HISTORICAL BLONDERS

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Which is it: Is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's?Friedrich Nietzsche

The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."Assyrian tablet, c. 2800 BCE

This `telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. Western Union internal memo, 1876

It is only righteous that Joshua Coppersmiths, who has tried to find investors to finance the development of a so-called telephone, is arrested for fraud!Article in the Boston Post (1865)

Radio is just a fashion contrivance that will soon die out. It is obvious that there never will be invented a proper receiver!Thomas Edison

I do not believe there is the slightest chance of war with Japan in our lifetime. The Japanese are our allies.... Japan is at the other end of the world. She cannot menace our vital security in any way.... War with Japan is not a possibility which any reasonable government need take into account.Winston Churchill

We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out. Decca Records Rejecting the Beatles, in 1962

Finland must not be allowed to disappear off the map.Neville Chamberlain

And while I am talking to you mothers and fathers, I give you one more assurance. I have said before, but I shall say it again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.President Roosevelt

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century. Senator Dan Quayle, Sept. 15, 1988

The great question - which I have not been able to answer - is, "What does a woman want?" Sigmund Freud

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year. Prentice Hall, editor in charge of business books, 1957

But what ... is it good for? Anonymous engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

So we went to Atari and said, `Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, `No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, `Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.' Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer Inc. on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his personal computer.

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. Ken Olson , President, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

640Kb ought to be enough for anybody. Bill Gates, 1981

Natura non facit saltum. (Nature does not make leaps.) Anonymous ancient motto frequently cited by Carolus Linnaeus

Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy. Anonymous drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible. Anonymous Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

In a few years, all the great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and ... the only occupation which will then be left to the men of science will be to carry these measurements to another place of decimals.James Clerk Maxwell, 1871

The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being suplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote ... Our future discoveries must be looked for in the sixth place of decimals. Albert A. Michelson, 1894

Everything that can be invented has been invented. Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. New York Times, in editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work, 1921

Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction. Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

The good Christian should beware the mathematican and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicans have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell. Saint Augustine

First, . . . to want to affirm that in reality the sun is at the center of the world and only turns on itself without moving from east to west, and the earth . . . revolves with great speed around the sun . . .is a very dangerous thing, likely not only to irritate all scholastic philosophers and theologians, but also to harm the Holy Faith by rendering Holy Scripture false. Nor can one answer that this is not a matter of faith, since if it is not a matter of faith "as regards the topic," it is a matter of faith "as regards the speaker"; and so it would be heretical to say that Abraham did not have two children and Jacob twelve, as well as to say that Christ was not born of a virgin, because both are said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of the prophets and the apostles. Cardinal Bellarmine, in a Letter to Foscarinin, April 12, 1615

The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? Anonymous associates of David Sarnoff's in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?H. M. Warner, founder of Warner Brothers film studios, 1927

Lord Kelvin

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of

the expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of ... I would not care to be a member of the Aeronautical Society.

It is impossible by means of inanimate material agency to derive a mechanical effect from a portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest surrounding bodies

I want to understand light as well as I can without introducing things that we understand less of.

We know that light is propagated like sound through pressure and motion.

[The phenomena of light] "can be explained without going beyond the elastic-solid theory. We have now our answer: every thing non-magnetic; nothing magnetic.

The radio has no future!

Writing to Niagara Falls Power Company: "Trust you will avoid the gigantic mistake of alternating current.

It seems as if we may also be forced to conclude that the supposed connection between magnetic storms and sunspots is unreal, and that the seeming agreement between the periods has been mere coincidence.

Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible. Simon Newcomb , 1902, eighteen months before Kitty Hawk

Airplanes suffers from so many technical faults that it is only a matter of time before any reasonable man realizes that they are useless!"Scientific American (1910)

Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

To throw bombs from an airplane will do as much damage as throwing bags of flour. It will be my pleasure to stand on the bridge of any ship while it is attacked by airplanes."Newton Baker, US minister of defense (1921)

A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth's atmosphere.New York Times, 1936

You're planning to make a ship sail against wind and tide by lighting a fire below deck?? I don't have time to listen to that kind of nonsense!"Napoleon, about Robert Fultons plans to make a Steamboat.

