... this one effectively to blow up the NCAA Tournament next week?
At least five different sources have given Yahoo! Sports a list of ten players who should've been suspended under Syracuse's internal rules with respect to the use and abuse of recreational drugs.
Syracuse, right now, is #2 in the country in the current polls to Kentucky.
This has been a hard year for Syracuse, with sexual misconduct allegations of their own with complicity from ESPN. One has to wonder how the NCAA is going to allow them to go forward...
Monday, March 5, 2012
And what do we have here... Bounties on the Saints...
Uh oh -- it just got real in New Orleans.
It all started, at least what we know about it, when the NFL announced that it had found a pattern implicating 22-27 defensive players (the equivalent of a full defensive roster) in a bounty scheme.
Now, I'll be frank: In extreme circumstances, I know I've said I'd pay a player to cripple Michael Vick, but that's after everything Michael Vick is known to have done (and probably perceived to have gotten away with!).
What we have here is a blatant attempt to subvert the game to the point where hurting people is the sole reason for the players to be out there. My brothers played football -- and they were all told to hit and hit hard. My next-oldest brother was asked repeatedly in team chants if he was "Ready to Hit?" on "The Swarm" (a nickname for the defense the one year our high school was good at football while we were there).
But this is basically players setting up a fund to hurt people. That simple.
If the league is that serious about player safety, the New Orleans Saints can forget about being a relevant team again -- probably for the better part of this decade.
The defensive coach who masterminded this will be blackballed. He was hired by the Rams, but that's not going to stick. The Commish will see to that.
Sean Payton almost certainly will be fired and he probably will never head-coach again.
ESPN editorials are already calling for the GM to be fired.
Hell, let's take a real look at how much the owners of the Saints actually knew...
But here's the real fun part: This, now, exposes the Saints and the NFL to lawsuits. The program spans three years (including the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV-winning season -- a game largely believed to be rigged by the league), and the defensive coach who masterminded this is now believed to have had this system back in Washington before he came to the Saints.
Keep an eye on this -- this has the possibility of effectively murdering the relevance of a professional sports franchise completely. This is not unlike the Joe Smith fiasco for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Yes, it could be THAT bad.
ON EDIT: Brian Tuohy makes a wonderful point on his Twitter:
"If $1500 is enough to get a $1 million NFL player to injure another, what does $10K or $100K get you? Enough to fix a game?"
And that doesn't even get in to how an illegal injury-bounty pool can fix games in and of itself!
It all started, at least what we know about it, when the NFL announced that it had found a pattern implicating 22-27 defensive players (the equivalent of a full defensive roster) in a bounty scheme.
Now, I'll be frank: In extreme circumstances, I know I've said I'd pay a player to cripple Michael Vick, but that's after everything Michael Vick is known to have done (and probably perceived to have gotten away with!).
What we have here is a blatant attempt to subvert the game to the point where hurting people is the sole reason for the players to be out there. My brothers played football -- and they were all told to hit and hit hard. My next-oldest brother was asked repeatedly in team chants if he was "Ready to Hit?" on "The Swarm" (a nickname for the defense the one year our high school was good at football while we were there).
But this is basically players setting up a fund to hurt people. That simple.
If the league is that serious about player safety, the New Orleans Saints can forget about being a relevant team again -- probably for the better part of this decade.
The defensive coach who masterminded this will be blackballed. He was hired by the Rams, but that's not going to stick. The Commish will see to that.
Sean Payton almost certainly will be fired and he probably will never head-coach again.
ESPN editorials are already calling for the GM to be fired.
Hell, let's take a real look at how much the owners of the Saints actually knew...
But here's the real fun part: This, now, exposes the Saints and the NFL to lawsuits. The program spans three years (including the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV-winning season -- a game largely believed to be rigged by the league), and the defensive coach who masterminded this is now believed to have had this system back in Washington before he came to the Saints.
Keep an eye on this -- this has the possibility of effectively murdering the relevance of a professional sports franchise completely. This is not unlike the Joe Smith fiasco for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Yes, it could be THAT bad.
