Video: The worst play in football history
posted at 5:45 pm on October 1, 2009 by Allahpundit
To cleanse the palate, operatic human tragedy courtesy of the hottest video on the web. Only one thing could have made my own epic athletic failure as a child burn more intensely than it did, and that’s having it preserved on YouTube for the cackling amusement of the entire country. Weep for this poor lamebrained kid.
Exit question: Is this a metaphor for ObamaCare and 2010? The GOP no longer has the strength to kick even squib field goals on policy, but if Barry’s stupid enough to try to spike the ball with a health-care bill that nobody likes, well…
Blowback
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I have got to “beef” up my posts…sound more manly…What about them Yankees, think they can beat the Colts?
right2bright on October 1, 2009 at 6:53 PM
ps..this is not the worst play in football history.
the worst play in football history was when referee phil luckett blew the coin flip to determine who got the ball firt in an overtime game played between detroit and pittsburgh.
jerome bettis: heads!
phil luckett: pittsburth picks tails…and it’s heads! Detroit, will you take the ball?
jerome bettis: wtf?
DrW on October 1, 2009 at 6:53 PM
AP, this is not the worst play in football history. Not even close.You have obviously never heard of Wrong Way Riegals or the 1929 Rose Bowl.
Cal State defensive center Riegals picked up a Georgia Tech fumble, got hit, spun around, lost his bearings, and ended up running the wrong way towards his own endzone, eventually being chased and tackled by his own quarterback at the 1 yard line. The ensuing punt was blocked for a safety and they ended up losing the game 8-7.
“He’s running the wrong way. Let’s see how far he can go.”
—Georgia Tech head coach Bill Alexander
“What am I seeing? What’s wrong with me? Am I crazy? Am I crazy? Am I crazy?”
—Broadcaster Graham McNamee, calling the game on radio
NB, in 1957 a high schooler intercepted a pass and ran 55 yards into his own end zone for the win. For the other team.
So AP, history didn’t begin with youtube.
keep the change on October 1, 2009 at 6:54 PM
Leon Lett-down redeux.
moonbatkiller on October 1, 2009 at 6:54 PM
That one was more the offensive coordinator’s fault than Pisarcik’s. Fortunately, the OC was fired the next day. Fans revolted. The coach was fired and lousy Giants football turned into draft picks for Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor. For the Giants in 1978, revolution was better than evolution.
dedalus on October 1, 2009 at 6:54 PM
They still KEEP SCORE in high school sports??? Really????
Wow, who would have guessed. I thought that would make the team with fewer points feel bad.
PappaMac on October 1, 2009 at 6:56 PM
[right2bright on October 1, 2009 at 6:53 PM]
It wasn’t the lack of beef. My water polo watching career is weight about 99% to the other sex, IYKWIMAITYD. My comment reflected that habit ….
Not that there’s anything wrong with men’s water polo!
Dusty on October 1, 2009 at 6:57 PM
I believe he went on to become a famous and very wealthy businessman, and always lived up and never shied away from his mistake…a lesson for us all.
right2bright on October 1, 2009 at 6:58 PM
So he spiked the ball at the wrong time. It’s not like the kid picked up a large wooden board and smacked another kid with it while his pals…
Leave this kid alone. Football is a game. A great game. But still just a game.
redwhiteblue on October 1, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Women’s water polo is awesome…and the pool is full of best, brightest and prettiest women on campus.
Nothing like the body of a women swimmer…that is what kept me swimming for so long.
right2bright on October 1, 2009 at 7:00 PM
I forgot. In 1964, Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings ran a recovered fumble into his own end zone.
keep the change on October 1, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Dusty, that’s the one. I don’t remember anything else from that SB except that. Nothing I hate more than a fabulously wealthy athelete acting like a preening jaybird and not doing his job. The other guy hustled his tuckus off to get there, too. It was like watching divine justice shine down and light up the field.
spmat on October 1, 2009 at 7:02 PM
I’m shocked they allow sports up yonder. Isn’t it mean for one team to beat another?
SouthernGent on October 1, 2009 at 7:09 PM
ok right2..sorry for fraggin you. i hadn’t read the other posts when i zinged you though. so i’m not guilty of piling on.
