I Want A Do-Over: The 20 Worst Screw Up's In Sports History

This Article Courtesy of Rip City Report

Everyone has these moments.

Whatever it is, a brain fart can plague the best of us. But professional athletes aren't supposed to be vulnerable to brain farts.

They get paid the big bucks to not have brain farts.

So what happens when one does? Well it isn't pretty.

But sometimes they can be pretty funny to watch or completely heartbreaking.

Come join me in reading about the Sporting World's Biggest screw ups.

Thanks for reading.

Mom, Don't Embarrass Me

In a 1989 light-heavy weight boxing match in Britain, the shoe ended up being Steve McCarthy's downfall.

McCarthy's opponent was Tony Wilson, a former English Olympian. The fight was in the first round when Wilson's mother stormed the ring, taking her shoe and pounding McCarthy in the head.

The blow required four stitches and eventually led to the fight being called off by the British Boxing Board Of Control.

Tony Wilson's mother apologized later on.

Dan O'Brien's Arrogance

Dan O' Brien was a knucklehead, well at least at this moment he was.

The Olympics were in the qualifying stage, Dan O'Brien was dominating the competition, so much that all he needed to do in order to qualify for the 1992 games in Barcelona was pole vault any height.

He opted, via his arrogant attitude, to pole vault a very difficult 15 feet 9 inches.

He failed on three attempts and didn't qualify for the Olympic Games.

Nice job knucklehead.

Gutter Ball

Here's one that people probably won't mention because of the state of bowling in the United States.

This one occurs in the Championship match of the 1995 PBA Fair Lanes Open.

Pete Webber was perfect on three shots, drawing three strikes in a row in the10th frame to finish with 213 points. This would force Del Ballard Jr. to strike twice in the 10th set and then knock down seven pins to win by one. Lane conditions had forced the players to bowl an outside lane closest to the gutter.

This played poorly for Ballard on his final shot.

He bowled a gutterball giving Pete Weber the victory by a six pin margin.

Really brings to life the meaning of a gutterball.

Snd I don't think that this was the celebration he was hoping for.

This Article Courtesy of Rip City Report

Two Disallowed Goals, Sound Familiar?

The 2002 World Cup was hosted in South Korea.

In a match between the host nation, South Korea, and Spain, two goals were disallowed.

The problem is that they shouldn't have been.

Referee Gamal Ghandour first saw pushing in the box that allowed a Spain attacker to get free and take a shot.

Technically, he scored. But the referee called the play back and called a "pushing" foul on Spain.

The goal was disallowed.

Yet, there was no pushing.

Late in the match, Fernando Morientes scored a goal that would surely allow Spain to advance, but the referee said the ball was out of bounds prior to the shot and therefore the goal didn't count.

But it should have.

A heartbreaker for the country of Spain to say the least.

The host country would advance to the next round and Spain were sent home. 

The United States men's soccer team would have been included in this list if they too did not advance due to the referee's blindness.

In Hindsight

This Article Courtesy of Rip City Report

In a World Cup Match between West Germany and Austria in the 1982 World Cup Group Stage, both teams already knew the outcome.

If West Germany were to win the game, Austria would advance and Algeria would not.

The problem is that Algeria had beaten West Germany earlier in the tournament, 2-1.

This meant that this final game in the group stage would decide which of the two, Algeria or Austria, would move on to the round of 16.

But since West Germany and Austria already knew which scenario would work out best for each team, they were able to influence the result to ensure both teams in the final match, West Germany and Austria, would advance.

West Germany scored early on and then both teams just passed the ball around for 80 minutes.

Yeah, that's right. Since the game that would decide if Austria would go home had already been played, the Germans and the Austrians knew that if the the West Germans won, both teams would advance.

This caused a massive uproar in Algeria.

They would now have to go home just because their game ended an hour earlier than the final.

There were riots and fights.

People were flaunting money in the air to insinuate that the Germans and Austrians fixed the match.

It was bad for the World Cup.

But they did this to themselves.

A rule change now forces the final two games of group play to be played simultaneously, to prevent another West Germany vs. Austria.

Nebraska For Two

In the January 1984 Orange Bowl, Tom Osbourne made the wrong decision.

Nebraska was down by seven in the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl. The Corn Huskers scored to pull themselves within one point of tying the game and going into overtime.

Instead of kicking the extra pointl, Osbourne elected to go for two with the National Championship on the line.

It turned out to be the wrong decision.

Miami went on to win the National Championship.

That mistake has gone on to haunt Nebraska fans even though they went on to win three National Championships in the 1990's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkZqYVdcXx8

An Open Net Is Not So Easy To Hit

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The Dallas Stars had found themselves in a great position. They were up by one in the third period, one of their better goal scorers has a break away, and the goal is empty.

