Your "Worst Game Ever"

[Jim Mullin]

There's an interesting thread at cisfootball.org about accounts of folks "worst game ever" that they have witnessed or in some cases participated in.

In some cases, it's "the biggest letdown ever" or the biggest "blown lead" ever. Experiencing games like these usually deepen, not break, the resolve of supporters.

What's yours?

[korey&dante4ever]

Bc at winnipeg 2010.

It usually takes me a few hours and no later than the next morning to get over a regular season loss. I remember that my cage was rattled for 3+ days over this one.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in the 4th qtr plus overtime. It stung

[KnowItAll]

if you are talking results as opposed to the whole game

88 grey cup
76 grey cup


reg season games where the lions just sucked the whole game quickly fade away from my memory.

there were many games where dave ritchies game time decisions really irked me, but I cant remember them now. I guess thats a good thing.

[sj-roc]

As far as biggest blowout I ever attended that I can recall, straight off-hand... Calgary at BC, it was either 97 or 98 in the depths of the doldrum years. Final score was 55-9 Calgary, with Lui kicking 3 FGs to account for all of our scoring, including two from 50+ yds.

I just looked it up to verify: it was a Thursday game, 1998/08/20, attendance was a whopping 15,008. This was around the time when coaches like Buono and Paopao were putting team travel expenses on their own personal credit cards.

It was also the second in a series of five consecutive home Lions games that saw decreasing attendances, culminating in a record low attendance of 12,256 for the Lions. I don't know about any of you guys but I was at all five of these games:

1998/07/30 (Thu).....Wpg 13 @ BC 20.....15,726
1998/08/20 (Thu).....Cgy 55 @ BC 9.......15,008
1998/09/05 (Sat)......Mtl 26 @ BC 15......14,408
1998/09/19 (Sat)......Edm 27 @ BC 21.....13,380
1998/09/26 (Sat)......Ham 31 @ BC 34.....12,256

[Big Time]

For me, the 2004 Grey Cup game BC vs Toronto stands out as the worst, most incomprehensible loss in franchise history. Regular season is regular season. I can move past a good old fashioned whipping like last week because everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Flush it down the toilet and move on.

What absolutely KILLS me about the 2004 Grey Cup game was that the Lions did it to themselves. Worst coaching strategy in a championship game I have ever seen. A vastly more talented team walked away empty handed due to one incomprehensible decision after another. The kicking strategy, the defensive strategy, the refusal to put Casey Printers in. The Lions coaching that day failed in all facets of the game. The Lions basically gift wrapped a championship to the Argos for reasons that have never been explained. I'm still angry about it today and it was almost ten years ago.

[Bosco]

As far as biggest blowout I ever attended that I can recall, straight off-hand... Calgary at BC, it was either 97 or 98 in the depths of the doldrum years. Final score was 55-9 Calgary, with Lui kicking 3 FGs to account for all of our scoring, including two from 50+ yds.

I just looked it up to verify: it was a Thursday game, 1998/08/20, attendance was a whopping 15,008. This was around the time when coaches like Buono and Paopao were putting team travel expenses on their own personal credit cards.

It was also the second in a series of five consecutive home Lions games that saw decreasing attendances, culminating in a record low attendance of 12,256 for the Lions. I don't know about any of you guys but I was at all five of these games:

1998/07/30 (Thu).....Wpg 13 @ BC 20.....15,726
1998/08/20 (Thu).....Cgy 55 @ BC 9.......15,008
1998/09/05 (Sat)......Mtl 26 @ BC 15......14,408
1998/09/19 (Sat)......Edm 27 @ BC 21.....13,380
1998/09/26 (Sat)......Ham 31 @ BC 34.....12,256

Jeez....I was at all of those games and I'm surprised the attendance was THAT big!

Those were the days when season tickets were not required as you could pretty much purchase a cheap ticket and sit anywhere.

