LIVE THROUGH THIS

It’s July, and that means it’s that point of the offseason where we’re straight-up itchy for football. We’re not asking for Alabama-Clemson or Ohio State-Oklahoma right now. We’ll take anything you’ve got right now. Give me a BYU-East Carolina. Colorado-UCLA? I’ll watch it. A Tuesday night MAC game? Right into my veins. I’d even watch an Illinois game right now.

That got me to thinking, though — as enthusiastic as I am right now about the concept of football restarting next month, once it does, there’s going to be a lot of garbage to wade through. And it’s especially bad when you’re there. You’ve made the effort of getting tickets, driving to the stadium, finding parking, all of that — and sometimes you just end up stuck with four hours of absolutely unwatchable dreck.

So, I’m curious.

What’s the absolute worst game that you’ve ever sat through in person?

I have a well-documented affinity for bad football, so it should come as no surprise to anyone here that I’ve sat through some real turds in my life. A short personal accounting of Bad Football:

CONNECTICUT 40, CINCINNATI 16 (2008)

I have attended multiple games at Connecticut’s Rentschler Field. Let’s just get that factoid out of the way. The Bearcats were very good this season — this was their only loss in an 11-game stretch between a road loss to eventual BCS Championship Game participant Oklahoma and an Orange Bowl loss to Virginia Tech. They were not very good in this game, due in part to starting quarterback Tony Pike losing feeling in his hand mid-game.

The Huskies pushed a home winning streak to 11 games with this godawful, unwatchable win. 2008 was a very long time ago,

RUTGERS 20, CINCINNATI 3 (2011)

This game was not nearly as exciting as that final score would indicate. It featured Munchie Legaux in his first start for the Bearcats, and he went 12/31 passing.

Also, I tailgated at a church, got hammered on FourLoko, and wore a turkey costume to the game because it was right before Thanksgiving. I tell you all of this so that you know I always held Big East football in the appropriate level of esteem.

GEORGIA TECH 66, LOUISVILLE 31

This game was like watching a garbage truck back into a storefront, except it was also raining.

THE 2010 SUGAR BOWL

I drove 24 hours straight from New York City to New Orleans to watch the Bearcats finish their dream season playing against Florida. Also, our rental car got broken into because my buddy insisted that we didn’t need to pay for the secure garage in New Orleans. He got to deal with the rental agency alone on that one.

Those things are better than the actual game was.

What’s your worst in-person viewing experience?