TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Losing is never pleasant.
But when a team knows it is superior to the rest in a given year, the pain of falling short runs especially deep and can linger like a bad childhood memory.
The New England Patriots go into the Super Bowl tonight knowing that a victory will cement their legacy -- and that a loss will render their 18-game winning streak nothing more than a historical footnote, a footnote that will periodically come to life and kick them in the gut for years to come.
At least four teams from Pittsburgh sports history could relate to such a fate. Each of the four -- the 1992-93 Penguins, the 1972 Pirates, the 1976 Steelers and the 1980 Pitt football team -- believed they were better than anybody else and had adequate proof.
Their failure to finish the deal did not produce the boiling resentment or sense of betrayal a fan might feel. Rather, the ache for some members of those teams is akin to a deep longing to fix something than cannot be fixed, to find something that cannot be found.
"It never goes away," says Rick Trocano, a safety on the 1980 Pitt football team, which lost at Florida State and was denied a chance to compete for the national championship. "I speak for all my fellow teammates. I guarantee they never have forgotten, and you still feel unfulfilled, even 27 years later."
Former Steelers defensive end Dwight White remembers the loss to Oakland in the 1976 AFC title game in a different way than the four Super Bowl wins.
Why does pain loiter for so long, while pleasure loves to flee?
"When you expect to win -- especially when you are, in fact, the best team -- losing is just unacceptable, an extra sense of pain," White said. "Winning is like, 'OK, we expected to do it.' Losing is like an endless death."
White's old teammate, Rocky Bleier, knows where the Patriots will wind up if they lose.
"The sad tale," Bleier said, "is probably that if they don't win, they will be the No. 1 team to go in the article about the best teams that didn't win a championship."
What follows are the stories of perhaps the four best modern-day Pittsburgh teams that didn't win it all:
THE 1992-93 PENGUINS
Penguins coach Scotty Bowman stands with his team during their game against the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 14, 1993, at The Auditorium in Buffalo, N.Y.
Rick Stewart/Allsport
Like the Patriots of today, the 1992-93 Penguins ran off a prodigious winning streak and often were spoken of as one of the great teams in their sport's history.
"Best group of talent ever put together, in my opinion," says Penguins director of player development Tom Fitzgerald, who played on the Islanders club that ruined the Penguins' season.
Several members of that Penguins team have said the seed for trouble was planted, ironically enough, during their league-record 17-game winning streak at the end of the regular season. The streak might have exhausted precious energy resources and created a false sense of security, as the Penguins eyed a third consecutive Cup.
"We were just kind of fluking our way through the whole thing," defenseman Larry Murphy said.
After crushing New Jersey, the Penguins ran into an Islanders team without its best player, Pierre Turgeon. This would not be a problem.
But it was.
Abrasive defensemen Darius Kasparaitis and Rich Pilon teamed with a swarm of maddening checkers to frustrate the Penguins' plethora of skilled players. Goalie Glenn Healy got hot.
Early in Game 7 at Civic Arena, Penguins winger Kevin Stevens went down with a sickening, face-first thud after a collision with Pilon. Stevens was lying in a hospital bed -- surgeons would rebuild his face the next morning -- when little-used David Volek beat Tom Barrasso at 5:16 of overtime.
The Penguins had outshot the Islanders, 45-20.
"I was the only person in the hospital, I think, because all the doctors were at the game," Stevens recalls, chuckling. "My head was killing me. Going into overtime, I said, 'We're going to win,' then Volek scores from the corner or something. I don't think he'd been on the ice in about two hours. I almost died. It's unbelievable how you can remember those things."
The loss ruined the possibility of a dream matchup: Mario Lemieux against L.A. Kings star Wayne Gretzky in the Stanley Cup final. Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, a decade later in Hockey Digest, said, "That game took a long time to get over. I had to live with it the whole summer. I still do."
Like the '72 Pirates, the 1992-93 Penguins were never the same after their crushing loss.
A closer look at the '92-93 Penguins:
Claim to fame: Won NHL-record 17 straight before a tie in final regular-season game.
Numbers: The most recent -- and perhaps last -- NHL team with four 100-point scorers (Lemieux, Stevens, Tocchet, Francis). ... More points (119) and goals (367) than any other team in franchise history.
Quotable: "We could have beaten the rest of those teams skating backwards." -- Kevin Stevens
Did you know? The Islanders had beaten the Penguins in three of the team's final four regular-season meetings.
