By Jordan Long
Today it’s Halloween and time for a spooky edition of Sports-Scoop.com. I’ve watched many sporting events in my lifetime. Many ended in wins and a few championships. Some have haunted me and I will never forget them.
Back in 1997, the Broncos headed on the road on November 16th against Kansas City. The Broncos entered the game at 9-1 while Chiefs were 7-3. Kansas City is always a tough place to play because of their crowd and the cold weather.
It was a back and fourth game. The Broncos were behind at halftime 14-13. The Broncos kept scoring and Kansas City answered. Late in the game the Broncos had a slim one-point lead. Kansas City moved the ball on their last possession to the Broncos’ 37-yard line. Their kicker, Pete Stoyanovich, attempted a game winning 54-yard field goal. The ball barely went over the crossbar with no time left, giving Kansas City the win and ultimately the division title and a bye week in the playoffs.
To this day I can never watch this play because of the emotions I felt after the game. I was stunned. Luckily, at the end of the season it was all worth it because the Broncos defeated the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 32. It was their first Super Bowl Championship and they became the second Wild Card team to ever win a Super Bowl.
The very next year the Broncos won their first 13 games. The Broncos went on the road against the New York Giants, seeking a 14th straight win. The Giants were 5-8. I thought this was an easy win because the Giants weren’t a great football team. I forgot this was the NFL. The Giants played the Broncos tough.
The Broncos had a slim 16-13 lead in the 4th quarter. The Giants drove down to the Broncos 37 yard line. That is when Kent Graham found Amani Toomer wide open for a touchdown to take the lead with 57 seconds left in the game. John Elway tried to bring the Broncos back, but only got to the 30-yard line before time ran out. This ended the hope of going undefeated. I still can’t believe they lost.
In baseball, the Chicago Cubs had a 3-2 series lead on the Florida Marlins in the NLCS in 2003. I knew the Cubs had a decent baseball team. Heading home to Wrigley Field, I was hoping they would end this series. In game 6, they were leading the Marlins 2-0 going into the 8th inning.
With one out a harmless foul ball went into the stands. Steve Bartman saw the ball coming and tried to catch it. Cubs’ left fielder Moises Alou tried to catch it too but Bartman was in the way. Alou argued that it was fan interference. Had that been the case, there would be two outs. The umpire disagreed and there was only one out. After that the Marlines scored 8 runs in that inning. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I thought for sure they were going to win the game before the 8th inning started and go to the World Series but lost that game 8-3. I figured the next night they would come back and win. They had game 7 at home and lost that one 9-6. Florida went on to win the World Series.
These are a few of the games that will always haunt me. Happy Halloween.
Leave a Reply