100 Seasons ... 100 Heartbreaks (cont.)

Eric Lindros lies unconscious on the ice after suffering a concussion during Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference finals. 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.

19. Untimely September swoon costs Phillies playoff berth | September 2003

The Phillies held a half-game lead over the Marlins in the wild-card race with eight games left, but dropped two straight at home to the woeful Reds and three straight in Florida to miss the playoffs yet again. Philly closed the year with losses in 12 of their final 13 meetings with the Marlins.

18. Reggie White signs with Packers as free agent | Apr. 9, 1993

While Philly fans had long been accustomed to losing players to bigger markets, watching the team's all-time sack leader opt for a future in Green Bay proved particularly painful.

17. Eagles drop NFC title game thriller in St. Louis | Jan. 27, 2002

The Eagles took a 17-13 lead into halftime, but Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce proved too much to handle in the second half as Philly suffered a heartbreaking 29-24 loss in its first conference title game appearance since 1980.

16. Phils bow meekly in 1983 World Series | Oct. 16, 1983

The Phillies milked one more year out of their collection of holdover veterans from the 1980 World Series champs. But the Wheeze Kids, as they were dubbed, didn't put up much of a fight in a five-game loss to the Orioles.

15. John Chaney's fifth Elite Eight loss is most painful | Mar. 25, 2001

Chaney's dream of reaching the Final Four fell short again in his fifth trip to the Elite Eight, when the Quincy Wadley-led Owls suffered a 69-62 loss to Michigan State.

14. Lakers knock out Sixers in Game 5 of NBA Finals | June 15, 2001

The Sixers captured the heart of a blue-collar, championship-starved city with their hard-working and defiant approach. When they finally ran out of comebacks against the Lakers in the fifth game of the '01 Finals, the Philadelphia fans gave the team a 10-minute standing ovation after the final horn sounded.

13. Claude Lemieux silences the Spectrum | June 11, 1995

After sweeping the Rangers in the East semis, the Flyers promptly dropped two straight at home against the Devils in the conference finals. But Philly rallied to tie the series with two wins at the Meadowlands and brought momentum home for the pivotal Game 5. That's when Claude Lemieux's goal with 44.2 seconds remaining broke a 2-2 tie, and put the Devils in position for a six-game series victory.

12. Sixers select Shawn Bradley with No. 2 overall pick | June 30, 1993

The gangly 7-foot-6 center out of Brigham Young signed a $44M contract, the most lucrative deal in Philadelphia sports history at the time, and ended up becoming a symbol of the team's mid-1990s ineptitude. Bradley hadn't played competitively for two years while working as a Mormon missionary in Australia and it showed. The Sixers gave up on their pet project after just two-and-a-half seasons and sent Bradley to New Jersey in a trade for Derrick Coleman.

11. Red Wings dispense of Flyers in Stanley Cup Finals | June 7, 1997

The Flyers went down like lambs against the Red Wings in four games, a quiet end to the team's first Finals trip in a decade. Philadelphia mustered just six goals in the entire series, with Lindros held scoreless until his meaningless tally with 30 seconds left in Game 4.

10. 1993 World Series, Game 4 | Oct. 20, 1993

Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter would deliver the coup de grace three nights later in Toronto, but when Larry Andersen and Mitch Williams couldn't hold down a 14-9 lead in the eighth inning of Game 4, you knew the Phils were cooked. The Phils dropped a 15-14 decision -- the highest-scoring game in Fall Classic history.

9. Sixers trade Barkley to Suns | July 17, 1992

In the classic three-quarters-for-a-dollar trade, Sixers owner Harold Katz sent Philly's iconic power forward to the Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry. Philadelphia slipped from 35 to 26 victories the following season while Barkley won Most Valuable Player honors and led Phoenix to the Finals.

