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From unexplained goals to suspicious disappearances, sports history is filled with unsolved puzzles. Join us as we examine the most baffling mysteries that continue to perplex fans and experts alike! Did that ball really cross the line? Was there foul play involved? These unanswered questions have left permanent marks on sporting history.
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00:00Rumors persist, and a question lingers.
00:03Did Bobby Riggs throw the match?
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 mysteries in
00:10sports that were left totally unsolved.
00:12The rest of the sports world is focusing on the news that his team illegally videotaped
00:17its opponent's signals.
00:20Number 10.
00:21The 1966 Phantom Goal Long before the addition of VAR or any
00:25advanced replay technology, England were gifted with a bizarre miracle in the 1966 World Cup
00:30final.
00:31The crowd in many places is soft, but the 1966 World Cup final is underway.
00:38West Germany had fought them tooth and nail to leave the score even at the 90 minute mark,
00:42and so extra time was required.
00:44However, 11 minutes in, a shot from Jeff Hurst hit the crossbar and bounced off the goal line.
00:49The linesman says no.
00:51It's a goal.
00:53Oh, and the Germans go mad at the referee.
00:59All of a sudden, the ref consulted with his linesman, and despite a disagreement on whether
01:03it was a goal, he awarded one.
01:04Replays would show that the ball did not, in fact, cross the line, but the decision stood.
01:09With momentum firmly on their side, Hurst capped off the tournament win by scoring another
01:13goal, but the damage was already done.
01:15It is now!
01:16It's scored!
01:21Number 9.
01:22Darren Bent and the beach ball.
01:23In 2009, during Sunderland's clash with Liverpool at the Stadium of Light, some kid who was
01:28there in support of Liverpool made the mistake of swatting the inflatable Liverpool-branded
01:31ball onto the pitch.
01:33Then in one of the most freakish occurrences imaginable, it happened to land directly in
01:36the path of Darren Bent's goalward shot.
01:39The ball's course was diverted past Pepe Reina, and somehow the goal stood.
01:47The teenager in question was unfortunately shamed publicly for his actions and received
01:51death threats.
01:52But our question is why the rules didn't have any measures in place for outside interference.
01:56The ref obviously didn't see the beach ball in real-time, but this error cost Liverpool
01:59the game.
02:02It remains an all-timer in terms of bizarre football moments.
02:09Number 8.
02:10The mysterious death of Steve Prefontaine.
02:12At just 24 years old, Steve Prefontaine had truly set the world of athletics alight.
02:16However, just when he was sitting on top of the world, disaster struck.
02:33While driving back from a party on May 30, 1975, Prefontaine crashed his car and died
02:38from his injuries.
02:39The official report called it a single-car collision.
02:42This was likely helped along by the fact that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.16%.
02:45Hit the curb here, hit the stone embankment, and flipped over on top of him.
02:52It was obvious to me that somebody had ridden him off the road.
02:56But in the years that followed, questions began to surface, most notably about rumors
03:00of a second car that was also involved.
03:02Skid marks on the scene suggested that Pre was braking to avoid another car, and yet the
03:06official story stands, albeit with many doubters.
03:09This loss to our community and to Oregon track and to American track is just one that it's
03:18just very difficult to estimate.
03:20Number 7.
03:21Carl Lewis' Alleged Use of PEDs.
03:23There's a reason why the 1988 100-meter sprint is referred to as the dirtiest race in history.
03:28Carl Lewis officially came away with the gold medal, but on the night itself, he lost to
03:41Canada's Ben Johnson.
03:43However, when Johnson tested positive for a banned substance, Lewis was promoted to first
03:47place.
03:48But here's the weird thing.
03:55Lewis had already found himself in trouble with anti-doping agents during the Olympic
03:58trials.
03:59In fact, he had failed a total of three tests in the past, but was still allowed to compete.
04:03So, while Johnson had his medal stripped in shame, Lewis was able to bask in the glory
04:07of the top spot.
04:08What do you think steroids affected this sport of track and field?
04:11Well, a couple of things.
04:13Number 1, it put us in the forefront of the drug issue, which I thought was a good thing,
04:20because it gave us a unique opportunity to try to take the lead in fighting it.
04:24But it also put us in a place where people could say, oh, everyone's on it.
04:29Number 6.
04:30The Immaculate Reception.
04:31You know a play must be good when it gets a name like The Immaculate Reception.
04:34A situation like this, of course, is all to the advantage of the defense.
04:38Bradshaw must put it in the air.
04:40Terry Bradshaw fired a rocket of a pass into the arms of John Fuqua, but as he tried to
04:45catch, he got blasted by Jack Tatum.
04:47However, the ball ricocheted directly into the path of Franco Harris, who caught it and
04:51scored the touchdown.
04:52Here's the problem.
04:53Could not have a double touch.
04:54If Fuqua, when that hand went up, if he touched the ball, as soon as the second player
04:59on his team touched the ball, incomplete pass.
05:01That's the end of it.
05:02According to the rules in 1972, if the ball only touched Fuqua before the ricochet, he's
05:07the only player who can legally catch it.
05:09If it bounced off him and then touched Tatum, then Harris was legally allowed to receive
05:13it.
05:14In other words, there's a chance the touchdown was illegal and is still fiercely debated
05:17to this day.
05:18The play had lasted for just 17 seconds.
