All-time most embarrassing losses and sports failures

1958. That is the last time Italy, the proud footballing nation with a rich history, failed to qualify for a World Cup. At least that was the case until the Azzurri were unable to eliminate a 1-0 aggregate deficit versus Sweden in November 2017. Goalkeeper and icon of the sport Gianluigi Buffon will never again feature for his country on the world's biggest stage, and the Italian Football Federation unceremoniously showed manager Gian Piero Ventura the exit door soon after the embarrassing result.  

Thankfully for Bill Buckner, the Boston Red Sox ended the supposed Curse of the Bambino and allowed him to have some peace roughly two decades after his infamous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets. Fans of the Amazins probably have the call of the play memorized: "Little roller up along first. Behind the bag. It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!"

The Boston Bruins won the first three games of the 2010 quarterfinal series versus the Philadelphia Flyers, but the B's couldn't notch a last victory over the next four, two of which were played at home. As John Kreiser of NHL.com explained, the Flyers became only the third team in NHL history to complete the comeback from a 3-0 series deficit. 

Not to be outdone by the Boston Bruins, the San Jose Sharks became the fourth NHL team in history to blow a 3-0 series lead when the Sharks lost four straight to the Los Angeles Kings during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Four years after that embarrassing occurrence, the Sharks still haven't shaken their reputation for being playoff chokers. 

In fairness to Roberto Baggio, his penalty on what was the final kick of the 1994 World Cup Final between Italy and Brazil would have only extended the shootout had he hit the back of the net. That his strike sailed well over the target makes it an embarrassing moment that is replayed in highlight reels every four summers. 

The Seattle SuperSonics, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference at the start of the 1994 NBA Playoffs, seemed well on their way to the next round of the postseason after beating the No. 8 Denver Nuggets in two straight games. Denver clawed back to win the next three, however, making Seattle the first No. 1 to fall to a No. 8 since the league moved to that playoff format in 1984.

As Nick Schwartz of For The Win/USA Today explained, Ronda Rousey entered her bantamweight championship defense against Holly Holm at UFC 193 as a -2000 favorite according to Bovada. Holm not only notched the surprising victory — she dominated and embarrassed Rousey, bloodying the then-champion before delivering a knockout kick that will be replayed in UFC highlight packages for years to come. Little did we know that fateful night was the beginning of the end of Rousey's mixed martial arts career. 

The Columbus Blue Jackets were underdogs for their opening-round series against the Washington Capitals during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Wild Card seed seemed poised to record an upset after taking the first two contests on the road. Disaster then struck Columbus, as the Jackets dropped two consecutive home fixtures and, ultimately, four straight games en route to blowing the series. Winning two out of three at Nationwide Arena would have been enough to see Columbus through to the following round.  

Maybe there is no more dangerous lead in a championship series than 3-1. The Cleveland Indians took three of the first four games of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, and the Tribe had a pair of opportunities to win the title at Progressive Field. Chicago rallied from behind to claim the franchise's first World Series since 1908, while the Indians are in the middle of a drought that began back in 1948. 

Casual fans couldn't be blamed for not knowing Appalachian State was a college, let alone one with a football program, when the Mountaineers faced the Michigan Wolverines at the Big House in September 2007. Michigan had an opportunity to avoid the embarrassing loss and convert a game-winning 37-yard field goal in the waning moments of the contest, but the visitors blocked the try to secure the stunning 34-32 win. 

Fernando Torres, featuring for Chelsea in September 2011, hit the back of the net in a game against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but few remember his tally because of his indescribable miss. A clever through ball played Torres into the box unmarked, and he did well to get around the goalkeeper and give himself an unguarded target. Somehow, the striker pushed his attempt wide of the left post for what Ian Ladyman for the Daily Mail accurately referred to as "one of the worst misses in Barclays Premier League history."

On the first play following the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, a poor snap into their own end zone forced the Broncos to take a safety. Fans around the world could have stopped watching from there. Seattle posted 36 unanswered points, in total, before Denver managed to find the end zone late in the third quarter, but that touchdown didn't erase the embarrassment caused by a 43-8 loss. 

What can you do in 13 seconds? Tie your shoes? Fold a shirt? That's all the time Conor McGregor needed to floor Jose Aldo in their featherweight championship unification bout at UFC 194 in December 2015. Aldo dropped like a house of bricks after suffering a left-handed shot to the jaw, and a pair of hammer fists guaranteed Aldo the fastest title defeat in UFC history at the time.

