Kamaru Usman and the other athletes who’ve been stopped at history’s doorstep

The 2007 New England Patriots boasted the future GOAT quarterback at his apex, helming the highest-scoring offense in league history. The Pats were spearheaded by a mastermind coach who engineered the long-running dynasty in NFL history and Brady had the most gifted wide receiver in history at his disposal. During the 2007 season, Moss eclipsed Jerry Rice’s single-season touchdown record. Ultimately they only scored 17 points in the Super Bowl and were slayed by the little brother of Brady’s only equal.

How?

After escaping the clutches of multiple would-be tacklers, including Richard Seymour stretching his jersey, Eli Manning launched a prayer to David Tyree, who caught it between his helmet and hands and held onto it while Rodney Harrison was draped all over him.

Brady would go on to claim almost every career statistical passing record, and win more Super Bowls than any player in history, but the undefeated season remains elusive.

Serena Williams will write the final chapter in her career in the U.S. Open next month. As arguably the GOAT of women’s tennis, Serena has nothing left to prove, however, there is one last feat she’d like to pull off. One more Grand Slam would tie her with Margaret Court, who won a majority of her titles before the Open era began. Since winning 23, Serena has come close – a few times. Since winning her 23rd Grand Slam at the 2017 Australian Open, Serena has lost in the 2018 Wimbledon final, the 2018 U.S. Open final, the 2019 Wimbledon final, and the 2019 U.S. Open final. Four times she lost in the Final.

Serena should be celebrated for the trailblazing she did over the course of her career, but a small part of us will always wish she’d toppled Court’s record and pushed her even deeper into the dustbin of history. Serena recently expressed regret about not passing Court and disclosed that thinking about it too often in those finals, multiplied the pressure to win.

The Warriors claimed the single-season record, but they Usmaned it in the Finals, which tainted their entire season. They reached 28 consecutive wins, the second-most all-time, set the NBA record for regular season home wins, Steph Curry shattered the record for 3-pointers in a season and Golden State became the only team to avoid losing back-to-back games during the season, which made their three losses in a row to Cleveland even harder to stomach.

You know the story, ahead 3-1 against the Cavaliers, Golden State lost in Games 5 while Draymond Green served a suspension and squandered Game 6 on the road. Then, in the fourth quarter of Game 7 played at home, Curry failed to beat Kevin Love off the dribble, Andre Iguodala got chased down from behind by LeBron and Kyrie Irving’s dagger three over Steph Curry’s outstretched arms was the difference. The loss made the Warriors a metonym for choking and removed them from the greatest team of all-time discussions.

Cooper Kupp’s burst onto the scene last season as the preeminent receiver in football. During the NFL’s first 17-game season, Kupp found himself chasing the single-season receptions and yardage records. Kupp only needed 19 yards in the second half of Los Angeles’ regular season finale, but either Stafford was unaware, more fixated on getting OBJ involved, protective of former teammate Calvin Johnson’s record, or just had his eyes on a bigger prize.

The Rams lost in overtime to the Niners after a Matt Stafford interception, but that’s unimportant in this instance. Stafford’s interception kept Kupp off the field. Kupp’s season tally of 1,946 receiving yards was 54 yards from clearing the 2,000-yard hurdle, a measly 18 yards behind Calvin Johnson’s single-season record and his 145 catches put him four behind Michael Thomas’ 149-catch 2019 season. Ironically, climbing to second on the single-season charts for two different records, along with scoring 16 touchdowns, then earning Super Bowl MVP for good measure is arguably the most complete season a single receiver has ever had. Of course, the extra game helped, but Kupp was targeted 14 fewer times by Stafford in 2021 than Johnson was by Stafford in 2012. It would have been nice if Stafford had done Kupp a solid in the second half of Week 18 and thrown a few more times in Kupp’s direction, but he didn’t make that mistake in the Super Bowl.

By 2005, Matt Leinart’s USC Trojans were already regarded as one of the greatest teams in college football history. The defending national champions sprinted through their schedule from August to the Rose Bowl, as the wire-to-wire No. 1 team in the nation. In the process, Leinart won 34 consecutive games as the starting quarterback. A win in the national championship would match former Toledo quarterback Chuck Ealey’s 35-game winning streak.

And then, Vince Young happened.

On 4th and 5, Young escaped a collapsing pocket, darted around his right tackle, used his long stride to beat the Trojans’ defense to the right corner pylon, and put the Longhorns up for good with 18 seconds remaining.

Young’s all-time performance snapped Leinart and USC’s streak. Losing the national championship and having their claim as the greatest team of all-time debunked was a bigger blow. It’s only the second-toughest championship loss of Pete Carroll’s career though.

Beginning in the 2000 season, Ken Dorsey rattled off 34-straight wins captaining the early 2000s Miami Hurricanes. Dorsey probably isn’t one of the top-five most recognizable names on the last Hurricanes national championship, which is remarkable considering he was still a two-time Heisman finalist. It’s the championship he didn’t win that haunts The U. Like Leinart, Miami took the field for the 2002 National Championship Game in a 34-game winning streak. Thirty-five was the record for a starting quarterback.

Even worse, Miami won the game in overtime before the officials bailed out Ohio State with one of the most egregiously bad defensive pass interference calls in college football history. Ken Dorsey needed consoling after the game and who could blame him? The U hasn’t been the same since.