ON EDIT: Brian Tuohy makes a wonderful point on his Twitter:
"If $1500 is enough to get a $1 million NFL player to injure another, what does $10K or $100K get you? Enough to fix a game?"
And that doesn't even get in to how an illegal injury-bounty pool can fix games in and of itself!
Monday, February 27, 2012
And, of course, the people getting attacked continue to get punished...
Latest update on the Georgia football riot:
January 25, 2012: Hancock County grand jury returns NO INDICTMENTS for the Warren County-Hancock County incident.
February 14, 2012: Warren County ends it's men's basketball season by forfeiting (as it said it would) when they were paired with Hancock County in Division 7-A.
Next year, this won't happen: The state board has allowed Warren County to ensure it won't have to play Hancock County in anything.
January 25, 2012: Hancock County grand jury returns NO INDICTMENTS for the Warren County-Hancock County incident.
February 14, 2012: Warren County ends it's men's basketball season by forfeiting (as it said it would) when they were paired with Hancock County in Division 7-A.
Next year, this won't happen: The state board has allowed Warren County to ensure it won't have to play Hancock County in anything.
Another reason that I get pissed at all the stuff going on with these thug athletes...
About 15 1/2 months ago, I posted on this blog the story of Mason Holland, the Florida player who was arrested and expelled for assault on a referee.
Well, what do I find as I look for updates on the story? Not only has Holland been arrested for fucking up a 12 year-old girl, but his coach (who was fired over the incident on the court!) was arrested for trying to pay off the family!
Holland is still awaiting trial on both the assault on the referee and the sexual assault. He faces a maximum of five years for the referee assault (Felony III) and 15 for the sexual assault on a minor (Felony II).
Well, what do I find as I look for updates on the story? Not only has Holland been arrested for fucking up a 12 year-old girl, but his coach (who was fired over the incident on the court!) was arrested for trying to pay off the family!
Holland is still awaiting trial on both the assault on the referee and the sexual assault. He faces a maximum of five years for the referee assault (Felony III) and 15 for the sexual assault on a minor (Felony II).
Friday, February 17, 2012
Just a thought...
We all know that Roger Goodell has taken lessons from David $tern...
Does anyone else actually think all this "Linsanity" is just a little too convenient?
Just a thought... Shaq has retired, the Lakers are a joke, and we all know $tern is a Knick homer...
Does anyone else actually think all this "Linsanity" is just a little too convenient?
Just a thought... Shaq has retired, the Lakers are a joke, and we all know $tern is a Knick homer...
Monday, February 13, 2012
Now that I have the opportunity, let's take a look at the South Korea debacle.
I believed it then, I believe it now. South Korea fixed it's way into the World Cup semifinal in 2002, probably mostly on a combination of home-field intimidation and Asian influences with the betting.
I didn't realize this until I went over some of the posts I had made on the tournament, but there were FIVE dodgy matches in the Round of 16 in just that tournament.
Senegal-Sweden: 1-0 to Sweden, and watch at 1:05 (offside? own goal?? It did look like the Senegal player had stopped to ensure he wasn't offside. Replay at 1:22 appears good.). There were also three penalty claims waved off within about a 20-minute stretch of the first half around that effort. Senegal are able to equalize, and win 2-1 in extra time.
United States-Mexico: And this is the match BEFORE the Frings handball on (over) the line!
McBride puts the US up 1-0 after a Reyna run and a Wolfe pass. Donovan doubles the advantage in the second half, against all run of play. However, the match is marred when it appears as if Mexico could've had a goal, but a clear US hand ball denies it and send the US through.
Denmark-England: Probably the only dodgy game where the officiating did not determine the outcome, as Denmark had a goal wiped out for phantom offside, but England were 3-0 comfortably ahead in the first place.
Belgium-Brazil: Watch at :51 of this clip. 1st half, scoreless. You tell me where the foul is here.
The Brazilian is even throwing up his hands as if to wonder what the whistle was on the guy who had just "scored" on the header against him!
