Last week, we had a fun “Question of the Week” from Mike Chamernik, and he’s back today with his latest QOTW.
Enjoy!
Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik
The University of Illinois’ men’s basketball team retired the No. 0 for Terrence Shannon Jr. this past weekend. The night was going well until the big reveal: the jersey banner was upside down. The school is pretty embarrassed about it.
What gaffes, technical difficulties or unusual circumstances have made a mark on a sports ceremony or other off-field event? What’s the weirdest or most unfortunate thing to ever happen at a game or event you were watching live or attended in person — at any level?
Thanks, Mike — great question again.
Looking forward to seeing what the readers submit!
I wish I had a good answer for this, but for now all I can do is say it’s a great question and I really love this series!
What is, Toronto Blue Jays first World Series appearance and the Americans displayed the Canadian flag upside down. SMH
Unfortunately, the first thing to spring to mind were Hank Gathers and John McSherry literally dying as a game was taking place. Also, too many gruesome injuries to count, though Napoleon McCallum is the one I seem to recall most clearly. Bummer of a topic!
Orioles Opening Day vs. Cleveland: 3/31/03: Ellis Burks’ hits a fly to right that is lost in the snow, giving Cleveland a 2-1 lead over the Orioles in the 3rd on Opening Day.
There’s no way to defend against a fly ball in those conditions. The right fielder (Jay Gibbons) had no shot. Luckily the Birds came back in extras to take the game and we went home happy.
Fly ball via YouTube: link
I was there!
Lucy Lawless sang the national anthem in a strapless red outfit before a playoff game between the Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks. When she finished, she raised her arms and her boobs popped out.
Well technically it was a boob, singular, but yes that was great.
Game 3, 1997 Western Conference Semifinals at the Pond. Oddly enough, it was the only game of the series (a 4-0 sweep by Detroit) that didn’t go into overtime. I also seem to recall that the Wings’ Sergei Federov in particular enjoyed the gaffe.
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Some technical glitch happened in the opening ceremonies and the 4th leg of a structure never made it up. They moved on seamlessly, but poked fun at it and themselves during the closing ceremonies.
At the Paris Opening Ceremonies, they hoisted the Olympic Flag upside down. That’s why you put a tiny piece of tape on the proper eyelet of the flag so that something like that doesn’t happen.
I was at this Yankees-Mets game in 1999 when El Duque threw his entire glove to Tino Martinez to throw a batter out: link
As part of one baseball All-Star Game pregame ceremony, they brought out a clearly out-of-it Ted Williams in a wheelchair, and he was wearing a baseball cap that had — not a Red Sox logo on the front, but some stupid website address. It was so cringe and embarrassing. Much worse than all those wayward honorary first pitches over the years.
Then there was the Bulls’ pregame ceremony when Jerry Krause’s widow was in tears while the mention of her husband’s name was being loudly booed.
Krause’s widow, that was sad
Home plate umpire John McSherry dropping dead on the field on Opening Day in Cincinnati in 1996. And then Marge Schott complaining that it had ruined Opening Day.
Yikes. The clip from live TV is still online and it’s horrifying
Michael Jordan may be a 6x Finals MVP but he also said “the ceiling is the roof” when addressing the crowd at the Dean Dome several years ago.
Legendary quote
Might be recency bias, or just I can’t recall seeing anything as weird at the moment, but the ASU/BYU game this year when the ASU QB fired the ball into the crowd in an attempt to run time off the clock on 4th down. The fans stormed the field but they ended up putting 1 second back on the clock for BYU.
I know there have been stranger things, but was watching that live on tv as it happened and the sequence of events was so strange; from how ASU attempted to drain the clock, to having to clear the field to finish the game. Was a memorable finish to say the least.
Honorable mention would be the lights going out in the Superdome during the Ravens/Niners SB.
Non-sad content: for the Spirit’s NWSL quarterfinal last year, we had a tifo based on the cover of brat by Charli XCX that we had to be careful with because it was made from thinner material than usual tifos are in order to get the shade of green right.
It still ripped and was captured, ripped, for posterity. link
Ha. Yeah it does look very thin
Old Timers’ Game, 1978, Yankee Stadium. Billy Martin is brought onto the field while it’s announced that he’ll return as manager in 1980. Talk about an awkward spot for Bob Lemon, the manager at the time.
Game 2 of 1992 World Series – Canadian flag upside down during national anthems.
Good one!
Makes me think of the girl at the Blazers playoff game who spaced on the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. Mo Cheeks went out and saved the day
The Lakers having not one, not two, but three typos on Kobe’s statue (link) was pretty bad.
1979 Jets/Pats game at Shea. At halftime they had a show with remote controlled planes, etc., and one shaped like a lawnmower (?) crashed into the crowd. One person died, one injured. Ugh.
My Parents were at that game
Wild!
A sack of flour fell from the sky and dropped onto the field during a Dodgers game in 1971
Here is one that is truly Oscar award worthy.
