On the heels of one of the most suspicious calls in NFL history, we want to know your stories, we want to know what you think is the fishiest call you’ve ever seen. Not just bad officiating mind you, because there’s a whole lot of that. We want the time where you think a ref was (maybe) on the take.
Andy Isaac:
I was all ready to talk about Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers. A game that Tim Donaghy said was manipulated before the opening whistle. But I’d feel remiss if I didn’t bring up the biggest hose job in sports…when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit…no, just kidding. The 1972 Gold Medal game between Russia and the United States. When an Olympic official came down out of the stands to give the Russians three separate chances to win the game at the buzzer.
People still talk about this today. Doug Collins, the star of that ’72 team, gets angry as hell if you suggest anything but a vast conspiracy.
The year was 1989. The Seattle Mariners were facing the California Angels and the Queen of England was in town for the game for some reason. In the 7th inning, the umpire began calling balls on pitches that were right down the middle of the plate. Then when one of the batters hit a pop foul on the infield, the ump took all the balls from his bag and threw them up in the air, seemingly to distract the catcher from being able to catch the “real” one. I suppose all of this could have been chalked up to a coincidence, but a few seconds later, that same ump actually got involved in a play by catching a runner in a run-down. It was all very odd. Thankfully the scoreboard operator was a voice of reason and called the runner out, thereby ending the charade. To this day, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
1985 World Series – Don Denkinger’s Dipshittery
I was only six when Don Denkinger helped the Kansas City Royals win the 1985 World Series, so I hadn’t even begun to fulfill my destiny as a typically annoying, albeit intelligent and classy, Cardinals fan. But I remember how much this pissed my father off, and now all these years later, with the Royals actually being good again, this play has reignited the rivalry between the typically awesome Cardinals and the current roster of Royals, who will probably all be traded within the next six months. Anyway, please allow me to channel six-year old Burnsy and send Denkinger and the Royals a special message – right here, pal.
