We’ve all seen plays in sports so bad you question the intelligence of a player. What’s the most embarassing play you’ve seen either in person or on TV? I’ll start with an obscure one: a Ranger-Mariners game where the batter pulled back his bunt on a suicide squeeze! You see the player racing home, you squared to bunt so you clearly didn’t miss the sign, what could the batter have been thinking?
The single most embarrassing play I ever saw live (albeit on TV) was when Plaxico Burress was new to the Steelers (2001). He dove across the middle to make a catch and then, untouched, proceeded to take the ball and spike it. He actually didn’t know that unlike college the ball was live until the player was downed. The result of the play was a humiliating turnover and the reputation (confirmed by his later self-shooting) as a headcase.
Ironically, while there are 8 billion videos on the internet of everything under the sun, there is not a single video to be found of Plaxico’s original defining moment. Figure that one out.
Herchelle Gibbs drops the World Cup - a premature celebration of a simple catch to dismiss Steve Waugh on 56 in the Super Six stage of the 1999 Cricket World Cup results in Waugh going on to score 120, a win for Australia that keeps them in the tournament and would come back to haunt him four days later when South Africa and Australia tied in the semi-finals and SA go out because of this victory. Waugh is supposed to have asked “How does it feel to drop the World Cup, Herschelle?” at the time.
Being a fan of Carlisle United, firmly in the lower leagues of English football - the equivalent of AA ball I guess, if you’re American - I have seen plenty of embarrassing events, simply because the players were not all that good.
The best/worst I remember was one of our central defenders coming over to the left wing to pick up the ball and, under no pressure at all, passing the ball back to the goalkeeper who, also under no pressure at all, tried to kick the ball up field without first taking a touch. Needless to say, he missed his kick completely and the ball trickled over his own goal-line for an own goal. There was so little pace on the ball it never even reached the back of the net.
We lost that game 2-1. Horrendous.
Jose Canseco. You know what play I’m talking about.
[spoiler]OK, in case you don’t. Canseco went to catch a fly ball on the warning track and it bounced off his head and over the wall. This is doubly hilarious as Canseco was one of the most feared hitters in baseball at the time.
http://fanshots.com/video/ball-bounces-off-jose-canseco-s-head-for-home-run[/spoiler]
One more. Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura. You know this play too.
[spoiler]Nolan Ryan accidentally hits the much younger Ventura with a pitch and Ventura, for some reason, decides to charge the mound on the 46-year old pitcher. Ryan stands his ground and proceeds to put Ventura in a headlock and punches him in the head until his teammates pull him off.
For who knows what reason my son and his friends are avid ice hockey fans. They insist the worst play in sports history is this and even I can see why.
More NHL caliber goodness!
Adam Oates scoring on his own team.
And my favorite. Patrick Eaves on a shootout.
Thanks for posting this! This was news to me and totally awesome.
JR Hildebrand hits the wall on the final turn while in the lead of the Indianapolis 500. Link. I win.
Wow. Makes Martin Bella’s 1994 GF fumble took positively useful.
The Canseco one is what I came in to mention. It was hilarious afterwards when some of his teammates in the dugout were walking around with gloves opened upwards resting on top of their heads.
As for Ryan, the next day the Dallas Morning News had the headling “Ryan Gets 3 Hits Off Ventura”.
So I’ll just mention Desean Jackson spiking the ball before he crosses the goalline on at least 2 separate occasions.
Leon Lett comes to mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2kcpTmheM4
If all you watch is Bill Bates’ story at 1:40 you’ll laugh your ass off.
I couldn’t tell you who, when or what teams it was, but some years ago, I was watching an NFL game, and one of those “YOU make the call.” spots came on before the commercials.
Anyway, this kick returner caught the ball on about the 2, backed up into the end zone, and knelt, thinking it would be a touchback. A defensive player ran by and patted him on the helmet.
Result: Safety. Apparently if you catch the ball outside the end zone, you’re still in play until you’re down, which in the NFL meant a knee down and defensive contact.
So this guy basically backed up into the end zone without realizing that he was still in play, took the knee, and when the defensive guy patted him on the helmet, he was down and it was a safety.
I remember thinking about how mortified the kick returner must have been; not only did he show his ignorance of the rules, but he cost his team 2 points and the ball.
I’m obviously older than you all. How about Jim Marshall’s wrong-way touchdown?
Come on, that wasn’t even the most embarrassing play South Africa had in the 1999 World Cup. You probably don’t want to watch this again.
That play wasn’t embarrassing, it was awesome! Well, maybe it was embarrassing…for Ventura anyway.
I was there the day that Gus Frerotte concussed himself after slamming his head into the wall. He made a good play and scored a touchdown, but damn was that a boneheaded (ha!) way to celebrate.
BTW that’s a tie with pretty much every other Redskins play since then. 
Took me a while to find it because I couldn’t remember most of the details but here is my favorite touchdown ever.
:smack:
Poor guy. The commentator makes me laugh though. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.”
That the ball was so far outside the strike zone that there was no way he was going to get wood on it, so why make an out and get called for a strike?