Which Athlete Broke Your Heart?

I justify the Armstrong era by the same means. I bet if you somehow retroactively knew on all 180-some riders in the Peloton in, say, 2002, you couldn't find a dozen clean riders.

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For this question, John Elway is a nominee. Super Bowl XXXII was probably the last time a sporting event made me cry. But that was one game, and the Packers already had one in the bag (and would get another since). If anything, the Packers have always employed the full-time heartbreakers. It's hard to believe that they've had dependable and elite quarterback play for just about every game they've played since I was 12.

David Ortiz is definitely a nominee. In the big four, the Tigers are the only one of my teams I've never seen win a championship (I was an infant in 1984 - sorry ahead of time to maumann for that reference), but thanks to Randy Smith, they were several shades of terrible throughout my youth all the way up to 2006, my ninth and final semester of college. That said, the way that the 2006 and 2012 World Series ended was so anticlimactic there wasn't a lot to regret. They just played like shit. But in 2013, the Tigers might have had their most talented team and if Benoit is even remotely reliable, they're probably going back to Detroit up 2-0 and that series is in the bag [that said, people often overlook that the grand slam happened in Game 2 - it didn't lose the Tigers the series, it just gave the Red Sox daylight]. They could have very easily screwed up the Fall Classic again, but I've got to think the third time would be the charm.

 

Jack Clark.

 

The Philadelphia Stars when they moved to Baltimore. That was the first seed planted in my lifelong hatred of Maryland.

Also, through no fault of his own, Randall Cunningham for blowing out his knee in 1991. That was the window for the Gang Green Eagles to win a Super Bowl.

 

Not for nefarious reasons but for stupidly getting himself killed:

Davey Allison

 

Not for me, but my cousins in Minnesota: Kirby Puckett.
His whole career he just seemed to be somebody to feel good about ... then he wasn't.
They can still talk about the great playing moments of his career, but then they have to sheepishly quiet down.
Kinda the same thing as Pete Rose and OJ Simpson, on a smaller scale.

 

As a kid, I enjoyed watching Lenny Dykstra play. He just seemed like a kid himself on the mid-80s Mets who played hard, got his uniform dirty, and helped them win. Probably my last childhood baseball hero.

Then he just became a huge mess.

 

In that vein, Lance Armstrong.
During his rise to glory and battles with cancer, his story seemed to be terrific, one of those "almost too good to be true" deals.
Greg LeMond, of course, grumbled for some time that Armstrong was cheating, but I think people kind of blew that off as grouchy-old-man sour grapes and also on the grounds, "ah well, everybody in cycling cheats to some extent," and I don't think most people would have been utterly shocked if Armstrong turned out to be blemished, not quite the immaculate spotless knight ... but holy shit. It was all a fake. Everything. He essentially destroyed the whole sport.

 

Gerry Thomas, wide right.

 

He destroyed the boom he had created. But cycling has rebounded and is bigger than ever.

 

In the whole category of the USFL, fans in and around Michigan all had a sense of heartbreak when Alfred Taubman, owner of the Michigan Panthers, sold out to (and combined with) the Oakland Invaders after the second season.
The Panthers had won the first USFL championship of course, then lost an exciting OT playoff game in season two, they had a young, well balanced team (no gaping holes) and gave every indication they would be contending, if not a championship team, as long as the USFL remained a functioning entity.
THEN CAME FATFUCK. Also of course the reason the Stars fled Philly. Pretty much about 80 percent the USFL went down in flames.

 

No, it's not. During the booming glory days of Lance, the TdF dominated major cable and even broadcast television programming when it was on. It's been kicked down to niche cable and streaming coverage.

 

That’s more about TV realignment than cycling. TDF this year was USA for live stages the first week, Peacock+ was live after that and NBC had coverage on the weekend. NBC’s Premier League matches are on the same setup - some on USA Network, more on Peacock+ and one match on NBC.

Also, cycling wasn’t going to dominate anything in the US once Americans weren’t winning. And cycling is bigger than just the TdF. Gravel racing is huge in both interest in the pros at the front and participation among regular Joes. Our local charity gran fondo started in 2002 and had record participation this year.