[sj-roc]

As far as biggest blowout I ever attended that I can recall, straight off-hand... Calgary at BC, it was either 97 or 98 in the depths of the doldrum years. Final score was 55-9 Calgary, with Lui kicking 3 FGs to account for all of our scoring, including two from 50+ yds.

I just looked it up to verify: it was a Thursday game, 1998/08/20, attendance was a whopping 15,008. This was around the time when coaches like Buono and Paopao were putting team travel expenses on their own personal credit cards.

It was also the second in a series of five consecutive home Lions games that saw decreasing attendances, culminating in a record low attendance of 12,256 for the Lions. I don't know about any of you guys but I was at all five of these games:

1998/07/30 (Thu).....Wpg 13 @ BC 20.....15,726
1998/08/20 (Thu).....Cgy 55 @ BC 9.......15,008
1998/09/05 (Sat)......Mtl 26 @ BC 15......14,408
1998/09/19 (Sat)......Edm 27 @ BC 21.....13,380
1998/09/26 (Sat)......Ham 31 @ BC 34.....12,256

Jeez....I was at all of those games and I'm surprised the attendance was THAT big!

Those were the days when season tickets were not required as you could pretty much purchase a cheap ticket and sit anywhere.

Sometimes you didn't even have to buy a ticket. True story I've told before but bears repeating... In 1996, I was ambling down Robson from the bus stop on Granville, on the way to get a ticket at the door. By the time I reached about Hamilton or so, someone stops me, "Hey, you going to the Lions game? Here, you can have my ticket... free!" Lower deck, ~50yd line, right behind the visitors bench, about halfway between the front row and concourse exit (row L or so I'm guessing). Goes for what, almost $100 these days?

Those attendances were announced numbers (actual count of bodies through the gate may well have been much less) and prob included some sales to no-show corporate clients (which might actually be how I got that freebie, come to think of it). In those days you could have dumped a bagful of Lions tickets on the Beatty Street sidewalk, come back the next day and see the tickets would still be there all right, except someone would have made off with the bag.

[Passaglia]

2005 West Final. Just the overall collapse after 11-0, coupled with the fact Grey Cup was here and they were trying to avenge '04 loss.. Just a bitter pill to swallow that took me a long time to get over..

2007 West Final also was terrible but in retrospect the Riders were due and wanted it more.

[Big Time]

2005 West Final. Just the overall collapse after 11-0, coupled with the fact Grey Cup was here and they were trying to avenge '04 loss.. Just a bitter pill to swallow that took me a long time to get over..

2007 West Final also was terrible but in retrospect the Riders were due and wanted it more.

Man, this thread is like opening up old wounds.

I had forgotten about the 2005 West Final. There was much to hate about that game. The league allowed Edmonton to "trade" their backup QB Jason Maas to Hamilton for RB Troy Davis, but allowed them to "keep" Maas until the offseason. Davis filled the exact hole that Edmonton needed to fill. Maas helped lead the Esks to come from behind victories in both the semi-final and western final that year. This remains one of the most tainted and ridiculous things the league has ever allowed.

To top that off, the Esks managed the astonishing feat of not getting called for a single penalty the entire game, including a blatant and absolutely ridiculous non-call pass interference on Geroy Simon on the last play of the game that would have given the Lions first and goal from the 1 yard line.

I remember feeling at the time that the league did everything it could to ensure an Edmonton victory that day.

2007 wasn't quite so bad as the Riders pretty much dominated the Lions throughout the game. Besides, that one Grey Cup victory will forever have an asterisk next to it due to the Rider's blatant and egregious violation of the salary cap in order to win that championship. As such, that championship* doesn't really count.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

the 2007 and 2012 west finals for me for sure!

[TheLionKing]

As far as biggest blowout I ever attended that I can recall, straight off-hand... Calgary at BC, it was either 97 or 98 in the depths of the doldrum years. Final score was 55-9 Calgary, with Lui kicking 3 FGs to account for all of our scoring, including two from 50+ yds.