Aftermath: Lemieux missed most of following season; Penguins haven't been to Cup final since 1992.
THE 1972 PIRATES
Twice a month, former American Legion Baseball teammates Al Oliver and Don Gullett get together and shoot the breeze.
They can't seem to avoid a certain topic.
"I tell Don all the time, 'If it wasn't for our 1972 loss to you guys, there's a good possibility we would not be talking about the Big Red Machine,' " Oliver said in a recent phone interview from his home in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Gullett was a starting pitcher for the '72 Reds. Oliver was the center fielder for the powerful Pirates, who were aiming for a second straight World Series title and perhaps Pittsburgh's first sports dynasty of the 1970s.
Many people, Oliver included, maintain the '72 Pirates were better than the championship clubs of '71 and '79. Their 96-59 record was the best in baseball -- though only a half-game better than Cincinnati's -- in a season slightly shortened by a players' strike.
Despite a teamwide playoff batting slump, the Pirates pulled to within three outs of the World Series, leading the Reds, 3-2, going into the bottom of the ninth of decisive Game 5 at Riverfront Stadium.
"I was out there in center field, halfway counting my World Series check," Oliver said.
Not for long, because Johnny Bench led off with an opposite-field home run off Dave Giusti. Minutes later, the Reds had men on first and third with two out against Bob Moose, a starter who'd replaced Giusti.
Moose worked the count to 1-1 against pinch-hitter Hal McRae, then uncorked a wild pitch that sent pinch-runner George Foster home -- and the Pirates to the most bitter defeat they would sustain until Sid Bream slid home 20 years, three days later in Atlanta.
Third baseman Richie Hebner will never forget the "death march" that followed Moose's errant slider.
"In that ballpark, the walk up to the clubhouse was like a $10 cab ride," Hebner said. "That night, it was like the death march. You didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, if Tony Perez or Joe Morgan hit an 800-foot home run, you say, 'OK, we lost.' But a freakin' wild pitch?"
Nobody has to tell Oliver how the Patriots will feel if they don't win tonight.
"Incomplete," he said.
A closer look at the '72 Pirates:
Claim to fame: Still own best winning pct. (.619) of any Pirates team in past 82 years.
Numbers: Had five .300 hitters. ... Won NL East by 11 games over Cubs, despite missing Roberto Clemente for 53 games.
Quotable: "I don't take anything away from Oakland ... but the Pittsburgh Pirates were the strongest club we met." -- Reds manager Sparky Anderson, after his team lost World Series to A's.
Did you know? The final hit of Bill Mazeroski's career was a pinch-hit single up the middle against Jack Billingham in the fifth inning of Game 2, and the final hit of Clemente's career was a single up the middle against Gullett in the first inning of Game 5.
Aftermath: Clemente died tragically in the offseason, pitcher Steve Blass lost his control the following year, and the Pirates did not make it back to the World Series until 1979.
THE 1976 STEELERS
Bleier (1,036) and Harris (1,128) became the second pair of runners from the same team to gain at least 1,000 yards. Larry Csonka (1,117) and Mercury Morris (1,000) did it for the Dolphins in 1972.
December 1976.
Down to one healthy running back (Reggie Harrison) and zero healthy place-kickers (backup center Ray Mansfield inherited the role), the Steelers revamped their offense and went into Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Dec. 26, 1976, determined to survive the AFC Championship Game by any means necessary.
They were devoured, instead, and thus deprived of the chance to become the first and only team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. They'd beaten the Raiders in the previous two AFC title games.
"Oakland was like Mile High Stadium in Denver, where the fans were right on you," recalls former Steelers defensive end Dwight White. "I just remember how antagonistic they were, how happy to finally beat us. They gave us hell, really rejoicing, and I remember thinking, 'Well, good for them.' "
Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert and late team owner Art Rooney Sr. were among those who believed the 1976 team was the most talented in franchise history. It overcame a 1-4 start and an injury to Terry Bradshaw to win 10 consecutive games -- allowing a total of 28 points -- going into Oakland. That included a 40-14 pounding of the Baltimore Colts a week earlier, a game in which the Steelers lost running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier.
Those injuries, plus others, prompted coach Chuck Noll to hastily install a one-back offense.
"Nobody had any confidence in that offense," Bleier recalls. "That's how I felt, like, 'God, we've never done this, and we really don't have the personnel.' "
The result was nightmarish, 24-7 loss. The Raiders finished 16-1, but don't tell anyone associated with the Steelers that Oakland was the better team, even if it also beat the Steelers in the season-opener.
