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We Wuz Robbed: The top 10 most bogus, exasperating, hair pulling calls of all time

By RJ Warner, Section Site related
Posted on Sat May 27 2006 at 6:05 PM EST
More on: (all tags)

Having once umpired little league baseball, I can understand what game officials go through, albeit on a much smaller scale. No matter what call you make, it's going to upset half the people involved. Some calls, however, are so obviously and excruciatingly horrible and controversial that it still sends the jilted players, coaches and fans to the brink of insanity years later at their mere mention.

Below is a list of some of the most egregious offenses committed by umpires, referees and officials in the history of sports. Not all are mentioned here, and every fan may have a different perspective on where these rank (or not at all) depending on regional and team allegiances.

In the track and field world, the fastest 100 meter dash is the most prestigious world record to be owned. American Justin Gatlin had run the race of his life, finishing with a new record of 9.766 seconds, eclipsing Jamaican Asafa Powell's world record of 9.77. Under IAFF rules, however, Gatlin's result should have been immediately rounded up to 9.77, and officials changed his time 5 days later. No word on whether Gatlin went back to his former high school math teacher to punch him out for teaching the rounding up the thousandths' column rule.

9. Jeffery Maier plays a good right field -  New York, NY, October 9, 1996

Trailing the Orioles in Game 1, Derek Jeter steps up to the plate and lofts a fly ball to deep right at Yankee Stadium. Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco camps under the ball and is about to pull it in when the 12-year old Maier sticks his chubby little paws into baseball history, catching it and pulling it over the wall before Tarasco can snare it. Umpire Rich Garcia refuses to call fan interference and twirls his finger to give Jeter the home run. The Yankees recent dynasty is born, as they go on to win the game, the series and the world title.  The Orioles never reach the World Series, despite having one of the finest teams in the mid to late 1990s. The Yankees reward Maier for his interfering with the game by giving him dugout seats for Game 2.

8. Isn't that an automatic ejection? - Philadelphia, PA, March 28, 1992

Duke vs. Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional final was considered by many as the greatest college basketball game ever played. It ended with Christian Laettner hitting the famous turnaround shot at the buzzer, sending the Blue Devils to the Final Four and their second straight national title. One small, minute little thing, however: It should have been Antonio Lang or Bobby Hurley taking that shot. Laettner should have been long showered up and sitting on the bus by that point. Early in the second half, Laettner, resident Golden Boy of Durham those years, must have found some dog-doo on his shoe. Problem was, he used Kentucky's Aminu Timberlake as the door mat to wipe it off.  The referee overlooked "The Stomp" and let Laettner remain in the game so he could continue his flawless shooting from the floor and bury the Wildcats with The Shot.

7. If that's not a push-off... - Salt Lake City, UT, June 14, 1998.

Michael Jordan had a few quick brushstrokes to wisp over on his Picasso of a career. Bryon Russell was just trying to man him up. Who do you think the refs were going to give the benefit of the doubt to? Jordan tossed Russell so far that he ended up in Laramie, the Bulls won their sixth NBA title, and nobody outside of Mormon country wanted it any other way.

6. The "Hand of God" - June 22, 1986, Mexico City, Mexico.

While most of us Americans don't know the rules of soccer, (or `futbol') from the rules of cricket, we do know that - unless you're a goalie - you're not allowed to use your hands to play the ball. This didn't stop Argentinean superstar and coke addict Diego Maradona from using his fist to punch the ball into the net past a stunned England in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.  Maradona admitted the meat-hook foul years later. Argentina went on to win the World Cup and the British somehow became known as whiners. Go figure.  

5. He's in the F%!*# Crease! - Buffalo, NY, June 20, 1999

The NHL had gone through an exasperating few years of reviewed and reversed goals if so much as an opposing pubic hair was in the defending goalie's crease. The Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars fought into triple overtime when Stars forward Brett Hull's entire right leg was in the offending area to score the championship-clinching goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The refs and replay officials suddenly develop Ray Charles Syndrome and let the goal stand, giving the Stars the Cup and Buffalo another colossal sports failure.