I just looked it up to verify: it was a Thursday game, 1998/08/20, attendance was a whopping 15,008. This was around the time when coaches like Buono and Paopao were putting team travel expenses on their own personal credit cards.

It was also the second in a series of five consecutive home Lions games that saw decreasing attendances, culminating in a record low attendance of 12,256 for the Lions. I don't know about any of you guys but I was at all five of these games:

1998/07/30 (Thu).....Wpg 13 @ BC 20.....15,726
1998/08/20 (Thu).....Cgy 55 @ BC 9.......15,008
1998/09/05 (Sat)......Mtl 26 @ BC 15......14,408
1998/09/19 (Sat)......Edm 27 @ BC 21.....13,380
1998/09/26 (Sat)......Ham 31 @ BC 34.....12,256

Thanks for opening old wounds sj-roc. I too was at those games.

[sj-roc]

As far as biggest blowout I ever attended that I can recall, straight off-hand... Calgary at BC, it was either 97 or 98 in the depths of the doldrum years. Final score was 55-9 Calgary, with Lui kicking 3 FGs to account for all of our scoring, including two from 50+ yds.

I just looked it up to verify: it was a Thursday game, 1998/08/20, attendance was a whopping 15,008. This was around the time when coaches like Buono and Paopao were putting team travel expenses on their own personal credit cards.

It was also the second in a series of five consecutive home Lions games that saw decreasing attendances, culminating in a record low attendance of 12,256 for the Lions. I don't know about any of you guys but I was at all five of these games:

1998/07/30 (Thu).....Wpg 13 @ BC 20.....15,726
1998/08/20 (Thu).....Cgy 55 @ BC 9.......15,008
1998/09/05 (Sat)......Mtl 26 @ BC 15......14,408
1998/09/19 (Sat)......Edm 27 @ BC 21.....13,380
1998/09/26 (Sat)......Ham 31 @ BC 34.....12,256

Thanks for opening old wounds sj-roc. I too was at those games.

That was around the time I began attending games regularly. Nowadays whenever I get bummed out over the latest bad game or off-field move, I think back to that era to put it in perspective, and it gets easier to move on. Since Ackles came back a decade ago I don't think we've even come close to the above sequence, morale-wise or by pretty much any other metric.

[David]

For the Wally Buono era it would have to be the Winnipeg game at home when Fred Reid ran roughshod over the Leos.

If you think the Calgary game was frustrating, this was twice as bad. And at home. Sure, Cornish shredded our D. But his longest gain was about 23 yards. Reid consistently ran for long gainers and was deep into our secondary before anyone could (or would) pull him down. IIRC, he would have established the CFL single game rushing record had it not been for a late flag and a series or two when he came out injured.....or exhausted!

The other was in Winnipeg. It was Khalif's debut. Printers' final game. We had a B-I-G lead and blew it. I wached that game on the internet from my Seattle hotel room. I was ready to go "rock star" after than one.


DH

[cromartie]

For my money, the 2007 West Final was not only the actual Grey Cup that year, but one of the best CFL games ever played. Bring yourself to watch that game again, and tell me when and where you'll find two better CFL defenses that were ever on the field at the same time. That was a great game that, it just so happened, we came out on the short end of.

For sheer disappointment, the 2003 East Semi, where we had to endure Spergeon Wynn stinking it up, is most difficult to swallow, mainly because I had to endure it in person.

[Lions4ever]

For my money, the 2007 West Final was not only the actual Grey Cup that year, but one of the best CFL games ever played. Bring yourself to watch that game again, and tell me when and where you'll find two better CFL defenses that were ever on the field at the same time. That was a great game that, it just so happened, we came out on the short end of.

If memory serves, that was the game where Kerry Joseph was called for an illegal forward pass because beyond the line of scrimmage....but BC was called for "roughing the passer". Never been able to reconcile how it was obvious to the official (Johnson, I think) that Joseph was beyond the LOS, so no longer a passer, but a runner, yet call roughing the passer. From the moment Joseph crossed the LOS, there no longer was a passer on the field.