Top 10 Worst Mistakes in Sports History

January 29, 2021 By Sourav

Every athlete undergoes rigorous practice and training, to ensure that when he is on the field, he can give his best performance. But, even with huge amounts of training and diligence, there is no telling if a player will actually be able to perform as well as he or his team hopes. Mistakes happen on the field more often than we care to remember, and some of these mistakes are almost as memorable as the most mind-boggling records by the most efficient players. Here is a list of the Top 10 Worst Mistakes of Sports World. So, let us take a quick look at it and see how many we can remember.

Worst Mistakes of Sports World | 2021 Updates

10. Jean van de Velde

Golfer Jean van de Velde reached the hole with a three-stroke lead at the 1999 British Open, eventually, he did something which deserves a place in our list. Jean van de Velde took out his driver rather than playing it safe in the final hole. Till he finished the final hole in the 1999 British Open, his triple-bogey 7 dropped him into a three-way playoff.

Eventually, he lost the playoff due to an irresponsible decision while reaching the final hole. Jean van de Velde has got just one chance in that open which he lost by a terrible decision and till now he has never achieved a Major golf tournament title. This incident now holds its place among the top 10 worst mistakes in sports history.

9. Roy Riegels aka “Wrong-Way” Riegels

Legendary Roy Riegels is a well-known Rose Bowl California’s All-American center during the 1920s. But irrespective of his reputation on the ground, he did something hilarious which deserves its place in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. Roy Riegels picked up a fumble against Georgia Tech and ran in the wrong direction towards their own end zone. Miraculously, he faced a tackle at the first stop.

Georgia Tech scored a safety on the next play after the terrible mistake of Roy Riegels and eventually won the game by 8-7. With his terrible mistake on the national circuit, Roy Riegels became popular with his nickname, the “Wrong-Way” Riegels.

8. 10-Cent Beer Night

Cleveland Indians planned quite a surprise for their fans as they declared their overwhelming idea of staging a “10-cent beer night” in a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Stadium on Tuesday, June 4, 1974. The promotion was to attract more fans while offering 12 U.S. fl oz of 3.2% beer for just 10 cents where the actual price is nearly 65 cents.

Something terrible happened that day due to drunken fans, even normal people who came to watch the game for cheap beers, which is one of the hilarious mistakes in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. Fans became heavily intoxicated which ended up in a drunken riot which in turn forced the Indians to forfeit the game to Texas.

7. The Heidi Game and NBC

An American football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets on November 17, 1968, is called the Heidi Game or Heidi Bowl. The official telecast partner NBC Television Network did something that day which secured its place in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history.

NBC Television stopped the live telecast of the match when the Jets still winning while thinking the Jets will maintain their supremacy. Besides, they have to air the television film Heidi at 7 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone. What the fans missed is the two touchdowns by Oakland in the final minute to overcome a 32–29 New York lead. Oakland finally won the match by 43-32.

6. The XFL - WWE

The XFL was first organized in 2001 by the World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon with an intention to be a major professional sports league complement to the offseason of the National Football League. The league was started under the company name "XFL, LLC" as a 50–50 joint venture between NBC Universal and WWF-owned subsidiary WWE Properties International, Inc.

It was hyped on the market as "real" football without penalties for rough situations and with very few rules, which in turn secured its place in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. Irrespective of its huge marketing promotions, the league was not able to find an audience and was going from a 9.5 rating to a 4.6 in just one week. Just after its debut season, the authorities canceled the league.

5. JFK Tragedy and NFL

America’s one of the most desired President John F. Kennedy's assassination took place on a Friday in 1963. And after just two days, the NFL did something terrible which secured its place in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. NFL played its normal schedule of games just two days after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 24.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, on that occasion, said "It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy. Football was Mr. Kennedy's game. He thrived on competition." Later, the game was protested and Pete Rozelle eventually admitted that might have been his biggest mistake.

4. 1998 PED Scandal

The whole country enjoyed the baseball home-run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998. But what was behind the scene is one of the most influential points in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. The whole story on that high-performance year then revealed as a result of the Performance Enhancing Drugs and steroids. The whole country put their best effort to judge who was at fault.

But what came up by that is something more hilarious as there was no shortage of candidates who used those substances. The baseball players, the commissioner, the owners, and the fans tried their best to believe it certainly has some genuine reason.

3. Roger Maris’s Record

One of the greatest baseball players, Roger Maris, chased the unbelievable record of legendary Babe Ruth in 1961 of the world record of 60 home runs in a single season. Babe Ruth achieved the 60 home-run benchmarks with just 154 games while Roger Maris broke the record in 162 matches of the season.

MLB Commissioner Ford Frick announced that if the home run record wasn’t broken in 154 games an asterisk should be placed beside Roger Maris’s record on the baseball record book to give proper tribute to legendary Babe Ruth. But in the actual scenario, no asterisk was ever placed next to Roger Maris’ name which is one of the main mistakes in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history.

2. Michael Jordan’s Draft

The great Michael Jordan, the name which gives ultimate shiver to any basketball fan, is arguably the greatest player in NBA history. But many of the famous teams were unable to understand his potential during his initial career which is one of the biggest mistakes of the NBA in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history.

During the 1984 NBA draft, Michael Jordan became the third pick, yes, third, not first or second, but third on the draft. Houston took center Hakeem Olajuwon as the first pick who achieved two NBA titles with the team. Then Portland took Sam Bowie with the second pick which didn’t turn out well and finally Chicago Bulls on the third pick took Jordan.

1. Curse of the Bambino

When baseball comes in someone’s mind, it is the legendary Babe Ruth that strikes first. He has got some amazing records which in turn proved him to be the best player the baseball history has ever seen. Besides, he made amazing home runs and numerous world records in his heydays and led his teams to numerous victories, and overcome tough challenges.

But what the Boston Red Sox did with the legend certainly deserves the top place in our list of top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. They sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919. And there goes the Curse of The Bambino; the Red Sox went 86 years without winning a single World Series. In between, New York Yankees achieved a whopping 26 of them.

It is to be remembered that the players work very hard to give a good performance on the field, and while they also prepare themselves mentally for any mishap on the field, they really remember making a mistake in the presence of millions of fans. It is not too hard to imagine how they feel about disappointing their fans. Unfortunately, we often forget the true spirit of sportsmanship and let the mistakes overshadow the great performances given by the same players.

We hope you linked your list of the top 10 worst mistakes in sports history. Don't forget to send us your opinion in the comment box below.