Chuck Yeager told the story of multiple test flights auguring in, with pilot fatalities, that were finally traced back to the factory where a line worker had convinced himself that all screws have to fasten clockwise as per tradition, and any instructions to the contrary are wrong.
Heckuva job, Brownie!
Sounds like another story. Turn a left-hand screw clockwise and it won’t go in at all.
C’mon Stanislav Petrov, you had ONE job! When the alarm goes off, you push the big red button!
That mediterranean cruise ship with Captain Schettino.
That was a team effort. Several other Red Sox had “one job” before that moment (notably Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley) that if they had done it it would never have come down to Buckner. Buckner becoming the goat for that loss was grossly unfair.
R. G. Taylor, the boilermaker who performed a quick patch job rather than a full repair on the S. S. Sultana.
Do we know this was an error? Might they have wanted it that way? Might it even have been the common interpretation at the time?
The page seems to blame Reuben Hatch.
Nor was Steve Bartman wholly responsible for the Chicago Cubs losing the NLCS in 2003. However, both incidents were definite morale-breakers for both teams.
And while it’s fiction, not historical, I never tire of this scene from Game of Thrones. 
Whoever was responsible for the great Boston Molasses Disaster.
No it wasn’t. Why? Because Bill Buckner is a tremendous jackhole.
It was May 1986, and I was a young reporter. I went to Fenway to do some interviews, and had a nice time walking around the historic park and talking with many of the Red Sox. Wade Boggs gave me a great interview, as did Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman and Bruce Hurst. Only one player was uncooperative and a complete douche.
“I’m just looking to give a reporter some shit today”, I heard him say under his breath to a teammate before he sat down with me in the dugout. He then proceeded to not answer my questions and be a dick in general. That was Bill Buckner. A few months later, he became rather infamous and I couldn’t have been happier. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Fast forward some 25 years and I’m watching a documentary about him. I was ready to give Buckner a break after all that time. And then he spoke. He blamed “the media” for all the negative attention he’s gotten over the years.
Um, no. He missed a ball an average Little Leaguer could handle in the World Series, ending the game. The media didn’t do that. What an ass.
Did you happen to see the hack-job PBS’s “History Detectives” did on this story? Here is who they ultimately blame: Abe Lincoln. :rolleyes:
I’m sure this was a tragic event, but I nearly wet my pants laughing at “Boston Molasses Disaster”! That name is comedy gold!
I nominate The Arch Duke’s driver.
Catfish: did you read the Wikipedia entry?
Just got done reading it, haven’t stopped laughing yet. That is …almost …unbelievable!
“Everything Bostonians touched was sticky.”
Reuben Hatch gets the blame for the overcrowding, having allowed more and more soldiers to crowd onboard. The quick patch job contributed to the explosion itself.
Bolding mine
Santa Ana is my nominee. He had just one thing to do, defeat the rebels of Texas. He had a huge, reasonably-trained army and was doing a bang up job of it, remember the Alamo and Goliad? The Anglo colonist of Texas were on the run, trying to make it across the Sabine River to Louisiana and the pitifully weak army of Sam Houston decided to confront Santa Ana’s army at San Jacinto in hopes of slowing him down and preventing a civilian massacre. Santa Ana knew they were there but decided to enjoy siesta with his mistress before the fight. Naturally all his troops stacked their rifles had a siesta too, didn’t even post sentries.
Sam Houston was no dummy and he promptly attacked completely routing the Mexican army and catching Santa Ana with his pants down, as it were. Santa Ana was captured that day while trying to escape. He wasn’t wearing his resplendent and gaudy generals uniform but was clad in the rags of a common soldier.
The media made him the goat for what other players were responsible for. The media is an ass.
I don’t think that’s really in question.
Nitpick: Santa Anna.