Even God could not sink this ship.Sailor of the Titanic

So many centuries after the Creation, it is unlikely that anyone could find hitherto unknown lands of any value.Spanish Royal Commission, rejecting Christopher Columbus' proposal to sail west.

Space travel is bunkSir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of Britain, 1957, two weeks before the launch of Sputnik

Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. Irving Fisher, 1929

Every attempt to employ mathematical methods in the study of chemical questions must be considered profoundly irrational and contrary to the spirit of chemistry.... if mathematical analysis should ever hold a prominent place in chemistry -- an aberration which is happily almost impossible -- it would occasion a rapid and widespread degeneration of that science.Auguste Comte

List of incidents famously considered great blunders

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A blunder is a spectacularly bad or embarrassing mistake—a bad decision with a disastrous result. This is a list of what are widely considered to be major, historically significant blunders.

To be included in this list an incident must meet two criteria: (1) It must be an extremely bad or otherwise significant failure. (2) It must be a notable blunder--that is, it must be widely considered to be a disaster which was the result of bad decision making. To be objectively considered famous, it must appear in a list of blunders compiled by a respectable authority or be noted as a blunder by multiple, unbiased sources. If there is disagreement as to the nature of the blunder, or whether it is even a blunder at all, then the opinions of both sides should be summarized in the listing.

The majority of famous blunders are of a military nature; however, there are also a number of famous and significant blunders in business, politics, and other disciplines.

Military

Military disasters commonly believed to be the result of a major mistake or extremely bad decision making.

1788 - The Battle of Karánsebes in which an Austrian army started firing at each other, thinking that they were under the attack of Ottoman Empire forces. The battle caused 10,000 casualties, while the enemy was a two day march away.

1854 - The suicidal and ill-advised Charge of the Light Brigade in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. It was based on Cardigan's misunderstanding of, and failure to ask for clarification of Lord Raglan's orders. Tennyson, in his famous poem praising the valor of the cavalrymen, wrote: "'Forward the Light Brigade!'/Was there a man dismay'd?/Not tho' the soldier knew/Some one had blunder'd." Of the action, French marshal Pierre Bosquet said C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre ("It is magnificent, but it is not war.") (Saul David, 1998, p. 13-24)

1876 - The Battle of the Little Bighorn (also called Custer's last stand), the subject of a number of books and several films, was a catastrophic failure for George Armstrong Custer, leading to the death of Custer himself and all 210 men who were with him at the time. Many feel that this failure was a result of a series of blunders on the part of Custer, including poor communication, failure to wait for reinforcements, excessive cruelty in his treatment of the Native Americans, and general overconfidence. Others have argued that Custer was largely the victim of

bad circumstance, and that his actions and decisions during the battle differed little from standard military strategy of the time. (Saul David, 1998, p. 236-251)

1899 - Battle of Colenso during the Second Boer War. Inadequate preparation and reconnaissance combined with uninspired leadership led to a heavy, and in some respects humiliating, British defeat.

1930 to 1940 - The Maginot Line in France. The Maginot Line is widely considered to be a great blunder because the German armies went around it. However, the German forces did not dare attack the Maginot Line directly; Germany had to invade Belgium in order to circumvent it, and in the few incidents during World War II where the line was involved, it proved a highly effective defensive fortification. Thus, many historians feel that France blundered, not in building the Maginot Line (which was effective for what it was), but in relying on it as its only major means of defense.[1] (GBIH)

1941 - The Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 (December 8 in Japan standard time). Although the attack sunk or crippled numerous US Navy capital ships, many military historians consider the attack a long-term strategic blunder. For instance, the American aircraft carriers (a priority target) were absent, and the oil storage facilities and drydock naval repair yard (whose destruction could have crippled the Pacific Fleet's operating capacity) were untouched. Worst of all was the psychological effect: instead of discouraging the USA as intended, it enraged the American population into waging relentless war against Japan in revenge.