There is no better situation than that.

I'm sure what happened next broke the hearts of the Dallas fans.

Patrik Stefan skates across the face of the goal and just as he is about to score the puck, it catches a bump in the ice and goes airborne causing Stefan to miss the shot and for the puck to go sliding into the boards.

He slips and falls, while doing so hands the puck over to the Oilers player who moves the puck up the ice, works it from their defensive third, to the top boards in their offensive third, and across the goal to an Oilers forward for the goal.

The Stars ended up losing that game in overtime.

A miracle to say the least.

Or a nightmare depending on how you view it.

Click here to read about the Sports Worlds Greatest Fluke Plays

Overslept

Wym Essajas of Suriname is not to blame.

In the 1960 Olympic games, a blunder that would affect an entire nation occurred.

Wym Essajas was a runner, his event was the 80 meter. When he signed into the event, the coordinators signed him up for the wrong time.

The coordinators told him that his event was later in the evening, when in reality it was actually earlier in the day.

In preparation for the race, Wym slept to rest his body. Unfortunately he rested himself right through the actual start time of his race.

The first Suriname Olympic athlete was duped out of national fame and glory because of one miscue.

Unfortunately for the Surinamese, they would have to wait another eight years to see a native in the Olympics.

This one's on the coordinators.

Own Goals In The World Cup Can End Your Life

Andres Escobar scores an own goal in the World Cup and pays the ultimate price for it.

In the 1994 World Cup, Andre Escobar scored the goal of his life. An own goal that would end up giving the United States a 2-1 victory over the Columbians.

When he returned home to his native Columbia, a very disgruntled fan encountered Escobar about the incident.

This encounter ended in a tragedy.

Andres was found with 15 bullet holes in his body and witnesses said that before each shot fired, the man shouted "goal."

Gruesome to say the least.

12 Years To Prepare

In 1974, the country of Columbia was given the rights to host the 1986 World Cup.

Since the Columbian government was involved in all sorts of backdoor deals with drug traffickers and gang members, there were issues surrounding where the money would go and where the money would come from.

Then there were a series of disasters.

High ranking officials got cold feet and quit.

Mob bosses decided they wanted a bigger cut.

Government officials had trouble deciding on the placement of stadiums and the use of resources.

Arrogance began to take over the Columbian side.

Eventually, FIFA said enough was enough and gave the Columbians an ultimatum.

Do this list of tasks or give up the World Cup.

FIFA knew that Columbia was not able to comply with those tasks, as it was just a way to get them to resign as host.

Eventually, Mexico was given the World Cup of 1986 and the rest is history.

It turned out to be one of the best World Cups in recent memory.

This mistake by the Columbians still haunt them today.

Hands Of Steel

Jackie Smith had the chance to be a hero.

And I have to say that was a chance poorly taken.

In the third quarter of Superbowl XIII, Jackie Smith, whom was the backup tight end at the time, ran a route across the heart of the endzone, with enough time to drop down, do 10 push ups, get up, and catch the winning touchdown pass.

He would have been a hero.

And one with a Superbowl ring to show for it.

But things don't always work out the way we want them to.

Jackie Smith dropped it.

There is no other way you can spin it; he just plain dropped the pass.

And, unfortunately for him, he will live in infamy because of it.

Gold Medal Lost

Lindsey Jacobelis decides to showboat with the lead and falls, losing the Gold Medal.

Lindsay Jacobelis is running away with the race in the 2006 Olympic Games. She is going into the last jump of the snowboard cross event and decides that she has enough of a buffer to do a little bit of show boating.

She was wrong.

Jacobelis stiffed her landing and ended up with a faceful of snow as Tanjan Frieden of Sweden passed her up to win the Gold.

She did win the Silver Medal, but it just isn't the same.

Leon Lett

Leon Lett actually had two really dumb mishaps.

The first Lettdown was during a Thanksgiving day game in the fourth quarter.

The Dolphins lined up for a potential game winning field goal and the Dallas Cowboys ended up blocking the kick. The ball dropped down and rolled all the way up to the six yard line.

Everyone on the field with a Dallas Cowboy's star on their helmet stayed the hell away from the ball... except Leon Lett.

He charged in, stumbled over the ball, and knocking it towards their endzone. The Dolphins recovered at the Dallas one and ended up kicking a field goal to win the game.

And as for the second one, I think the video explains it perfectly.

Enjoy.

Zidane

Click here to Watch the World Cup's most fantastic goals 

In the 2006 World Cup Final, Zinedine Zidane made one of the most boneheaded moves in the history of the game.

He lost his temper and headbutted an Italian player, earning himself a straight red and a trip to the locker room.

