What's the Single Worst Call You've Ever Seen?

I've always hated this philosophy. Yes in a perfect world you would win every game by 30 and refs would never factor into the outcome. At the professional level where the worst team in the league is still filled with athletic beasts and capable of beating anyone during a given week, it just isn't realistic or an acceptable justification for obviously blown calls.

The NFL has games going down to the wire every single week. Expecting them to make the right calls when the calls are obvious isn't asking a whole lot. Especially not when they have the benefit of replay and still blow it. There was one play left, GB had to make a play and they did. Hard to take the refs out of the game when they seemingly want to be a part of it.

Edit: Never mind. Totally missed the username.

 

We Indiana grads have plenty of football moments:
This one yields Anthony Carter's memorable Hail Mary on the final play to beat Indiana 27-21 at the Big House. But watch Butch Woolfork throw the ball to Lee Corso to stop the clock with no timeouts left at about :30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEF6edfexco

Probably the most infamous was, after IU had stopped Phil Rivers' NC State team on 4th down to clinch a victory, seemingly 5 minutes after the play was over, the back judge (ACC officials, too) comes running in and throws a flag for defensive holding. Two plays later, Rivers hooked up with Koren Robinson for a TD and NCSU won. I think there was still smoke coming out of my ears after spending an hour and a half driving home.

 

There were about eight fucked up calls in the final three seconds of the game.

First the botched timeout call by the USSR coach.

Then the erroneous granting of the timeout.

Then the fuckup of the reset of the clock (50 seconds)

Then the fuckup of the second clock reset.

Then the fuckup of the ref telling McMillen he had to back off the inbounds passer 6 feet or 16 feet or however many feet to give him more room to pass. Unless the inbounds passer literally has his feet backed up against a wall or other immovable barrier, it is the problem of the inbounds passer to back off enough to pass the ball inbounds. The defender can tiptoe right up to the boundary line.

Plus the blatant charging foul on Belov bulldozing Bantom to the floor to score the winning basket.

It was obvious that Pencil-Dick Jones was going to keep sending the teams out there again and again and again until the buzzer sounded with the USSR ahead.

And yes, the whole thing was Hank Iba's fault, because the US should have had about a 35-point lead anyway. Never leave the game close enough for the refs to fuck you out of it, because if they can, they will.

The problem was, Iba would have been perfectly happy to win the game 50-49, when he should have been going balls out to win it about 90-59.

 

Bob Knight points out another violation on that (he's probably still steamed about that, but he despised the Soviets, too) ... in international ball at the time, the 3-second count was in effect on inbounds plays. Belov was in the lane for well over three seconds.

The big thing was telling McMillen he had to back off the inbounder. Plane of the OOB line has always been the threshhold for a defender.

 

Sure if you really think he didn't intentionally kick and move the ball forward.

 

There were about eight fucked up calls in the final three seconds of the game.

First the botched timeout call by the USSR coach. He did nothing wrong. Tried to call timeout after Collins' first free throw, which is the only time there would have been a dead ball. Scorekeeper blew the horn too late (as Collins was shooting second free throw). Russian players thought ball was live (but it really wasn't, as a timeout had been granted --- eventually) . . . and so their "first chance" was not really a chance at all. Ball was dead.

Then the erroneous granting of the timeout. Correct. Should not have been granted AT THAT TIME. But it SHOULD have been granted when the coach first signaled it --- BEFORE Collins attempted his second free throw. Granting the timeout was simply the officials way of compromising and correcting the error of not granting the timeout when it should have been granted. Debatable? Sure. Sinister? Hardly.

Then the fuckup of the reset of the clock (50 seconds) True, but it gave no competitive advantage. Was just a fuckup . . . which led to the phantom "second chance" when the horn blew as Soviets tried to inbound.

Then the fuckup of the second clock reset. Not sure what you mean. Once the timeout was granted (erroneously or not), 3 seconds needed to be put on the clock --- and finally were.

Then the fuckup of the ref telling McMillen he had to back off the inbounds passer 6 feet or 16 feet or however many feet to give him more room to pass. Unless the inbounds passer literally has his feet backed up against a wall or other immovable barrier, it is the problem of the inbounds passer to back off enough to pass the ball inbounds. The defender can tiptoe right up to the boundary line. Not really. The official was NOT ordering McMillen to back away. He was only reminding him not to break the plane of the line. He even points down at the line. Obviously, because of the language difficulties, McMillen misunderstood and thought he needed to back off. But he was never ordered to! This is a misconception --- like many others --- that simply will not go away.

Plus the blatant charging foul on Belov bulldozing Bantom to the floor to score the winning basket. First of all, it was NOT Bantom. It was Jim Forbes and Kevin Joyce defending. Facts, Starman, Facts. Three players go up. Forbes was horribly off balance after lunging for the ball and was halfway to the floor when Belov came down with the ball. As for Joyce . . . why was a 6-3 guard defending 6-8 Belov? Hello? Hank Iba? Hello?

It was obvious that Pencil-Dick Jones was going to keep sending the teams out there again and again and again until the buzzer sounded with the USSR ahead. Doubt it. Much of the confusion was caused by language difficulties and interpretation of FIBA rules. Fuckups were made. But it was not sinister. Really. Heck, they could have just called Collins for a phantom traveling call if they really wanted to leave no doubt. Why pin your hopes to an endless reel of length-of-the-court inbounds plays? Seriously.

And yes, the whole thing was Hank Iba's fault, because the US should have had about a 35-point lead anyway. Well, maybe a 15-point lead. Just wasn't one of the U.S.'s better teams. Never leave the game close enough for the refs to fuck you out of it, because if they can, they will.

The problem was, Iba would have been perfectly happy to win the game 50-49, when he should have been going balls out to win it about 90-59. Absolutely

This is an interesting read on the subject.

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?29049-The-1972-Olympians-should-stop-whining

 

Shorter BTE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLcc19mt4eA

 

If the Americans had an anthem like that, maybe they would have won 90-59 like they should have.

 

Well our resident Ruskie turncoat does have a point there. That tune kicks the ass of our star spangled mess.

 

And both are behind Canada. They still suck at basketball.

 

I'll second that.