Adolf Hitler declaring war on the USA immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack. In doing so, Hitler played directly into President Franklin Roosevelt's desire to openly join the war against the Führer with full force, by giving him a compelling self-defense rationale to do so. This led to a grand alliance of the USA, UK and the USSR that would defeat Nazi Germany.

1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu - Prior to the battle, the French forces established a military base in the bowl of a valley and left the heights surrounding the base unguarded since they were considered inaccessible for any military advantage; however, the Vietnamese under Vo Nguyen Giap used those heights to position heavy artillery and anti-aircraft weapons to bombard the base from an unassailable position and ward off air support respectively.

1971 - Battle of Longewala - a pivotal battle of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, during which Pakistan's two Infantry Divisions and two Armored Divisions (totaling several thousand men) fail to take over India's 120-men strong Longewala base; the Pakistani units were finally decimated by the Indian Air Force. Pakistan lost more than 50 tanks and 100 armored vehicles; this battle constituted one of the largest and most disproportionate tank casualties for one side in a single battle after WWII.

1999 - Kargil War - Considered to be a military, diplomatic and political blunder for Pakistan. Pakistani Army-backed militants infiltrated into Indian-administered Kashmir and captured Kargil, a mountainous region in north-western Kashmir. Though the operation, which also involved Pakistan's NLI & SSG, was a well planned and executed one, Indian Army's swift counter-attack, coupled with worldwide condemnation, resulted in an immediate withdrawal of Pakistani troops and a military coup which placed Pervez Musharraf as the President of

Pakistan. Pakistani columnist Ayaz Amir remarked Kargil was "a piece of folly which only a Homer writing of another Trojan War can do full justice to."[2]

Naval

Naval disasters commonly believed to be the result of a major mistake or extremely bad decision making.

1893 – HMS Victoria collided with HMS Camperdown near Tripoli, Lebanon, during manoeuvres. The Victoria quickly sank, taking 358 crew with her, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. At a subsequent court-martial, the collision was ascribed to an explicit order from Admiral Tryon. It has been hypothesized that he had confused turning his ships through 90 degrees with turning them through 180 degrees when he considered how much sea room was needed. The former manoeuvre was much more common and required considerably less room.

1905 – The Battle of Tsushima – the Russian Baltic Fleet, under Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski, was intercepted by the Japanese Combined Fleet while sailing from Europe to the Russian port of Vladivostok and had two-thirds of its ships destroyed while inflicting minimal damage on the Japanese. The Japanese fleet, under Admiral Heihachiro Togo, managed to "cross the T" twice on the Russian fleet, easily outmaneuvering the older, poorly maintained Russian ships, which were slowed even more by the wear-and-tear of their long journey from Europe. Only three ships made it to Vladivostok, with three more ships fleeing to the American port of Manila. Russia lost nearly its entire Baltic Fleet, including all eight of its battleships, while destroying just three Japanese torpedo boats. The decisive Japanese victory also marked the decline of Russian influence in East Asia and the rise of Japanese dominance in the region.

Political

Mistakes and missteps that caused a resignation or significantly contributed to the loss of an election or severe public condemnation.

1908 – Daily Telegraph Affair Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to give an interview to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in an attempt to improve the Anglo-German Relationship. In the interview he managed to offend the British, annoy the French and The Russians, and imply that the German naval build-up was targeted at the Japanese, thus irritating them. His attempt at improving international relations was completely counter productive. In The Great War that eventually followed, all four nations were on the opposite side to the Germans. Its unlikely that the interview caused this result, however it did help foster a belief that Wilhelm was responsible for the war.

1963 – John Profumo, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for War, lied to Parliament about his affair with Christine Keeler, a showgirl who was

simultaneously involved with an attaché at the Soviet Embassy. When the truth came out, he was forced to resign and the ensuing scandal contributed to the resignation of Harold Macmillan and the subsequent defeat of the government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in the 1964 election. (Coates)

1972 – Five men working for Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) burgled the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. to sabotage Democratic candidate George McGovern's chances against Nixon in the 1972 presidential election. The burglary, and Nixon's participation in the extensive cover-up attempt, led to jail terms for several of Nixon's associates, and eventually caused Nixon to resign rather than face impeachment proceedings. The Watergate Scandal was especially bizarre, as Nixon was far ahead of McGovern in the polls at the time of the break-in, and ended up winning the election in a landslide.

