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Buckner

In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the Boston Red Sox were one strike from winning their first championship since 1918. In the tenth inning the New York Mets tied it. Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball toward first base. Vin Scully called it on television: “Little roller up along first, behind the bag. It gets through Buckner.” The Mets won the game, and two days later the Series.

For years, Boston blamed first baseman Bill Buckner for the loss. He received death threats and moved his family to Idaho. In 2008 he came back to Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch at the home opener. The crowd gave him a two-minute ovation. A Boston newspaper headline read “All Is Forgiven.”

Three Olympic Votes, Three Times No

On 10 November 2013, voters in Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the districts of Berchtesgadener Land and Traunstein decided on a bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. All four said no. In Munich, 52.1 percent voted against the bid. On 29 November 2015, Hamburg voted on a bid for the 2024 Summer Games. The result was 51.6 percent no. On 31 May 2026, Hamburg voted again, this time on a bid for the Games of 2036, 2040 or 2044. According to the official final result, 55.1 percent voted no. First Mayor Peter Tschentscher then informed the German Olympic Sports Confederation and Germany’s member of the International Olympic Committee. He told them dass Hamburg seine Olympia-Bewerbung zurückzieht, that Hamburg is withdrawing its Olympic bid.

The Pictures Against the Referee

On 28 September 2024, in a Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart, the referee sent off Stuttgart’s Atakan Karazor with a second yellow card. On 1 October the DFB sports court set the sending-off aside. It had read the referee’s report and examined the television pictures. They showed that Wolfsburg’s Arnold had fouled Karazor, not the other way around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VW81Hei3a4

A referee’s decision is normally final. The court could reverse it because the error was, in its words, ohne jeden Zweifel objektiv unrichtig, objectively wrong beyond any doubt.

World Class: Nobody

After each half of the Bundesliga season, the football magazine kicker publishes its Rangliste des deutschen Fußballs, the ranking of German football. It places the players by position in classes, with Weltklasse, world class, at the top and Internationale Klasse, international class, below it.

In the ranking of July 2024, the world-class category for goalkeepers read: Weltklasse: Keiner. World class: nobody. The top goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, was rated international class. No central defender was rated world class either. The winter ranking of January 2024 had also listed nobody as a world-class goalkeeper.

The Right to Raise It

In December 2025 Borussia Dortmund drew 2:2 with Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League. Afterward the defender Nico Schlotterbeck criticized the substitutes in public, without naming them. Die Spieler, die reinkommen, verlieren jeden Ball. The players who come on lose every ball. Wenn man reinkommt in der 60. Minute, erwarte ich 30 Minuten Volldampf. If you come on in the 60th minute, I expect 30 minutes at full power.

The coach Niko Kovač backed him. Als Führungsspieler hat er mit Sicherheit auch das Recht, gewisse Sachen anzusprechen. As a leading player he certainly has the right to raise certain things.

The Video Referee’s Narrow Area

The video assistant referees of the Bundesliga work at a broadcasting center in Cologne. Their area is narrow. Nur bei Toren, Elfmetersituationen, Platzverweisen und Spielerverwechslungen darf der VAR intervenieren. The video assistant may intervene only for goals, penalty situations, sending-offs and mistaken identity. Even then he does not decide. Der Schiedsrichter auf dem Platz hat die Entscheidungsgewalt. The referee on the pitch has the power to decide. In November 2017 Lutz Michael Fröhlich replaced Hellmut Krug as head of the video referees. Fröhlich said: Der Schiedsrichter auf dem Feld muss gestärkt werden. The referee on the field must be strengthened.

A Second Chance

Uli Hoeneß left prison on 29 February 2016, after 637 days. He had been sentenced to three and a half years for tax evasion and was released after serving half. Before the general meeting of FC Bayern Munich, he told the Abendzeitung: Ich bin nachdenklicher und auch demütiger geworden. I have become more thoughtful and also more humble. On 25 November 2016 he asked the members: Ich bitte Sie um eine zweite Chance. I ask you for a second chance. He promised to do everything to meet their expectations. The members elected him president again with 97.7 percent of the votes.

A Referee’s Six Months

On 27 January 2005 the referee Robert Hoyzer confessed that he had manipulated football matches for betting. On 29 April 2005 the German Football Association banned him for life. Hoyzer also named other referees. One was Felix Zwayer, who had helped bring the case to light. The association’s sports court found that Zwayer had accepted 300 euros from Hoyzer, and it banned him for six months. The verdict became known only years later. Zwayer has denied taking the money. He went on to referee at the top level, including a semifinal of the 2024 European Championship. The former referee Manuel Gräfe once said that anyone who had taken money and kept quiet about Hoyzer’s manipulation for half a year sollte keinen Profifußball pfeifen, should not referee professional football.

Twenty-Four Hours Without Failing

On 14 June 1970 Porsche won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall for the first time, with the 917 KH. The winning driver Richard Attwood recalled that the race was then more an endurance drive than a race. Le Mans ist ein Rennen, das klappt oder das klappt nicht. Le Mans is a race that either works out or does not.

By the company’s count in June 2021, Porsche had 19 overall wins and 108 class wins at Le Mans, both records.

Answers That Would Unsettle the Population

On the evening of 17 November 2015, the football match between Germany and the Netherlands in Hanover was canceled at short notice after a terror alert. At a press conference, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said: Ein Teil dieser Antworten würde die Bevölkerung verunsichern. Part of these answers would unsettle the population. The next day the Green politician Konstantin von Notz said that the minister must make clear statements and darf nicht diffus über Bedrohungen orakeln, must not speak vaguely about threats like an oracle. Dietmar Bartsch of the Left party called it very problematic when a minister unsettles people with hints. De Maizière defended his restraint. Wir können nicht jeden Hinweis dieser Art in der Öffentlichkeit diskutieren. We cannot discuss every tip of this kind in public.