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Books : The Worst Call Ever!: The Most Infamous Calls Ever Blown by Referees, Umpires, and Other Blind Officials
In any sport, whenever an official takes the field, court, ice, ring, or pitch, they do so with a bright red bull's-eye on their backs. For even with their great accuracy and passion for the game, they do make errors—occasionally, great big fat ones—that change the tide of sports history.
In The Worst Call Ever, keepers of truth and enlightenment, sportswriters Kyle Garlett and Patrick O'Neal, expose the most injurious mistakes and desecrations, document their lasting damage—which to some wronged parties has evolved into a condition akin to post-traumatic stress disorder—and hopefully become the soothing balm of reconciliation.
Each piece details the play in question and examines the players and stakes involved, the scope of the injustice, and the path of change that was often its result. Garlett and O'Neal cover mishaps in all sports, from the four Major Leagues to golf and auto racing to even curling, in this fascinating look at the worst calls in sports history.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - The Worst Book EVER!
I picked up the book for what I assumed was humorous reading. What I found, however, is a book full of leisure second-guessing by a non-official. Granted, the calls the author discusses are controversial, but to write a book about these calls and also villify those who made the calls is ridiculous.
The author operates from a fan-based perspective, i.e., a raving lunatic, that the official who 'blew a call' is a horrible, terrible human being and has no business wearing those stripes. One bad call means the official deserves, at the very least, death. However, the author doesn't spend any time discussing all of the thousands - yes, that right - thousands of good calls and no-calls that same official has made over time. So, again, like a brain-dead rabid idiot, the author rants and raves and name-calls the official who 'blew' a call, only to ignore the really good past and future performances of those same officials.
In other words, to put it simply, if a coach, player or sportscaster (gasp!) made a mistake, we need to look the other way and excuse that person for having an "off day" or having a "momentary lapse of judgment." Holding officials to the impossibly high standard of never making a mistake is ludicrous. Yes, officials are supposed to get it right, but then again, so is that 5.5 million dollar wide receiver who has dropped 60% of his passes this year, and so is that multi-million dollar coach who is 0-7 for the start of the season. Oh, and I guess we should mention the sportscaster who doesn't really know the rules but yet feels totally comfortable second-guessing and sounding like an expert.
In short, it's simply a book to mock officials and does nothing to edcuate people about how very difficult it is to officiate a game at the collegiate and professional level, something all rabid fans need to learn to appreciate. This includes brain-dead annoying sportscasters-trying-to-be-author.
Rating: - Getting "The Worst Call Ever!" is a great call!
From Don Denkinger's infamous blown call in the 1985 World Series to Bernie Fryer's boneheaded rationale for calling a shot no good (before it was taken!) in the 2002 NBA Playoffs, "The Worst Call Ever!" takes us inside some of the most infamous plays in sports history. This book breaks each incident down into short chunks that are easy to read and highly enjoyable. It also separates the incidents by sports, so everything is grouped together very conveniently. Getting this book about bad calls is a great call for sports fans!
Rating: - Open Wounds in Sports History
Last Sunday I did something I hadn't done in a long time: I watched an NFL football game. I've never been a huge football fan but I was in the mood for a game. Maybe it was this book that put me in the mood, I don't know. What I do know is that I couldn't help but think of these stories put together by Garlett and O'Neal of referees, umpires and officials who have changed the outcomes of games through mistakes, ignorance, fear or maliciousness.
In this particular game, the Dallas Cowboys were playing in Chicago against the Bears. In the first half I counted three (perhaps four) obviously blown calls by the refs. Particularly bad was the call to keep the clock running at the end of the half when Dallas should have gotten the ball back with at least a couple seconds on the clock. Instead of a potentially big Dallas lead, these calls effectively helped make the score 3 - 3 at the half.
Of course, Dallas came back in the second half and put the Bears away 34 - 10 so there's no way this game will end up in any future sequel of The Worst Call Ever! It violates two of the criteria Garlett and O'Neal used for inclusion: it's an early, regular season game (and so, comparatively unimportant) and the likely outcome was not changed by the officiating. Instead, Garlett and O'Neal provide us over two hundred pages of rule-changing, apology-causing, outcome-changing calls made in World Series, Bowl and Stanley Cup games. They also throw in some playoff games, Olympic medal contests, and a potpourri of less popular sports.
All in all, it's quite a fun collection of, in many cases, sports history changing calls. Sports fans will be familiar with many of the tales here but it's astounding to see them all together like this and realize just how much depends on officiating. In my heart, I still like to believe that, if a team was really meant to win, they wouldn't be in a position where a call can cost the game, but after reading this, I feel less sure. Hopefully, testing and instant replay will make things fairer in the future but, as the Dallas-Chicago game proved, we still have a long way to go.
Having lived both in Austin and Chicago, and not being a big football fan, I really didn't care who won the game so I was able to look at it with an unprejudiced eye. I couldn't help but think: yes, it's only the third game of the season but what if they had lost and, at the end of the season, Dallas missed the playoffs by a game? Would it be fair to say that some of the blame lay with these officials? I don't know. ... Read More
Rating: - The Best Sports Book Ever!
I originally was buying this book to give to sports-minded family and friends...and then started reading it myself. When an author can write with such wit, knowledge, and intelligence AND keep a non-sports-minded person like myself fascinated to the final page, that is saying A LOT! This is written in a style that makes me think I am sitting in the author's living room simply chatting about some very interesting, and oftentimes controversial, referee and umpire calls.
Rating: - Great, well-written stories
I bought this book as an afterthought because I umpire high school baseball. As a sports fan, I have enjoyed each chapter on the different sports. The author sets up the blown call(s) very well to illustrate why the calls were magnified (e.g., playoffs, national championship implications, etc.), and with a good dose of humor. The selection of blown calls is subjective, and some may disagree with inclusions and/or exclusions. Regardless, this is an excellent book for any sports fan.
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