1978 – British Prime Minister James Callaghan decided not to call an election that year despite leading in the polls, but to wait until the next year. The government was blamed for the multiple strikes of the Winter of Discontent, and was defeated in Parliament soon after, leading to an election in which Callaghan was defeated by Margaret Thatcher.

1983 – In the 1983 UK General Election the UK Labour Party suffered its worst performance since 1918; this was mostly credited to their election manifesto, which was later dubbed by Gerald Kaufman "the longest suicide note in history". It included such electorally disastrous policies as the abolition of the House of Lords and unilateral nuclear disarmament.

1988 – Outspoken junior British health minister Edwina Currie told Independent Television News that "most egg production in this country is infected" with salmonella, a statement that greatly exaggerated the problem. Egg sales plummeted and she was forced to resign.

1990 – Despite a highly publicized promise in the 1988 election not to raise taxes, U.S. President George H. W. Bush agrees to a tax increase.

1992 – The Sheffield Rally by the UK Labour Party, held a week before the UK General Election (1992), was meant to top off a successful campaign for the Labour party and to convince the electorate that Labour, ahead in the polls, was ready for government. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. People saw it as pretentious, triumphant when the election had not yet been won, and "too American". Labour lost the 1992 election.

1993 – During the 1993 Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, desperate to reverse a losing campaign, commissioned an anti-Jean Chrétien campaign TV ad that appeared to ridicule the Liberal Party of Canada leader, Jean Chrétien, for his facial paralysis. That offended many Canadians as a vile insult, and the blunder was considered by many the last straw in a disastrous election that saw the PCs reduced from 151 seats in Parliament to 2, a defeat from which the party never recovered.

2002 – During the final runup to the United States Senate elections, 2002, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash in the northern part of the state. A few days later the Minnesota Democratic party held a memorial service in Minneapolis. The service was perceived by some to be more like a political rally

for Wellstone's replacement, former Vice President and Presidential candidate Walter Mondale, than a service honoring Wellstone. At one point Governor Jesse Ventura stormed out of the arena, and CNN political commentator Tucker Carlson later criticized the proceedings. Mondale lost Wellstone's seat in a narrow 49%–47% defeat, while the Republican Party gained control of the Senate. This was an advantage that President Bush enjoyed until Democrats won back both houses in the 2006 Midterm election.

2003 – During the 2003 Ontario provincial election, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party issued a press release that called the Ontario Liberal Party leader, Dalton McGuinty, an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." Although defended by some as a tongue-in-cheek statement, the name was condemned as a petty insult by many. It damaged the credibility of the Ontario PC Party, while the Liberals took maximum advantage of the incident to ridicule their opponent and increase support for McGuinty.

2004 – After his defeat at the 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses, Howard Dean made a concession speech ending with a yell characterized as the "Dean Scream". This outburst of passion was considered poor form, and particularly unpresidential. Dean, who before the Iowa caucuses had been the front-runner in the race to become the Democratic candidate for the 2004 U.S. presidential election, quickly lost credibility, and within a few weeks he was effectively out of the race.

2004 – The ruling BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) was leading in all the polls during the general elections of 2004 in India. On the basis of a buoyant economy, largely stable macroeconomic factors, and the Indian Stock Markets reaching an all-time high, the BJP launched an "India Shining" campaign which tried to portray India as a well-developed economy. The campaign backfired as inflation in the prices of essential commodities, uneven development, and rising unemployment caused the majority rural population — disillusioned by the campaign promises — to vote against the NDA. NDA lost the election, and Congress-led UPA came into the power despite all exit polls showing an NDA majority. Today, all major Indian political leaders consider it a major political blunder.

2005 – In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the FEMA becomes notorious for its slow and ineffective emergency response, especially in New Orleans. With over 1300 deaths (and 1900 still missing as of February, 2006), FEMA's incompetence was accused of contributing to dehydration, starvation, disease, and violence that, accusers allege, might have been prevented by swifter and better-organized relief action. The director of FEMA, Michael Brown, resigned following his removal from leadership by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Business

Misjudgments causing a severe loss of profit, often associated with the failure of an individual product.

