The 25 most controversial calls in sports history

Officiating in hockey is always a hot-button issue, typically because it's so often terrible. This was the case in this year's Western Conference first-round series between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks. The Sharks trailed 3-0 in Game 7, with about half the third period gone. Eakin cross-checked Sharks captain Joe Pavelski after a faceoff, and Pavelski tripped over another Vegas player and was knocked unconscious. At first no signal for a penalty was given, but after the officials conferred they gave Eakin a five-minute major and a game misconduct. San Jose scored four goals during the ensuing power play and went on to win the game in overtime.

The St. Louis Cardinals were up 1-0 in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, three outs away from a title. Kansas City's Jorge Orta led off the ninth with a slow roller that Jack Clark fielded and tossed to pitcher Todd Worrell, who stepped on first base a clear half-step ahead of Orta. One problem: Denkinger called Orta safe. There were no replay challenges, of course, and the Royals went on to rally for two runs and win the game 2-1. They took Game 7 by an 11-0 score, with Denkinger working behind the plate. Denkinger received copious hate mail, and even some death threats, which eventually got the FBI involved. 

The Auburn Tigers thought they were headed to the 2019 NCAA championship game. Virginia's Kyle Guy had just missed a last-gasp three-pointer, and there were celebrations all around. Then the officials huddled and determined that Auburn's Samir Doughty had fouled Guy on his aggressive closeout, and Guy was awarded three free throws. He calmly nailed all three and bounced the Tigers from the tourney. If that wasn't bad enough, while the foul call's merits were hotly debated, virtually all observers felt that Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome got away with a blatant double-dribble just before Guy's three-point attempt. Virginia won it all, of course, but many fans, and not just Auburn partisans, feel the title is somewhat suspect.

This one may or may not have been the proper adjudication of an esoteric rule, depending on whom you're asking. Raiders fans will probably say that the rule is stupid and that Tom Brady's fumble in the 2001 AFC divisional playoffs was in fact a fumble and not an incomplete pass. Nevertheless, Charles Woodson's sack and Greg Biekert's fumble recovery were wiped from the history books, and five plays later Adam Vinatieri made a clutch 45-yarder to send the game to overtime. The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Stars and Sabres battled for six hard-fought games in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, a series that matched the NHL's two best defensive teams. Game 6 was a three-overtime thriller, but Buffalo fans were incensed about the Cup-winning goal by Brett Hull. The Sabres felt that because Hull's skate preceded the puck into the crease, the winning score should not have counted. The NHL disagreed, however, saying that Hull had continuous possession of the puck, and therefore the goal was legal. Watch the video and decide for yourself, but from this vantage point, it would seem that the Sabres and their fans had a legitimate gripe. Oh, and for the record, the NHL changed the "skate-in-the-crease" rule before the following season.

Webber's Michigan squad trailed North Carolina 73-71 with 19 seconds to go in the 1993 national championship. Webber grabbed the rebound after a missed Tar Heels free throw and started to pass to a teammate but pulled the ball back when a defender challenged the play, instead taking one giant step forward and blatantly dragging his pivot foot in front of the referee. The traveling violation was not called, and Webber ended up dribbling up the court but getting trapped in the corner. He called a timeout the Wolverines didn't have, earning a technical foul. North Carolina went on to win, 77-71. All things considered, Michigan would have been better off with the traveling call.

This contest was the rare one where it wasn't one call that did in the Sacramento Kings as they tried to topple the dynastic Lakers, but rather a seemingly game-long effort by the officials to make sure the Western Conference finals went seven games. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal combined to go 24-of-28 from the foul line, noteworthy because the Kings attempted a grand total of 25 free throws as a team. Los Angeles went 34-of-40 from the line overall, and that made all the difference in a 106-102 win. The Lakers won Game 7, too, and won another NBA title. Still, Kings fans, basketball fans in general and many media members strongly questioned the officiating, and disgraced former official Tim Donaghy suggested that the game was fixed.

The frantic finish of the 1972 gold medal game between the USSR and the United States saw the USA apparently win the game on two separate occasions, only to be ordered back on the court each time. The officials twice put time back on the clock in the game's final seconds and also forced a U.S. defender who was guarding the inbounds pass to move away from the baseline despite there being no rule dictating that he had to do so. All of those factors allowed the Soviets to throw a length-of-the-court pass and score the winning basket, infuriating Team USA and its fans. As with everything in that era, the game was a proxy for the Cold War, which made the finish all the more controversial.

Plenty of bad calls happen early in games, or have outcomes that are bad, but leave the ending of a contest ambiguous enough that you can't say for certain that they actually changed the outcome of the game. The 2018 NFC championship game between the Saints and Rams is the rare case where an obvious blown call clearly and decisively changed the outcome of the game. With the Saints driving with a chance to run out the clock and kick a chip-shot field goal, all they needed was a first down. They appeared to have it when Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman drilled Tommylee Lewis well before the ball arrived. However, no flag was thrown, and the Saints settled for a short field goal with time still left on the clock. Los Angeles rallied to tie, then won the game in overtime. The NFL admitted that the officials blew the call, but that was no consolation to Saints fans.

