For better or worse, Super Bowl XLIX will always be remembered for the Seattle Seahawks’ decision to pass the ball instead of running it into the endzone, resulting in the game-deciding interception.
In light of what is being hailed as “the worst play call in the history of football,” here are the five most egregious decisions made in sports history.
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Sorry Gretzky, you’re sitting this one out
In what was perhaps the most controversial move in Canadian sports history, Team Canada’s men’s hockey team head coach Marc Crawford neglected to nominate Wayne Gretzky–the greatest hockey player of all time!–as one of Canada’s five shooters during the shootout of the semi-final match against the Czech Republic at the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games.
All five of Canada’s shooters were stopped by Czech goalie Dominik Hasek, and Canada would be forced to play for bronze–a game that they would end up losing.
Remember, we have no more timeouts
It’s the 1993 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament final between the Michigan Wolverines and North Carolina Tar Heels. Michigan’s Chris Webber, the best player of the acclaimed “Fab Five,” dribbles the ball up with his team down by two with 11 seconds to go. UNC double-teams and traps Webber close to the sideline, forcing him to call a timeout. Only there are no more timeouts to take. Instead, he’s called for a technical foul.
To this day Webber, who went on to have an all-star NBA career, is still ridiculed over this decision and as long as athletes continue to make horrible gaffes, the Webber timeout will never be forgotten.
You’re still good to go, right Pedro?
Game seven of the 2003 ALCS will forever live on in infamy for any Boston Red Sox fan.
Here’s the situation: Boston is up 5-2 on the hated New York Yankees entering the eighth inning. Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez has already eclipsed the 100-pitch threshold and looks to be labouring but manager Grady Little leaves him in anyway.
A Derek Jeter double and Bernie Williams single later, Little is out on the mound with everyone expecting him to replace Martinez with lefty reliever Alan Embree–especially since the left-handed hitter Hideki Matsui is due up. Yet Little inexplicably allows Martinez to remain in the game.
Matsui and Jorge Posada went on to hit doubles to tie the game, sending it into extras with the Yankees breaking the Red Sox hearts yet again.
It’s a good thing Boston let Little go in the off-season to bring in some guy named Terry Francona.
Bowie or Jordan?
“With the second pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers select Sam Bowie from the University of Kentucky.”
With those simple words, the Blazers set their franchise up for irrelevancy for over a decade.
The 1984 draft is hailed as perhaps the strongest in history with four hall of famers and three that Portland could’ve selected, including the grandest name of all: Michael Jordan.
At the time, the pick seemed to have made sense since Bowie was an acclaimed collegiate centre and taking Jordan at No. 2 over him, many believed, would create a positional conflict between Jordan and Clyde Drexler.
In the end, injuries that plagued Bowie in college followed him in the pros and he was never able to play a full season while Jordan would go on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.
Adding insult to injury, Portland kind of made the same mistake when it took Greg Oden No. 1 over Kevin Durant in 2007.
The headbutt
The 2006 World Cup is remembered for a lot of things, but the moment that stands out the most was when French star Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute of the World Cup final with the score tied at 1-1.
As a result, Zidane got an immediate red card and was unavailable during extra time and the subsequent penalty shootout that Italy won 5-3.
So why did Zidane do this, exactly? Materazzi reportedly insulted his sister. So while it’s a noble thing to defend your sibling’s honour, doing it knowing you’ll be immediately removed from a World Cup final match about to go to extra time when you’re one of the two best players on your team is just a plain old boneheaded move.