1958 model year – Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel, a new car marque remembered as a spectacular blunder because of its association with the Ford family. The Edsel was named after Edsel Ford, former company president and son of Henry Ford. The vehicle sported a front grille described as looking like a horse collar or an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon, and was priced higher than competing companies' models. The Edsel was discontinued early in the 1960 model year. The model failure was responsible for Ford's losing nearly half of the $650 million raised by the company in its 1956 initial public stock offering (IPO). The Ford Edsel is such a famous failure that the name "Edsel" itself has become an appellation for something that's irredeemably flawed and thus doomed to failure. [3] [4]

1985 – Coca-Cola releases New Coke. The New Coke formula actually beat the old Coke in taste tests, but Coca-Cola's blunder was in failing to realize the immensity of the Coke legacy that they had built up over nearly a century. This legacy was so strong that the mere idea of changing Coke, by this time considered an American icon — even "for the better" — met with intense, passionate resistance. People felt as if Coke was turning its back on their drinking preferences, their childhood, and even their way of life. "Coke is as basic as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence." "Next week, they'll be chiseling Teddy Roosevelt off the side of Mount Rushmore." Coca-Cola eventually re-released a reformulated Coke containing High Fructose Corn Syrup as "Coca-Cola Classic".

1991 – Millionaire businessman Gerald Ratner made a speech during which he rubbished one of his own jewelry company's products and, by implication, their entire product range. These comments were widely reported by the news media and profits went into a nose-dive. As a result Ratner lost his job, and the company lost market share and had to rebrand. See Doing a Ratner.

1992 – Hoover ran a promotion campaign in the UK, offering free flights to Europe and New York when customers spent more than £100 on Hoover products — significantly less than the cost of the flights. The company had been relying on customers being unwilling to go through the complex application process, but they severely underestimated how popular the offer would be, leading to the company denying customers their flights, and years of bad publicity. Eventually, Hoover was forced to honour many of these deals, at a cost of £48m. Parent company Maytag sold the British division to Italian electrical appliance firm Candy, and all senior staff involved in the promotion lost their jobs.

1993 – PepsiCo introduced Crystal Pepsi, a clear version of its popular cola. After an initial boom, sales fell miserably as a result of consumer confusion about the taste and a lack of necessity for a clear cola that tasted like the original. The product was parodied in a memorable skit on Saturday Night Live featuring a product called Crystal Gravy and on Family Guy with Peter pitching the idea to Pepsi and presenting as his main argument for the product that you cannot see a serial killer through your regular Pepsi.

2001 – Shares in Exodus, a bankrupt internet firm, jumped by 59,000% when a rogue trader accidentally bid $100 for its shares, at a time when its value was 17 cents.[1]

2002 – In October, the US investment bank Bear Stearns entered an order to sell $4bn (£2.6bn) worth of stocks by accident in a late trade. The exchange said the order was the result of a "clerical error" and should have been for $4m. They managed to cancel all but $622m of the order before execution.[2]

2005 – A trader working for Mizuho Securities Co., part of the Mizuho Financial Group, mistyped and sold 610,000 shares for 1 yen — instead of the intended 1 share for 610,000 yen — of the stock J-Com Co. This represented a sell order for more than 42 times the number of shares on issue. Mizuho Securities managed to buy back about 480,000 shares, during which time the price rose to 700,000 yen. The eventual losses are expected to be around 100 billion yen. [5]

2005 – Sony BMG introduced XCP (Extended Copy Protection) software on music CDs in order to combat piracy. In October 2005, security researcher Mark Russinovich published an online analysis of the software showing that it functioned as a rootkit, installing itself on users' computers without notification and cloaking itself to run without detection. The software also was very difficult to uninstall, caused crashes in many systems, and presented a significant security threat by allowing piggybacking by other malware. Russinovich's article led to a public uproar. Sony initially denied the software posed a threat, but later released an uninstaller. This only exacerbated the problem, as it was revealed that the uninstaller used an ActiveX component that caused a larger security threat than the XCP software itself. In the wake of the Copy Protection Scandal, Sony BMG's market share fell from 28.46% to 25.61% in 2005, likely as a result of Sony's having to recall and replace several million CDs in the middle of the holiday season. It also resulted in several class action lawsuits, many of which are still in litigation, and caused significant damage to the company's image.

