What, in your opinion, are the most controversial topics in sports right now? Please note- I’m not asking your opinions on the controversies themselves, just what you think those controversies are.
My votes for the top 3:
Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?
Should the college football bowl system be replaced with a playoff?
Are Barry Bonds’ home run records legitimate?
What do you think are big controversies in sports?
Did Shinohara really score ippon over Douillet in 2004? I would have called it for Shinohara with uchimata sukashi.
Did Englands 3rd goal in the 1966 World Cup Final really cross the line?
FWIW I was at the game and I have no idea but I think not
1 and 2 I agree with, but I’d replace 3 with “Does the DH belong in baseball, and if so, should it be used in both leagues or not?”
While it’s very likely Bonds used the juice for an extended length of time, I have little doubt that he wouldn’t have broken Aaron’s record anyway. The man has an ego the size of a stadium and he would have hung around as long as it took.
Not a bad game to have seen Chowder 
In the wider context this is one of the controversies in football - do we bring in technology to help referees? Sacrificing the flow of the game for greater accuracy and fairness in their decisions.
Moving thread from IMHO to The Game Room.
Not as huge, but we’ll probably never get definitive answers:
How much did the referees’ gambling affect NBA games?
How widespread was the Patriots Spygate (beyond just the Jets game), and why did the NFL destroy the tapes?
Brett Hull’s 1999 OT Stanley Cup winning goal.
I disagree. He just barely managed to hang on long enough with steroids. He’d have probably wound up somewhere above 600, but nowhere close to the record.
What exactly am I watching there?
Why did the Americans poison Phar Lap?
Did Cal score a touchdown during The Play?
No, we leave it as it is.
Referees are human and as such make mistakes.
The thing is, for every decision that goes against you (unfairly) there’ll be one that goes against the opposition, again unfairly.
Yes indeed it was a great game to be at, the celebrations afterwards were along the same lines:D
Not a controversial play, but I’d say the 1997 Marlins should be controversial. Assembling a team by buying it, winning the world series, and then getting rid of all those players and finishing the year with minor league players was a disgusting example of baseball in the 1990s.
Wise words. If only this cosmic balance applied to the red shite. Witness that cynical cheating bastard Stevie G fraudulently claiming a penalty for them last night against Athletico Madrid, in the 90th minute :mad:
You have to be a judo nerd to get it.
One way to win in judo is to score ippon, which is like a pin in wrestling or a knockout in boxing. The definition of ippon is to throw the opponent so that he lands largely on his back, with force and control.
Douillet attacks with uchimata, which is a throw somewhat similar to a whizzer in wrestling. The idea of the throw is to sweep away the leg and spin him onto his back - like this.
There is a counter to the throw called uchimata sukashi, where you make the guy miss with his sweeping leg and spin him over and land him on his back. This is considered very elegant judo in Japan, since it uses his momentum against him. It is much less common in the rest of the world, especially in Europe, where power judo is more common.
The controversy is if Shinohara countered Douillet with uchimata sukasha, or if Douillet made a partially successful attack. In the linked video, it was called ippon for Shinohara, then changed to yuko for Douillet (a lower score than ippon - the scoring system in judo is kind of bizarre). The Japanese were adamant that Shinohara had scored, but lost the appeal. Douillet won the gold.
Case in point, I think - a more definite looking penalty wasn’t seen by the referees earlier in the game, unusually the balance was put right in the same game.
That is, unless you’re a hopelessly partisan supporter of course…(in which case when you’re losing ALL the decisions go against you, when you’re winning it’s just good play).
Was Hansie Cronje the fall guy for the Indian cricket betting syndicate? If so, how many other players were involved?
(Super bonus controversy: did Hansie take the fall because he wasn’t from India?)
This wasn’t quite “our time” (1932). And it was probably bookmakers who wanted to avoid losses.
Should the designated hitter be banned from the American League?