Sports Goats or Not Trivia Quiz

Answer: Roy (Wrong Way) Riegels

Even many people who remember Riegels' name assume that Georgia Tech scored a touchdown or safety on that play. However, a quick-thinking and quick-running teammate named Benny Lom chased him down before he crossed the goal line. Georgia Tech players tackled him at the one yard line after he started in the right direction with the score still 0-0. On the ensuing play California attempted a punt that was blocked, leading to the safety. (An even more bizarre play occurred in the second half when another California punt had to be replayed when the ball deflated after being kicked).

Contemporary reports described Riegels as utterly disconsolate at halftime (almost sounded suicidal). However, he returned for the second half and was perhaps the best player on the field. His teammates let him down by dropping two passes that would have been touchdowns. Riegels led a very successful life after college, living with his notoriety, and was a pillar of support to other athletes suffering similar misfortunes.

Douglas Corrigan was also given the sobriquet "Wrong Way" for filing an incorrect flight plan before his trans-Atlantic flight. Glenn Seaborg was a Nobel prize winning Cal physicist who discovered many trans-uranium elements. Mario Savio was leader of the 1960s protests at Cal Berkeley.

Answer: Jim Marshall

Most American football fans have seen this play numerous times in various films about football follies or comical moments in sports. The play itself was just an embarrassing footnote to a game that the Viking won relatively easily. The other three players were Marshall's teammates on the Viking defensive line, known as the Purple People Eaters (purple being the color of the Vikings home jerseys). For a period of about five years this was the premier defensive line in the NFL with Page and Eller later voted into the NFL Hall of Fame. (Some pundits argue that Marshall is also deserving, but this one play is a stumbling block).

As a side note, Page, who was the NFL player of the year in 1971, later served as a judge on the Minnesota State Supreme Court until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2015.

Answer: Ralph Branca

Branca had a long and relatively successful career with the Dodgers, but had the misfortune to throw a gopher ball at a terrible time. Newcombe was the starting pitcher that day, but had departed in the fateful ninth inning with one out. Eckersley wasn't born until 1954 (he didn't play in the major leagues until 1975).

There were many other reasons to cut Branca some slack. The Dodgers had had a seemingly insurmountable 13 game lead that they frittered away in the last month. Their management made a tactical blunder after winning the coin toss for the 3 game playoff, opting for the first game at home and allowing the Giants to have home field advantage for the last 2 games. The coaching staff chose Branca over Erskine (a pitcher less prone to allowing home runs) because they feared the substitute catcher couldn't handle his pitches. Branca had also surrendered a two-run homer to Thompson in the first game of the series.
Finally there is strong evidence the Giants were using a telescope in the centerfield scoreboard to steal opposition pitching signs.

Answer: California Angels

Mike Witt, the starting pitcher for the Angels, entered the ninth inning with a 5-2 lead. With one out he surrendered a two-run home run to Don Baylor (who ironically later played and coached for the Angels). Manager Gene Mauch left Witt in the game, and Witt retired the next batter on an infield pop-up. Mauch then changed pitchers to Gary Lucas who allowed a base runner on a hit batsman.

The Henderson home run gave the Red Sox a lead of 6-5, but the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. After tying the game the Angels loaded the bases with one out but Doug DeCinces and Bobby Gricj=h failed to bring the winning run home.

Even with this stunning loss the Angels had a three games to two games won advantage in the series, but they lost the final two games. Although the Angels would have made it into the World Series if Moore had gotten Henderson out, the Angels had other opportunities to win the series after this. Tragically Donnie Moore was haunted by this and received vitriolic hate mail. When he was later released, he committed suicide.

Answer: Ralph Terry

Ford was a starting pitcher, who would not be used in this situation. Reynolds pitched in an earlier time frame than this game (1942-1954 for the Indians and Yankees), and Downing pitched in a later one (1961-1977) for Chicago and Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh had won three relatives close games in this series (6-4, 3-2, and 5-2), but were totally overmatched in their three losses (16-3, 10-0, and 12-0). Before the Mazeroski home run the game had already had experienced some dramatic shifts. The Yankees had a comfortable 7-4 lead in the 8th inning when a potential inning-ending double play ball struck a pebble and hit Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek in the throat. This eventually led to a Pirate lead of 9-7 going into the ninth inning. But the two best Pirate pitchers (Bob Friend and Harvey Haddix) failed to complete the victory, thereby setting the stage for Terry's pitch.

