Monday, June 7, 2010

You make the call

This has nothing to do with the Wild Things, but it might make for interesting discussion:

Matt Shetler, who has covered high school sports for the Observer-Reporter and runs the sound system for the Wild Things, also writes for a blog called "Man Cave Sports Lounge." On the heels of umpire Jim Joyce blowing a call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Andres Galarraga a perfect game, Matt wrote about what he considers the 10 worst "sports calls" of all time.

You can read the list here Click here.

I agree with Matt on No. 1. My No. 2, however, would be the Colorado-Missouri football game in 1990, the famous "5th Down Game." It was No. 5 on Matt's list. How an entire officiating crew can give a team five downs to score the winning touchdown is beyond me. Pre-school children can count to five, so why can't a college football official?

My No. 3 is one Matt has as honorable mention: the Roy Jones Jr. fiasco at the Seoul Olympics. How a boxer can dominate his opponents so convincingly that he is named Outstanding Boxer at the Games but gets robbed of the gold medal is beyond me.

Even my No. 4 doesn't make Matt's list. It's the pass interference call against Miami, Fla., in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, which was the national championship game. The phantom call, which was made either six seconds or six months after the play ended, cost Miami a national championship. That's what you can a costly blunder.

Another bad call that needs consideration is pass reception that Mike McCloskey made for Penn State in the final minute of a 1982 game against Nebraska. McCloskey clearly made the catch out of bounds but the officials ruled a completion and spotted the ball at the 2-yard line with nine seconds remaining, setting up the game-winning score. Nebraska didn't lose another game all year, so the call cost the Huskers a chance at the national title.

Another one that stands out to me was in a meaningless April baseball game. It was the first game in Florida Marlins history. Charlie Hough was the starting pitcher for Florida and Dave Magadan was the leadoff batter for the Mets. Home-plate umpire Frank Pulli called Magadan out on a pitch that was more than a foot outside and low. It was such a bad call it was laughable. As soon as it happened, I knew Pulli simply wanted the Marlins to start with a strikeout by their pitcher. He didn't care if the pitch was in the same zip code as home plate or not, he was going to call it a strike.

2 Comments:

Blogger matt shetler said...

I can't believe I forgot about the pass interference call in the Miami game. The sad part is I'm a big Miami fan. I guess I was trying to forget about that one.

June 7, 2010 at 5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good article. I still say the 85 World Series was the worst call

June 10, 2010 at 5:24 AM  

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