Watch 1:05 and onward for an even better view! There's no foul there!
But it's Brazil!! They win 2-0 and eventually play Germany in the Final.
But before we get there, the curious story of South Korea and one of the most crooked spates of officiating in the history of world soccer. A YouTube clip of the controversies is here.
We'll start, for convention's sake, with their Round of 16 match with Italy. Italy go 1-0 up on a Vieri goal in the 18th minute.
49th minute, clear foul in midfield not called. 22 for Korea pulls the Italian's shirt, then an ELBOW by the other guy.
Totti fouled all over the place in the 57th minute.
Bad tackles in both the 64th and the end of the 68th minutes against Italy by the Koreans. (Studs up to the thigh on the latter -- should be "see ya".)
Gee, I thought mugging was illegal under the rules.
Another harsh tackle right in front of the referee at the 77th minute.
Totti gets destroyed with the ball at the top of the box a minute later and the referee plays advantage -- to South Korea!
And, wouldn't you know it... After all this non-called dirty play, South Korea equalizes three minutes from full time, and we go to (then) golden-goal overtime.
Totti is mugged (for about the twelfth time in the match) in the box in the 103rd minute, and gets sent off as a result, for his second yellow -- for DIVING??? The referee instantaneously has six players in his face.
#22 for South Korea (again!) clearly knees Totti in the back of the knee. (1:59 - 2:00) Not only has he not dived, Totti has probably earned a game-winning penalty!!
110th minute: Italy, at ten men, still get someone through and apparently score the winner, but blown for offside. Watch the super-slo-mo at 2:13 - 2:14 and convince yourselves the Italian was offside.
And the Koreans get the ordained result 5 minutes later. 2-1, off to the quarterfinals.
Where they get Spain!!
Early in the match, #13 commits a harsh interference foul without call.
The South Korean #10 is clearly shirt-pulling the arm of the Spaniard shortly thereafter in clear view of the linesman -- no call, he's from South Korea after all!
South Korea's dirty, rough-housing tactics were a hallmark of this tournament, as numerous harsh tackles went uncalled in this match by the Egyptian referee or his linesmen.
And then, in the first of a number of bad calls at the goal, Spain has a goal disallowed for handball when the ball is shown in the replay to go off the KOREAN'S shoulder!!
And then probably the worst of all, a Spain cross on the line finds an unmarked offensive player on the far side, deposited for the win -- except the ball has been deemed to go out over the line (and I believe the call was actually that the ball went over the line in the air -- which was laughable if you look at the ground-level replay at about 4:15 of the clip).
Then a flagrantly bad offside call in the extra session as a Spain player gets free on the keeper.
South Korea wins on penalties.
You still want to believe the games are legitimate?
I didn't realize this until I went over some of the posts I had made on the tournament, but there were FIVE dodgy matches in the Round of 16 in just that tournament.
Senegal-Sweden: 1-0 to Sweden, and watch at 1:05 (offside? own goal?? It did look like the Senegal player had stopped to ensure he wasn't offside. Replay at 1:22 appears good.). There were also three penalty claims waved off within about a 20-minute stretch of the first half around that effort. Senegal are able to equalize, and win 2-1 in extra time.
United States-Mexico: And this is the match BEFORE the Frings handball on (over) the line!
McBride puts the US up 1-0 after a Reyna run and a Wolfe pass. Donovan doubles the advantage in the second half, against all run of play. However, the match is marred when it appears as if Mexico could've had a goal, but a clear US hand ball denies it and send the US through.
Denmark-England: Probably the only dodgy game where the officiating did not determine the outcome, as Denmark had a goal wiped out for phantom offside, but England were 3-0 comfortably ahead in the first place.
Belgium-Brazil: Watch at :51 of this clip. 1st half, scoreless. You tell me where the foul is here.
The Brazilian is even throwing up his hands as if to wonder what the whistle was on the guy who had just "scored" on the header against him!
Watch 1:05 and onward for an even better view! There's no foul there!
