If you're a reader of this blog, you know that Wesley and I tend to be "glass half full" kind of guys, particularly when it comes to BC sports. However, that's not to say that we don't get frustrated and down like the "wah-wah's" now and then.
These are the top ten worst losses that have happened in the 2009-10 year to date in our eyes.
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1W) Losing to Harvard (Basketball)
Harvard is a good school... for academics, typically sports they aren't .
Losing to a rival Boston team, let alone Harvard in Basketball, in an anticipated up year in Boston College Basketball, is especially hard.
2M) Losing at Virginia Tech (Football)
Listen, I know that VT was the better
team this year and I shouldn't have necessarily been expecting a win playing in Blacksburg, but for me personally, this day was total hell. I was in the stands rocking my Matt Ryan jersey (because if you're a BC fan, and you're in Blacksburg, you kind of have to) and my girlfriend and I have "Silver Hokie" level tickets which means we were with the adults with dough and away from the trash....or so we thought.
Getting heckled all game long by a drunk hokie fan who just repeatedly yelled "Matt Ryan sucks" any time BC did anything poorly or VT did anything well (both of which occurred often) was one thing, it was when the cackling hag directly behind us started pointing her finger and laughing in my face that I just about lost it.
We got our asses handed to us on the field and I got mine handed to me in the stands. I'll never go back to Blacksburg for a game. People talk about how great the fans are...that's probably true if you never beat the Hokies. But if your team has a couple big wins against them, beware. They welcome losers, not winners in Blacksburg.
3W) Losing to Clemson in Death Valley (Football)
This was a hard one. Honestly, Probably one of the hardest loss I have ever attended. And not just by the loss itself, but the game was just overall hard to watch and almost like a slow train wreck. I honestly don't feel like watching this loss on the Tele nearly compares to watching this one in person.
4M) Losing to Maine at HOME (Basketball)
This year's basketball team is a mess
in progress. The BC fans who never were Rece Rice fans and claimed that the team would be better off without him are long since gone.
Despite wins against Miami, Providence, Michigan, UMass, and South Carolina, the Eagles have managed to take the tailpipe vs. some of the worst competition they've faced.
Maine, yes FUCKING MAINE comes into our house and beats BC. Despite averaging 5'3", BC decides to launch something like 40 three point shots. Eagle in Atlanta had a nice rant on it. Not scoring a single bucket in the final couple of minutes, the Eagles roll over and die for MAINE. Easily the most embarrassing loss in the history of the program under Al Skinner....and that's saying something. Al's had some BAD losses.
5W) Losing to USC (Emerald Bowl in Football)
2M) Losing at Virginia Tech (Football)
Listen, I know that VT was the better
team this year and I shouldn't have necessarily been expecting a win playing in Blacksburg, but for me personally, this day was total hell. I was in the stands rocking my Matt Ryan jersey (because if you're a BC fan, and you're in Blacksburg, you kind of have to) and my girlfriend and I have "Silver Hokie" level tickets which means we were with the adults with dough and away from the trash....or so we thought.Getting heckled all game long by a drunk hokie fan who just repeatedly yelled "Matt Ryan sucks" any time BC did anything poorly or VT did anything well (both of which occurred often) was one thing, it was when the cackling hag directly behind us started pointing her finger and laughing in my face that I just about lost it.
We got our asses handed to us on the field and I got mine handed to me in the stands. I'll never go back to Blacksburg for a game. People talk about how great the fans are...that's probably true if you never beat the Hokies. But if your team has a couple big wins against them, beware. They welcome losers, not winners in Blacksburg.
3W) Losing to Clemson in Death Valley (Football)
This was a hard one. Honestly, Probably one of the hardest loss I have ever attended. And not just by the loss itself, but the game was just overall hard to watch and almost like a slow train wreck. I honestly don't feel like watching this loss on the Tele nearly compares to watching this one in person.
4M) Losing to Maine at HOME (Basketball)
This year's basketball team is a mess
in progress. The BC fans who never were Rece Rice fans and claimed that the team would be better off without him are long since gone.Despite wins against Miami, Providence, Michigan, UMass, and South Carolina, the Eagles have managed to take the tailpipe vs. some of the worst competition they've faced.
Maine, yes FUCKING MAINE comes into our house and beats BC. Despite averaging 5'3", BC decides to launch something like 40 three point shots. Eagle in Atlanta had a nice rant on it. Not scoring a single bucket in the final couple of minutes, the Eagles roll over and die for MAINE. Easily the most embarrassing loss in the history of the program under Al Skinner....and that's saying something. Al's had some BAD losses.
