Referees. Love them or hate them, they are a massive part of many sports. At best, they make difficult calls in clutch moments. But at worst, they can ruin a team’s game, or in some cases, their whole season.
Here, you can see officials at their very worst. Starting by presenting each case’s “facts”, followed by the call made, and finally why the referee is so blatantly wrong. So, without further ado, here are ten of the worst calls (or lack thereof), in sports history:
#10: Baron Davis
The Facts: The Hornets are taking on the Magic in a crucial playoff game. The score is tied with under a second left. The Hornets quickly inbound the ball to Baron Davis, who throws up a three.
The Call: Referee Bernie Fryer waves off the shot as soon as its taken.
The Mistake: Despite Fryer’s insistence that the shot was too late. Both the replay review and Davis’s celebration tell the crowd that the shot was good with plenty of time (about 0.2 seconds). The Hornets insist the shot went in, hollering to the official, but to no avail. The game continued into overtime despite the fact that it certainly shouldn’t have.
#9: Antonio Brown
The Facts: The Steelers are facing Miami with no time on the clock. Pittsburgh trails by six, but has the ball. It would be too far to try a Hail Mary, so they are forced to try a relay play. This is where a team repeatedly laterals the ball to score. Its usually reserved for a last-ditch effort when a team is desperate. It somehow works, and Antonio Brown is able to score.
The Call: No call is made on the play.
The Mistake: Upon replay, you can clearly see that Antonio Brown stepped out of bounds while running along the sideline. While in most situations, this wouldn’t matter, this play changed the outcome of the game. If this had been called correctly, the Dolphins would have won. But instead, the Steelers came away with an undeserved win.
#8: Tim Duncan
The Facts: In a game between the Mavericks and Spurs, San Antonio has a small lead deep into the third quarter. The Mavericks drive to the hoop, and a foul occurs committed by a Spurs defender.
The Call: After the initial foul call, (which is mostly irrelevant for this article) a technical foul is called on Tim Duncan.
The Mistake: One thing to note before addressing the call itself is that the official is Joey Crawford, who is known for his tendency to make strange calls. Another thing is that while this whole thing is going on, Tim Duncan is sitting on the bench. He at no point yells at, or for that matter talks to, any referee. He never stands up from his seat, or makes any sort of gesture. He simply laughs. That’s literally it. Tim Duncan was watching the game, began to laugh to himself, and Joey Crawford threw him out of the game. It should be noted that Duncan was the best player on that Spurs team, and his absence made their game considerably more difficult.
#7: Donovan McNabb
The Facts: In a game between the Buccaneers and Washington, a strange event occurred. With under a minute left, Washington trailed by a touchdown. They completed a pass for about eight yards, landing them at the three yard line. Then, there is an incomplete pass, followed by a run that lost five yards. After this another dropped pass before finally, the touchdown is scored.
The Call: No call is made on the series of plays.
The Mistake: At first glance, nothing is wrong with this series of plays. It’s a regular occurrence. But upon further inspection, there is a clear mistake. Over the course of the plays described, no first down occurs. The first completion was one play, then nothing meaningful on the next three. But that should have been it. There are only four downs in the NFL. Yet this “fifth down” allowed Washington to score the game-tying touchdown. (Also, I should mention that the extra point was fumbled and Washington lost before overtime even began. Only Washington could pull this off, and then mess it up.)
#6: Darius Garland
The Facts: The Hornets, in a game against the Cavaliers, go up for a three and miss. On the rebound, the Cavalier defender steps out of bounds, and the whistle is blown. Then, the players continue for a few seconds after the whistle, as they often do. This included Hornet Terry Rozier going up for a three pointer about three seconds after the play was blown dead. It misses, possibly because Cavalier Darius Garland tapped him on the shoulder as he shot. But that doesn’t matter because the play was blown dead… right?
The Call: The referees award the Hornets three points, a technical foul shot for Garland, and therefore the Hornets received the ball as well.
The mistake: Of course this is the wrong call. Stuff like this happens all the time in the NBA with no punishment, as it should. Basketball rules don’t apply once play has stopped. No points are scored, no travels called, etc. Why did they make this a technical foul on Garland? Why would they ever award the points for this shot? It’s like the out of bounds call never even happened. None of this makes any sense whatsoever.
#5: Armando Galarraga
The Facts: The Detroit Tigers are in a game against Cleveland, and their pitcher is having the game of his life. He’s made it over eight innings without allowing a hit, an incredible achievement for anyone. On the final out of the game, a quick ground ball hit to first baseman Miguel Cabrera. He fields it well, and tosses it to Galarraga, who covers the base. Unfortunately, they were just too slow, and the runner beat the throw.
