Brushing Away a Decade of ‘Close, but No Cigar’

My friends know how close my teams have been in the last decade to sports championships as well as my personal record attending championship-level games — which after Game 2 of this year’s NBA Finals, stands at a terrifying and suicide-watch alert 1-4. Thankfully, my Los Angeles Lakers prevailed in the series and got revenge for the 2008 Finals against the hated Boston Celtics. (And I had a second pro team competing in a championship series at the same time, with the Philadelphia Flyers taking on the Chicago Blackhawks. Oh how close I came to missing on both…)

While I am not as much of an NBA fan, I will certainly take the Lakers thrilling defeat of the ‘Evil Empire’ of the NBA, the Boston Celtics. The Lakers aren’t quite the same to me as the Philadelphia Eagles or UCLA basketball, so you can understand why an NBA Championship could never mean as much to me as seeing the Eagles hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy or watching UCLA cut down the nets at the Final Four. (I’ll even take titles from the Los Angeles Dodgers or Flyers since they haven’t done it in my memory.)

In light of the Lakers’ revenge against the team that was once coached by Red Auerbach, the man known for lighting up a cigar when victory was in hand (hence the saying, “Close, but no cigar”), I think now is as good a time as any to reflect upon a pain that has tormented me the past 10 years and finally purge my inner sports fan’s soul of all the “Close, but no cigars” that I have endured.

2000: Flyers took a commanding 3-1 lead over the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals only to lose the next three games, compounded by the huge hit on Eric Lindros from Scott Stevens, which ended his Flyers career, in a 1-0 loss in Game 7.

2002: Eagles fell to the St. Louis Rams in a competitive and winnable NFC Championship game in which they actually led at halftime. Led by a stellar defense that was only the fourth team in NFL history to not give up more than 21 points in a game that season, this game was the only time all season the defense did so.

2003: Eagles fell in a second straight NFC Championship, 27-10, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that was supposed to be money in the bank. After thoroughly dominating in the Bucs in the regular season, the coach Jon Gruden and the Tampa-2 defense flipped the tables on the Birds in the final game ever played in Veterans Stadium.

2004: Groundhog Day! The Eagles lost their third straight NFC Championship Game to what appeared to be an inferior Carolina Panthers team. This was the Eagles best opportunity to win it all with the New England Patriots fielding their weakest championship team. This is the toughest of all the “close, but no cigar” for me to move on from as it was the most depressing Eagles loss in my lifetime — if not in the entire 76 year history of the franchise.

2004: Lakers “Dream team” featuring four future Hall of Famers is stunned by the Pistons, who needed only five games to win the NBA Finals. Six years later, I am still in disbelief.

2005: Eagles finally reach football’s promised land after three straight near-misses but still lost to the Patriots, 24-21, in Superbowl XXXIX.

2005: UCLA Men’s Volleyball fell in the decisive fifth set of the National Championship game to rival Pepperdine at its home arena, Pauley Pavillion. I know it’s just volleyball, but this does count because I attended the game as a UCLA student.

2006: UCLA basketball lost in the National Championship game to Florida. Thankfully, I attended UCLA’s victory in the Final Four. My lone victory in championship-level games that I have attended came on the strength of a personal legendary road trip:

I left LA Saturday morning at about 6:30am for San Francisco to pick up tickets. I reached the Bay Bridge and it took two hours to cross due to traffic and weather (I discovered during the drive up that radiator was almost dead and my car nearly fried on the Bridge because it took so long to cross). I picked up the tickets and went back across the Bridge to Oakland Arena to watch UCLA battle Memphis to win the West region of the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Final Four. The game ends in a UCLA victory in one of the ugliest and physical basketball games ever played in the “Shot-clock Era”, and I drove home to San Diego after the game and “zombied” into bed about 3:30am.

• 889 miles
• 21 hours
• 13 hours straight of sleep
• UCLA victory
• Priceless.

2007: UCLA basketball returned to the Final Four, only to lose to Florida again, this time in the National Semifinals.

2008: UCLA basketball reached a third consecutive Final Four, only to lose in the National Semifinals to a Memphis team lead by the SAT wizard himself, Derrick Rose. This one really hurts because I was there, and Memphis had to vacate the entire season because of Rose. Memphis would not have won the game without Rose, and UCLA could have defeated eventual champion Kansas.

2008: Lakers fall in Game 6 to Boston in the NBA Finals.

2008: Dodgers reach the National League Championship Series but lose to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

2009: Eagles lose to the Arizona Cardinals in their fifth NFC Championship Game appearance of the decade. In what developed into an instant classic, the Eagles recovered from an 18-point halftime deficit and were a fourth down stand and blown pass interference call away from possible victory. For the record, I was there with Dr. Sports Fan.

2009: Dodgers fall in the NLCS in Game 5 to the Phillies for the second straight year.

2010: Flyers fall in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals to Chicago.

DEMONS OF THE PAST EXORCISED! A new decade has officially begun for me in sports with the Lakers 2010 title. May we all pray for the Eagles and UCLA Basketball so Jack of All Sports can finally attain sports nirvana!

Tags: Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, Red Auerbach, UCLA Basketball, victory cigars