human-element Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tip-In Or Not, The Nixed FGCU Miracle Bucket Was Shot In Time
College basketball has determined that three-tenths of a second, while a barely blinkable unit of time, is enough to tap in a legal shot. It is not, however, enough time to shoot a basketball if the player touches it with a second hand — at least, that seems to be the definition of a non-tap shot (c...

Blown Calls Don't Get More Blown Than Bucknor Robbing Yelich
The Marlins tonight won their 59th game of the season, over the Phillies, no thanks to this call at first by umpire CB Bucknor. If this weren't a senioritis game between two also-rans, it would definitely go down as one of the biggest botched calls in recent memory. Heck, this was a meaningless game...

Miguel Cabrera Ejected Mid-At-Bat In First Inning
This is ridiculous. Whatever your thoughts on decorum in baseball or whatever, one of the games best players should not be getting thrown out of the game in the first inning. Maybe if he spit on the ump. Maybe. ...

Hey, An Umpire Blew A Call That Affected The Outcome Of A Game
And it was Jerry Meals! And, say, he's done this sort of thing before!...

Should Costa Rica's Keeper Have Been Given A Red Card?
We're torn about this play in the second half of tonight's Gold Cup match between the United States and Costa Rica. The Costa Rican keeper was given a yellow for using his hands outside of the box to stop what may have been a goal. What do you think?...

Ump John Hirschbeck Gets Drilled With Fastball, Crew Still Blows Call
Umpiring comes with all sorts of occupational hazards, not the least being that a catcher might just whiff on a 93-mph fastball, allowing it to connect directly with one's bare hand. ...

Tony Randazzo Ejected Mike Aviles From A Game That Was Already Over
When we profiled umpire Tony Randazzo last year, we noted he had an "aggressive attitude." That aggression was on display tonight in New York, as the ump blew a call with two outs in the ninth inning, tossed Mike Aviles from the game after it was already over, then taunted Indians skipper Terry Fra...

Hawk Completely Melts Down About This Blown Double Play Call
Chicago White Sox announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson was obviously a little high-strung yesterday when Chicago had bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th with one out against the lowly Marlins. When umpire Angel Hernandez called White Sox batter Alex Rios out at first base to complete the double play an...

This Might Be The Worst Double Play Call You'll See
This is not a double play. It would've been, probably, if Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland caught the ball to end the play. But he didn't catch the ball. Someone else caught the ball....

Daft Punk's New Record Is Out; Now Let's Allow The Robots To Umpire
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....

Only In MLB Can Umps Manage To Anger Both Managers Simultaneously
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....

Drunk Ump Passes Out On Field, Tries To Fight Medics, Is Arrested
A 49-year-old high school umpire, who witnesses say was "visibly under the influence," is in custody in an Illinois jail after he passed out on the field of a baseball game he was actively umpiring last Friday....

MLB Has Disciplined The Umps From Last Night's Angels-Astros Game
Well, what do you know? MLB has not only decided to swing its shithammer at the crew that screwed up a basic rules interpretation during last night's Angels-Astros game. It's also publicizing the discipline being meted out....

Umps Don't Give A Shit As Astros Make Illegal Pitching Change
The human element is really on a roll this week. Approximately 24 hours after the umpires in Cleveland reviewed an obvious home run and declared it wasn't a home run, another blue crew in Houston allowed the Astros to make a pitching change that is explictly prohibited by MLB's rules....

Umps Review Blown Home Run Call In Cleveland, Still Blow Call
In some bizarre way, the terrible call Angel Hernandez made in Cleveland is a great argument for more video replay and also no replay whatsoever....

After An Absolute Rock Fight In The Georgia Dome, Louisville Knocks Off Wichita State With The Help Of A Phantom Jump Ball
Down 12 with 13:15 remaining, Louisville clawed back with defense that changed the game's atmosphere from "celebratory" to "panic attack," and hit just enough shots to surpass a Wichita State team whose game plan gradually fell apart in the final minutes. Of course, the comeback might not be the sto...

Ref, On Hot Mic In Indianapolis: "God Damn It!"
Madness in Indy: Andrew Luck had the most single-game passing yards ever for a rookie with 433 (and two touchdowns to boot), refs were yelling church swears on open mics, and the Colts just wrapped it up on a day when two rookie quarterbacks combined for 723 yards through the air. The best part of t...

A UC Santa Barbara Soccer Player Was Handcuffed On The Field And Removed From A Game For Punching A Referee
Either during overtime or directly after a loss to UC Davis today, UC Santa Barbara defender (and one-time Second Team All-Big West selection) Peter McGlynn punched a referee that had just tossed him from the game. One early account said McGlynn punched the head official after a 2-1 overtime loss, a...

How To Freak Out A Ref, By Illini Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase
Either that referee really didn't want to seem like he had a conflict of interest by high-fiving a player from one of the teams, or he's a germaphobe. Considering it's probably the former, we now know every ref's kryptonite—run after them with your hand up and they'll walk over their own mother to...

The NBA Releases A Video Demonstrating The Seven Illegal Flops That Will Get Players Fined This Season
The NBA released a video yesterday of all the flops that they officially consider flops now that the NBA is officially considering flops. It has a weird narrator who uses unnecessarily colorful language, which is great. We get a "grossly embellished fall to the floor" from Reggie Evans, an "over-e...