4. 5th and Goal - Columbia, MO, October 6, 1990

Colorado was battling the upset-minded Mizzou Tigers and had a first and goal on the Mizzou one yard line with under a minute remaining. On first down, QB Charles Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. On second down, Eric Bienemy was stopped short of the goal line. On third down, Bienemy was stopped again. On fourth down, Johnson spiked the ball again. Apparently, amidst the confusion and the crush of fans on the goal line, the official forgot to turn the down marker over between Bienemy's runs, giving Colorado the extra crack at the end zone. Johnson scored on the next play, giving Colorado a 33-31 victory. The referees let the play stand and Colorado coach Bill McCartney refused to forfeit the game. A similar incident happened at a Cornell-Dartmouth game in 1940, in which Cornell scored on the final play of the game with the benefit of an extra play. After the snafu was discovered, Cornell forfeited the game. The Buffs went on to split the National Championship with Georgia Tech, despite having a 10-1-1 record to Tech's 11-0-1 mark.

3. Whaddaya MEAN he's safe? - Kansas City, MO, October 26, 1985

In Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, the Royals were down to their last at-bat, trailing 1-0 in the game and 3-2 in the series to the Cardinals. With one out in the ninth, George Orta slapped a weak grounder towards first. Jack Clark fielded the ball, flipped it to pitcher Todd Worrell to beat the runner for the second out of the inning. Everyone in the stadium saw it that way. Everyone except first base umpire Don Denkinger. He called Orta safe, and the Royals used the extra out to rally for a 2-1 victory. The Cardinals, obviously distraught at the blown call, spotted the Royals the first 11 runs of Game 7 and lost the series.

2. Not quite so Immaculate - Pittsburgh, PA Dec. 23, 1972

The Steelers were playing their first ever playoff game in 39 years in the city of Pittsburgh. The hated Oakland Raiders had just gone up 7-6 late in the fourth quarter on a TD run by rookie quarterback Ken Stabler. What happened next lives on in NFL history, or infamy for those favoring silver and black. On the last play of the game, Terry Bradshaw (perhaps warming up for his second career as a broadcaster) threw a big turd out there, hoping someone would get it. The ball, Raiders safety Jack Tatum and Pittsburgh running back Frenchy Fuqua all seemingly collided at the same time. Out of nowhere, Franco Harris caught it the moment before it hit the ground and raced into the end zone, giving the Steelers a 13-7 win and the NFL its greatest play of all time. Problem was, it was flat out bogus; NFL rules at the time stated that the ball could not touch two offensive players on the same play. If Fuqua had touched the ball, the play would have been ruled dead once Harris touched the ball. Tatum swears to this day that it nicked Fuqua. Fuqua, a flashy, gregarious player who once kept goldfish in his platform shoes, has since turned to Helen Keller and refused to divulge the truth, once saying "I want to keep it Immaculate." It was also rumored that portly (and now extremely pissed off) Raiders coach John Madden confronted referee Fred Swearingen, who, in the midst of the anarchy on the field, ran to the dugout of Three Rivers Stadium and picked up the phone. Some believe he called upstairs to the supervisor of officials for help (because he didn`t see the play). Madden says the ref called Pittsburgh Police and asked how much security they could get to safely get out of the stadium when he reversed the call. The cop on the other end told him not enough, therefore forcing the refs to let the play stand.

1. Try, Try and Try Again - Munich, Germany, September 9, 1972.

Any sports fan has to admit that game officials are ultimately human. These athletes and the objects they put in motion are moving so fast that not every call can be made 100% accurately . But what happened in Munich in 1972 was outright fraud. Cold War foes the U.S and U.S.S.R were battling fiercely for the men's basketball gold medal. With the U.S leading 50-49 with three seconds left, the Soviets in-bounded the ball, but the referees stopped the game. The Russian's contended they had called a timeout, which the officials never originally acknowledged. The teams were sent back onto the floor, where the Soviets in-bounded again, failing to score. The celebrating Americans were called back to the floor for the third time when the officials failed to put the three seconds back on the clock. The Soviets get it right the third time, scoring on a layup to win the game 51-50. The Americans filed an official protest to a five man international basketball panel and lost by a 3-2 vote. According to an espn.com story, three judges on the panel were from communist bloc countries. The silver medals the U.S. "won" never touch an American neck and still remain in a Swiss bank vault unclaimed. In fact, one player went as far to state in his will that the medal can never be claimed by any surviving family member - ever.

So there you have it. Try not to pull all of your hair out. Some that didn't quite make the list (but will still not be forgotten) are umpire Eric Gregg's wider-than-his-fat-ass strike zone during Game 5 of the 1995 NLCS between the Marlins and Braves, the figure skating flap of the 2002 Winter Olympics between Canada and Russia, anything called by Phil Luckett in 1998 (Jets-Seahawks, Dolphins-Broncos and the Steelers-Lions coin flip faux paus), and any orgnanized boxing match.

Thanks to Wikipedia.org and ESPN Page 2 for the resources.