Worst game you have covered?

[newinthefield]

What is the worst game you have ever covered? I'm not talking about being sent out for some crappy matchup or lesser sport that you didn't care about. I'm talking about the worst actual game play you have ever seen from a team that is high school or above (although a whopper of a JH game could also be entertaining to hear about).

I'm sure almost everyone can beat this, but in my short career, tonight I witnessed my worst...a high school basketball game that had a combined 49 fouls and probably 30+ turnovers (didn't count those up yet). Strangely enough, the final score was 60-39. Winning coach, a 12-year veteran: "That is the worst 20-point win I have ever had."

 

[MileHigh]

I covered an 86-0 football game once. Thankfully, it started at 1 p.m.

 

[MightyMouse]

A 17-1 baseball game that was called after 4 1/2 innings. The losing team could NOT get an out. The 17 runs were scored on 10 hits, 9 walks, 5 errors and 3 hit batters. By the end, the base runners on the winning team were intentionally getting picked off just so they could end the top of the fifth and call the game.

 

[mojo20205]

15-14 high school girls basketball game. it was 3-1 at the half.

One team played a zone and the other coach refused to attack it. For most of the game, the team just held the ball at mid-court.

 

[BrewCrewFan]

I don't remember the score, but I remember something similar to the first post. About 40 fouls, 40 turnovers in 24-minute high school game. But the best part was the parents calling the next day saying I was too harsh :)

 

[littlehurt98]

Much like mojo's game, only mine was in a championship game of a holiday tournament. The tournament is a pretty big deal around these parts. About 30-40 teams participate and its played at the D-1 gym over about a week's time during Christmas break. The championship game can bring, depending on how local the teams are playing in it, 3-4,000 people. Such was the perfect storm two years ago. About 2500 people in the stands for the boys championship game. Final score was 13-11. Both teams played a zone and both sides refused to attack it. I was scared the crowd might riot.

 

[writingump]

One that comes to mind off the top of my head is a 62-12 playoff game I covered last year when the losing team had three punts blocked and another one aborted on a bad snap. It was something like 49-6 at halftime. The clock couldn't run fast enough in the second half.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Some high school girls basketball game with 60+ turnovers between the teams. I think they both managed to get the score in the 30s. It was a tournament game beyond the preliminary stages too.

I also remember driving 5 hours to see a volleyball team I was covering lose in less than 45 minutes in a state semifinal.

 

[joeggernaut]

I've got two.
In the very first basketball game of last season, one of our local teams won 108-8. The other team only had five eligible players to start the season because some players missed practices for family issues. By the beginning of the fourth quarter defense became one kid running back to inbounds the ball. AWFUL.

Two years ago, I covered a women's basketball game between Michigan State and Michigan that had a final score of 41-37. Neither team had 20 points at halftime and each of these girls was on scholarship. I'm pretty sure they would have been more accurate if they would've shot blindfolded. All this follows a game they played in East Lansing earlier that season in which MSU won 45-40. In overtime.

 

[Stitch]

20-0 softball game. The pitcher either one-hopped pitched to the batter, plunked a batter or threw 5 feet over their heads. Umps should have called the game or forced the coach to change pitchers after the third girl was hit in an inning. Nothing deals with that in the rule book, but the game was a farce.

 

[JackReacher]

Military Academy girls basketball. No more than 10 fans in the stands. Visiting team jumps out to a 22-0 lead or something like that. Home team finally gets 2 and the girl who scored the bucket gives the throat-slash sign to the visiting bench as she runs by.

I left 2 minutes later. That's what I get for trying to throw a bone to the private schools.

 

[Bud_Bundy]

Many moons ago I drove 4 hours for a state all-star high school baseball game. There were two kids from our area in the game. One didn't show because he said he had a sore arm, the other struck out 3 times and made a crucial error.

