Oooh, I’m the first voter.

Anyway, Michigan is the clear choice to me, if only because of the awful season that preceded it. That team, much more than the 1999 and 2008 versions, gave you the feeling that something beyond our comprehension was happening, and we were along for the ridiculous ride.

I always had my doubts about the ’99 team. Same with the 2008 team, actually. In 1999, I just never really believed that was a true #1 quality team. In 2008, I think we were/are the beneficiaries of the entire conference crumbling around us.

I mean, I remember exactly where I was for all three of them, and they were all just awful, awful losses.

and Minnesota for me was BY FAR the most painful for me. This year’s loss should be the most painful, since I think this team is leaps and bounds more powerful and complete than that 1999 team was. Maybe it was because Minnesota was at home, and just hearing how quiet Beaver stadium got, after being so loud, magnified the pain and depression.

This Iowa game was also the first game I can recall ever being at where the fans stormed the field…and it wasn’t our fans. That just makes it seem like it should hurt more. But it doesn’t. Maybe it is being “older” and “wiser”, and learning to appreciate what I have (Note: I in no way make any claim of actually being wise, just wiser. Same with being old, I’m just older).

As for the Michigan game, yes it sucked to have that loss happen to THEM, but at the time the streak wasn’t really that abnormally long of a streak, and we hadn’t played them in a few years. Yes, I still hated them, and losing to them, and the way we lost to them did suck, but it just didn’t hurt nearly as much as 1999 Minnesota (and I think the 2005 team was way better than that 1999 team was, too). The only thing I can think of is that in 2005 I was happy to have an improvement over 2004, and we already hit that mark by week 4. Combined with the magic that was the Northwestern game (which I was also at), and the Ohio State game (which is the one game I regret not having gone to), it just made the 2005 Michigan loss a bit easier to stomach.

maybe its because i feel like strong seasons with 10 or more wins is going to be a regular occurance.

i’m just happy to have a team that i like so much and is still in the drivers seat to go to a BCS bowl.

That was the loss that started it all.

2000 – 5-7
2001 – 5-6
2002 – 9-4 (with a really bad beat in the bowl game)
2003 – 3-9
2004 – 4-7

Maybe because surprisingly this is the first one I witnessed on television. I was at work listening on the radio in 1999. And I was at a wedding following on my cell phone in 2005.

This one hurt bad, but I think I’m getting over it.

Even though in the end it didn’t matter weather we won or lost because we weren’t getting in with USC and Texas running the table. It was just after that final touchdown for the lead and that high to being slammed down like that on the last play. Like whiteoutonly it didn’t even occour to me until the interception, that it was possible to lose this game, but from then on it was a very real feeling.

And I have something to confess…as a freshman in high school in Minnesota…I remember that ’99 game too. Saddly, I didnt know any better but to enjoy the annomoly. I had no idea I was going to attend PSU in 2003 and suffer the consequences of that game too. I easily would have given that game away knowing what it was going to mean for my true team for years to come.

We hadn’t won any national titles at that point. It was our first chance to prove on the field that we deserved a title after having been screwed too many times before. We couldn’t punch it in on their goal line and lost 7-6.

I just spent 8 unneccesarily tortuous minutes considering these different levels of pain. A fresh Tims kick to my nuts? A staple gun to my tongue? My gawd, the last choice on this poll should be: actually considering and weighing the choices listed in this poll.