5W) Losing to USC (Emerald Bowl in Football)
You know, unfortunately this Bowl loss felt very similar to the previous years in Nashville. I truly felt like BC had a shot, they definitely fought hard, but in the end it just wasn't enough. If BC really wanted to be seen as a great contender, and have great momentum going into the 2010 season this was definitely thier opportunity.
6M) Losing Denver in the Denver Cup (Hockey)
I'm actually going to put the whole Denver Cup "performance" here. The Denver folks actually have a set schedule rather than a bracket, which is somewhat strange unless you're pairing two heavy favorites to meet
in the second day, therefore creating a defacto "win and advance" scenario. The fly in the ointment comes if one those prohibitive favorites decides to lose.
Enter BC.
BC had expected to be in a bit of a rebuilding year in 2010, but York has shot the Eagles up the charts all the way to #5 in the USCHO and INCH rankings, nothing to sneeze at. Denver is also a top team this year, carrying a #2 overall ranking.
Denver dispatches with Nebraska-Omaha and now the Eagles beat up St. Lawrence. Uh, wait. Actually BC gets throttled by St. Lawrence, 5-2, and limps into what should have been the championship game (because of the strange scheduling, it still was for DU, but not BC).
BC comes out vs. DU flying. Just whipping around the rink. Okay! You think. Our boys came to play! Your positive thinking is rewarded by a couple of nice goals by the Eagles. First a trash follow up, then later a shorty where a stop deek jolts the fantastic DU goalie out of his jock for one in the net. Ah, the dreaded two-goal lead.
BC enters the 3rd period up 2-0. Beating DU in DU for the Denver Cup (err...a share?) would be HUGE and put BC well on it's way for a nice seed should they finish strong in the Hockey East.
Then Denver scores.
BC answers! 3-1 Eagles. Nice try, Pioneers!
Denver scores. Denver scores. Denver scores.
Eagles lose 4-3. Brutal.
7W) Losing to Notre Dame in South Bend (Football)
OUCH!
6M) Losing Denver in the Denver Cup (Hockey)
I'm actually going to put the whole Denver Cup "performance" here. The Denver folks actually have a set schedule rather than a bracket, which is somewhat strange unless you're pairing two heavy favorites to meet
in the second day, therefore creating a defacto "win and advance" scenario. The fly in the ointment comes if one those prohibitive favorites decides to lose.Enter BC.
BC had expected to be in a bit of a rebuilding year in 2010, but York has shot the Eagles up the charts all the way to #5 in the USCHO and INCH rankings, nothing to sneeze at. Denver is also a top team this year, carrying a #2 overall ranking.
Denver dispatches with Nebraska-Omaha and now the Eagles beat up St. Lawrence. Uh, wait. Actually BC gets throttled by St. Lawrence, 5-2, and limps into what should have been the championship game (because of the strange scheduling, it still was for DU, but not BC).
BC comes out vs. DU flying. Just whipping around the rink. Okay! You think. Our boys came to play! Your positive thinking is rewarded by a couple of nice goals by the Eagles. First a trash follow up, then later a shorty where a stop deek jolts the fantastic DU goalie out of his jock for one in the net. Ah, the dreaded two-goal lead.
BC enters the 3rd period up 2-0. Beating DU in DU for the Denver Cup (err...a share?) would be HUGE and put BC well on it's way for a nice seed should they finish strong in the Hockey East.
Then Denver scores.
BC answers! 3-1 Eagles. Nice try, Pioneers!
Denver scores. Denver scores. Denver scores.
Eagles lose 4-3. Brutal.
7W) Losing to Notre Dame in South Bend (Football)
OUCH!
I will say, I liked the Display of Shinskie's heart in this game. Yes he through a basket full of INTs. But I did like the display he put on. I may be in the minority of one here.
The hardest part of this loss was we 200% should have won. And I don't want to hear that ND isn't a rival, because well they are. Get over it !
8M) Losing to St. Joe's at the Paradise Jam (Basketball)
In what would be the first loss of the year
and sign of things to come, the Eagles lead the Hawks at halftime and built a lead before completely falling apart in every way imaginable. St. Joe's stepped up late and ran off a ton of points while we crapped ourselves.
Similar to the Denver Cup where the officials set up the big teams to play in the second round, BC dies early and instead of facing a quality Purdue team, play South Dakota State and win. But don't get too excited, Eagles fans...that win means you're playing the kids from Northern Iowa (they lose that game in convincing fashion).