Science and technology The Mars Climate Orbiter, launched in 1998, burned up in the Martian

atmosphere. A mixup between metric and US Standard measurements in the controlling software caused the spacecraft to miss its intended 140–150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km.

Sports 1919 – Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold star player Babe Ruth to the

New York Yankees for $100,000 and a $350,000 loan. With the Yankees, Ruth won four World Series titles and seven American League pennants, and is widely considered to be one of the best players in history. After trading Ruth (and several other players) to the Yankees, the Red Sox finished in last or near last place numerous times, and did not win an American League pennant again until 1946. A mostly fictional, but widely believed, account of the events that led Frazee to sell Ruth to the Yankees portrayed Frazee as a greedy villain; however, recently sports historians have pointed out that Frazee was facing a legal fight with the American League President, financial difficulties due to World War I, and that Ruth's behavior and demands had become a liability. Moreover, while Ruth was a

good player at the time of the sale, nobody knew how great a player he would become with the Yankees.

1986 – During the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner allowed a slow grounder hit by Mookie Wilson to go between his legs, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run for the Mets. The Mets went on to win Game 7 and the World Series. Buckner, despite a solid 21-year career, is now most remembered for his World Series gaffe, even though it is not clear that he would have beaten the speedy Wilson to the base had he fielded it cleanly, and even though the Red Sox still could have won the World Series by winning Game 7. Although Buckner's error is widely remembered, many fans blame manager John McNamara for not replacing the injured Buckner with Dave Stapleton, who was a better defensive player.

1986 – Edmonton Oilers were in the final game of the seven game playoff series against longtime rival the Calgary Flames when Steve Smith accidentally banked his break-out pass off his own goaltender and into his own net late in the third period. The goal was accredited to the Flames, giving them a 3-2 lead which they never relinquished. The own goal stopped the Oilers from possible winning a third straight championship. Subsequently, the Oilers won three more championships in the next four years after.

1989 – The Vikings trade for Herschel Walker and surrender draft picks which would later become star players such as Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson. The Cowboys turned around from being a last place team to winning 3 super bowls in 4 years, while Walker stayed with the Vikings for less than 3 years.

1990 – In the October 12th, 1990 NCAA football match between the 12th ranked Colorado Buffaloes and the unranked Missouri Tigers, the referees made a blunder that allowed Colorado to win the game, and clearly affected the National Championship. Trailing by 4 points, Colorado drove to the Missouri goal line for a first down with 40 seconds left in the game. They then ran 2 plays, followed by a Missouri timeout. After the second play, the referees forgot to change the down marker. This mistake gave Colorado a fifth down, on which they scored the game-winning touchdown. Colorado and Georgia Tech went on to split the 1990 National Championship.

1992 – The Atlanta Falcons trade quarterback Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers for unheralded running back Tony Smith who only lasted two unremarkable seasons.

1993 – Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Leon Lett had a solid 11-year career in the National Football League, but he is most remembered for two embarrassing blunders in 1993. During Super Bowl XXVII between Dallas and the Buffalo

Bills, Lett recovered a fumble and rushed down the field for what he thought was a sure touchdown. Lett began celebrating before he crossed the goal line, which enabled Buffalo receiver Don Beebe to knock the ball from Lett's hand, resulting in a touchback. The following season, during the Thanksgiving Day game between Dallas and the Miami Dolphins, Dallas blocked a Miami field goal in the final seconds, which should have resulted in a Dallas victory. However, while several Dallas players celebrated their victory, Lett dove on the ball, and had it squirt from under him into the arms of a Miami player. This blunder allowed Miami another field goal attempt, which was successful, resulting in a 16-14 Miami victory. Ultimately, though the Thanksgiving blunder cost Dallas the game, neither blunder resulted in disaster. Dallas won Super Bowl XXVII 52-17, and won the Super Bowl again the following year (the year of the Thanksgiving day blunder) as well.

