A lot of sports bloopers can happen in a year. And when those bloopers are spectacular or
really ridiculous, they can offer chuckles and entertainment for a long time. Here are some of 2018's greatest sports bloopers. Behold: a perfectly flawed baseball play that
makes the Bad News Bears look like the Good News Grizzlies. In the eighth inning of a clash between the
Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds, Rockie Carlos Gonzalez batted a fly ball to right-center
field. Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton seemed all-but
destined to catch it, but instead the ball slipped past his outstretched glove. "But it'll be right - oh boy..." Meanwhile, Gonzalez rounded second base, but
got tripped up on his way to third, although it didn't turn out so bad for him. "Hamilton dropped the ball and Gonzales will
go around second, he falls down, and he's still able to get back to second base." Colorado went on to score a 6 to 3 victory,
but for a brief, harmonious moment the Reds and the Rockies failed beautifully together. The 2018 NFL playoffs will mostly be remembered
for the Philadelphia Eagles' stunning upset victory over the New England Patriots in the
Super Bowl. But the lead-up to the big game also defied
belief when a New Orleans Saint performed a miracle … for the opposing team. The Saints were squaring off against the Minnesota
Vikings in the NFC Divisional round. For most of the game Saints rookie safety
Mike Williams played well, snagging an interception and racking up five tackles and two pass deflections. With seconds left in the game and the Saints
up by just 1 point, Williams had a chance to put a big fat cherry atop his NFL sundae
by tackling Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs. Instead he missed by a mile and also took
out one of his own teammates, allowing Diggs to score a game-winning 61-yard touchdown. "He has a shot, I'm not sure really what he's
thinking Joe. He comes in, he's got him dialed in, and,
he just, all he's gotta do is make a play." In this February game against the Arizona
Coyotes, L.A. King Tanner Pearson didn't mean to be funny when he collided with his teammate
Drew Doughty in the first period. He also didn't mean to flip heels-over-head
onto his backside, lose a skate blade, and shuffle awkwardly on one knee before being
towed to the bench. But all those things happened in quick succession. "A full barrel roll. Here we go! And on the backside when he hit the ice, the
blade is no longer at the bottom of the skate." It was all glorious because nobody got hurt,
except for Pearson's left skate. The incident also didn't hurt the Kings' chances
of winning, as they beat the Coyotes 6-0. Pretty much nobody expected the Cleveland
Cavaliers to win the 2018 NBA Finals. But thanks to a heroic 51-point performance
from LeBron James, the Cavs actually had a chance to steal Game 1 from the Golden State
Warriors. But what at first smelled like an upset ultimately
reeked of a brain fart by J.R. Smith. At the end of the fourth quarter, George Hill
had a chance to give Cleveland the lead at the free throw line but missed his second
attempt. Smith snatched the rebound, but he was apparently
oblivious to the tie score, so he dribbled the ball away from the basket. "It's grabbed by J.R. Smith! Smith's, gonna
run it out. I think JR didn't know how much time was left. (incomprehensible). And we're going to overtime." The Warriors ultimately won in overtime, and
James mourned his wasted efforts by punching a whiteboard and injuring his hand after the
game. In a disastrous showing for Wake Forest University
football, freshman kicker Nick Sciba not only missed his first field goal attempt of the
game, he almost didn't attend it. It happened during Wake Forest's 56-27 blowout
loss to Notre Dame in September. With the score tied at zero and seven minutes
left in the first quarter, the Demon Deacons set up for a 37-yard field goal. Correction: They mostly set up. As Sciba continued practicing on the sideline,
the clock kept ticking down. "I think the thought here is, hey we just
put a pretty good drive together, they-" "The kicker's not on the field. Surprised they're trying this!" "They do need a kicker." In a reverse Charlie Brown moment, Wake Forest's
holder looked back and discovered nobody was there to kick the football. After what felt like an eternity Sciba scrambled
onto the field, quickly booted the ball into the air, and watched it bounce off the upright
in the wrong direction. Athletes habitually break the laws of physics,
but sometimes those laws conspire against them. Take, for example, this July contest between
the Houston Astros and Oakland A's. In the bottom of the 11th, Oakland had a one-run
lead and needed two more outs to put the game away. Houston tied it up, and then with runners
on first and second, Astros infielder Alex Bregman unleashed a mighty swing to create
what he later described as "the softest ball anyone's ever hit." Bregman barely made contact, and the ball
landed just a few feet from home plate. Oakland catcher Jonathan Lucroy tried to tag
him out but missed completely thanks to Bregman's stealthy dodge. And then disaster struck. "Everybody's in play. They both advance. The throw's away!" "No way!" "The Astros are gonna win it! The Astros are gonna win! Unbelievable!" A hockey player losing his balance on ice
feels about as unnatural as a bird that hates flying. But just as real penguins can't fly, the NHL
has a Pittsburgh Penguin who got tripped up by the ice. Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry achieved
the most wins by a rookie goalie in the 2017-18 season, but one March matchup got off to a
horrendous start. In the early stages of a game against the
New York Islanders, Jarry committed a goaltending blooper for the ages. As Islander Brandon Davidson entered the attacking
zone, Jarry did his best impression of a man trying to run across cartoon banana peels. (fast hockeyman talking) "He scores! Tristan Jarry fell over, as Davidson was going
to the backhand." Luckily for Jarry, his fellow Penguins didn't
roast him like a turkey. Much to his relief, he "saw 90 percent of
the guys laughing." And he had the last laugh as he went on to
make 25 saves and the Penguins seized victory in overtime. The WWE's 10-year contract with Saudi Arabia
appears to be the gift that keeps on giving reasons to regret it. On April 27, the Greatest Royal Rumble was
held in King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The event drew scorn for a Saudi-imposed ban
on female wrestlers and for airing propaganda that depicted the oppressive nation as a beacon
of positive change. The six-hour show featured a ridiculously
bloated main event in the form of a 50-man battle royale. However, there was one diamond in the vast
expanse of rough: Titus O'Neil. O'Neil was the 39th entrant in the battle
royale. As he ran into the ring, announcers bragged
about him rubbing elbows with important Saudi figures. Then out of nowhere, he started rubbing elbows
with the floor. The internet lovingly dubbed the moment "Titus
World Slide," a reference to the wrestler's "Worldwide" gimmick. The tale of the tortoise and the hare teaches
us that slow and steady wins the race, and it also teaches you not to stop before you've
finished. The hare learned that lesson the hard way,
as did Israeli runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter. Salpeter's backstory could double as a real-life
fable. A native of Kenya, she became romantically
involved with a track coach while working as a nanny in Israel. The pair married in Kenya and eventually moved
to Israel. Salpeter repeatedly applied for citizenship
but got rejected for about five years. The government finally naturalized her when
she qualified to compete in the 2016 Rio Games. Things went awry in Rio, but in 2018 she made
history as the first Israeli woman to win gold at the European Championships. She almost won a second medal there but unwittingly
removed herself from the running. While competing in the 5,000-meter race Salpeter
underestimated how much race she had left and stopped early. While celebrating the silver medal she thought
she had won, she discovered she still had one lap to go. "And what was Lonah Salpeter thinking? She thought she'd finished, she moved over
to the right hand side of the track, big grin on her face." Salpeter would finish fourth but got disqualified
for crossing the running lanes too early. She vowed to treat her blooper as a lesson
for future races.
