Decade in Review: Ten worst moments

This is another look back at this momentous decade in BC sports. I will get the pain out of the way with a recap of the lowest of the lows. (As always feel free to recount your own BC horrors in the comments section.)



1. Syracuse 2004
Some readers have told me to let this game go already. I don't think I ever will. Part of me changed as a BC fan that day. In fact, I had so much frustration and emotion after that I decided to start a BC sports blog only a few days later. This loss is the worst in my opinion because the stars will never be as aligned as they were that day. BC was 60 minutes from a BCS bowl game. The supposed ceiling was going to be busted. All we had to do is take care of business against a lame duck Syracuse team at home. You know what happened. The loss stinks. In retrospect trying to win with Matt Ryan is his first start was a daunting task. But what made the day so terrible is that we didn't even show up. We were run over from the very first drive and Syracuse never looked back. It was a gutless performance on what should have been TOB and BC's crowning achievement.

2. The Jags firing
Others might view this as a great moment of the last ten years. I won't and hope that history doesn't get scrubbed or rewritten by the victors (in this case, GDF). You can listen to all the rumors out there regarding Jags, but at the end of the day BC was not better off for firing him when and how they did. He blew it. Gene blew it. And it never had to be that way. Jags' two seasons were exciting and filled with emotion and hope. Would it have burned out or blown up eventually? I don't know. Will Spaz be the better long term solution? I don't know. I do know that I felt pretty low when this happened and I think BC sports suffered because of the pissing match between our current AD and our former coach.

3. "We're up, aren't we?"
BC fans are a forgiving lot. We all wanted to believe that TOB was going to get it one day and bring us beyond the near misses. However, this throw away quip to Erin Andrews during halftime of a BC-Miami game was the final straw for many BC fans. I wrote a lengthy post in response to that game and TOB's comments. We may be guilty of reading too much into what he said. For many though it symbolized TOB's stubbornness, lack of a killer instinct and lack of personality. As for a low moment, most BC fans were finishing their turkey and wondering "how long do I have to put up with this attitude." The answer was not for long.

4. Any time Bob Hohler wrote about BC. [I am using Hohler as an entry to capture two aspects that stink as being a BC fan. 1. The Boston media's relationship with the school. 2. As much as we hate to admit it, sometimes our jocks are not choir boys.] If something bad happened in the last decade off the field with BC sports, you could count on the Globe to send Bob Hohler over to campus for a quick hit piece. The Globe never asked their normal BC beat writer to cover potential scandal. That would have been too risky. If the beat guy pissed off BC, he might lose access. So instead the Globe would send a hatchet man and we'd lose the beat guy's perspective and access. Hohler's accounts always seemed to overstate the wrong doings and often took overly negative takes on the circumstances. I know it was not Hohler's fault when BC athletes got in trouble. But he and the Globe took the bad news of the '00s and added an extra bit of negativity each time.

5. Tom Mutch's inappropriate relationships with his players.
Mutch crossed the ultimate line when you are a coach. It was swept under the rug, but that doesn't make the situation any less shameful. Mutch deserves most of the blame, but BC is also at fault for not uncovering it earlier. If not for sexting, Mutch might still be coaching at BC.

6. Losing to Villanova in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
There are a few different NCAA tourney losses that I could have put in here. The reason I felt this was most painful is because it was probably the best collection of talent BC had in the Skinner era. We played so well at times in that game, yet lost on some bad calls and mental lapses. If we were going to make a run, that was the team that should have done it.

7. Patrick Eaves collision with Joe Exter.
Although he was the scapegoat, this wasn't Eaves fault. As for why it makes my worst moments, I guess because of how dangerous and violent the incident was. We enjoy these sports and forget how much these kids are sacrificing each time they step onto the field or ice. If this had happened in the Youtube era, Eaves would have been national news.

8. Sean Williams getting kicked off the basketball team.
Williams might be the greatest waste of talent to ever come through BC. He blew multiple second chances and let his team and his family down. Sean's love of weed will always leave BC fans wondering what could have been.

9. Getting snubbed by the ACC during their first attempt at expansion.
It all worked out in the end, but the ACC's original expansion to 11 was very scary at the time. BC did everything right yet got left at the alter due to conference politics. When it happened, I thought we were facing a long uncomfortable life as the unwanted team in the second rate Big East.

10. BC getting their bubble burst in 2003.
Every year there is a team that deserves to make the NCAA Tournament that doesn't. In 2003 it was BC. All the talking heads came to our defense, but it didn't matter to the selection committee. It was a shame as Troy Bell's BC career ended in a second round NIT loss to Temple.

[Ed's note. There are many more losses that I could have included, but also wanted to touch on other sports and other issues that were frustrating, maddening or historically bad.]