I was watching SportsCenter this morning (10/3), and they had the top 10 worst calls by a ref. The Hand of God was placed 10th I think. It was pretty cool. I was suprised they even knew about the Hand of God.
Good for the psyche The more soccer is mentioned is a good or descent light to the average american sports fan the better. We soccer purist know it is more important than # 9-1; yet soccer was mentioned alongside other sports as it should be in this country and I am happy for that.
Y'all are probably tired of me saying this, but the last World Cup cemented international soccer as a mainstream sport in the US. This is just Exhibit 117 of that.
You are being facetious? I have yet to hear anyone at work, who formerly paid no attention to soccer, mention soccer since the World Cup. Lots of talk about fantasy (American) football though ...
I think it cemented the World Cup as a mainstream event in the USA but not international soccer as a whole as a mainstream sport.
I just had a very pleasant interaction: my office colleague (knowing I was a NE Revolution fan) congratulated me out of the blue on the Revs making the semifinals. She is not really a sports fan, so this is kind of cool that she somehow heard this on the Boston news or in a paper.
The key is not for soccer to become popular in the US; it already is. The key is for MLS to become popular. When MLS becomes popular, the popularity of soccer will grow even more.
Sorry, I should have specified that it's mainstream in sports media. Just wait till WCQs crank up again. I'm very confident that mainstream sports outlets (like Sportscenter) will cover the '06 campaign alot more than they did the '02 campaign.
Unlike you, I'll be shocked and exceedingly surprised if the local paper gives much coverage. They gave only slightly more coverage in the last 4 years as they had the previous 4 - which was mostly standings and schedules.
I care less if the low lifes at the sport center like soccer or not. I just watch the new one hour show on FoxSW.I never watch ESPN, unless they show soccer.
I'd be extremely curious to know what calls made #9-#1. The Hand of God HAS to be No. 1 all-time. The ONLY other choice in my opinion would be the 1972 Gold Medal game for men's basketball. The Hand of God call literally swung the door shut on England's hopes to make the semi-finals of the world's biggest sporting event. Blown calls simply don't get much bigger than that no matter how provincial our media may wish to be.
??? 1. Check the ESPN website for upcoming programming. 2. Use the "Guide" channel on his cable/dish package. 3. Sports listings on the sports page of his local paper. 4. Daily TV listings in his local paper. 5. Weekly TV listings supplement in his local paper. 6. TV Guide magazine. I'm sure there are other sources for upcoming programming.
FootyMundo, I'll go off the top of my head, and in no particular order: 1. Yes, the 1972 gold medal game in men's basketball made it. 2. 1996 American League playoffs, Yankees v. Baltimore, Derek Jeter's "home run" is caught by a fan inside the outfield wall. 3. Some other baseball highlight, involving either a playoff game or a World Series game. It was from the '70s or early '80s. I think Whitey Herzog was one of the managers. It was a call at first base, the runner was obviously safe but was called out. 4. Brett Hull's goal in the Stanley Cup Finals in which he was illegally in the crease. I'm not sure, this goal may have been overtime in game 7. 5. The coin flip before an NFL game, could have been the Super Bowl. I think the player called "tails"; it came up "tails", but the ref said the player had called "heads". This was actually #1 on the list. Can't recall the others. Considering that it effected the later stages of a true "world championship", and one that is contested only every four years, the Hand of God should have been at or near the top of the list. But hey, why quibble.
Must've been 1985 Cardinals-Royals. Don Denkinger was the ump. Think it was game 6. The blown call completely turned the game around, Royals won the game, and blew the Cardinals out in Game 7. Actually - assuming this was the one, which I'm pretty sure it must be - the call was the other way around. The runner was obviously out but was called safe.
Yes, that was it. The baserunner stepped on the first baseman's foot which was already on the base, and was still called safe.
Thanksgiving Day Detroit - Pittsburgh, from 4 years ago I think. Another one I bet was on there was Seattle - New York of the same year as the one above. Ref calls a TD when he sees Testaverde's helmet cross the goal line, not the ball (which never did cross the line). This let the Jets take the lead with less than a minute remaining in the game after the call was made. It was the next to last game of the year and the Seahawks lost, missing the playoffs by one game (they won the last game of the year, but it wasn't enough) and cost Dennis Erickson his job as coach.
That was just justice being served as the Royals had completely outplayed the Cards in the series. As time has shown, the clock was certainly ticking on the 76-85 generation of Royals. I have a funny annectdote about this play and what I was doing (I was at work, listening to Jack Buck call the game on the radio), but I'll save that for bigbaseball.com.