Strange Stories in Sports

[Psy-Fi]

Here's one to get the thread started...


Bees swarm tennis match, stinging the defending champion

"For sure the most unusual match I have ever played in my career," Wimbledon champion Alcaraz said afterwards.

"I saw some bees around, but I thought it was just a few of them. But I saw the sky and there were thousands flying, stuck in my hair, going to me.

"It was crazy. I tried to stay away from them, but it was impossible.

"I'm a little bit afraid of them. I had to stay safe, and I was running everywhere."

[jimmy jazz]

Great idea for a thread.

Paul Gascoigne turning up to the stand-off with murderer Raoul Moat and saying he was friends with him during his playing days in Newcastle, and he had some chicken, beer and fishing rods for him.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/04/17/what-happened-between-paul-gascoigne-and-raoul-moat-18626675/

Some African guy bullshitting his way onto a Premier League football pitch and playing 30 minutes for Southampton @Marie Monday by pretending to be George Weah on the phone and saying to sign his cousin (talking about himself.)

These two spring to mind. I'll think of others and get them posted.

[SGR]

How about Bottlegate, which happened in 2001 - fans rioting and throwing glass bottles (which is why they do only aluminum and plastic at NFL games now, thanks Browns fans) after the refs admittedly screwed up by reviewing and overturning a play that happened 2 plays ago (you can't do that per the rules)? Admittedly, it gives me some kind of schaedenfreude to see those black and white stripes running in fear. Goddamn whistleblowers.

Bottlegate, also referred to as The Beer Bottle Game, was an officiating controversy that resulted in a fan riot during an American football game in the 2001 season of the National Football League (NFL) between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns.

The inciting incident occurred in week 14 with the Browns sitting at 6–6, needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Down 15–10 with 1:08 remaining, the Browns were forced to try to convert on 4th and 2 at the Jaguars' 12 yard line. Tim Couch took the snap and passed short to Quincy Morgan, who caught the ball for a 3-yard gain and a first down. Although Morgan appeared to bobble the football, officials called it a complete pass. Couch hurried the offense to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with 48 seconds remaining. The officials announced that they would review the 4th down conversion two plays earlier and overturned it, giving the ball to the Jaguars. It sparked controversy because after a play is completed, officials are not allowed to go back and change the call after another play has been run.

Enraged, Browns fans began throwing objects onto the field, mainly plastic beer bottles. Some fans began throwing the stadium's trash cans down to the field as well. After a few minutes, the officials announced that the game would end 48 seconds early and the officials and players exited the field. However, the league office called, telling them to finish the game. The teams and officials came back onto the field, and, after two quarterback kneels by the Jaguars, the game was over, 15–10.

[Psy-Fi]

This is one of my all-time favorite strange stories in sports. Probably my all-time favorite regarding baseball...

Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No

[Psy-Fi]

Here's another one related to baseball and pitching. Starts at the 1 minute mark...

Hall of Famer, Randy Johnson, Kills Bird in Game

[jimmy jazz]

Here's another one related to baseball and pitching. Starts at the 1 minute mark...

Hall of Famer, Randy Johnson, Kills Bird in Game

Seen this on Tennis before as well.

Not a strange story but I saw one of the ball boys trip as he was running back to position after collecting a stray ball and smashed his face into the metal fencing

[jimmy jazz]

OJ's car chase is number 1 probably. If anyone is not aware of it please look it up. I struggle even now to comprehend all that stuff that happened.

Monica Seles (world number 1 at the time) getting stabbed on court by a crazed Steffi Graf fan is insane.

However, on April 30, 1993, while playing a match, she was the victim of an on-court attack when an obsessed fan of Seles' rival Steffi Graf stabbed Seles in the back with a 9-inch (23 cm) knife as she was sitting down between games. Seles did not return to tennis for over two years after the stabbing.[2] Though she enjoyed success after returning in 1995, including another major championship at the 1996 Australian Open, she was unable to consistently produce her best tennis.

[jimmy jazz]

I saw this next one live.

Birmingham City vs Aston Villa is as heated as Chula vs Frown but multiplied by about 100. It's probably the most vicious game in England.

Early into the game a fan ran onto the pitch and attacked our captain and star player (Jack Grealish). It looked like he'd been stabbed in the neck. I genuinely felt sick when I saw it.

At around 70 mins he scored the only goal to win the game. Never felt joy like it.

[Psy-Fi]

OJ's car chase is number 1 probably. If anyone is not aware of it please look it up. I struggle even now to comprehend all that stuff that happened.

Monica Seles (world number 1 at the time) getting stabbed on court by a crazed Steffi Graf fan is insane.

I was at home, watching TV on the day that OJ's car chase happened and saw it broadcast live as it was going down. Seemed unreal at the time. A prank call from a member of Howard Stern's show made it through to Peter Jennings and was also broadcast live. I knew it was a prank call immediately because the voice sounded so ridiculous but Peter Jennings was completely taken in by it...

Infamous "I See OJ" Prank Call to Peter Jennings


I'd forgotten about that Monica Seles attack. That was another unreal one.

[Psy-Fi]

Here's another crazy NFL-related murder story...


Aaron Hernandez

[Psy-Fi]

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan: When Olympic figure skating met whodunnit 

[Psy-Fi]

More bees...


Bees delay Diamondbacks-Dodgers MLB game for two hours

[SGR]

Here's another crazy NFL-related murder story...


Aaron Hernandez

I hate the Patriots, but as a New Englander myself, all too familiar with this one.

For anyone interested in learning more about the story, there's a three-part documentary series on Netflix that's really good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Inside:_The_Mind_of_Aaron_Hernandez

The uncomfortable truth is that many of these crazy NFL players do what they do because of CTE and brain damage. These guys are constantly getting their heads hit and smashed and people act surprised when they go loco. Curious how they didn't scan OJ's brain for signs of CTE.

[Psy-Fi]

100-foot-wide sinkhole swallows soccer field above limestone mine

[Saulaac]

If anyone was following European rugby in 2009, they might remember English club Harlequins being involved in a scandal, which came to be known as "Bloodgate".

Quins were playing against Irish side Leinster and had used up all their permitted replacements.  The only way to still replace a player was if they had a blood injury (for which they would go off to clean up the blood and another player would replace them in the meantime).

Well, Harlequins were trailing 5-6 to Leinster with only a few minutes to go, and the Harlequins coach needed to get the strongest kicker on the field in the hope of getting 3-point drop goal and beating Leinster, so he decided to give a small fake blood capsule to the full-back Tom Williams (via the physio who went onto the pitch). At some point, TW discreetly put it in his mouth and bit it, releasing blood onto his lip. In this way, Williams could  "legally" leave the field and be replaced by a better kicker.

The hilarious thing is that they got massively busted. In hindsight it was quite a crap plan. And to make matters worse, when investigators subsequently asked for proof that TW was injured, the club doctor cut TW's lip to try and make it look legit. Poor guy!

Leinster went onto win the match anyway, ffs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodgate

Now, I'm not suggesting for a minute that Trump faked that shooting. But the event did remind me a little bit of the Bloodgate scandal. With all the immediate news and camera shots available these days, why haven't we seen a single camera shot from behind Trump with the impact of the bullet on his ear? Why did the cops not check the gunman's roof earlier after members of the public reported seeing someone up there? Whilst Trump was on the ground for a minute or so, could the bodyguards have released blood onto his ear, and then hoist him up in fist-pumping glory?

It probably doesn't matter either way.