I thought they were going to do it. They had been in this position before. Down 11 at halftime to Saugus, they won by five. Down one at halftime to Arlington Catholic, they won by 23. Down three at halftime to North Reading, they won by 16. Down 10 to Danvers at halftime?

The talk in the crowd was that we are a second half team. Of course we could come back, and we almost did. We were so close. It felt like the second half magic was there again. How many times can you play poorly in the first half and still win the game? Not too many times. That magic ran out. The boys lost 57-52. Third year in a row Danvers eliminated our boys.

This one will go down in the books as a pretty disappointing loss. On that note, I will countdown some of the most disappointing losses to me as a sports fan.

Super Bowl 42 Patriots vs Giants
The Patriots were strong favorites. If they won, they would have had a perfect season. But Eli Manning led the Giants down the field with a game winning drive that included a ridiculous catch by David Tyree.

Wayland vs. Sharon
Speaking of Super Bowls, let’s try not to relive this one. It is still too soon.

2011, Red Sox, Game 162
Jonathan Papelbon blew the save, and Carl Crawford dropped a ball that should have been caught. The Red Sox lost. Moments later Evan Longoria hits a walk off home run for the Rays to beat the Yankees. The preseason World Series favorites, a team that was supposed to win 100 games, was knocked out of the playoffs. Terry Francona got fired, and the rest, as they say, is history.

1978 Red Sox-Yankee playoff/ 1986 World Series Game 6
Bucky “Bleepin” Dent and Bill “Bleepin” Buckner

Super Bowl 46 Patriots vs Giants
See Super Bowl 42, but change David Tyree to Mario Manningham.

I couldn’t actually think of a loss that was disappointing for the Celtics. They exceed all of my expectations over and over again. But, when they do lose, it isn’t a surprise. They weren’t supposed to be there anyway.

With this loss of Wayland basketball, the attention turns toward the spring season. Why is there still snow in March? It’s officially springtime now.

“These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me, they won’t make you rebound like me, they definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me. That’s it.”
-Charles Barkley