In the classic film Happy Gilmore, there is a scene where Happy makes a deal with the girl
he is pursuing. If she can make a nearly impossible shot from center ice in a hockey rink,
he agrees to never bother her again. But if she misses, she has to go out with him. Of
course she makes the shot, prompting the great line “Talk about your all-time
backfires”, and creating the inspiration for this week’s entry in the America Loves Countdowns® series.

Chad Johnson’s Black and White Proclomation
I know I beat up on last year’s Bengals team a lot, but they have really earned it. This deluded team honestly believed it was going to win the Super Bowl! They were the joke of the sports world for 15 years. You cannot just go from a joke into a champion overnight. It takes some patience and humility, but they never realized that. Chad Johnson embarrassed himself the most. “It’s like going from a black-and-white TV to a color TV,” Johnson said. “It was Pittsburgh; it’s Cincinnati now, and it’ll probably be that way for a while now.” That backfired big when his team ate it in their first playoff game against the Steelers, who were REAL champions.

Bob Goodenow’s Delusional Rejection
Goodenow was the head of the NHL players union when the league lost an entire season due to a work stoppage in 2004-05. Eventually it became clear that the owners were not going to budge, but Goodenow foolheartedly believed that he held all the cards. He rejected a deal which would have given the players (i.e. the people he was supposed to be serving) a decent deal with a salary cap. The move backfired when the
owners lowered the deal rather than give in. Ultimately the players agreed to a crappy deal with a cap, and Goodenow agreed not to have a job anymore.

Jim Rooker’s Long Walk Home
In a 1989 Pirates-Phillies game at the Vet, Pittsburgh jumped out to a 10-0 first inning lead. Bucco broadcaster Jim Rooker stated on the air that if the Pirates blew that big of a lead, he would walk home from Philadelphia. Rooker ended up regretting that statement, as the Phillies rallied to win the game 15-11. To his credit, Rooker actually did make the walk to Pittsburgh and used the event to raise charity money for a children’s hospital.

My Steelers-Giants Hubris
The Steelers just kept winning games in 2004. It was astounding – they lost in week 2, and then they beat everyone else, including the two eventual Super Bowl teams. In my game previews every week on the SteelerTribute site, I kept writing that the Steelers were overdue for a bad game, that they couldn’t win forever, that the opponent for that week was better than advertised, ect. Finally when week 15 rolled around and the Steelers were set to take on a woeful Giants team, I flat out wrote that the game wouldn’t even be close. I said that the Steelers would pound New York and rookie QB Eli Manning (who had a 0.0 passer rating the week before) into the ground. Sure enough, New York outplayed Pittsburgh for most of the game, with the Steelers barely eeking out the win. I learned my lesson about overconfident predictions.

Harry Frazee’s Selling of the Babe
It was bad enough when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920, but to make matters worse, Frazee actually believed that the move would benefit his team. He actually said, “I think the Yankees are taking a gamble.” The move of course would backfire on his team and its fans. It took 86 years and 26 Yankee titles for the city of Boston to live that down.

Rachel Phelps’ Ill-Conceived Plan
When Rachel Phelps inherited the Cleveland Indians from her late husband, she immediately hatched a plan to move the team to Florida. All she needed to get out of her lease in Cleveland was to force attendance to drop to a certain level, so she stacked the team with washed up veterans like catcher Jake Taylor and castoffs like relief pitcher Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn, who had spent the previous season playing in the California Penal League. But the team of misfits pulled off one of the most astonishing runs ever, besting the Yankees in a one-game playoff to win their division. Rather than spending her days in sunny Florida, Phelps was eventually forced to sell the team to arrogant third baseman Roger Dorn.

Wade Phillips’ Bonehead QB Switch
QB Doug Flutie guided the 1999 Buffalo Bills to a 10-5 record and an AFC Playoff berth. Since the final game of the regular season was meaningless, Bills head coach Wade Phillips decided to rest Flutie and play backup QB Rob Johnson. He played well, but the game didn’t really matter. The following week when the Bills traveled to Tennessee for the opening round of the playoffs, Phillips inexplicably named Johnson the starting QB over Flutie. Johnson struggled, completing only 10 of 22 passes and getting sacked 6 times, including once for a safety. And oh yeah – the Bills lost the game on a devastating miracle play. That most likely would have never happened had Phillips gone with the QB who had gotten his team that far.

Hollywood Henderson’s Mockery
Before their much-anticipated Super Bowl rematch with the Steelers, Dallas LB Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson called Terry Bradshaw dumb, saying that the quarterback couldn’t spell “cat” if you spotted him the “c” and the “t”. Bradshaw not only beat the Cowboys for the second time, but he also earned the game’s MVP honors by throwing for a record 318 yards and 4 touchdowns. Bradshaw went on to cement his legacy as an all-time great QB, a hugely successful broadcaster, and a best-selling author, while Henderson ended up in prison. Henderson humbly admitted years later that Bradshaw was obviously smarter than he gave him credit for.

Adolf Hitler’s Olympic Showcase
The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, the heart of Nazi Germany. Knowing that the entire world was wathcing, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the superiority of the aryan race. After all, what better way to prove dominance than to best every other race in challenging sporting events. There was only one problem – black American Jesse Owens. Hitler watched in shock as Owens became the undisputed star of the games, capturing four gold medals.

Matt Hasselbeck’s Coin Toss Prediction
Two years before he was botching the clock management and throwing costly interceptions in the Super Bowl, Seawhiners QB Matt Hasselbeck found himself playing at Green Bay in the opening round of the NFC Playoffs. The Seawhiners had not won a playoff game in nearly two decades, but they had battled the playoff-tested Packers all the way to overtime. After correctly calling the overtime coin toss, Hasselbeck was asked by the referee whether he wanted to kick or receive. “We want the ball and we’re gonna score!” Hasselbeck jubilantly shouted. It was a very bold move. The guy was playing at hallowed Lambeau field in a huge game that millions of people were watching, so he really laid it all on the line by saying that. Had his team won, that may have become a legendary quote, but the events that ensued made it the biggest backfire ever. The Seawhiners did not score in overtime. Instead Hasselbeck threw an ill-timed pass that was picked off and returned for a touchdown by Al Harris. The play ended Seattle’s season and turned Hasselbeck into the world’s biggest goat.

Honorable Mentions:

• Mike Ditka’s Faith in Ricky Williams: Poor Mike Ditka. He was so desperate to win as head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 1999 that he traded ALL of his team’s draft picks to move up in the first round in order to select Texas RB Ricky Williams. Ricky turned out to be a loser pothead, and the move eventually cost Ditka his job.
• Tom Osbourne’s Two-Point Attempt: Nebraska entered the 1984 Orange Bowl with an undefeated record, and when they scored a late touchdown against Miami, head coach Tom Osbourne was faced with a decision: kick the PAT and settle for a tie game, or go for two and the win. The tie would have most likely given the Cornhuskers the National Championship, but Osbourne didn’t want there to be any doubt. The move backfired when the two-point conversion failed, leaving Nebraska with a loss and without a title. Still, you have to give Osbourne credit for being that bold.
• Walt Harris’ Slide Call: In a 2004 game at Connecticut, Pitt coach Walt Harris was faced with a 3rd and goal play near the end of the first half. Rather than taking a shot at the endzone, or even running the ball up the middle, Harris called for QB Tyler Palko to slide into the middle of the field to set up a field goal attempt. The super safe call backfired when Pitt eventually lost the game and Harris lost all credibility as coach. Even though Harris would guide the team to a Big East Championship that season, his fate was sealed the moment Palko hit the turf.