The Call: The runner is ruled safe by umpire Jim Joyce.
The Mistake: The throw beat the runner by about one step. He was clearly out on review. But it was too late. This call had no effect on the outcome of the game, but it is distinctly remembered for one reason. In baseball, perfect games (games in which one pitcher goes an entire game without allowing anyone to reach a base) are extremely rare. In the long history of the MLB, under 25 have been thrown. This would have been one of those games for Galarraga, but because of this, it was ruined
#4: Quincy Morgan
The Facts: In a game between the Browns and Jaguars, there was a fourth down play with under a minute left. A catch was made, and on the next play, first and goal, the quarterback spiked the ball to stop the clock. From there, the referee announced that the play was under review for an incomplete pass (To be clear, they reviewed the fourth down play, not the spike.)
The Call: They called an incomplete pass, and awarded the Jaguars the ball.
The Mistake: The pass was in fact, incomplete, but this is still an awful mistake. Why? Because of the spike play. The only play that can ever be reviewed, is the most recent one. This means that once the spike occurs, the ruling on the pass cannot be changed. This rule exists for a simple reason. If not for this rule, what’s to stop a coach from challenging a play from the first quarter, and force the entire game to be replayed? Anyway, back to Cleveland. The crowd is in chaos. Hundreds upon hundreds of beer bottles are thrown onto the field. The officials are forced to end the game with nearly a minute remaining. They run off the field, literally running for their lives. Also, this game took away Cleveland’s chances of a playoff appearance that season.
#3: M.D. Jennings
The Facts: The Packers lead the Seattle Seahawks twelve to seven with little time remaining. Their only option is a hail-mary, which is a play in which a team must throw the ball a long distance, because of the time pressure. Russell Wilson heaves up a pass to receiver Golden Tate. He miraculously catches the ball, and the Seahawks win.
The Call: The referees call a touchdown on the play, and the game ends.
The Mistake: For a bit more background information, this game included “backup referees”, while others were on strike. (Note that this game was the final one where these backups were used. One must wonder why.) The pass made it to the back corner of the end zone, where Tate and Packers defender M.D. Jennings fought for the ball. They fell down, and it was made clear Jennings had complete control of the ball. One referee signaled for an interception, the other claimed touchdown. After further deliberation, the touchdown call was finalized, despite the fact that Jennings clearly caught the ball.
#2: Chauncey Billups
The Facts: Time is running low in a pivotal playoff game. The Pistons are leading the Heat, but it is still close. The Heat have an opportunity for a fast break, but the pass is slightly too far ahead of Damon Jones. This forces him to slow down, and Chauncey Billups catches up to him. They are just outside the three point line, when suddenly, disaster strikes.
The Call: Referee Joey Crawford (Yes, again.) calls a foul on Chauncey Billups.
The Mistake: Billups did not come anywhere near Jones. However, contact was still made— by Crawford himself. Crawford, the referee, was attempting to catch up with the play, and ran full force into Jones. Then, he proceeded to call a foul on Billups, even though he made no contact. This misses number one on the list for two reasons. First, this play ended up not altering the season. The Pistons moved on, and won the NBA championship that season. Secondly, there is no rule for this scenario in the NBA. Because, why would there be? It’s not like this is a regular occurrence. Of course the logical solution would be to reset the shot clock, and allow an inbounds pass. But there are still problems with this. Nevertheless, this is still an awful call, from an infamous referee.
#1: Kevin Durant
The Facts: The Warriors are playing an important playoff game against the Houston Rockets. Golden State has the ball with about thirty seconds remaining in overtime. The score is tied. Kevin Durant goes to save the ball from going out of bounds. He does, and proceeds to pass the ball to the free throw line. The ball is thrown to Steph Curry, who steps in, and drills a mid-range shot. The game ends with a Warriors win.
The Call: No call is made on the play.
The Mistake: Kevin Durant was out of bounds. It is indisputable. Durant takes multiple steps in the bright yellow out-of-bounds area. The referee is staring at him, as he does this. The Rockets stop putting effort into their defense because the play is over. Why wouldn’t it be? When the ball goes out of bounds, the play is over. The Rockets deserved a chance to get the ball back with one possession remaining. They could have won. It is absurd that the call is missed. No, it is indefensible that this wasn’t called. It is common for officials to avoid making calls in clutch moments, so as not to become the villain. But it’s rare for them to be this obvious.
So, it is clear that referees are prone to mistakes. These can be costly, but referees don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. And until they do, errors in their calls will live on.