But it's Brazil!! They win 2-0 and eventually play Germany in the Final.
But before we get there, the curious story of South Korea and one of the most crooked spates of officiating in the history of world soccer. A YouTube clip of the controversies is here.
We'll start, for convention's sake, with their Round of 16 match with Italy. Italy go 1-0 up on a Vieri goal in the 18th minute.
49th minute, clear foul in midfield not called. 22 for Korea pulls the Italian's shirt, then an ELBOW by the other guy.
Totti fouled all over the place in the 57th minute.
Bad tackles in both the 64th and the end of the 68th minutes against Italy by the Koreans. (Studs up to the thigh on the latter -- should be "see ya".)
Gee, I thought mugging was illegal under the rules.
Another harsh tackle right in front of the referee at the 77th minute.
Totti gets destroyed with the ball at the top of the box a minute later and the referee plays advantage -- to South Korea!
And, wouldn't you know it... After all this non-called dirty play, South Korea equalizes three minutes from full time, and we go to (then) golden-goal overtime.
Totti is mugged (for about the twelfth time in the match) in the box in the 103rd minute, and gets sent off as a result, for his second yellow -- for DIVING??? The referee instantaneously has six players in his face.
#22 for South Korea (again!) clearly knees Totti in the back of the knee. (1:59 - 2:00) Not only has he not dived, Totti has probably earned a game-winning penalty!!
110th minute: Italy, at ten men, still get someone through and apparently score the winner, but blown for offside. Watch the super-slo-mo at 2:13 - 2:14 and convince yourselves the Italian was offside.
And the Koreans get the ordained result 5 minutes later. 2-1, off to the quarterfinals.
Where they get Spain!!
Early in the match, #13 commits a harsh interference foul without call.
The South Korean #10 is clearly shirt-pulling the arm of the Spaniard shortly thereafter in clear view of the linesman -- no call, he's from South Korea after all!
South Korea's dirty, rough-housing tactics were a hallmark of this tournament, as numerous harsh tackles went uncalled in this match by the Egyptian referee or his linesmen.
And then, in the first of a number of bad calls at the goal, Spain has a goal disallowed for handball when the ball is shown in the replay to go off the KOREAN'S shoulder!!
And then probably the worst of all, a Spain cross on the line finds an unmarked offensive player on the far side, deposited for the win -- except the ball has been deemed to go out over the line (and I believe the call was actually that the ball went over the line in the air -- which was laughable if you look at the ground-level replay at about 4:15 of the clip).
Then a flagrantly bad offside call in the extra session as a Spain player gets free on the keeper.
South Korea wins on penalties.
You still want to believe the games are legitimate?
And those aren't the only examples of Super Soccer Fraud:
Pulled up an YouTube post of an iTV special on the five (worst) refereeing calls which shook the world, and I want you to see just how bad Sepp Blatter and the like want the officials to determine the games a certain way.
Number 5: Germany-England, World Cup 2010, South Africa, Round of 16.
England were 2-0 down to Germany fairly quickly, but got one goal back before something utterly shocking happened.
At about :45 of the clip, DeFoe goes to Lampard, who is able to chip over the goaltender and off the crossbar and basically down.
Shortly thereafter (1:03), you see a replay which openly shows that the goal was, in fact, scored. The whole of the ball needs to go over the whole of the line, and it does so. Clearly.
No goal, England loses 4-1.
Sepp Blatter has been so damnated against replay in soccer that he clearly needs the officials to have every mechanism at their disposal to fix the matches. But when a goal can be clearly shown to be at least by one entire width of the soccer ball -- perhaps more! -- it is clear that the match is fixed.
For the referee to miss the call, as well as his linesman, when the ball is that far over the line, it is a deliberate act of malfeasance which indicates that England, under NO circumstances, was going to win on that day.
And he was removed, and he should've been removed. You HAVE TO make that call. That ball was, by the announcers' estimation, a yard over the line. Tell Sepp Blatter to go to Hell if you have to, but a goal is a goal.
