In 1984 the Cubs won the eastern division of the NL and the Eastern Division had home field for the (then) 5 game playoffs. But the Cubs' Wrigley field did not then have lights, so all games had to be in the day. The NL gave home field to the Padres, and the Cubs clobbered them 2 in a row at home and lost three straight at Jack Murphy Stadium.
Cursed again. A couple years later, they finally put lights in Wrigley. Then, later, we had Bartman. But that wasn't a bad call, I don't think. Not fan interference. No.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
First, a disclaimer: I am not a Braves fan nor am I a Pirates hater or a fan of anyone in the Pirates' division. I also have no reason whatsoever to defend Jerry Meals. That being said:
I think the call was not as bad as it seemed. In the slow motion replays, it looks like the catcher swung at Lugo's leg and missed it a little high before holding the ball up in the air. That was the only attempt at a tag. The ball beat Lugo by a mile so we'd be conditioned to automatically call him a dead duck at the plate, but you still have to TAG the guy out and I didn't see anything conclusive that he did.
Phantom 15 yard penalty against Notre Dame against Boston College in the last minute of a game that cost Notre Dame the '93 national championship. Honorable mention the clip call that gave (5 down) Colorado the national title in 1990 when the Rocket broke loose for a game winning punt return touchdown.
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