I'm no conspiracy theorist, and I've said probably more often than I should have to do so that officials usually do a very good job and they make a convenient excuse for whichever team loses a game - to the exclusion of ignoring hundreds of missed blocks, tackles or moments of failed execution to blame one particular instance as a defining moment. So today I thought we could touch on calls that felt "suspiciously convenient" in that they helped determine or seal particular outcomes. I don't expect everybody to agree, but might elicit a bit of discussion.
Note: I'm not talking about calls like Don Denkinger at first base in the 1985 World Series. While that was a bad call, it didn't feel like Denkinger made it with the purpose of setting his thumb on the scale and attempting to ensure the Royals won the series. They DID, but it didn't feel like he was trying to cause it, he just made a mistake. I'm talking about calls so insanely convenient that it felt like a pregame meeting was held to ensure a particular team won.
I'm sure I can add more, but the following ones are the most obvious:
1) 2002 Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings Game 6
Trust me - I've not watched a single NBA regular season game (and only a few playoff games) since this debacle. The Kings should have won that entire series, but some insane foul calls in the final 6 minutes gave Shaq and Kobe their three-peat. While I can say maybe we shouldn't necessarily believe Tim Donaghy's assertions, it absolutely looked as rigged as anything I've ever seen.
2) 1972 Olympic Basketball: USA vs USSR
If you even know what I'm talking about, you know that this felt a lot like the game above did. It's a whole lot easier to rig a basketball game outcome (because there's so much stoppage and the fouls are shady in the first place) than, say, a baseball game. The only thing you can do on a baseball game that's obvious is have an insanely wide strike zone. I'll get to that in a moment.
3) 1979 AFC Championship Game
Houston throws the TD to tie Pittsburgh. It's not even really close. Refs say Mike Renfro either didn't have control OR was out of bounds, neither of which is true. Houston loses momentum and it's over.
4) 1994 Orange Bowl
Look, I hate Nebraska, so there's a part of me that chuckles on this one. But never in my life did ANY CFB game EVER feel as rigged in outcome as this one did. You had FSU, who shouldn't have even been in the game, getting convenient call after convenient call, including wiping out a Nebraska TD. Even then, the Huskers nearly won the game.
5) 1983 Alabama at Penn State
Yeah, I know, we were down, 34-7. But the "Preston Gothard didn't catch the ball" nonsense call made by a relative of a Penn State player....I've had Penn State fan after Penn State fan tell me through the years that that call wasn't even close and we should have won that game. A guy I used to trade games with in the early days of the Net had never seen it but when he got the game in the mail said, "That's unbelievable." And again - he was a Penn State fan!
6) Super Bowl XL
Poor Seattle. Call after call after call - all in Pittsburgh's favor when the Steelers hadn't won a Super Bowl in 26 years. Pittsburgh did play a better game and maybe they win anyway, but it sure felt weird.
7) Indianapolis Colts vs Pittsburgh Steelers 2006 AFC Divisional Playoff
The Steelers were on the receiving end a few weeks earlier. It was bad. Bad. BAD. It's like the refs wanted to give an assist to Peyton Manning and make sure he got to go to the Super Bowl. Too bad the Colts kicker failed to come through.
8) 1997 NLCS (Most Particularly Game 5)
I didn't cheer when Eric Gregg died, but I'll admit I didn't exactly feel the appropriate kind of empathy (at first), either. Gregg put on the absolute worst display of umpiring behind home plate I've EVER seen in my 40-plus years of watching baseball. It felt like Gregg had a particular hatred for the Braves that day. I'm sure he didn't, I'm sure it was just a bad outcome, but the average 20-something Tidefans poster who could throw a ball from the mound to the plate could have struck out 15 Braves that day with that strike zone.
9) 2019 Ohio State Vs Clemson
This is one of those that feels sort of like it defies logic. After all, shouldn't Ohio State have a definite advantage in rigged outcomes against teams NOT named Alabama maybe? Huge fan base, huge turnout on the networks, huge draw. But it was one of the worst-called CFB games I've ever seen, and it seemed like EVERY time Clemson needed a call, they got it. While the targeting rule is dumb as applied, at least I understood why that ejection occurred. But every time you turned around, Clemson ws getting just enough help to put them into the national title game.