The game was tied 1-1, with just minutes left in the first period of extra time. An Italian player by the name of Marco Matterazzi had been pestering him all game.

Marco was calling Zidane's sister dirty names, defiling his mother, and grappling his injured shoulder all game.

aAnd at that moment in extra time, Zidane just snapped.

The referee handed him a red and he had to watch the rest of the match from the locker room.

The match went into penalties (one of Zidane's specialities) and ended with Italy being crowned World Cup Champions.

I'd like to see the outcome if Zidane had played the entire game.

Click here to Watch the World Cup's most fantastic goals

Timeout

Who could imagine that a timeout in the Division I National Championship game would end up being the defining moment?

Well, I can certainly say that Chris Webber couldn't have predicted what was going to happen.

In the last game of Michigan's 1993 run to the National Championship, a member of the fab-five made a crucial error that ended up costing them the game.

Chris Webber gathered a rebound off of a missed free throw, dribbled the ball up the court without anyone else to pass to, found himself in a double team and did the logical thing.

Called a timeout to regroup.

Well, it turns out it wasn't so logical.

Michigan had used all of its timeouts and the penalty for using a timeout your team doesn't have is a technical free throw for the other team.

Ouch.

North Carolina went on to ice the game at the free throw line, winning themselves the National Championship.

Home Field Disadvantage

An unfortunate Cubs fan goes looking for a souvenir, but ends up snagging death threats and a lifetime of heartache.

Barton's life in the public eye started in the eighth inning of the National League Championship Series.

With one out, Luis Castillo popped up a foul ball into the stands off of left field. Bartman made a good effort to catch the ball, but unfortunately for he and the Cubs, Moises Alou could have made the catch if it wasn't for Bartman tipping the ball away from the glove of Alou.

Unlucky to say the least.

The Cubs went on to lose the game and eventually lose the series. Their opponent, the Florida Marlins, went on to win the World Series and the Cubs Curse continued.

Sad.

Triple Bogey That He Will Never Forget

Jean Van de Velde will go into the history books as a prime example of why you should lay up.

Just lay up.

Going into the last hole in the British open, Jean had a good lead. In fact, he could have shot a double bogey on the final hole and would have won.

Jean Van De Velde opted to go for it and ended up with a triple bogey, landing him in the tiebreak round in which he would go on to lose.

Just lay up.

The Error

In Game Six of the 1986 World Series, Bill Buckner made a name for himself.

One that would stick for all of the wrong reasons.

It was a tie game with two outs in the 10th inning. Mookie Wilson steps up to the plate and knocks a soft, but well hit grounder down the first base line. Buckner goes to make the play but the ball takes a short hop and ends up going through his legs and down the first base line into the outfield.

The Mets scored on the play, giving themselves the walk off victory in Game Six to tie the series at three games a piece.

The Mets went on to win Game Seven and take the World Series.

Babe Ruth To The Yanks

In 1920, the Boston Red Sox brought themselves into a world of hurt. Possibly the most iconic and well known baseball player of all-time, was sold to a division rival...for just cash.

This brought on the curse that would end up plaguing the Boston baseball club for 84 years.

Even without the curse, this has to be one of the biggest sports mistakes of all-time.

That's like giving Michael Jordan up for a second round draft pick and some chump change.

And maybe you throw in Scottie Pippen too.

Quick Babe Ruth factoid.

When Babe Ruth hit his 600th home run, he was the 600 home run club.

Babe Ruth was also the 500 home run club.

And the 400 home run club.

And the 300 home run club.

And the 200 home run club.

After his 600th home run, the closest player had 237 homeruns.

That is how dominant Babe Ruth was.

Tofik Bakhramov 1966

This is the most famous referee mistake in the history of the World Cup.

Tofik Bakhramov was an experienced Russian linesman for the 1966 World Cup, but unfortunately his experience didn't play to his advantage.

The match went 90 grueling minutes without a winner. Once the match went into overtime, it wasn't long until the controversy started.

Eleven minutes into the first period of overtime, England took a shot that hit the crossbar and went straight down.

The goal was awarded to England.

The score is 3-2 in overtime. Giving the English 19 minutes to hold on.

But unfortunately for the Germans, the ball never went in.

No one saw it go in. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced outside of the goal line and into the goalies hands.

The Germans were livid.

And they had a right to be.

That goal would cost them the World Cup, giving England the victory and the glory.

It is an event that is still strong in the minds of many Germans, even if they weren't around to experience it.

They are still bitter about events that didn't even happen in their lifetime.

Modern technology today tells us that the ball never went into the back of the net.

But try telling that to the English.

Honorable Mention

This Article Courtesy of Rip City Report

Armando Galarraga's blown perfect game.

Jim Joyce will go down in the record books for all of the wrong reasons.

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