You would think that keeping track of downs in football would be easy. Officiating 101. Luckily for the 1990 Colorado football team, the crew for its game against Missouri failed at this most remedial of tasks. The officials did not change downs when the Buffaloes spiked the ball on their last-gasp drive to win the game, and as a result Colorado got five chances at the end zone. They needed all five of them and scored the winning points on the game's final play. It wasn't like the outcome was important, or anything, as Colorado went on to finish 11-1-1 and end the season ranked No. 1 and named national champion by most major polls. Oh, and Missouri fans were not pleased and decided to take down the goalposts even though their team had lost the game. Hard to blame them, really.

There was no score between England and Argentina in their 1986 World Cup tilt as it entered the 51st minute. Diego Maradona changed that when he charged in after a looping deflection and "headed" the ball past English keeper Peter Shilton. I say "headed" because what actually happened was that the ball hit the back of Maradona's left hand and went in. England were furious at the no-call by Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser, but the goal stood, and minutes later Maradona completed a beautiful run through England's defense for the Goal of the Century, which put Argentina up 2-0. They held on to win, 2-1 and when asked about the first goal, Maradona said that it was scored, "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God."

If remembering the correct number of downs is Football 101, then getting the coin toss correct is something from Introduction to Football. Like, it's a one-credit seminar — not even a full course. Still, Luckett managed to botch even this most basic of tasks during a 1998 Thanksgiving Day tilt between the Steelers and the Lions. Steelers running back Jerome Bettis called "tails," but Luckett heard "heads." The Lions were awarded the ball, and they won the game. Audio of the incident, under enhancement, revealed that Bettis said "hea-tails." So depending on how lenient you want to be, perhaps Luckett didn't get it wrong and Bettis screwed up even worse. Either way, the NFL changed the coin toss rules the following season as a result of the incident.

The Orioles were clinging to a 4-3 lead in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS when Derek Jeter stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Jeter hit a deep fly ball to right field, but Tony Tarasco, his back to the wall, appeared to have room to make the catch. He never got the chance because Jeffrey Maier, a 12-year-old Yankees fan, reached over the wall in an attempt to catch the ball. It glanced off his hands and into the stands for a home run, and despite Tarasco and O's manager Davey Johnson's vociferous protestations, the umpires upheld the home run. The Yankees won the game in extra innings, and the series in five games, on the way to their first World Series crown since 1978.

You're probably familiar with Michael Jordan's final shot for the Chicago Bulls, one that won them their sixth title. You're probably also familiar with the unfortunate soul tasked with attempting to guard Jordan on the play, Utah's Bryon Russell. And while "superstar calls" are the norm in the NBA, even by that lenient standard, the referees missed a blatant push-off by Jordan that gave him the space he needed to take and make the final shot. It's an iconic image, to be sure, but if you're being honest with yourself, you can admit that it easily could have, and probably should have been an offensive foul.

The Raiders were trailing the Chargers, 20-14, on Sept. 10, 1978, and quarterback Ken Stabler was about to be sacked. Stabler fumbled the ball forward, where it was promptly fumbled forward again by running back Pete Banaszak. Finally, tight end Dave Casper pushed the ball forward across the goal line then promptly fell on the ball for a touchdown and the victory. Despite the dubious nature of the play, referee Jerry Markbreit allowed it to stand, feeling that the fumbles were legitimate and not intentional. One problem: Banaszak and Casper both admitted that their actions on the play were intentional and not at all accidental. Whoops! The league passed new rules the following offseason to ensure such a play could never happen again.

In his prime, Roy Jones Jr. was one of the most dominant boxers in history. Jones gave fans a taste of future greatness at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He battered Park Si-Hun in the gold medal match, by most counts out-landing him by more than two to one. Si-Hun was given the decision, however, with one judge admitting Jones had won, but that he gave the decision to Si-Hun to placate the South Korean crowd. Jones also said that he received an apology from Si-Hun himself. In the aftermath of the fight, two of the judges who contributed to the result were banned from the sport for life, and the Olympic scoring system was overhauled.

The 2012 NFL referee lockout lasted three weeks into the season, and fans, players and coaches were unhappy about the drop in officiating competence. Things came to a head on "Monday Night Football," when the Seahawks, down to their last gasp, launched a Hail Mary toward the end zone. Green Bay Packers safety M.D. Jennings caught the ball, at which point Seattle's Golden Tate grabbed on to it, trying to establish simultaneous possession. Tate also pushed off before the ball came down. The officials missed both plays and, incredibly, awarded the winning touchdown to Seattle. With a national television embarrassment weighing heavily on all parties, an agreement to end the lockout came shortly thereafter.

