The toughest place to play in all of sports

You think that Cameron Indoor Stadium is hard to play in with their Cameron Crazies? Think again. The Big House in Michigan? Hell, Appalachian State won there. Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks?

Nope. None of those are even close to Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. The 100,000+ seat stadium, the fifth-largest stadium in the world, is so impenetrable that the United States has never won a match there. Ever.

ESPN's Bill Simmons attempted to let you know what it was like last week when the United States played Mexico in a World Cup Qualifying match that was a must-win for Mexico:

You can't even call it just a hostile environment; it's more primal than anything. I have only attended two other games in which the crowd's collective loathing was palpable -- Game 6 of the 1986 NBA Finals (Boston fans heaping hatred on Ralph Sampson, who had punched two Celtics in the previous game) and Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern finals (the same treatment for Bill Laimbeer, who had decked Larry Bird the previous game) -- and neither approached USA-Mexico. Michael Vick could crash a PETA rally and get a friendlier reception than the Americans did at Azteca.

Amazing.