100 Seasons ... 100 Heartbreaks (cont.)

Danny Tartabull's entire Philadelphia career spanned a mere seven at-bats during the woeful 1997 season. AP Philly Phailure   Longest active title droughts by city PERLOFF: When will Philly win a title? GRAHAM: 100 moments for 100 seasons The Bottom 20 Flip through our gallery of 20 of the most spectacular failures in Philadelphia sports history, from Mitch Williams' gopherball to Joe Carter to Super Bowl XXXIX heartbreak and more.

80. Fans boo Donovan McNabb at 1999 NFL Draft | Apr. 17, 1999

Hindsight undresses Eagles fans on this one. But I'll come clean: I wanted Ricky Williams too.

79. The Wet Chart Game | Oct. 16, 1994

Trailing the Cowboys by 17 points in the fourth quarter on a soggy afternoon, James Joseph scored a touchdown to pull the Eagles within 24-13. Coach Rich Kotite, for unknown reasons, opted for a two-point conversion. During the post-game presser, Kotite blamed it on the rain. "I must have read my chart wrong," Kotite said. "It must have gotten wet."

78. Eagles sign Steve Everett to five-year, $11.5M deal | Mar. 6, 1997

The Eagles assumed they'd found the anchor for their offensive line in Everett, the eccentric center who wore Megadeth Ts and hadn't cut his hair since 1991. His two-year stint proved an injury-marred disaster.

77. Phils trade for Freddy Garcia without doing their homework | Dec. 6, 2006

Overly eager to beat the Mets to the punch for Garcia, management ignored the warning signs -- like the right-hander's significant drop in velocity the previous September -- and brokered a trade with the White Sox in exchange for blue-chip prospect Gavin Floyd. Garcia made just 11 starts before a permanent trip to the DL, earning one win while collecting a $10M salary.

76. Controversial spot aids 49ers in victory over Eagles | Nov. 29, 1992

With the Eagles (7-4) trailing the Niners (9-2) late in the fourth quarter at Candlestick Park, Cunningham connected with Calvin Williams on fourth-and-15 for an apparent first down. But a highly controversial spot resulted in a turnover on downs to end Philly's upset bid and, ultimately, their playoff hopes.

75. The Charles Barkley spitting incident | Mar. 26, 1991

Upset by a courtside heckler's alleged racial epithets in New Jersey, Barkley spit at his tormentor. But the All-Star forward "didn't get enough foam" and the substance ended up hitting an 8-year-old girl was sitting on her mother's lap. The league fined and suspended Barkley, and the subsequent public relations nightmare helped precipitate his trade out of Philly the following year.

74. Reid's trickery backfires in Big D | Oct. 12, 2003

Fool me once shame on you ... Three years after befuddling the Cowboys with a season-opening onside kick at Texas Stadium, Reid dialed up the trick play a second time with disastrous results. Randal Williams scooped up the David Akers kickoff and scurried 37 yards for a touchdown just three seconds into regulation -- the fastest score to start a game in NFL history. The gift-wrapped points proved decisive as Dallas held on for a 23-21 win.

73. Sabres' end Philly's conference title defense in five-game rout | May 1, 1998

One year after suffering a disappointing sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers confidently set out to defend their conference title. They wound up taking an enormous step backward as team captain Eric Lindros barely showed up for Philly's first-round flameout against the Sabres.

72. Eagles sign Tim Harris to replace Reggie White | April 21, 1993

In need of a replacement for the departed White, the Eagles inked Tim Harris from the 49ers for $4.75M over three years with $750,000 up front. He played four games before going on injured reserve with an infected elbow. Released after the season, Harris returned to the Niners.

71. Phillies sign Gregg Jefferies to four-year, $20M contract | Dec. 14, 1994

The Phils inked Jefferies to the biggest contract in franchise history at the time. The switch-hitting infielder spent four disappointing years in Philly -- bottoming out in 1997 with a .256 average -- before getting dealt to the Angels for fringe minor league pitching prospect Doug Nickle.

70. Third time's not the charm in Buddy Ryan's finale | Jan. 5, 1991

The Eagles' third straight wild-card exit -- a listless 20-6 loss to the Redskins at the Vet -- was painful enough in the short term. But the long-term impact proved much more harmful: The defeat greased the skids for the Kotite era.

69. Dixon's kickoff return deflates Eagles in divisional playoff | Jan. 7, 2001

Having suffered a regular-season sweep at the hands of the Giants, the fans in Philly spent the week leading up to a divisional playoff at the Meadowlands convincing themselves it was impossible to beat a team three times in one season. It took Ron Dixon just 17 seconds to debunk the theory, as the special teams ace raced back the game-opening kickoff 97 yards as part of New York's 20-10 win.

68. Legion of Doom short-circuits against Panthers in East semifinals | May 14, 1996

Philadelphia's celebrated Legion of Doom -- the forward line consisting of Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg -- played together just three seasons during the '90s. The trio enjoyed their most prolific season in 1996, combining for 121 goals and 134 assists, before coming up small in a six-game playoff defeat against Florida.

67. Eagles suffer 38-0 blanking in season opener | Sept. 6, 1998

In his first game since departing Philadelphia as a free agent, Seattle's Ricky Watters didn't score a touchdown. Neither did the Eagles. Philly logged the first of a franchise-record 13 losses, but the low point of the 1998 season didn't come until ...

66. Cowboys destroy Eagles, 34-0 | Nov. 2, 1998

Deion Sanders returned a punt for a touchdown at the end of the first half in the game which secured Philly's title as the laughingstock of the NFL. The Eagles became the first club in league history to be shut out twice at home in the same season by 30 points or more.

65. Phils stumble down stretch and miss playoffs again | September 2006

First-year general manager Gillick started dumping salaries on July 26 as the Phillies fell below .500. Alas, the team caught fire and took a half-game lead in the wild-card race with seven games remaining. But the Phils lost three of their next four to miss the playoffs for the 13th consecutive year and 22nd time in 23 seasons.

64. The Winston Justice game | Sept. 30, 2007

On the same day the Phillies won the NL East, the Eagles traveled to the Meadowlands sans Westbrook, Lito Sheppard, Brian Dawkins, William Thomas and L.J. Smith. Making his first career start at left tackle, Justice did his best impression of a turnstile, allowing six of New York's NFL-record 12 sacks in a 16-3 setback.

63. Sixers trade George Lynch for Derrick Coleman | Oct. 25, 2001

General manager Billy King got a lot of flak from Sixers fans during his tenure and deservedly so. But Larry Brown's fingerprints were all over this head-scratcher. Philly swapped a reliable glue guy and foot soldier for a notorious underachiever at the tail end of his career. No single move did more to hasten Philly's early-decade decline from contender to also-ran.

62. Eagles trade up to pick Antone Davis trade with No. 9 overall pick | Apr. 21, 1991

The Eagles traded their first-round pick in 1991 and 1992 to move up and select Antone Davis, a jelly doughnut of an offensive lineman whose career was finished by 1997.

61. Phillies sign Danny Tartabull | Feb. 20, 1997

Management made Tartabull their prized free-agent signing of the winter. But after getting hit by a pitch on Opening Day and breaking his foot, the veteran outfielder opted to sit out the year before retiring -- just seven at-bats into his Philadelphia career.