Tigers starter Armando Galarraga was dominant against the Cleveland Indians on June 2, 2010. He pitched eight-and-two-thirds perfect innings, and as he sought the final out, induced a weak grounder from Cleveland's Jason Donald. Galarraga rushed to cover first base and he, and the balll, beat Donald to the bag. First base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly ruled Donald safe, much to the chagrin of Galarraga and the Detroit crowd. Joyce later apologized, saying he had missed the call, and Galarraga was gracious in forgiving the mistake. Had the play happened a few years later, after the introduction of replay in baseball, Galarraga would have had his perfecto. Unofficially, he has the sport's only 28-out perfect game. Of course, that's not how record books work.

The 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl, their fourth in six years. It was the capstone to a dynastic run in the 1970s. However, it almost didn't come to pass. The Steelers were locked in a tight battle with the Houston Oilers, and it appeared that Houston tied the game at 17 in the fourth quarter, thanks to a tremendous catch in the corner of the end zone by wide receiver Mike Renfro. Donald Orr, the side judge on the play, ruled that Renfro did not catch the ball and get both feet inbounds despite replays showing that he did. Houston was forced to settle for a field goal, and the Steelers scored the final 10 points to ice a 27-13 win.

In 1982, the Patriots and Dolphins were playing in a snowstorm in New England, which is not abnormal given that the game was being played in December. The turf field was bad enough that the officials agreed to let a sweeper clear the field every 10 yards. The Pats were driving late in the game, and on fourth down, attempted a go-ahead field goal. Mark Henderson, a convicted burglar out on work release, was running the sweeper. Instead of plowing the 20-yard line, Henderson swung out in an arc, plowing the 23-yard line, which, coincidentally, was where New England would be attempting their kick. The officials allowed it, the Patriots made it, and they won 3-0.

Hernandez, then a rookie hurler for the Marlins, set a new career high when he struck out 15 Atlanta hitters in Game 5 of the 1997 NLCS. Hernandez's performance gave the Marlins a 3-2 series lead, but he was only part of the story. Home plate umpire Eric Gregg was the other part. Gregg's strike zone was liberal, to put it kindly, and he was especially charitable to Hernandez on the outside corner against left-handed hitters. Many of his strike calls caused Braves hitters to protest demonstratively, and the game's final out, a strikeout of Fred McGriff, came on a pitch that was almost a foot outside. The game remains an oft-cited example of one of the worst umpiring performances in postseason history.

Boxing's subjective nature means that there will always be controversial decisions. There are plenty of examples throughout history of fights, particularly big ones, whose outcomes are disputed by experts. It's the whole, "two people can see the same thing differently," dynamic. Timothy Bradley's "win" over Manny Pacquiao in 2012 was the rare example of a judging decision so absurd that no reasonable observer could agree with it. Bradley had his moments in the fight, particularly in a few of the later rounds, but he was battered for the majority of the contest, and in no way, shape or form did he look the winner. Still, he won a highly controversial split decision. Pacquiao did gain a measure of revenge by beating Bradley in their next two fights to avenge his defeat and win their trilogy.

On July 26, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves played an epic, 19-inning game. The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 19th, and with one out, the Braves had Julio Lugo on third base. A weak grounder was hit to third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who threw home to Michael McKenry. McKenry tagged Lugo out several feet from home plate, but umpire Jerry Meals called Lugo safe despite replay showing he was clearly out. There was no way for the Pirates to challenge the call, and the six-hour, 39-minute marathon — the longest game in each team's history, ended in controversy.

Luckett makes his second appearance, barely a year after his Thanksgiving Day coin toss fiasco. On January 8th, 2000, the Tennessee Titans appeared to be down and out against the Buffalo Bills in their wild-card clash. Buffalo had just taken a 16-15 lead after a late field goal with 15 seconds left. On the ensuing kickoff, Tennessee's Lorenzo Neal fielded the ball and handed it backwards to Frank Wycheck. Wycheck, a tight end by trade, hurled the ball across the field to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, who raced untouched down the sideline for the game-winning touchdown. A booth review was initiated to check whether or not Wycheck's toss was a lateral, or an illegal forward pass. After considerable deliberation, Luckett ruled that the play was legal. The Titans went on to lose to St. Louis in the Super Bowl. Oh, and Buffalo didn't make the playoffs again until the 2017 season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a game opponent for the Greatest Show on Turf St. Louis Rams in the 1999 NFC championship game. The Bucs trailed, 11-6, with less than a minute to play, but they were driving deep into St. Louis territory. Shaun King appeared to hit Bert Emanuel with a pass, but a replay review showed that despite Emanuel's clear possession, the tip of the ball touched the ground, thus rendering the play an incomplete pass. St. Louis went on to win the game and the Super Bowl, and the NFL changed the rule before the following season so that any subsequent plays of that type would be ruled as successful receptions. For Emanuel and the Bucs it was too little, too late.