s Houston Dynamo and their new downtown stadium.
We’ll get there, if we have to get there in various scattered pieces. Nobody ever said that glory comes cheap.
Tags: 6 worst days in Houston Sports History
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The Pecan Park Eagle 
September 20, 2011 at 7:17 pm |
Bad moments all, Bill, But so subjective for each of us. And where we were in life is always a factor.
For me, the Oilers meltdown to the Bills will always be the worst, and I think most people would agree if you did a wide sampling poll. I’d put UH-NC State, second. And the 1980 NLCS was much worse to me than 1986 because it was win and go, not still one game away. Plus I personally think the Astros were the best team in 80, while in 86, I think the best team ultimately won the NLCS, as painful as that is to say. There was also an Oiler loss to Elway that ranks up there as a stomach turning day in my life.
As for your Coogs loss in that Cotton Bowl, That was during my time at Texas. There was not a lot of love lost in our household for UH in the late 70s. Don’t forget the Horns and Earl Campbell had lost the national championship and an undefeated season to Notre Dame only two years earlier. Now THAT was heartbreak. Hook ’em.
September 20, 2011 at 8:42 pm |
Each of those was legendary, indeed. I could toss in the playoff loss in Denver where the Oilers succumbed to another John Elway miracle finish back in the early ’90s and the Walt Weiss play that robbed Tony Eusebio of a possible series-changing hit in the 1999 NLDS in Atlanta or Roy Oswalt’s meltdown that eventually cost us Game 3 of the 2005 World Series in 14 innings.to get us up to nine but stopping at six was probably a good thing.
Now you’re going to have to come up with seven most amazing victories so we won’t all feel so cursed.
September 22, 2011 at 6:58 pm |
The Oiler loss to Buffalo killed the Oilers in Houston. I and many others decided that between their constant choking and Bud Adams’ demands that we’d had it with them. That was one of the bitterest decisions I’ve ever made, right up there with jettisoning the Astros if they go to the AL. It was only fitting that the Oilers go to the Superbowl the year after they left, but who cares? Between their welcomed departure and the establishment of the Texans, my favorite NFL team was whoever was playing the dam Cowgirls.