Lambert called the title-game loss "the most frustrating game of my life." The frustration was less for others, simply because of the uncontrollable injury situation.
"It becomes disappointing, but maybe not as disappointing when you have an excuse," Bleier said.
"I'll tell you when I really felt bad when we had the better team -- San Diego (1994 AFC title-game)," says Steelers chairman Dan Rooney. "When I went to the Super Bowl and saw their logo on the field, it really hit me."
Rooney did not hesitate when asked if he believed the Steelers would have beaten the Raiders if relatively healthy.
"Oh yeah, definitely," he said. "We had the best team in football, no question."
A closer look at the '76 Steelers:
Claim to fame: Posted five shutouts in final eight regular-season games.
Numbers: Went 22 consecutive quarters without allowing touchdown. ... Had two 1,000-yard rushers.
Quotable: "I know that Art Rooney Sr. felt this way, too: The 1976 football team was the best team the Steelers ever had." -- Jack Lambert, speaking to NFL Films.
Did you know? Steelers, Raiders played 11 times in 1970s, with Steelers going 3-2 in playoffs, 2-4 in regular season.
Aftermath: After a hangover-type season in 1977, the Steelers regrouped and won back-to-back Super Bowls.
THE 1980 PITT FOOTBALL TEAM
Dan Marino
How good were the 1980 Pitt Panthers?
"Well," recalls Rick Trocano, a safety on that team, "I remember a buddy of mine at Syracuse said that when they played us, his coach walked in and said, 'Gentlemen, this week you're in the NFL.' "
Indeed, 11 Pitt players were taken in the NFL Draft the following spring, including three -- Hugh Green, Mark May and Randy McMillan -- in the first round. Their quarterback was a sophomore named Dan Marino. Pitt rolled nearly every opponent and went 10-1 in the regular season but did not get invited to a major bowl.
Some will tell you that was incompetence on the part of bowl officials. Others will point to a 36-22 loss at Florida State.
Pitt, playing without injured defensive backs Carlton Williamson and Terry White, visited FSU's sweltering and raucous Doak-Campbell Stadium on the night of Oct. 11 and melted in a puddle of seven turnovers.
The Seminoles' kicking game was incredible, as future NFL All-Pro Rhon Stark blasted punts of 60, 67 and 53 yards and repeatedly pinned the Panthers, while future NFL kicker Bill Capece made five field goals, including a 50-yarder to end the first half.
Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill regretted taking his team into Tallahassee instead of a remote outpost before the game. He said players were distracted by family members on game day.
"We were not ready to play," Sherrill later told Pitt sports historian Sam Sciullo Jr.
Green, in a recent phone interview, disagreed.
"It wasn't that we went there early," Green said. "God, it just wasn't meant to happen."
Major bowl bids were extended before Pitt played at Penn State -- each team had one loss -- and officials were leery of winding up with a two-loss team. Notre Dame was unbeaten when it received an invite to the Sugar Bowl but subsequently sustained a tie and a loss before meeting unbeaten Georgia.
That left Trocano and the rest of the Panthers in the Gator Bowl, where they destroyed South Carolina and Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers. Their only hope then was for Notre Dame to upset Georgia, but the unbeaten, Herschel Walker-led Bulldogs won, despite quarterback Buck Belue completing only one pass.
"I remember Buck Belue was 1 for 10 or something, and his one completion was a (7-yard) out, and if that was good enough to win, I thought I was going to puke," Trocano says. "Can you imagine going 1 for 10 against our defense? Herschel Walker would have been broken in-half."
Added Green: "It wasn't about talent. It was timing, the (bowl selectors) not seeing our greatness and not taking a chance on us."
That, plus a terrible night in Tallahassee.
A closer look at the '80 Panthers:
Claim to fame: Finished No. 1 in New York Times computer poll.
Numbers: Outscored opposition, 380-130. ... No. 1 in nation in total defense and rushing defense, holding opponents to 1.5 yards per carry.
Quotable: "I've said it many times: In all my years of coaching, that Pitt team was the best college football team I have ever seen." -- FSU coach Bobby Bowden, to Sam Sciullo Jr.
Did you know? Eighteen of Pitt's starters, plus five reserves, became NFL starters.
Aftermath: Pitt went 11-1 again in 1981 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
Joe Starkey can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com or 412-320-7810.
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