8. Cunningham injures knee in regular-season opener | Sept. 1, 1991

The Eagles opened the Kotite era with Super Bowl aspirations, but it all unraveled in Week 1 when the reigning NFL MVP went down with a season-ending knee injury. The team went through five different quarterbacks including Pat Ryan -- signed by Kotite off a construction site -- and still managed 10 victories on the strength of Bud Carson's defense, the fifth unit in NFL history to be ranked No. 1 against the run, No. 1 against the pass and No. 1 overall.

7. Flyers fall one win short of Stanley Cup against Oilers | May 31, 1987

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead in the seventh and deciding game of the Stanley Cup Finals against Wayne Gretzky's Oilers. But Edmonton roared back on goals from Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson and secured the victory. Ron Hextall made 40 saves in the game and took home Conn Smythe honors as the MVP of the playoffs, which provided little solace.

6. Eagles lose NFC title game for third straight season | Jan. 18, 2004

The Eagles fell one game short of the Super Bowl for the third straight year with a 14-3 loss to Carolina in the NFC title game. McNabb tore rib cartilage on a late hit by linebacker Greg Favors and ended up going to the bench in the fourth quarter for understudy Koy Detmer.

5. Sixers miss shot to take '01 Finals stranglehold with Game 2 loss | June 8, 2001

After stunning the heavily favored Lakers with an overtime victory in Game 1, the Sixers had a golden opportunity to take a 2-0 series lead back to Philadelphia. Trailing by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Larry Brown's charges used a 13-3 run to close within three points with 2:12 left. But late baskets from Derek Fisher and Robert Horry helped bail the Lakers out, splitting the series at a game apiece.

4. Super Bowl XXXIX | Feb. 6, 2005

There was no shortage of talking points following a 24-21 loss to the Patriots, from Philly's failure to capitalize on the Patriots' first-quarter errors to the still-unexplained, time-sapping drive in the fourth quarter.

3. Flyers complete epic East finals collapse against archrivals | May 26, 2000

After taking a 3-1 series lead against the Devils, the Flyers mustered just three goals in three games against their Turnpike nemeses to complete a painful seven-game meltdown. Game 7 is best remembered for Scott Stevens' punishing but clean first-period check to knock Eric Lindros out of the game. Lindros would never suit up for the Flyers again.

2. 1993 World Series, Game 6 | Oct. 23, 1993

Philadelphians still have a hard time understanding why Jim Fregosi inserted Williams into the game for the ninth inning with the Phils clinging to a 6-5 lead just days after Williams took the loss in the Game 4 disaster. Relief pitchers Roger Mason, David West and Larry Andersen had been shutting down the Blue Jays after starter Terry Mulholland departed in the sixth inning. Williams' fastball to Carter famously ended up in the SkyDome's left-field seats. Touch 'em all, Joe.

1. 2002 NFC Championship Game | Jan. 19, 2003

The blindside factor makes the NFC title game between the Eagles and the Bucs the choice as the definitive Philly sports tragedy of the drought era. The idea of losing to Tampa Bay in the final game in Veterans Stadium history was unthinkable. Consider these facts:

* In the three most recent meetings between the teams -- including wild-card showdowns in 2000 and 2001 -- the Eagles had outscored the Bucs by a 72-22 margin.

* The Bucs entered the game 1-21 all-time when the temperature was under 40 degrees (with the lone win coming in Week 17 against the hapless Bears). The gametime temperature in South Philadelphia: 22 degrees and windy.

* Tampa Bay had never won a road playoff game in franchise history.

When Brian Mitchell returned the opening kickoff 70 yards -- followed by Duce Staley's touchdown in the first minute -- victory seemed a foregone conclusion. Alas, the Eagles lost the game, 27-10. After sucking the energy out of the Vet with two lengthy touchdown drives during the first half, Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber's sealed the outcome with a 92-yard interception with 3:12 left. It sent 66,713 salty fans to the aisles, an appropriate tribute to a building which provided the stage for 33 years of disappointment and heartbreak.