I went to a private school basketball game once because the visiting team had a chance to clinch the league championship. I made the mistake of getting there in time for the JV game, which finished 139-31. Winning team scored 51 points in third quarter in a bandbox gym. Missed shot, rebound, pass to half-court, layup ... missed shot, rebound, pass to half-court, layup ... repeat over and over and over ...

The worst FB game I ever covered was 84-0.

 

[TrooperBari]

15-14 high school girls basketball game. it was 3-1 at the half.

One team played a zone and the other coach refused to attack it. For most of the game, the team just held the ball at mid-court.

Mine was somewhat similar. The local Catholic school had a Division I player come through its ranks and dealt with accusations of running up the score for four years. The year after she graduated, those teams began working out their built-up aggression. While playing a rural school in the dead of winter, both teams played a tightly packed zone and neither could shoot from outside.

Halftime score: 2-0. I think the final score was something like 20-15.

 

[Versatile]

Military Academy girls basketball. No more than 10 fans in the stands. Visiting team jumps out to a 22-0 lead or something like that. Home team finally gets 2 and the girl who scored the bucket gives the throat-slash sign to the visiting bench as she runs by.

I left 2 minutes later. That's what I get for trying to throw a bone to the private schools.

I must admit, that's a pretty surreal moment.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Opening day of high school softball, and due to horrible weather, the teams had only been able to practice outdoors, for something like, three days.

Game ended up 14-10, or something like that, on a horribly cold and blustery day. Pitchers combined to allow 32 walks, plus multiple errors. Both coaches even admitted it was a horrible game.

At one point between innings, the home plate ump strolled over to me to chat for a minute. We knew each other because he was one of the area youth sports leaders.

We start talking about how cold it is, then this parent, who also knew the ump, comes over to say hello. "Can't you call more strikes so we can get out of here?" the parent asked.

He replied that he would, but when the balls were in the dirt or over the hitter's heads, he couldn't get away with it.

 

[newinthefield]

A 17-1 baseball game that was called after 4 1/2 innings. The losing team could NOT get an out. The 17 runs were scored on 10 hits, 9 walks, 5 errors and 3 hit batters. By the end, the base runners on the winning team were intentionally getting picked off just so they could end the top of the fifth and call the game.

That reminds of a fall baseball game I covered. Same high school that prompted this post lost 22-3 by allowing something like 15 runs in one inning.

 

[jlee]

HS diving (OK, part of a pretty good regional swim meet): Chunky kid 1 flops chest-first into the water; chunky kid 2 flops back-first into the water; chunky kid 3 flips and flops junk-first into the water. Chunky kid 2 wins.

 

[93Devil]

First high school football game I ever covered the losing coach cried.

Any high school baseball game where the ump squeezed the zone.

A high school basketball holiday tourney where one of the players on the cannon fodder team (private school) was announced that he had a birthday today. He was 13. Which means if I covered a game from the previous night, he would have been 12. And he played like a ****ty 12-year-old. He wasn't even good.

 

[93Devil]

HS diving (OK, part of a pretty good regional swim meet): Chunky kid 1 flops chest-first into the water; chunky kid 2 flops back-first into the water; chunky kid 3 flips and flops junk-first into the water. Chunky kid 2 wins.

That would make my greatest, not my worst.

 

[mustangj17]

I had to cover tbe golf state tournament. Drove an hour, got lost because the golf course had the same name as a trailer park in the same city (on the same road). Ended up getting there just to see the results on the wall. Got a bunch of ****ty quotes, drove back and got stuck in a traffic jam for an overturned semi.

Ended up missing three huge football games that day because of this assignment which I got paid peanuts for: the Bush Push, Michigan's :01 win over PSU, and John L. Smith slapping himself.

I also ended up spelling a coaches name wrong - I thought I had written it correctly as it appeared on the board. As it turns out, I needed glasses.

So to recap: got lost in a trailer park, stuck in traffic, missed football, barely got paid, made a fact error, and learned I needed glasses.