Answer: Fred Merkle

This play has been forever known as Merkle's Boner. Johnny Evers was the Cub second baseman who realized what was happening and eventually "retrieved" the baseball and tagged second base to complete the force-out play. Hank O'Day was the home plate umpire who made the call. The interesting part is Joe McGinnity's role as the Giants third base coach. He also realized what was happening and (depending whose story one believes) got to the baseball before Evers and threw it into the stands.

In defense of Merkle, he was a 19 year old rookie who had played in only 38 games the entire year. In fact this most important game of the entire year was his first as a starter and only played because the first team player had been injured. More importantly the rule that the first base runner had to complete his advance to the next base on an obvious game-winning hit was not generally enforced at this time. This game was suspended due to darkness and the Giants lost the replay on the next day.

Answer: David Beckham

George Best was of the best players in the world around 1970 (also famous for his quote "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars. I squandered the rest"). He played for Northern Ireland (a separate team from England). Roy Keane, no stranger to red cards, was a teammate of Beckham at Manchester United; but he played for Ireland. Paul Gascoigne, known as "Gazza" to his adoring fans, was a world-class player and would have been on the same 1998 squad as Beckham, but was excluded by straight-laced coach Glen Hoddle due to off-the-field issues.

Beckham was knocked to the ground by a hard challenge by Diego Simone and petulantly kicked at the Argentine's ankles. Most observer felt that the red card was harsh and aided by Simeone's histrionics. Although the England squad was short a player, the score remained tied at 2-2 through regulation and 30 minutes of extratime. The Argentine squad played very conservatively, in part to defend against the threat of Michael Owen who had already scored one wondrous goal and was a constant threat. In fact England thought they had won the game in regulation on a header by Sol Campbell that was disallowed by a foul.

Beckham was reviled in England for a long time, but won back the fickle hearts of his fans in 2002. England needed only a draw against Greece to qualify for the World Cup, but trailed 2-1 in stoppage team when a classic Beckham free kick netted the game-tier and staved off elimination.

Answer: Roberto Baggio

If you recognized Pope John XXIII, Pope Francis I, and Pele by their birth names, the question was easy.

Penalty kickers generally try to guess which way the goalie will move and place the ball in the opposite corner. However, some times they guess the goalie will move and aim for the center, high enough that the goalie's can't use his legs to block the ball. Baggio's kick was well struck and slightly too high. Even though he received some blame for the outcome, Italy trailed 3-2 going into the final round and Brazil had the final kick. So even if he had scored, Brazil had the final kick and probably would have won anyway.

Answer: Chris Webber

These four, along with Ray Jackson, were the members of the Fab Five. They had reached the 1992 championship game, but lost to Duke University, and were poised for revenge in 1993. They trailed 72-67 with one minute left in the game and started to call strategic timeouts as they whittled down they lead. With the score 73-71 in favor of North Carolina, Michigan called its final timeout and their coach warned the players that they had no more time-outs left. With 20 seconds remaining Webber rebounded a missed shot, but his teammates raced to the other end of the floor. Webber was not an experienced ball handler and apparently attempted to call a timeout and traveled immediately afterwards (neither called by the referees). He eventually dribbled past the center line and was trapped by two opposing players in the chaos. He then clearly called a timeout and North Carolina made the free throws and was awarded possession, sealing their victory.

In fairness to Webber he was placed in an unfamiliar situation and reverted to a natural response. Also Michigan was trailing at this time and it shouldn't be assumed that they would have tied or won the game.

Answer: Leon Lett

Dallas was leading by a score of 52-17 late in the ball game when Lett recovered a fumble and was headed for what would have been a record 64 yard return. Around the 10 yard line of Buffalo he slowed down and extended the ball. Buffalo wide receiver Don Beebe, undoubtedly frustrated by the score, gave a valiant chase and knocked the ball out of Lett's hands before he scored.

His second error did cause the Cowboys to lose to Miami in the next season. Dallas led by a score of 14-13 with 15 seconds left in the game. However, the Cowboys blocked the attempted field goal attempt. According to the rules, if the ball had not crossed the original scrimmage line, the Cowboys could touch the ball. However, since the kick went past the scrimmage line, once Lett touched the ball on the snowy field it was a fumble. Miami fell on the ball and had time for the winning kick. Ultimately Dallas still made it into t he 1994 Super Bowl and Leon Lett was forgiven.