DrW on October 1, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Actually that was the coach’s screwup as much as the player’s. With 1.3 seconds left there’s absolutely no reason to have a player in the end zone, much less two of them. If the kick is short the game is over and they win. All eleven players should have been trying to block the kick.
rsrobinson on October 1, 2009 at 7:11 PM
Heartbreaking, but not really boneheaded. I’ve seen things like this happen or very nearly happen in the last moments of a hard-fought game when people lose their heads.
evergreen on October 1, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Speaking of metaphors for ObamaCare, did you see the closing minutes of CSI:NY with Gary Sinise last night?
I’m guessing that Sinise had something to do with that closing scene. He clearly spelled out the ideological differences between the liberals who want a government program and rest of us which included him.
I was shocked to see such a story line conclusion on CBS!
Texas Gal on October 1, 2009 at 7:21 PM
This pre-dates youtube, but I think it was the most incredible high school football moment.
It was in Texas Stadium — the old cowboys stadium.
A team was something like 24 points down with less than a minute to go. They score, kick an onside kick, get it, throw a hail mary, score, kick an on side kick get it, throw a hail mary, score, kick an on side kick, get it, throw a hail mail, and score to take the lead with just a few clicks remaining. Amazing come back. Then they finally kick it away — but then allow the other team to return it for a TD and lose.
True story. I saw it with my own eyes.
tommylotto on October 1, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Football doesn’t know football.
How many other hour long games take 2-3 hours to actually play?
Yakko77 on October 1, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Okay, just so you don’t think I was hallucinating. The most amazing ending to a football game: Friday Night Lights was never so amazing.
tommylotto on October 1, 2009 at 7:42 PM
+1
I played water polo in college.
Good times :)
bluelightbrigade on October 1, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Is that a grade school team? The guys are tiny.
Jeff from WI on October 1, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Is it because I’m a Texan that all I could think about was…wow!? This is what high school football looks like in other states? I was actually more flabergasted at the lack of a stadium and ‘proper’ facility structures than I was at the play. It was very strange seeing high school level football in the setting of a Pop Warner league. What a travesty!
anuts on October 1, 2009 at 7:58 PM
Pathetic.
Jaibones on October 1, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Wow…it really was a video of a football game!
I just assumed it was some kind of snarky misnomered anti-Palin vid.
Dr. ZhivBlago on October 1, 2009 at 8:06 PM
That poor guy! That is not the worse play in history! They guy is just in high school! Don’t throw that label on him!
JellyToast on October 1, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Look at their offensive and defensive lines. They look like 5th graders.
Jeff from WI on October 1, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Wow, you’d think Glenn Beck had spiked the ball, or Sarah Palin had picked it up and run it in for the TD. Lotta fever in the comments.
There’s a lot of heathenism out there, sad to say. These high-schoolers were at least passing (successfully) and kicking FGs. I hear tell there’s parts of the country where they can’t even do that.
J.E. Dyer on October 1, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Actually he does “take a knee,” right in front of the camera, at 1:48. The horror apparently set in immediately.
Tobias on October 1, 2009 at 8:33 PM
I just thought it was interesting that there wasn’t any stands on both sides (or at minimum bleachers), press box, field goal netting, etc. I had no idea…
anuts on October 1, 2009 at 8:35 PM
OK…the first school had something resembling some of the above. Sorry.
anuts on October 1, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Yep, it’s because you’re a Texan. I went to a Detroit public high school in the early 70′s, playing on fields like this. Games had to be played in the daytime to avoid trouble on Friday nights. My son played at Plano Senior High in Plano, Tx, in facilities that probably rival some college programs. It was a shocking difference but one of the most exciting times of our lives, being involved in big-time Texas high school football.
PatMac on October 1, 2009 at 8:44 PM
So why can’t your college teams ever win the big one? ;->
mikefln on October 1, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Hehehe…
Dispersed recruitment all over the country is my only ‘defense’ (pardon the pun).
anuts on October 1, 2009 at 8:55 PM
We’re somewhat neighbors. Lake Highlands graduate myself.
anuts on October 1, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Who cares, he lost to Georgia Blech.
;D
Branch Rickey on October 1, 2009 at 8:57 PM
And it’s d@mn good thing that they went with that ending of the story because I was getting mighty steamed with the “I lost my insurance” nonsense! Go GARY! ;D
Branch Rickey on October 1, 2009 at 8:59 PM
HOLY COW!