1993 – On April 5, 1993, the University of North Carolina played the University of Michigan for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. With 19 seconds left and Michigan trailing by 2, Michigan forward Chris Webber rebounded a missed North Carolina free throw and dribbled across mid-court and into the corner, where, upon being trapped by the North Carolina defense, he called a timeout. Unfortunately for Webber and his team, Michigan had no timeouts left, and Michigan was called for a technical foul. North Carolina subsequently hit both free throws (and two more after a foul), and won 77-71. Webber had an otherwise stellar game, with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but that performance was overshadowed by his late-game blunder.

1993 – On May 29, 1993, Texas Rangers slugger José Canseco convinced manager Kevin Kennedy to allow him to pitch the eighth inning of a blow out to the Red Sox. Canseco blew out his elbow and had to have Tommy John surgery, costing him the second half of the season. Because of the injury, Canseco could no longer play regularly in the outfield, and became primarily a designated hitter. In the following 8 years, Canseco played well offensively, but also bounced around between several different teams, was plagued by numerous injuries, and went from being one of the game's premier athletes to being known as one-dimensional and injury-prone.

1993 – In Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals between the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens, the Kings were leading 2-1 with less than two minutes left in the game. The Kings had the best chance to extend their series lead to by 2 games when the series would move to their home ice. Canadiens coach Jacques Demers challenged the stick of Marty McSorley deeming it illegal. When referee Kerry Fraser confirmed the stick was illegal, the Canadiens were given a power play, which they scored on to tie the game. The Canadiens would later win Game 2 in overtime and tie the series. After that moment, the series momentum shifted entirely for Montreal, who won the next three games without ever trailing behind in scoring to win the Stanley Cup.

1996 – Golfer Greg Norman suffered a major collapse at the 1996 Masters in Augusta Georgia. The Australian and two time British Open winner had a big lead after three rounds, including a record low single round score of 63. The collapse allowed Nick Faldo to win his third Green Jacket.

1999 – The French golfer Jean Van de Velde nearly pulled off an upset victory at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, when he was the clear leader playing the closing holes. He arrived at the 18th tee needing only a double-bogey six to become the first Frenchman since 1907 to win the tournament. He had played error-free golf for much of the week and birdied the 18th hole in each of his two prior rounds. Despite a three-shot lead, Van de Velde chose to use his driver off the tee, a move widely considered to be ill-advised given the situation. He proceeded to drive the ball very far to the right. Rather than correcting his mistake by playing back to the fairway, Van de Velde decided to go for the green with his second shot. His shot drifted right and hit the grandstands on the side of the green. Had his ball landed in the grandstands he would have been given a free drop, but instead his ball bounced off of them — backwards fifty yards into knee deep rough. Van de Velde still had four shots to work with, and still could have safely played back to the fairway and then onto the green, but he decided to again go for the green. On his third shot, Van de Velde's club got tangled in the rough on his downswing, and his ball flew into the Barry Burn. He removed his shoes and socks and gingerly stepped through shin-deep water as he debated whether to try to hit his ball out of the Barry Burn, which guards the 18th green. Ultimately, he took a drop (which added a penalty stroke to his total), and then also hit his fourth shot (fifth stroke) poorly - the ball landing in a green-side sand trap. On his fifth shot (sixth stroke) Van de Velde pitched the ball out of the sand trap and onto the green about eight feet from the hole. He made the putt from there for a total of seven strokes on the hole. This disastrous triple-bogey seven dropped him into a three-way playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie. After the playoff, the Claret Jug went to Lawrie.

2002 – During training just prior to the FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Spain's top goalkeeper, Santiago Canizares dropped a bottle of aftershave on his foot, cutting tendons.[6] Subsequently, back-up goaltender Iker Casillas excelled in Canizares' place and is now the starting goalkeeper.

2005 – During the 2005 off-season in an effort to save the NAPA sponsorship money and better team chemistry, Teresa Earnhardt decided to swap the pit crews and cars of her stepson Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Michael Waltrip. The result was Earnhardt's failure to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup and Michael Waltrip's release. The swap produced only one combined win and 20th in the NEXTEL Cup points standings. The only positive about the season was admitting failure and the teams switched the crews back with five races left.

