Jim Joyce, Koman Coulibaly, Mauricio Espinosa, Joey Crawford. Chances are, you recognize at least a few of these names and have something not-so-nice to say about them. These men are just a few of the recent officials to be in the news for making poor calls in their respective sports.

The ruling of a goal in soccer (or futbol), is very simple. If the ball crosses the goal line - it’s a goal. That’s exactly what England’s Frank Lampard did on Sunday before referee Mauricio Espinosa disallowed the goal. The ball hit the top of the cross bar and clearly crossed the goal line. It had a ton of back spin and bounced out towards the goalie, and Espinosa had no idea if the ball ever crossed the goal line. Had that goal been allowed, England would’ve tied Germany, 2-2. Instead, Espinosa takes all the wind out of England’s sails and Germany tacks on two more goals to win 4-1.

In the qualifying rounds of the World Cup, the United State was victim of two poor calls, one that likely prevented a win in the opening round against Slovenia. With the score tied 2-2, referee Koman Coulibaly called something (we aren’t exactly sure what he saw) that disallowed what may have been the winning goal for the United States. The replay shows nothing that merits either a penalty or an offside call.

In the bottom of the 9^th of a June 1^st match-up between the Tigers and Indians, Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had just one out to go in what would’ve been the third perfect game of the 2010 season. Miguel Cabrera fielded a ground ball away from first base while Galarraga covered. Galarraga clearly made the play a half-step ahead of the runner. Yet Jim Joyce called him safe. Joyce took a perfect game away on what should’ve been the 27^th out of the game. Joyce immediately apologized after the game, but will always be remembered for this atrocious call.

NBA reffing can be a difficult task to judge. Most fouls are the equivalent to a pass interference call in the NFL- they are based on what the referee sees at the time, and a lot of the time can be argued either way (see Michael Jordan 1998 NBA Finals). However, this horrendous call was made in the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Blazers and Suns. Lucky for Joey Crawford, this call didn’t have major implications on the outcome of the game/series, so it hasn’t been as widely criticized. But the video doesn’t lie, it shows just how clueless Crawford was and that he obviously had no business blowing the whistle on this play.

All of these officiating mistakes happened within the past two months. Feel free to share thoughts on other notable gaffes.