The Five Worst Collapses in Seattle Sports History

While you're enjoying an unseasonably sunny summer afternoon, we will be at Safeco Field, showing our undying support for the 2007 Seattle Mariners, authors of one of the greatest collapses in baseball history.

We're not fairweather fans, not us. We gallantly display our pride for the local nine, those proud lads who...um...ok, fine, we lucked into a free ticket and didn't have other plans.

Anyway, misery loves company, so we've fired up the Seattlest History-O-Matic 8000 and returned four other sports collapses that had fans contemplating a self-propelled trip to the great concession stand in the sky.

1955 Husky football
The Before: The Huskies were 4-0 and ranked #12 in the nation after a 7-0 win over then-#10 USC.

The Collapse: After a 14-7 loss to Baylor, quarterback Sandy Lederman skipped practice because he didn't think he was playing enough, and coach John Cherberg suspended him. Without a passing attack, the Dawgs managed only one win the rest of the year.

The Aftermath: A player revolt broke out, at least partially due to Cherberg's bizarre rules banning grass chewing and whistling. Cherberg was fired, then rehired, then fired again. Then the athletic director resigned. The resulting publicity ended up uncovering the existence of a slush fund to pay players. The Pac-10 excluded all Husky athletic teams from championship consideration for two years.

1971-72 Sonics
The Before: Player/coach Lenny Wilkens had the Sonics tied for a playoff spot, which would've been the franchise's first, with three weeks left in the season.

The Collapse: The Sonics lost nine of their last eleven games and finished four games behind the fourth and final playoff seed.

The Aftermath: The Sonics took the coaching job away from Wilkens after the season ended, and then traded him to Cleveland over the summer for the forgettable Butch Beard. Wilkens' coaching replacement, Tom Nissalke, was fired after 35 games, and Beard, his playing replacement, averaged less than seven points per game. The Wilkens-less Sonics finished 30 games under .500, and the franchise waited three more seasons for that first playoff berth.

(This great 1973 Sporting News piece that's magically and inexplicably online explains it all)

1981-82 Husky basketball
The Before: After a dominating win over Arizona, the Dawgs were 17-3 overall and 10-1 in the Pac-10. They were ranked nationally for the first time in six seasons.

The Collapse: The Dawgs lost six of their last seven games, including a one-point heartbreaker at #19 UCLA, and fell short of their first NCAA tourney berth since 1976. They settled for a berth in the NIT, reaching the second round.

The Aftermath: The Huskies just missed getting only their third 20-win season since 1953, but since legendary coach Marv Harshman was responsible for the other two, he wasn't going anywhere. Consider it a learning experience for then-freshman Detlef Schrempf, who led the Huskies to the Sweet Sixteen two seasons later.

1999 Seahawks
The Before: The Seahawks were 8-2 after a November 21 win at Kansas City and held a three-game lead in the AFC West. "Our best football is ahead of us," said Mike Holmgren, then in his first year as Hawks coach.

The Collapse: A four game losing streak started when the Hawks lost 16-3 to Tampa Bay, still the Bucs only win ever against the Hawks. In all, the Hawks lost five of their last six. They backed into a division championship only when the Chiefs missed a game-winning last-second field goal and lost their final game in overtime. The Hawks then lost at home to Miami in the Wild Card game, making it six losses in their final seven games.

The Aftermath: The Seahawks traded away Joey Galloway, who didn't contribute much after an eight-game holdout, and added young talent to the offense by drafting Shawn Alexander and Darrell Jackson. They also traded for Glenn Foley as a veteran backup, and possible replacement, for Jon Kitna.

2007 Mariners
The Before: The M's, looking for their first post-season berth since 2001, had a three game lead in the wild card race and were only one game back in the A.L. West on August 24th.

The Collapse: The team lost 13 of their next 14 games, posting a 6.33 team ERA and a .259 batting average along the way. When it was over they'd lost eight games in both the divisional and wild-card races and were five games out of a playoff spot.

The Aftermath: ???