# What's is the most bizarre sports result? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2006, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928 "2006-05-01T09:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/1 "2006-05-01T09:33:14Z")
My vote goes for an Australian Football game played yesterday. The result will be determined on Wednesday. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Commission-to-decide-Dockers-game-result/2006/05/01/1146335653739.html](http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Commission-to-decide-Dockers-game-result/2006/05/01/1146335653739.html) [http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=afldisplay&articleid=262010](http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=afldisplay&articleid=262010) Let me explain for our American readers. In Australian football they have a strange rule that timekeepers off the field sound a siren when the time runs out. But the official rule says that the game actually ends when the Umpire puts up his hands indicating that he has heard the siren. Problem was- in yesterday’s game the time ran out. But the umpires just let them keep playing. About 10 seconds after the siren the Saints kicked a tying score. I think the ruling body of Australian Football may be seen as an international joke. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/2 "2006-05-01T09:41:29Z")
This link has the rules if you are interested. [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story\_page/0,8033,18982353%5E19742,00.html](http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,18982353%255E19742,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/3 "2006-05-01T11:21:57Z")
I must admit that that is a colossally stupid rule, and anyone should have been able to anticipate something like this happening. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/4 "2006-05-01T11:55:40Z")
American football is similar in that respect. There’s a clock on the field, but one of the officials keeps time and is the ultimate authority. There have been times when there’s been a discrepancy that figures in the outcome of the game, but naturally, I can’t think of a good example right now. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/5 "2006-05-01T11:59:06Z")
Sounds like a silly compromise to me. Either have an absolutely fixed duration, or have give the referee sole discretion, _without_ a great big siren which contradicts him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/6 "2006-05-01T12:48:55Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > American football is similar in that respect. There’s a clock on the field, but one of the officials keeps time and is the ultimate authority. There have been times when there’s been a discrepancy that figures in the outcome of the game, but naturally, I can’t think of a good example right now. Probably not, since in the NFL, the stadium clock has been the official time since the AFL/NFL merger in the 60s. NCAA rules seem to allow either method – either the referee keeps time, or the stadium clock does. I assume that’s because there may be some small college venues where there is an old clock that’s unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/7 "2006-05-01T13:59:42Z")
Most bizarre result? I’d have to say it’s [this](http://www.snopes.com/sports/soccer/barbados.asp). In a nutshell, Barbados needed to win a soccer game by two goals to advance to the finals of a tournament. If they didn’t, their opponent, Grenada, would. However, the rules in place said that if a team won in overtime, it would be scored as a two-goal win. Near the end of the game, Barbados was leading, but only by one goal. They kicked the ball into their own net to tie the score and try to force overtime. Having realized what was happening, Grenada spent the last few minutes trying to put the ball into either net, but Barbados successfully defended both goals. Barbados scored first in overtime and advanced. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/8 "2006-05-01T14:42:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Probably not, since in the NFL, the stadium clock has been the official time since the AFL/NFL merger in the 60s. NCAA rules seem to allow either method – either the referee keeps time, or the stadium clock does. I assume that’s because there may be some small college venues where there is an old clock that’s unreliable. Officials can make adjustments, though. I’ve seen them request seconds be returned to the clock many times. Certainly that could have made the difference in at least one game. Hard to google that, though. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/9 "2006-05-01T19:41:21Z")
[The 1982 California-Stanford football game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Play), ending on The Play. Cal executed 5 laterals, all both successful and legal, on a kickoff return as time ran out and the Stanford marching band took the field in celebration of their apparent win. Cal ran it in for the winning touchdown, knocking over a trombone player to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/10 "2006-05-01T20:10:40Z")
There was a bowl game this last season like that too. Michigan and some other team. Maybe even Cal? There were something like six laterals, all the fans thought the game was over after the fifth lateral and rushed the field, and eventually the guy got tackled (by a player). ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/11 "2006-05-01T22:25:22Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > American football is similar in that respect. There’s a clock on the field, but one of the officials keeps time and is the ultimate authority. There have been times when there’s been a discrepancy that figures in the outcome of the game, but naturally, I can’t think of a good example right now. The first Patriots-Steelers game last year, where the Patriots ended up getting an extra minute because the referee didn’t notice the clock was reset after a penalty. [http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8895637](http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8895637) ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/12 "2006-05-01T22:27:56Z")