Number 4: West Germany-France, World Cup 1982, Spain, Semifinals
When a respected official, on camera, tells the world that this is the worst refereeing mistake ever made in the history of soccer, that should get a red flag up immediately.
The score is 1-1, and France's Patrick Battiston appears to go through cleanly for a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper for Germany, Harold Schumacher.
What happened next, Battiston was asked on the clip...
"I don't know. I was unconscious."
Battiston takes his shot and misses it -- probably because Schumacher comes flying at him and basically takes Battiston's freaking head off! (3:26 starts the clip, contact at the left side of the screen at 3:31.)
Now, it's not a red for Denial of a Goal-Scoring Opportunity, as Battiston's panic probably ends the GSO, but that's red for a violent tackle of the first order. Battiston lost three teeth and broke a vertebrae, according to the clip, but the referee not only does not send Schumacher off, he doesn't even render the contact to be a foul whatsoever -- goal kick to West Germany!!
If you watch the clip at about 4:03, you find out that the guy basically elbows Battiston in the head, his feet at least a foot off the ground!! To no-call that on not only a red card, but a penalty to France is abjectly criminal!
At least some levity is done with a funny little joke at the end of that series, so have a laugh at that before we go to Number 3...
West Germany win the game in penalties after a 3-3 draw, but lose the final to Italy.
Number 3: Croatia-Australia, 2006 World Cup, Germany, Group H, Third Match
You know you're in trouble when a referee cannot count to two.
You know you're in more trouble when FOUR officials can't count to two.
Graham Poll is one of the most respected referees in the entire world, one of England's best -- or at least he was before this match.
This was a tournament marred by a massive amount of foul play (one of the most-carded tournaments in the history of soccer).
It still doesn't excuse, however, how Croatia's Josep Simunic could, in the course of the second half, get THREE yellow cards.
After a 61st-minute card for dissent, the second card by Simunic should've been straight-red to begin with -- not only is it a cynical tackle (two, in fact, in the center circle -- about 5:35 or so in the clip), but Simunic bumps Poll as he receives what was his second yellow card in the 90th minute, which would've sent the Croatians to nine men versus Australia's ten. (In fact, all three men were sent off (including Simunic three minutes later on his third yellow) after the 85th minute of the match!)
So, short of a fix or something, why does Poll not send him off, and why do the other three officials not communicate with Poll as to the fact that Simunic had already been cautioned about a half-hour before?
The tackles merited straight-red to begin with. But to miss a fundamental count of two?
There's "everybody makes mistakes", but for the mistake to be that obvious (a literal "everybody in the stadium can see it" situation -- and that's if you don't send Simunic off directly for the tackles in the 90th!), something has to be up. FIFA is effectively forced, according to the match report through Wikipedia, to disown the yellow card in the 90th, even though the whole situation could've merited two red-card offenses (one for the tackles, one for bumping the official).
In fact, the clip notes that it was some time, and a DVD, later that Poll found out that he had given Simunic three cards. HOW IS THAT FUCKING POSSIBLE?
Graham Poll, and rightly, removed himself from any further tournament final matches permanently after that Cup, and retired from domestic officiating within a year. That level of malfeasance, even under the color of "mistake" (and, given the culture of world soccer, I don't believe that for a second -- the match is 2-2, and Croatia needs a win to advance, the draw advancing Australia -- and Simunic has committed two cynical tackles and bumped you), cannot occur. It -- simply -- cannot.
Number 2: Argentina-England, 1986 World Cup, Mexico, Quarter-Final
The Hand of God. Nothing more really need be said.
Maradona, in a scoreless match in the 51st minute, deliberately punches the ball after slicing through three defenders before passing the ball and getting the ball back through three more.
(Clip starts about 8:18)
In fact, he's borderline offside when the pass comes back to him, but he basically punches the ball past the goalkeeper (who otherwise makes the save!), for 1-0 to Argentina!
The second replay (at about 9:00) conveniently cuts off the key part of the situation, but it's clear by this time that he punched it in.
