13 Levels of Losing Revisited

Almost a month ago, March 28th to be exact, I painfully watched as my alma mater lost in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.  The University of Pittsburgh's 78 to 76 loss to Villanova was one of the most heartbreaking losses I have ever endured as a sports fan.  My Pitt Panthers had come back from blowing a lead to tying the game in the final seconds.  However Scottie Reynolds layup with 0.5 seconds left gave the Wildcats the lead for good and broke my heart at the same time.

I remember just being stunned and leaving the living room where I was watching the game with my girlfriend and my parents, realizing that my chances of my school reaching their first Final Four was over.  It was a crushing blow at the time and still stings as I and many other Panther fans had high expectations for the program this year.  However, as a sports fan reflecting upon the game I have come to realize that I had the opportunity to witness one of the best NCAA tournament games ever.  Still that realization does not take away from the fact the loss still hurts, stings, or whatever adjective you would use to describe a painful loss.

Whenever I experience a loss such as the aforementioned Pitt Elite Eight Exit I am constantly reminded of what may be my favorite sports article of all-time.  That article written by the talented ESPN Page 2 Writer entitled " The 13 Levels of Losing" breaks down the various heartbreaking losses we experience as sports fans.  After this horrific loss I had to refer to my favorite article as a guide to see exactly which level/category this loss belonged in.  

I truly believe that Simmons covered every kind of possible heartbreaking loss in this article and as a fan of the New York Mets, New York Knicks, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Panthers I truly believe I have experienced at least 75 percent of the 13 possible levels of losing.  Pitt's loss to Villanova surely fits the definition of a Level II loss which is the second worst sports loss that any fan can suffer:

(From Simmons's Article)

Level II: The Stomach Punch
Definition: Now we've moved into rarefied territory, any roller-coaster game that ends with A) an opponent making a pivotal (sometimes improbable) play, or B) one of your guys failing in the clutch ... usually ends with fans filing out after the game in stunned disbelief, if they can even move at all ... always haunting, sometimes scarring ... there are degrees to the Stomach Punch Game, depending on the situation ... for instance, Sunday's Kings-Lakers game and Monday's Celts-Nets game featured agonizing endings, but they weren't nearly as agonizing as Cleveland's Earnest Byner fumbling against Denver when he was about two yards and 0.2 seconds away from sending the Browns to the Super Bowl).

Best Example: Wouldn't it have to be the Titans-Bills playoff game from '99, when the Bills kicked the alleged game-winning field goal in the final seconds, then Tennessee pulled off that miracle Wycheck-to-Dyson lateral play for the game-winning TD (on the kickoff, with no time remaining)? Not only was that a Top 5 Stomach Punch game, it doubled as the greatest Gambling Moment of all-time (since Tennessee ended up covering by a half-point). That was un-beeeeeeeeeeeeeee-lievable.

Personal Memory: Magic draining that baby sky hook to topple the Celts in Game 4 of the '87 Finals, capping off a Celtics collapse and preceding Bird nearly saving the game at the buzzer (he missed a 25-foot prayer by about 1/100th of an inch). Fifteen years have passed and I still haven't fully recovered from that chain of events. Unreal.

Yes, a stomach punch! That's exactly how I felt as I stared at the television in disbelief.  It was if someone had just punched me in the stomach after watching a great Big East battle.  If you knew that kind of loss was coming trust me nobody would have watched...it was just too painful!! I couldn't even talk after the loss as I sat in silence.  Damn was all that I could say and it is all that I could say as I am still haunted my the visual of Reynolds layup dropping through the basket.  

The beauty of sports is the joy we feel when our teams win but also the possible hurt we feel when our teams loss.  That is what makes sports great and that why we as fans watch.  However, the next time I watch my team play in a big game with everything on the line I think I am going to protect my stomach!