2005 – Driver Kurt Busch was arrested on a driving under the influence (DUI) charge and was ticketed for aggressive driving on the weekend of the 2005

Checker Auto Parts 400 right after he was given his release to drive the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2006. Busch also was not cooperative with police (he said "don't you know who I am?"). Owner Jack Roush acted swiftly suspending Busch for the final two races of that season.

2006 – At the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, American snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis was well ahead in the Snowboard Cross final when she fell on the last jump. Fortunately, she managed to finish second behind Tanja Frieden of Switzerland.

2007 – Dallas Stars player Patrik Stefan had an empty net break away with 10 seconds left in the game and his team leading 5-4. He slowly skated in, but instead of scoring the insurance goal to seal the victory, the puck jumped over his stick and wide of the net. The Edmonton Oilers then recovered the puck and passed it to forward Ales Hemsky who scored to tie the game 5-5 with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Stars managed to win the game in the shootout.

2007 – Another blunder from Dallas, during the NFL playoffs, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo cost his team a lead and potential win in a game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys, the Seahawks were leading the Cowboys 21-20 with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys were at the Seattle 2-yard line on fourth and 1. They decided to go for a 19-yard field goal for the lead. But on the snap, Tony was unable to hold the ball which prevented Martin Gramatica from scoring the field goal. In panic Romo picked up the ball and attempted to run for the first down or a touchdown but was stopped short of the first down line by safety Jordan Babineaux turning the ball over to Seattle. The Cowboys lost 21-20 and their hopes for their 1st playoff win in 10 years was destroyed.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also Failure Military Blunders

Notes1. ̂ Rogue traders of our time. BBC News Wednesday, 6 February, 2002. Retrieved on

2006-05-13. 2. ̂ US bank in $4bn clerical error. BBC News Thursday, 3 October, 2002. Retrieved on

2006-05-13.

References Coates, Tim. John Profumo and Christine Keeler (London: Tim Coates, 1999)

ISBN 0-11-702402-3

Darling, Roger. A Sad and Terrible Blunder: Generals Terry and Custer at the Little Big Horn: New Discoveries (Vienna, VA: Potomac-Western Press, 1990) ISBN 0-9621488-1-4.

David, Saul. Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure, (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1998) ISBN 0-7867-0504-3

Heffernan, Richard and Marqusee, Mike. Defeat from the Jaws of Victory (London: Verso, 1992) ISBN 0-86091-351-1

Great Blunders in History television series first broadcast on the History Channel in 2001.

Further reading Wrong! The Biggest Mistakes Ever Made by People Who Should Have Known

Better, Jane O'Boyle, published by Plume Books (1999), ISBN 0-452-28112-1. Wrong Again!: More of the Biggest Mistakes and Miscalculations Ever Made by

People Who Should Have Known Better, Jane O'Boyle, published by Plume Books (2000), ISBN 0-452-28201-2.

America's Stupidest Business Decisions: 101 Blunders, Flops, and Screwups, Bill Adler and Julie Houghton, published by Quill (1997), ISBN 0-688-15152-3.

Great Military Blunders, Geoffrey Regan, published by Motorbooks International (2000), ISBN 0-7522-1844-1.

Scientific Blunders: A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be, R. M. Youngson and Robert Youngson, published by Carroll & Graf (1998), ISBN 0-7867-0594-9.

The Greatest Blunders of World War II, Horace Edward Henderson, published by iUniverse (2001), ISBN 0-595-16267-3.

The 100 Greatest Sports Blunders of All Time, Eldon L. Ham, published by Masters Press (1997), ISBN 1-57028-159-9.

The Book of Heroic Failures , Stephen Pile.

External links Historic Blunders Batman #66 - A classic Batman story involving the great blunders of all time. Five famous military blunders - From the History Channel. Business Bungles and Blunders - A blog of famous business bungles and

blunders. Cross Cultural Blunders - a look at funnny blunders abroad.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_famously_considered_great_blunders"