To add insult to injury, he seals the 2-1 victory (which basically inferno-ed the Argentina-England rivalry) with The Goal of the Century four minutes later -- when Maradona dribbled past six English defenders to go 2-0 up (my guess? the same six guys in the first clip).
So what call could be considered more earth-shaking than The Hand of God???
Number 1: England-West Germany 1966 World Cup, England. FINAL
Yep, the Grand Final of the tournament, home side in the Grand Final.
In fact, the match is now in extra time at 2-2. Thirty minutes of play, then penalties for the World Cup.
Alan Ball takes a cross to Geoff Hurst (clip starts about 10:51) who fires the ball off the crossbar (much like the England-Germany match previously referenced in this post!) and the ball drops tantalizingly close (much closer than the 2006 call) to the line.
After consultation with the Soviet linesman, Swiss referee Gottefried Dienst scores the goal for 3-2, and England is in hysterics, champions at 4-2 at the end of the two hours.
But was that 3-2 goal good? All of the ball over all of the line?
The original angle is completely inconclusive -- the ball is directly behind the goalkeeper and you can't see anything!
The key angle appears to be the ground angle at 11:33 of the clip. From the angle of the camera (even by 1966 camera work), it is almost impossible, by any measure, to believe this was a goal at any time.
But the match is in England, and I believe intimidation and the possibility of a riot should West Germany have won the match basically gave Dienst and the Soviet linesman an opportunity to fix the match -- which I believe they did.
Number 5: Germany-England, World Cup 2010, South Africa, Round of 16.
England were 2-0 down to Germany fairly quickly, but got one goal back before something utterly shocking happened.
At about :45 of the clip, DeFoe goes to Lampard, who is able to chip over the goaltender and off the crossbar and basically down.
Shortly thereafter (1:03), you see a replay which openly shows that the goal was, in fact, scored. The whole of the ball needs to go over the whole of the line, and it does so. Clearly.
No goal, England loses 4-1.
Sepp Blatter has been so damnated against replay in soccer that he clearly needs the officials to have every mechanism at their disposal to fix the matches. But when a goal can be clearly shown to be at least by one entire width of the soccer ball -- perhaps more! -- it is clear that the match is fixed.
For the referee to miss the call, as well as his linesman, when the ball is that far over the line, it is a deliberate act of malfeasance which indicates that England, under NO circumstances, was going to win on that day.
And he was removed, and he should've been removed. You HAVE TO make that call. That ball was, by the announcers' estimation, a yard over the line. Tell Sepp Blatter to go to Hell if you have to, but a goal is a goal.
Number 4: West Germany-France, World Cup 1982, Spain, Semifinals
When a respected official, on camera, tells the world that this is the worst refereeing mistake ever made in the history of soccer, that should get a red flag up immediately.
The score is 1-1, and France's Patrick Battiston appears to go through cleanly for a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper for Germany, Harold Schumacher.
What happened next, Battiston was asked on the clip...
"I don't know. I was unconscious."
Battiston takes his shot and misses it -- probably because Schumacher comes flying at him and basically takes Battiston's freaking head off! (3:26 starts the clip, contact at the left side of the screen at 3:31.)
Now, it's not a red for Denial of a Goal-Scoring Opportunity, as Battiston's panic probably ends the GSO, but that's red for a violent tackle of the first order. Battiston lost three teeth and broke a vertebrae, according to the clip, but the referee not only does not send Schumacher off, he doesn't even render the contact to be a foul whatsoever -- goal kick to West Germany!!
If you watch the clip at about 4:03, you find out that the guy basically elbows Battiston in the head, his feet at least a foot off the ground!! To no-call that on not only a red card, but a penalty to France is abjectly criminal!
At least some levity is done with a funny little joke at the end of that series, so have a laugh at that before we go to Number 3...
West Germany win the game in penalties after a 3-3 draw, but lose the final to Italy.
Number 3: Croatia-Australia, 2006 World Cup, Germany, Group H, Third Match
You know you're in trouble when a referee cannot count to two.
