Being a lifelong Dallas sports fan born in 1991, I was too young to remember the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl wins in 1993, 1994, and 1996. The Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999 which I do remember. But since 2000, Dallas area sports teams have had a solid number of heartbreaking moments that really stand out. This list evaluates and ranks those very moments.
6. #1 Seed Mavs Lose to #8 Seed Warriors
The 2006-2007 Dallas Mavericks were on a mission. They were on a mission to avenge their 2006 NBA Finals loss to the Miami Heat in which they were up 2-0 in the series. The ’06-’07 Mavs team cruised through the regular season to finish with a league best 67-15 record. In the 1st round of the playoffs, they ran into the scrappy Golden State Warriors who were coached by former Dallas coach, Don Nelson. The Mavs went on to lose in 6 games. It was a heartbreaking loss for Mavs fans. Following the series, Dirk Nowitzki was announced the 2007 NBA MVP. It was the franchise’s first MVP but it felt very bittersweet at the time.
5. The Romo Botched Snap Game
This game happened in January of 2007. This was a tough moment for Dallas Cowboys fans. Tony Romo, who had been the backup for Drew Bledsoe for much of the season, was in his first season as the Cowboys starter. Tony Romo had proved himself to be the Cowboys QB of the future.
Tony Romo led the team all the way to about the 2 yard line with 1 minute remaining in the 4th quarter. The score was 20-18 Seahawks. This was a chip shot field goal for Martin Grammatica. Tony Romo was still the team’s field goal holder at the time. Tony Romo botched the hold of the chip shot field goal attempt and tried his best to take off and run the ball in for a touchdown. He didn’t make it and the Cowboys ended up losing. It was a tough pill to swallow for Cowboys fans who were left wondering why our starting QB was still the holder in the first place.
4. The 2015 ALDS – Rangers vs. Blue Jays
This game is painful for so many reasons for Texas Rangers fans. Game 5 of the best of 5 ALDS was epic on so many levels. The Rangers were trying hard to get a championship for baseball legend, Adrian Beltre. The game had so much controversy which included the Toronto Blue Jays fans littering the field with trash after a debatable call by the umpire.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Rangers decided to relieve ace Cole Hamels with Sam Dyson. Following this pitching change, everything started to go bad for the Rangers as the Blue Jays tied the game at 3-3. Jose Bautista came up to bat, with a man on 1st and 3rd, and blasted a huge home run to put the Blue Jays up 6-3. Bautista’s bat flip after his home run was particularly disrespectful to Rangers fans and it left us all feeling salty about it. The Rangers would go on to lose Game 5.
It was such a sad loss because Rangers fans had begun to believe that this 2015 team could make a deep run in the playoffs. The Rangers / Blue Jays rivalry would continue into the 2016 season and Rougned Odor let Jose Bautista know how he felt about him…
3. Mavs Lose Controversial 2006 NBA Finals
The 2006 NBA Finals are still a very sensitive subject for Dallas Mavericks fans. This series was particularly interesting because it marked the first time since 1971 where both franchises were playing in their first NBA Finals. The NBA Finals home and away format in 2006 was 2-3-2. The Mavericks were the higher seed so they got the first 2 games at home. They took advantage of this and took a 2-0 lead in the series. This prompted the city of Dallas to actively begin planning the championship parade route for the Mavericks. That decision ended up being a mistake as the Heat won Game 3 after overcoming a 4th quarter deficit of 13 points. The Heat won Game 4 with relative ease to tie the series at 2-2.
Game 5 is where the real controversy begins. In this game Dwyane Wade shot 25 free throws by himself, which was the same amount of free throws taken by the entire Dallas Mavericks roster combined! Dwyane Wade set a new NBA Finals record for most free throws made in a game with 21 as the Heat would beat the Mavs in an overtime thriller. After 3 games in a row in Miami, the NBA Finals returned to Dallas for Game 6. Wade would go on to score 36 points to clinch the Miami Heat’s first NBA Championship.
Losing an NBA Finals is hard but what made this loss particularly hard was the favoritism that the referees seemed to show Dwyane Wade. It was a hard pill to swallow for Mavs fans. This ignited a rivalry between D-Wade and Dirk Nowitzki that would continue for the next decade. The Mavs would obviously go on in 2011 to avenge this devastating NBA Finals loss, but the 2006 NBA Finals will forever leave Mavs fans with a bad taste in their mouths.
2. The “Dez Caught it” Game
The 2014 Dallas Cowboys were a force to be reckoned with. They had their own version of “The Triplets” which featured Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, and Demarco Murray. It had by far the best offense that Tony Romo got to play with in his entire NFL career. It had Demarco Murray who led the league in rushing that year. It featured legendary tight end, Jason Witten, in the 12th season of his career. The team finished the regular season with a division leading 12-4 record.
In the Playoffs, the Cowboys would win a close game against the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card round. Next they would go on to face Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. On the Cowboys first possession of the 2nd half, Demarco Murray fumbled the ball on a play which would have certainly resulted in a 50+ yard touchdown score. Looking back, had that fumble not happened, things likely would have ended very differently. Nonetheless, the Packers had a 26-21 lead with just over 9 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. Romo led the Cowboys into Packers territory. On a 4th and 2 play, the Cowboys aggressively sent Dez Bryant on a fade route where he seemingly made an amazing catch that would set the Cowboys up on the Packers goal line. Packers Head Coach, Mike McCarthy, would go on the challenge the play. It was subsequently ruled a non-catch citing that Dez Bryant did not maintain possession throughout the entirety of the catch. The Cowboys would go on to lose the game.
This loss marked the end of the Demarco Murray era in Dallas. It marked the final year in which Tony Romo was healthy for entire season. It contributed to the NFL reviewing and removing the complexity from its catch rules officially in 2018. This game is still very fresh on the minds of Cowboys fans because we can’t help but wonder what that season could have been had this “non-catch” went the other way.
1. Texas Rangers Lose the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals
As a Rangers fan, Game 6 of the 2011 World Series is still hard to even talk about. The Texas Rangers got about as close to winning a World Series as a team could possibly get WITHOUT winning it. The Rangers were 1 strike away from their franchise’s first World Series win. David Freese collectively broke all Rangers fans hearts when he hit a pitch off of Rangers closer Neftali Feliz which scored 2 runs to tie the game at 7-7. This play is still a cause for debate amongst Rangers fans who wonder if Nelson Cruz could have made a better play in right field. Either way, the Cardinals would go on to win in extra innings off a hit from…David Freese. The Rangers would lose Game 7 with a final score of 6-2. Sadly, the Rangers have yet to reach another World Series since then.