Just for the sheer scope of lopsidedness (well, it _should_ be a word), I’d have to go with the [222-0 Georgia Tech drubbing of Cumberland Collge](http://www.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/gamestory.html) in 1916, when Georgia Tech was coached by John Heisman (yeah, _that_ Heisman). Georgia Tech scored on every possession while Cumberland College never achieved a first down. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/13 "2006-05-01T22:28:15Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > There was a bowl game this last season like that too. Michigan and some other team. Maybe even Cal? There were something like six laterals, all the fans thought the game was over after the fifth lateral and rushed the field, and eventually the guy got tackled (by a player). Alamo Bowl. Nebraska-Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/14 "2006-05-01T22:38:50Z")
Oh, and to add a few more: - The 1972 Olympic basketball final, where the U.S.A. beat the Soviets only to see the referees put 3 seconds on the clock so the Soviets could get a last shot. - The “Pine Tar Game” between the Royals and Yankees in 1983. George Brett hits a 9th-inning homer to give the Royals the lead, only to be called out because the pine tar on his bat may or may not have exceeded the maximum length. After multiple appeals, the home run counts and the game is replayed following the homer a month later, ending in a Royals win. - The “Jeffrey Maier” game between the Yankees and Orioles in the 1996 AL playoffs, when 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier interfered with a fly ball that would have been an out but became a home run through his reaching over the wall to catch it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/15 "2006-05-01T22:46:42Z")
I hope this doesn’t stray too far from the OP’s question - but IMHO, it’s quite bizarre and loosely stays within the confines of being a sporting ([College Football](http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/chapters/s6678.html)) “result”. > [@](#): > > The disproportionate drive to victory became tragically manifest in 1893 when seven fatalities were reported in college football. Twelve more deaths occurred in 1894. In 1905, eighteen players were killed in college football games ( **bringing the 1890-1905 total fatalities to 330** ), and scores more seriously wounded, largely from use of the flying wedge formation and the absence of protective gear. Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford, and California declared that they would no longer sanction football at their schools. > > President Teddy Roosevelt summoned representatives of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to the White House to discuss the growing violence of college football, (Roosevelt’s own son had recently broken his nose in a freshman football game at Harvard.) Carrying a big stick, he threatened to proscribe intercollegiate football unless the game was reformed. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed later in 1905 to address this problem ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/16 "2006-05-01T23:12:15Z")
Soccer: USA 1 England 0. Oh, the shame. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/17 "2006-05-02T01:02:42Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > American football is similar in that respect. There’s a clock on the field, but one of the officials keeps time and is the ultimate authority. There have been times when there’s been a discrepancy that figures in the outcome of the game, but naturally, I can’t think of a good example right now. How about the [fifth down](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Down), where Colorado got an extra fifth down to beat Missouri in 1990? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/18 "2006-05-02T01:42:53Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Just for the sheer scope of lopsidedness (well, it _should_ be a word), I’d have to go with the [222-0 Georgia Tech drubbing of Cumberland Collge](http://www.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/gamestory.html) in 1916, when Georgia Tech was coached by John Heisman (yeah, _that_ Heisman). Georgia Tech scored on every possession while Cumberland College never achieved a first down. It could have been worse. The game was called after three quarters. **Hubzilla** I graduated from the University of Missouri. Please don’t mention the 5th down outside of The Pit. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/19 "2006-05-02T04:18:02Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > **Hubzilla** I graduated from the University of Missouri. Please don’t mention the 5th down outside of The Pit. From a Nebraska alum, I’m sure you don’t want to discuss the '97 flea-kicker, either 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928/20 "2006-05-02T04:53:34Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > Officials can make adjustments, though. I’ve seen them request seconds be returned to the clock many times. Certainly that could have made the difference in at least one game. Hard to google that, though. It’s a minor distinction. The refs control when the time should start and stop, but the scoreboard controls the actual keeping of the time. Occasionally the refs will have to actually keep the time due to technical difficulties, but in every case they will announce this to the crowd. It’s highly unusual. There was a (Cowboys I think) game within the past few seasons where the home team was trailing late in the fourth. A receiver had caught the ball and run out of bounds with 1 second left on the clock. The timekeeper stopped the clock the moment the guy first set foot out of bounds, allowing one final play. This was a major gaffe by a homer timekeeper. When a player steps out of bounds, the official blows the whistle. The timekeeper isn’t supposed to stop the clock until he hears the whistle. In this game, the clock stopped well before the whistle blew. Bush league, all the way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-is-the-most-bizarre-sports-result/354928.md?page=2)