Roy Hodgson wasn't the first-choice manager of some England fans, but the Three Lions shouldn't have needed Sir Alex Ferguson to guide them past Iceland in the 2016 UEFA European Championship Round of 16 showdown. An English side filled with recognizable Premier League names surrendered a pair of goals to footballers relatively unknown to casual supporters en route to crashing out of the tournament, and the 2-1 loss remains one of the more infamous and disgraceful results in the country's history. 

England's woes this decade didn't begin at Euro 2016. Two years prior, the Three Lions were knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup for the first time since 1958. Defeats to Italy and Uruguay coupled with Costa Rica defeating the Azzurri sent England home early, a fate current manager Gareth Southgate will look to avoid at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 

In August 2017, Brazilian center back Dante told CNN his country's 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semifinal was "very painful" and "hard to get over." That blowout loss not only occurred on the game's biggest stage — it happened in Brazil, as the host nation completely fell apart after surrendering a goal to Thomas Muller in the 11th minute. Home fans at the Estadio Mineirao wept as Germany put Brazil to the sword, and the victors went on to defeat Argentina in the World Cup Final. 

It's difficult to rank this embarrassing occurrence because it's still ongoing. The mighty Dutch that won runners-up medals at the 2010 World Cup and secured third place at the 2014 World Cup failed to qualify for Euro 2016, and things went from bad to worse after a catastrophic qualifying campaign landed the Oranje out of the 2018 World Cup. Holland's next opportunity to right the ship will come in the form of Euro 2020 qualifying beginning in March 2019. 

Eventually, a No. 1 seed was going to fall to a No. 16 during the NCAA Tournament. The University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers (who knew what UMBC meant on March 1, 2018?) not only defeated Virginia for the most surprising upset in NCAA basketball history, but trounced Virginia to the tune of 74-54. Perhaps most embarrassing of all for Virginia is that the score was tied at halftime. UMBC outscored the Cavaliers 53-33 in the final 20 minutes of play. Ouch. 

Even those who don't actively follow the Premier League on a weekly basis may remember Leicester City began the 2015-16 season as 5,000-to-1 underdogs to win the league. You may not realize the Foxes had the fourth-lowest wage bill (£48.5m) in the English top flight that campaign. To compare, Chelsea and Manchester United both had wage bills over £200m. Money doesn't always buy class.

Fans of the New England Patriots will always remember their beloved team completed the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime. The rest of the NFL community, however, won't let the Falcons forget about blowing a 25-point lead on the final Sunday of the season. You don't have to look far for "28-3" memes, and those jokes probably aren't disappearing anytime soon. 

You can set your watch to the sun rising in the east, water being wet and Cleveland fans reminding anybody who will listen the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead with unanimous Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry in the lineup during the 2016 NBA Finals. While there's no shame in losing to a side featuring LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the Warriors did drop three straight games, two of which were played at home. That 73-9 regular-season record doesn't look so special these days. 

David Tyree's acrobatic "helmet catch" and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning connecting with wide receiver Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown may come to mind when you think of the final minutes of Super Bowl XLII. Remember, though, that the previously unbeaten New England Patriots, a team that won 18 consecutive contests ahead of that Super Bowl, took a 14-10 lead with less than three minutes remaining, and also that cornerback Asante Samuel dropped what should have been a game-clinching interception. 

Being the first, and thus far the only, MLB team to lose a series after going up 3-0 hurts. The New York Yankees suffering this collapse at the hands of hated rivals the Boston Red Sox stings all that much more. Losing the final two games of the series at Yankee Stadium, and the 10-3 blowout defeat in Game 7, added salt to the open wound. 

As Paul Campbell of The Guardian wrote, Buster Douglas was a 42-to-1 underdog when he stepped into the ring to face Mike Tyson on Feb. 11, 1990 in Tokyo. Douglas survived an eighth-round knockdown, and he dropped the "baddest man on the planet" with a combination of head shots that earned him the heavyweight championship of the world and, probably, boxing's biggest upset. Following the bout, Tyson and his camp were criticized for taking Douglas and the occasion far too lightly. Tyson never fully regained the aura he possessed heading into that encounter. 

The United States obviously isn't a powerhouse in men's international football. That may always be the case. Nevertheless, the USMNT failing to punch a ticket to the 2018 World Cup following one last humiliating defeat in CONCACAF qualification — this one to Trinidad and Tobago — goes down as the biggest and most embarrassing failure in the program's history. The players as well as managers Jurgen Klinsmann and Bruce Arena  all deserve blame for this shameful occurrence, one that set U.S. Soccer back four years, if not more.