ABC's "Nightline" examines "worst calls ever" tonight

[pizanno]

Must be a really slow news week. This burns me on so many levels...but I'll try to reserve judgement until after Tivo-ing it.

I predict that I will hear/see:

* Arguments that poor officiating is undermining the public's faith in sports
* Barry Mano, or other spokesperson, representing us well.
* "Mistakes are part of the game. Can't take the human element out."
* Nothing resolved...or learned.

Let's see if they run the officiating recruitment clip from last year or invite viewers to get involved....

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/popup?id=5277009

[Jurassic Referee]

Why get upset?

The sun comes up in the east, goes down in the west....and officials occasionally screw up.

Obladi...obladah...life goes on.

The only real problem with that list is that the officials didn"t screw up on some of their examples:
1) In #10-the umpires made the correct ruling on Brett's homerun as per the rule book at that time. The American League president gave out a subsequent ruling that the rules didn't really back.
2) In #12, the R made the right call on Brady's fumble by the "tuck" rule as written. The problem was that it was a dumb rule and nobody really understood it.
3) In the 1972 Olympics, the problem again wasn't the officials. It was the way the TO rule was written and that the person who made the decision to have 2 do-overs was a bureaucrat in the stands, not an official on the court.

[pizanno]

Yeah...you're right JR...should let this be such a big deal...sigh...of course you are correct in pointing out that three of the examples were not even incorrect calls.

What bugs me about this are the sensationalistic captions on the top ten "worst calls ever". These calls (and they are clearly mistakes) are more accurately the "most visible" or even "infamous" calls. The captions imply that these top officials -- who likely earned their assignments with stellar credentials and preformance-- are cavalier, uncaring and even inept.

If you really wanted to see the worst calls, just do a youtube search for "worst calls" and you'll find plenty of worthy candidates.

For Nightline to take this on as a "newsworthy" topic is stooping to the tabloid tv junk that poliferates the tube these days. Again, I'll withhold judgement about the show until I see it, but the subject of "examiing bad calls the latest technology to prevent them" seems to be an opportunisitc pile-on to the Donaghy scandal during a slow sports week.

[Dan_ref]

Are they kidding? What a load of crap. I can easily think of 10 calls that were worst than these... I can even easily think of 10 calls I made that were worst than these (STFU JR). The only call that possibly belongs in this top 10 worst is the little Jeffrey Maier call. And how could they not look at any of the blown HR calls made this year alone? They must have some summer intern working on this one. An intern they imported in from some 3rd world country who doesn't know sh1t about US sports history.

But like all things this has a silver lining. From now on whenever a coach tells me I am the worst ever... I can smile, slowly shake my head & know that according to a world class news organization he is wrong.

[Nevadaref]

"Coach, I didn't even make the Top Ten."

[Nevadaref]

BTW I agree with Dan that the Yankee/Baltimore homerun call belongs on the list, but I also think that Maradona goal does too. Denkinger simply missed a close play. These two weren't even close.

[Coltdoggs]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

"Coach, I didn't even make the Top Ten."

Cha-CHING! We have a winner!

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by pizanno

Yeah...you're right JR...should let this be such a big deal...sigh...of course you are correct in pointing out that three of the examples were not even incorrect calls.

What bugs me about this are the sensationalistic captions on the top ten "worst calls ever". These calls (and they are clearly mistakes) are more accurately the "most visible" or even "infamous" calls. The captions imply that these top officials -- who likely earned their assignments with stellar credentials and preformance-- are cavalier, uncaring and even inept.

If you really wanted to see the worst calls, just do a youtube search for "worst calls" and you'll find plenty of worthy candidates.

For Nightline to take this on as a "newsworthy" topic is stooping to the tabloid tv junk that poliferates the tube these days. Again, I'll withhold judgement about the show until I see it, but the subject of "examiing bad calls the latest technology to prevent them" seems to be an opportunisitc pile-on to the Donaghy scandal during a slow sports week.

None of those top "Dewey Beats Truman" however.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

None of those top "Dewey Beats Truman" however.

Actually, it was "Dewey Defeats Truman". I know that because that was the Chicago Tribune headline the morning I was born (not kidding) in Chicago. My mom used to have a stack of those but they got lost over the years. I think I read that one was recently donated to the National Archives.

And that's been the story of my life - Dewey Defeats Truman.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

2) In #12, the R made the right call on Brady's fumble by the "tuck" rule as written. The problem was that it was a dumb rule and nobody really understood it.

I think that the Competition Committee has even voted to keep the "tuck rule" exactly as it is, haven't they? For all the commotion it caused, they didn't even think the rule needed to be changed (I think).

[Mark Padgett]

I'm going to produce a show called "The Worst ABC News Story Mistakes Ever". I don't think I can limit it to only twelve, though.