Note: I'm not talking about calls like Don Denkinger at first base in the 1985 World Series. While that was a bad call, it didn't feel like Denkinger made it with the purpose of setting his thumb on the scale and attempting to ensure the Royals won the series. They DID, but it didn't feel like he was trying to cause it, he just made a mistake. I'm talking about calls so insanely convenient that it felt like a pregame meeting was held to ensure a particular team won.
I'm sure I can add more, but the following ones are the most obvious:
1) 2002 Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings Game 6
Trust me - I've not watched a single NBA regular season game (and only a few playoff games) since this debacle. The Kings should have won that entire series, but some insane foul calls in the final 6 minutes gave Shaq and Kobe their three-peat. While I can say maybe we shouldn't necessarily believe Tim Donaghy's assertions, it absolutely looked as rigged as anything I've ever seen.
2) 1972 Olympic Basketball: USA vs USSR
If you even know what I'm talking about, you know that this felt a lot like the game above did. It's a whole lot easier to rig a basketball game outcome (because there's so much stoppage and the fouls are shady in the first place) than, say, a baseball game. The only thing you can do on a baseball game that's obvious is have an insanely wide strike zone. I'll get to that in a moment.
3) 1979 AFC Championship Game
Houston throws the TD to tie Pittsburgh. It's not even really close. Refs say Mike Renfro either didn't have control OR was out of bounds, neither of which is true. Houston loses momentum and it's over.
4) 1994 Orange Bowl
Look, I hate Nebraska, so there's a part of me that chuckles on this one. But never in my life did ANY CFB game EVER feel as rigged in outcome as this one did. You had FSU, who shouldn't have even been in the game, getting convenient call after convenient call, including wiping out a Nebraska TD. Even then, the Huskers nearly won the game.
5) 1983 Alabama at Penn State
Yeah, I know, we were down, 34-7. But the "Preston Gothard didn't catch the ball" nonsense call made by a relative of a Penn State player....I've had Penn State fan after Penn State fan tell me through the years that that call wasn't even close and we should have won that game. A guy I used to trade games with in the early days of the Net had never seen it but when he got the game in the mail said, "That's unbelievable." And again - he was a Penn State fan!
6) Super Bowl XL
Poor Seattle. Call after call after call - all in Pittsburgh's favor when the Steelers hadn't won a Super Bowl in 26 years. Pittsburgh did play a better game and maybe they win anyway, but it sure felt weird.
7) Indianapolis Colts vs Pittsburgh Steelers 2006 AFC Divisional Playoff
The Steelers were on the receiving end a few weeks earlier. It was bad. Bad. BAD. It's like the refs wanted to give an assist to Peyton Manning and make sure he got to go to the Super Bowl. Too bad the Colts kicker failed to come through.
8) 1997 NLCS (Most Particularly Game 5)
I didn't cheer when Eric Gregg died, but I'll admit I didn't exactly feel the appropriate kind of empathy (at first), either. Gregg put on the absolute worst display of umpiring behind home plate I've EVER seen in my 40-plus years of watching baseball. It felt like Gregg had a particular hatred for the Braves that day. I'm sure he didn't, I'm sure it was just a bad outcome, but the average 20-something Tidefans poster who could throw a ball from the mound to the plate could have struck out 15 Braves that day with that strike zone.
9) 2019 Ohio State Vs Clemson
This is one of those that feels sort of like it defies logic. After all, shouldn't Ohio State have a definite advantage in rigged outcomes against teams NOT named Alabama maybe? Huge fan base, huge turnout on the networks, huge draw. But it was one of the worst-called CFB games I've ever seen, and it seemed like EVERY time Clemson needed a call, they got it. While the targeting rule is dumb as applied, at least I understood why that ejection occurred. But every time you turned around, Clemson ws getting just enough help to put them into the national title game.