On the 7th of July, 1997, in Texas Motor Speedway, Billy Boat, driving for AJ Foyt, was declared the winner of the race. Arie Luyendyk went to the winner’s circle to protest the results stating that he had actually lapped the entire field, and was the rightful winner. AJ Foyt was not having any of it, and came up to Arie, slapped him in the back of the head, then pushed him to the ground. It defiantly made SportsCenter that night.
Well, after a review of the race, it turns out that there was a scoring error, and Luyendyk was the actually winner. AJ Foyt still having none of it, refused to return the trophy, or concede that Arie won the race. And finally, the IRL (the governing body of the race series at that point) basically fired USAC from keeping score of it races from that point on.
Carl Lewis singing the national anthem. Nothing was more cringeworthy and unintentionally funny at the same time. And the players trying to hold it together is hilarious. I still to this day watch the ESPN highlights.
Charlie Steiner with the zinger, Francis Scott Off-Key
I was at the Jerome Bettis coin flip game on Thanksgiving in 1998. One of the rare snafus over the years that worked out in the Lions favor.
Didn’t understand the logic behind “call it in the air”. Call it before so everyone can confirm it
I guess there was the fear that an expert coin flipper can make it land on a specific side so knowing who it benefits ahead of time could cause it to be rigged?
After Ron Dayne broke the NCAA career rushing record, a student streaked across the field. link
When former Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball coach Kevin Borseth unveiled a street sign with his name, the string connected to the covering snapped off. He a player sit on another player’s shoulders to reveal the sign. link
Love the Borseth clip
The guy parachuting into 1986 Game 6 has gotta be on here.
Also different Fan Man interrupted the Holyfield-Bowe fight
Shamefully funny one: Rocky, the Denver Nuggets mascot, being lowered from the rafters while unconscious during the pregame ceremonies for their home opener against the Blazers way back in 2013.
Link: link
Oh jeez yeah. The guy who played Rocky was on Pablo Torre’s podcast and he explained what happened. Something with the harness choking off oxygen
I was at a University of Missouri-Kansas City, (go Kangaroos!) game at Municipal Auditorium in KC when someone shattered a backboard, causing an extremely long delay. For some reason there wasn’t a backup goal on site and someone had to fetch another goal from Kemper Arena a few miles away.
I also was at a very chippy Royals Rangers game in KC when Brian McRae was hit by a pitch and instead of going for the pitcher he stormed the Rangers dugout to fight Kevin Kennedy, the Rangers manager.
Tiny Gallon (great name) on Oklahoma broke a backboard on New Year’s Eve 2009 and it caused a super long delay
I was at a Flames – Bruins game when a naked streaker went over the glass, hit his head on the ice, and had to be stretchered off. That was a really weird one. Amazingly the most memorable picture of it is SFW.
link
Tremendous unintended censorship
The Blackout of Super Bowl 47.
Good answers, everyone! Non-serious snafus always amuse me.
Sabres vs Blues 1989, Clint Malarchuk throat slashed by Blues Steve Tuttle as he flips when crashing net. It was surreal to be there and you are numb knowing this guy might not survive. Luckily he did. About a dozen people passed out in the arena and needed medical attention. Just shock the league said play on, and the game continued. Different time, different era.
Also watch MNF live with Joe Theismann injury, couldn’t believe what I saw.
Thank God he recovered as well.
In this particular case, Shannon is turning lemons into lemonade.
link
White Sox player Steve Lyons sliding into 1st base and getting up and dropping his pants to get rid of the dirt. I saw it live.
I still remember that! Watching it live as it happened from Tiger Stadium. Holy crap, just looked it up. Monday, July 16, 1990.
In December, 1979, I was fortunate enough to have the Boston vs New York NHL game on when Peter McNab, Terry O’Reilly, and Mike Milbury jumped the glass and began pummeling Rangers’ fans with their shoes. Even luckier was my friend, Scott, who was AT the game but happened to be in the blue seats.
Ten or so years later a similar scene played out between the Rangers and Vancouver, prompting John Davidson to say, “The Canucks? The Bruins, I get, but THE CANUCKS?!?”
Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl halftime show?
I was at the rugby European Cup final in 2002 in Cardiff with the retractable roof closed, where Leicester beat Munster with the help of a blatant cheat in the last minute missed by the ref. (might be a good future question).
A few years later, at a work conference, we had a talk from a member of The Red Arrows – the UK’s military air display team, talking about teamwork and the importance of planning.
His speech built towards a perfect flyover they did in 2002 in Cardiff: timed for when the national anthem had finished. I was thinking “I don’t remember that… Oh”
They found out they landed that the roof was shut!
I recall watching on TV the Malice at the Palace (RIP).
I was at a Twins game in 2001 on Dollar (Hot) Dog Night when ‘fans’ started throwing hot dogs at former Twin Chuck Knoblauch, who was playing left field for the Yankees. Knoblauch had requested a trade out of Minnesota a few years before.
I think they got the idea from a minor league Saint Paul Saints game where owner Mike Veeck hired mimes to hop on the dugouts to do instant replay. All of a sudden the hot dogs started flying at the mimes. An exasperated intern rushed up to the Saints owner and asked “Mr. Veeck, they’re throwing hot dogs at the mimes. What do we do?” Veeck instructed the intern to go out and buy more hot dogs. link