You know you're in more trouble when FOUR officials can't count to two.
Graham Poll is one of the most respected referees in the entire world, one of England's best -- or at least he was before this match.
This was a tournament marred by a massive amount of foul play (one of the most-carded tournaments in the history of soccer).
It still doesn't excuse, however, how Croatia's Josep Simunic could, in the course of the second half, get THREE yellow cards.
After a 61st-minute card for dissent, the second card by Simunic should've been straight-red to begin with -- not only is it a cynical tackle (two, in fact, in the center circle -- about 5:35 or so in the clip), but Simunic bumps Poll as he receives what was his second yellow card in the 90th minute, which would've sent the Croatians to nine men versus Australia's ten. (In fact, all three men were sent off (including Simunic three minutes later on his third yellow) after the 85th minute of the match!)
So, short of a fix or something, why does Poll not send him off, and why do the other three officials not communicate with Poll as to the fact that Simunic had already been cautioned about a half-hour before?
The tackles merited straight-red to begin with. But to miss a fundamental count of two?
There's "everybody makes mistakes", but for the mistake to be that obvious (a literal "everybody in the stadium can see it" situation -- and that's if you don't send Simunic off directly for the tackles in the 90th!), something has to be up. FIFA is effectively forced, according to the match report through Wikipedia, to disown the yellow card in the 90th, even though the whole situation could've merited two red-card offenses (one for the tackles, one for bumping the official).
In fact, the clip notes that it was some time, and a DVD, later that Poll found out that he had given Simunic three cards. HOW IS THAT FUCKING POSSIBLE?
Graham Poll, and rightly, removed himself from any further tournament final matches permanently after that Cup, and retired from domestic officiating within a year. That level of malfeasance, even under the color of "mistake" (and, given the culture of world soccer, I don't believe that for a second -- the match is 2-2, and Croatia needs a win to advance, the draw advancing Australia -- and Simunic has committed two cynical tackles and bumped you), cannot occur. It -- simply -- cannot.
Number 2: Argentina-England, 1986 World Cup, Mexico, Quarter-Final
The Hand of God. Nothing more really need be said.
Maradona, in a scoreless match in the 51st minute, deliberately punches the ball after slicing through three defenders before passing the ball and getting the ball back through three more.
(Clip starts about 8:18)
In fact, he's borderline offside when the pass comes back to him, but he basically punches the ball past the goalkeeper (who otherwise makes the save!), for 1-0 to Argentina!
The second replay (at about 9:00) conveniently cuts off the key part of the situation, but it's clear by this time that he punched it in.
To add insult to injury, he seals the 2-1 victory (which basically inferno-ed the Argentina-England rivalry) with The Goal of the Century four minutes later -- when Maradona dribbled past six English defenders to go 2-0 up (my guess? the same six guys in the first clip).
So what call could be considered more earth-shaking than The Hand of God???
Number 1: England-West Germany 1966 World Cup, England. FINAL
Yep, the Grand Final of the tournament, home side in the Grand Final.
In fact, the match is now in extra time at 2-2. Thirty minutes of play, then penalties for the World Cup.
Alan Ball takes a cross to Geoff Hurst (clip starts about 10:51) who fires the ball off the crossbar (much like the England-Germany match previously referenced in this post!) and the ball drops tantalizingly close (much closer than the 2006 call) to the line.
After consultation with the Soviet linesman, Swiss referee Gottefried Dienst scores the goal for 3-2, and England is in hysterics, champions at 4-2 at the end of the two hours.
But was that 3-2 goal good? All of the ball over all of the line?
The original angle is completely inconclusive -- the ball is directly behind the goalkeeper and you can't see anything!
The key angle appears to be the ground angle at 11:33 of the clip. From the angle of the camera (even by 1966 camera work), it is almost impossible, by any measure, to believe this was a goal at any time.
But the match is in England, and I believe intimidation and the possibility of a riot should West Germany have won the match basically gave Dienst and the Soviet linesman an opportunity to fix the match -- which I believe they did.
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