You've got to hand it to the Colorado Avalanche. Even in defeat, the Avs gave the world something to remember.

Nobody from Denver to Medicine Hat will soon forget the Avs' loss to those feisty virtual expansionists, the Minnesota Wild. We're talking colossal collapse, a disgrace for the ages, Enron on ice. How bad was it? The Hall of Infamy asked Patrick Roy to donate his mask, but he said he needed it so he could go out in public once in a while.

"We were playing with fire," Roy said after the Avs' Game 7 loss. "I believe in destiny. That's their destiny. They wanted it more than us."

So there you have it, the Wild's new nickname: A Zamboni Named Desire. It certainly wasn't Minnesota's talent advantage that beat the Avs. Before the series, Colorado was 11-1-2-1 versus the Wild in regular-season games -- 7-0-1 at the Pepsi Center, where Minnesota won three games in the series.

What, you want to talk money? Think Yankees versus Brewers. The Avs' $61-million payroll was virtually triple the Wild's payroll. Not only that, the Avs led the series 3-1 going into Game 5 in Denver. Oh, and did we mention the Avs twice led Game 7 before finally coughing up their season?

But then, stuff collapses in this pop culture of ours. The wide, wide world of sports & entertainment is jam-packed with instances of unfulfilled potential, missed opportunities and botched legacies. Here's one man's list of the greatest collapses and most notorious what-ifs that ever were:

1. Pete Best. In the immortal word of John Lennon, imagine. Imagine if Best had stayed in the Fab Four. He could have been the drummer in the greatest rock 'n' roll band of 'em all. Instead, he wound up riding the bus to work in Liverpool. Who knows? Maybe it's better that Best went on to live a relatively quiet, normal life. Maybe, if he had stuck around, he would have OD'd in the '60s while grooving to a Ravi Shankar 8-track. Then again, the Beatles were so big, even Ringo, he of the face made for radio, got all the chicks. Hey, Pete, my man, cheer up. My billionaire friends tell me living in a castle isn't what it's cracked up to be.

	Walton led the Blazers to the '77 NBA title, but foot injuries and a stint with the Clippers ended his dominance.

2. Bill Walton. What a short, strange trip it was. You wonder if the big redhead ate too much tofu as a kid and didn't drink enough milk. For whatever reason, the bones in his feet kept breaking after he got into his mid-20s. Too bad. To Gen-Xers, Walton is just a 6-11 tower of courtside babble. Not so. He had more game than Indians outfielder Milton Bradley. The two best college players ever were Walton and Lew Alcindor, not necessarily but maybe in that order. For all we know, Luke Walton will win more NBA championships than the old man. Is this a cruel world or what?

3. The '51 Dodgers. They can play baseball until Dick Clark looks like Kenny Rogers and there will never be another day to match Oct. 3, 1951. You know the drill. Brooklyn leads 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth in the rubber game of a three-game playoff series to determine the National League pennant winner. Ralph Branca comes dead red, and Bobby Thomson takes him deep at the Polo Grounds in the most famous ballgame that ever was. Now for what you may not know: The Giants were 13 1/2 back on Aug. 12 before winning 16 straight. They won 39 of their final 47, including their last seven, to force the playoff. In retrospect, the Dodgers should have pitched to the stiff on deck -- Willie Mays.

4. Anna Nicole Smith. Big-boned women of the world, take note! Gain 30 pounds, flash some cleavage and murder a few million brain cells and ... voila! You, too, can be a TV star! Provided, of course, you bake on a few layers of makeup and talk like you're whacked out on 'ludes. Is that the worst thing to hit the little screen since "The Pat Sajak Show" or what? And to think, there was a time when Anna Nicole and her two, um, bosom buddies were going to go places. Like to the mall with her long, lost husband's credit cards.

	Fidrych did very little cleaning up after his 1976 Rookie of the Year season.

5. Mark Fidrych. Imagine Matt Damon with a fastball instead of a brain in "Good Will Hunting." That was the Bird. A blue-collar, mop-top kid from New England who just wanted to hang out. He won more games -- 19 -- in 1976 than the Tigers may win in 2003. He also manicured the mound, talked to the ball, clapped for his teammates when they made good plays and captivated the baseball world. Fidrych was only 21 when he finished 19-9, 2.34 to win the American League rookie of the year award. It was the 24 complete games that were the mixed blessing. Arm trouble arrived the next season and Fidrych was out of the game by 1980. His career record after his rookie year: 10-10. Come to think of it, if the light was just right, he did kind of resemble Joe Hardy.

6. The Knack. Weren't they supposed to be the new-wave Beatles? All these years later and "My Sharona" still hasn't had a sister. Sure, sure, they cranked out their share of tunes, but they never became what we wanted them to be. On a more positive note, none of the band members ever died in his own vomit after a heroin overdose. And they call themselves rock stars.

7. The '64 Phillies. The Phillies lose the pennant! The Phillies lose the pennant! Ever wonder why so many people from Philly are so cynical? It's because of the '64 season. If they didn't live the nightmare, their dads or grandfathers did. Almost 40 years later, the Phils still carry the torch for chokers worldwide. They had a 6 1/2-game lead with two weeks to play, only to lose 10 straight to finish a game behind St. Louis. How hopelessly behind were the Cardinals? They were in fifth place in mid-August, prompting owner Gussie Busch to fire GM Bing Devine.

8. James Dean. Now that we've seen Brando in his 70s, maybe it's a blessing that J.D. died young. The coolest dude in Hollywood history wouldn't have looked good in a Sans-a-belt and a pup tent from Rochester's Big & Tall. You know something is wrong with the world when Paulie Shore makes more movies than Jimmy, who did three flicks before buying it. The rebel didn't have a cause, but he had the rest of the package covered. We're talking way cool. Even teenage boys who didn't smoke rolled packs of cancer sticks up their sleeves after seeing The Man. Who knows? If he had lived, he might have broken Wilt's world record for most times washing sheets in a lifetime.

9. The '92 Houston Oilers. How 'bout them Awlers? That's what Oilers fans were saying around their TVs as Houston led the Bills 35-3 at halftime in the teams' opening-round playoff game in suburban Buffalo. To make a long story short, your final score from Rich Stadium: Buffalo 41, Houston 38 in OT. It was enough to turn Bud Adams' toupee gray. Sure, it's a moot point, but you wonder, if the Oilers had won that game, would they ever have left Houston?

10. Mungo Jerry. A lot of silly things have been sold on eBay through the years, none more silly than this: Mungo Jerry, All the Hits. That's like saying David Wells, All the Pulitzers. Mungo Jerry had one hit, "In the Summertime," in the summer of 1970. But then, you knew that. The tune was so big the band still has a fan club, with members in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the U.K., Ireland and the U.S. No really, we're not making this up. Only trouble is, their groupies are now grandmothers.

Jim Armstrong, a sports columnist for the Denver Post, is a regular contributor to Page 2.