Branch Rickey on October 1, 2009 at 9:07 PM
No, it isn’t. You really need to read your rulebook sometime. On a kick from scrimmage, whether a punt or field goal attempt, it is live until it crosses the line of scrimmage. At that point, it is illegal for a member of the kicking team to touch the ball until it is touched by a member of the other team. If the receiving team touches the ball past the line of scrimmage, it then becomes live again, and a member of the kicking team can then gain possession as was done here.
Technically, when a member of the kicking team “downs” the ball, he is committing the infraction of “illegal touching” (the referee will signal by touching his own shoulders with his fingers), the penalty for which is that the receiving team gains possession at the spot of the foul, unless the kicking-team player in contact with the ball is also touching the end zone, in which case it’s possession at the 20.
This is important, because a half cannot end on a penalty against the team that is not in possession of the ball. If the clock runs out during a punt that is downed by a member of the kicking team, the receiving team gets an untimed down. With this in mind, a good special-teams coach will talk to his players during the two-minute warning, and remind them that they should not down a ball in such a case. The coverage players should form a ring around the ball, ready to pounce upon it should a member of the return team touch it, but not touch it themselves until the nearest official blows his whistle to declare the play dead.
In addition to the above rules, if the receiving team does not touch a field goal attempt beyond the line of scrimmage, the NFL awards possession at the point where the ball was kicked or the 20 if that’s further from the goalposts, and NCAA gives it at the previous line of scrimmage or the 20.
The Monster on October 1, 2009 at 9:13 PM
Me too.. I was actually cheering at my TV when it was over!
Texas Gal on October 1, 2009 at 9:15 PM
You need someone to play deep in case the kick is a fake. If it’s a pass and the receiver get past the line, he’s gone. There’s always someone in prevent.
Jeff from WI on October 1, 2009 at 9:15 PM
I’ll buy that. I’m just being smug because my Gators have had such a good run, though it may have ended last saturday, I fear.
mikefln on October 1, 2009 at 9:34 PM
Oh man, that’s terrible (i’m still laughing at it though).
clearbluesky on October 1, 2009 at 9:43 PM
I’ve been transferred two more times since my Plano days but it was our longest stint (8 years) in our adult life. We enjoyed it much more than we ever expected. Both sons graduated from Plano Senior and then one graduated from SMU and the other from UT-D and have stayed there. If I remember correctly, Plano Senior beat Lake Highlands during my son’s two years on varsity 2000-01.
PatMac on October 1, 2009 at 11:21 PM
Ha, I can’t believe I waited until now to view this video… only to discover this is a local story, reported on my local CBS affiliate!
BTW, non-Vermonters… Have you ever seen such a lack of black men in a football montage?
RightWinged on October 1, 2009 at 11:40 PM
From Wikipedia:
One hell of a game.
applebutter on October 1, 2009 at 11:53 PM
The Tyler / Plano East game is on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHkABO0VwCg
applebutter on October 1, 2009 at 11:57 PM
I deserved every bit of ridicule for my post…
right2bright on October 2, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Another seldom seen oddball play from a few weeks ago: Interception of two point conversion attempt run for 100 yards and two point score for the defense.
In college football, the defense team can get two points this way. In pro football, it’s a dead ball.
electric-rascal on October 2, 2009 at 12:44 AM
Here is that famous wrong way run that the Vikings had against the 49ers. Even though the Vikes ended up winning the game in spite of the self inflicted safety, it’s still worse than this one just because it happened in the pros.
Dollayo on October 2, 2009 at 7:33 AM
That was pretty funny. I feel bad for the kid.
However, how about my Alma Mater putting the BEAT DOWN on Rice. Go horses! (*crickets as I am probably the only conservative from VT on this board* :)
drocity on October 2, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Pffft … this same thing happened in college football a couple of weeks ago .. was it Iowa or Iowa State or ????
corona on October 2, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Holy crap I was wrong! Nice to see that others do exist!
drocity on October 2, 2009 at 10:32 AM
I’m sure Al Davis will sign this guy
The Notorious G.O.P on October 2, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Reminds me of Leon Lett on two different plays. The kid must feel like Barack Obama does today.
clghitis on October 2, 2009 at 5:18 PM
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