05:21Tens of thousands witnessed it, but nobody saw it.
05:24Number 5.
05:25The Disappearance of Bison Daly.
05:27Upon spending nine years in the NBA, Bison Daly won a championship ring with the Chicago
05:32Bulls in 1997, and earned enough money to retire on his own terms at the age of 30.
05:37When Bison retired from the NBA, one of the first big purchases he made was this $650,000
05:44catamaran, 55-foot boat.
05:46However, in 2002, an infamous boat journey alongside his brother Miles, his girlfriend,
05:51and the boat's captain would change the course of his family's life forever.
05:54Daly never made it back from that trip.
05:57Something's not right.
05:58Neither did his girlfriend or the captain.
06:00And while nothing was fully proven, it's assumed that his brother murdered the three
06:03of them and sunk the remains to the bottom of the ocean using weights he had recently
06:07bought.
06:08Before the truth could be revealed, his brother took his own life while awaiting further questioning.
06:12We'll never know with 100% certainty what happened.
06:16Number 4.
06:171973 Battle of the Sexes.
06:191973's Battle of the Sexes is seen as a huge moment for gender equality in sports.
06:24It captured the imagination of the public like no other tennis match of the modern era.
06:30At the age of 29, Billie Jean King took on the former Grand Slam champion Bobby Riggs,
06:34who was 55.
06:35On the day itself, King managed to get the win, providing a huge boost for female tennis.
06:40It clearly transcended tennis and transcended sports.
06:45It got people thinking about what women deserved, and that was the start of the evolution.
06:51But here's the problem.
06:52There was quite a lot of speculation over Riggs and the effort he gave when the match began.
06:56Rumors began to circulate that he owed over $100,000 to the mob and fixed the match's
07:01outcome to pay it back.
07:02Is this just people who would rather believe a conspiracy theory than accept the match's
07:05result?
07:06Or is there something to it?
07:07Perhaps we'll never know.
07:08Bobby doesn't get involved with mobsters.
07:10Bobby keeps it…
07:11Actually, Billy, he did.
07:12Number 3.
07:13The Heidi Game
07:14When an AFL showdown between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets came down to the wire
07:18in the fourth quarter of their November 1968 clash, something else was happening behind
07:22the scenes.
07:23The Oakland Raiders reversed their fate with a victory that was unforeseen and unseen by
07:28the TV audience.
07:30We knew that we won the game.
07:32The people in the stadium knew we won the game.
07:34But the people that were watching it on television across the country thought that the Jets won
07:38and we lost.
07:39NBC was supposed to broadcast the movie Heidi at 7pm that day, but the football game was
07:44looking to set to run over.
07:45After some arguments and a total breakdown in communication, the movie was somehow forced
07:49onto the air right in the middle of the game's dying seconds.
07:52Let's go, Aunt Dette.
07:53Be quiet, Heidi.
07:55Please don't make me stay here, Aunt Dette.
07:59Unfortunately, Oakland was about to pull off an all-time great final-minute comeback
08:03that the entire East Coast of the U.S. completely missed.
08:06There are many accounts of how this mess unfolded, and to this day, we've never seen
08:10anything quite like it.
08:11Well, I didn't get to see the show, but I hear it was real good.
08:15Signed, Joe Namath.
08:16Number 2.
08:17The Curse of the Bambino
08:18Trading Babe Ruth to one of your greatest rivals is an unforgivable baseball sin.
08:22The Curse of the Bambino started the Red Sox, sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000.
08:28Ruth, of course, won four World Series with the Yanks, hit 659 home runs with them.
08:33It took the Red Sox 86 years to win their next World Series.
08:37But the existence of the Bambino curse was a pretty excessive punishment, if you believe
08:40in that sort of thing.
08:41Call it bad energy, pressure, or just terrible luck, but it took 86 years for the Boston Red
08:46Sox to overcome that championship drought.
09:04Out of all the infamous sporting hexes, this one is undoubtedly the most famous and widely
09:08discussed.
09:09Despite having a series of great teams that seemed destined to break the curse, it didn't
09:13happen until 2004.
09:20What causes an entire franchise to experience that many close calls?
09:24One of the strangest sagas in sporting history.
09:26Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
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09:41Number one, Spygate.
09:43At what point does winning by any means necessary become a problem?
09:46During this game against the Jets, Bill Belichick's Patriots were caught videotaping
09:51the hand signals of New York's coaches in what eventually became known as Spygate.
09:57Well, in 2007, the first instance of members of the New England Patriots illegally videoing
10:02an opposing coach's signals during a game came to light.
10:04We weren't trying to be discreet about it.
10:07Again, in all honesty, we felt like what we were doing was okay.
10:10Recording during a game itself isn't illegal, but there are areas designated by the NFL
10:14that you're allowed to tape from, and the Patriots were not sticking to it.
10:17Coach Bill Belichick was given a half-million-dollar fine.
10:20Unfortunately, all tapes in the team's possession were destroyed before the true scope of their
10:24spying operation was uncovered.
10:26It's over, and we're moving on.
10:29It's in the past.
10:30We're done with it.
10:31Are there any memorable sporting mysteries that stick in your memory?
10:33Let us know in the comments.
10:35You know, the old saying that life isn't fair can be very, very true.
10:39I mean, it just was not fair.
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