9W) Josh Haden transferring (Football)
I don't know if the casual fan even noticed he was gone. But the die hards definitely see the effect. Montel Harris is a beast, but taking upwards of 40 carries a game is downright scary to me! Haden offered a good relief to Harris running the ball this much, and also gave the defenses a bit of different look as a skat back vs a power back. I really think the loss of Haden to the football team was large.
10M) Losing to URI at home (basketball)
First let me say this...Rhode Island isn't
a bad team. They've got a shot at the tourney this year in the A-10, which isn't by any means a bad basketball league.
All of that aside, BC should beat the Rams, particularly in Conte Forum.
The reason that this game makes my list is that while they lost to Rhode Island, it was the fact that they were playing Rhode Island the very next game after losing to Harvard for the second straight year. What you wanted to see out of this team was fight and anger and to just shove it down the throats of any team they met next.
They met URI, came out flat, and got their asses handed to them. Again.
RECAP
Wesley drafted: Harvard, Clemson, Notre Dame, USC, Haden
BCMike drafted: Virginia Tech, Maine, Denver, St Joes, URI
8M) Losing to St. Joe's at the Paradise Jam (Basketball)
In what would be the first loss of the year
and sign of things to come, the Eagles lead the Hawks at halftime and built a lead before completely falling apart in every way imaginable. St. Joe's stepped up late and ran off a ton of points while we crapped ourselves.Similar to the Denver Cup where the officials set up the big teams to play in the second round, BC dies early and instead of facing a quality Purdue team, play South Dakota State and win. But don't get too excited, Eagles fans...that win means you're playing the kids from Northern Iowa (they lose that game in convincing fashion).
9W) Josh Haden transferring (Football)
I don't know if the casual fan even noticed he was gone. But the die hards definitely see the effect. Montel Harris is a beast, but taking upwards of 40 carries a game is downright scary to me! Haden offered a good relief to Harris running the ball this much, and also gave the defenses a bit of different look as a skat back vs a power back. I really think the loss of Haden to the football team was large.
10M) Losing to URI at home (basketball)
First let me say this...Rhode Island isn't
a bad team. They've got a shot at the tourney this year in the A-10, which isn't by any means a bad basketball league.All of that aside, BC should beat the Rams, particularly in Conte Forum.
The reason that this game makes my list is that while they lost to Rhode Island, it was the fact that they were playing Rhode Island the very next game after losing to Harvard for the second straight year. What you wanted to see out of this team was fight and anger and to just shove it down the throats of any team they met next.
They met URI, came out flat, and got their asses handed to them. Again.
RECAP
Wesley drafted: Harvard, Clemson, Notre Dame, USC, Haden
BCMike drafted: Virginia Tech, Maine, Denver, St Joes, URI
Posts
We welcome you back to Blacksburg any time! Love how you called us Trash... There are 64000 people in the stands just because you get heckled by one doesn't mean its a horrible place to play. You should have heard what the Nebraska fans were saying about Lane... "their favorite non conference place they have played in 10 years" That is straight from the Roanoke Times (VT's local paper)... talk about sour grapes.
ReplyDeleteJeff, please re-read the original post (click on the hag url). You'll find that I know many, MANY hokies and think highly of most of them. Hell, I'm engaged to one. However, even SHE can tell you from the way I was treated at B'Burg why someone wouldn't want to come back.
ReplyDeleteNebraska fans are the best traveling and by FAR the most hospitable fans in the nation. They thank everyone. They do everything the right way. I am WELL aware that they sent VT letters complimenting you on the new "Hokie Respect" campaign and it's success (but as my girl points out, if things were always great, there would not be a reason to create such a program).
You also have no history with Nebraska. You also beat Nebraska. I'm sure you treated them just fine and they had no problem with that.
You have a history with us and, like it or not, BC has handed it to VT on more than one occasion when BC was the heavy underdog. So, I understand you guys aren't going to be throwing a parade in a BC fan's honor while I'm at Lane Stadium; but sour grapes it's not.
I was treated extremely poorly while I was there, outside of the friends I was with.
Instead of deflecting and pointing the finger back at me, Jeff, why not go out of your way to be kind to the next visitor you have at Lane and perhaps eventually the poor reputation Lane Stadium has for visiting fans will eventually go away.
I should point out that by "trash" I mean the super cheap, beyond intoxicated section that EVERY school has. This was not intended to be a slight at VT, and frankly, I'm surprised it read that way for you.
ReplyDeleteMaine was one of the worst BC basketball losses I've ever seen. Every bit as bad as Harvard last year, and a good bit worse than Harvard this year.
ReplyDelete