The Biggest Tech Fails in Sports History

As we wrote last week, sometimes, sports and techology can come together and collaborate for game-changing improvements that tweak our national pastimes for the better. Instant replay, medical advancements and the shot clock are just a few of the innovations that have made the competition more exciting and enjoyable to watch. But other times, technology can just come along and mess up the good thing we had going. Whether it's because of malfunctioning systems, poor testing or a player to using social media as a mouthpiece, changes to the game won't always be completely fool-proof. And when that happens, we end up with The Biggest Tech Fails in Sports History.

Year: 2013

Athletes on Twitter have given us plenty of LOL-worthy moments, but rarely do these moments have the potential to be career-ending as well. That didn't stop Chicago Cubs minor-leaguer Ian Stewart from trying, though. Frustrated by the organization's apparent lack of interest in his talents, Stewart took to Twitter this past week to vent his frustrations about manager Dale Sveum and the front office, saying that they were letting him "rot" in Triple-A ball. Yeah, it was definitely management's fault on this one, Ian. It has nothing to do with the fact that you're currently hitting .164 in the bush leagues.

Year: 1968

On November 17, 1968, the Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter to pull off an unlikely comeback against the New York Jets. Normally, this is a moment that would forever live in the minds of the lucky football fans who caught the game, but unfortunately, even those who decided to tune in that day were robbed of the unforgettable finish. Penalties and constant scoring caused the game to run longer than its allotted TV time slot of 4-7 p.m, and NBC execs had already made the decision to run the made-for-TV film Heidi right after. Though network higher-ups tried to contact the studio to reverse their decision at the last minute, but were unable to get a call through because the telephone switchboards at NBC were jammed up by all of the viewers phoning in to complain.

Year: 1990s

This is vintage Diesel. The NBA may have instituted breakaway rims, but that doesn't mean they could Shaq-proof their backboards. The first time it happened, he just went beast mode on the thing, but the second time, it basically looks like the backboard is bowing down to him.

Year: 1985

In the 1985 NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cards rookie left-fielder Vince Coleman would find himself knocked out of the series due to a freak encounter with Busch Stadium's automatic tarp system. A prolific base-stealer for St. Louis that season, Coleman's leg was run over by the tarp machine, severely bruising and chipping the bone in his knee. Though the Cards would go on to win the NLCS in seven games without Coleman's help, they'd end up falling to the Royals in the World Series. The tarp machine was replaced soon thereafter.

Year: 1996

Designed to address fan complaints about the visibility of the puck while watching the game on TV, Fox Sports debuted FoxTrax. Made with a built-in circuit board, the modified puck emitted infrared pulses that could be translated into computer graphics on a television screen. On TV, the puck would have a blue halo around it all times, and when it was passed or shot, a red, comet tail trailed behind. Basically it was like watching a live-action video game. Perceived as gimmicky and distracting by hardcore hockey fans, the idea was scrapped in 1998.

Year: 1966

Artificial turf certainly isn't in danger of disappearing any time soon, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't had its share of detractors since it was first installed by the Houston Astros in 1966. In soccer, the synethetic fiber surface has been blamed for an increase in injuries, slipping, and unpredictable ball movement. Artificial turf remains popular in the MLB and the NFL, but issues like turf toe, carpet burns and the heat-retaining properties of the fake grass remain a problem.

Year: 1990

Lights, please. Two years after the Bruins and Oilers had to replay Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the two teams met up at the ultimate stage again in 1990. And guess what happened? That's right, the power went out...again. Luckily, the game wasn't cancelled this time around, but it did result in a 25-minute delay. Both teams probably appreciated a breather at that point, though. The game was already in overtime, and would end being the longest contest in Cup Finals in history.

Year: 1973

Created by former Oakland A's owner Charles Finley, the Alert Orange Baseball is undoubtedly the shortest-lived of any sports "innovation." Quickly shelved after two days of testing during spring training, the orange-colored ball was intended to benefit fans and players by enhancing visibility. However, pitchers complained that the ball was slippery and difficult to grip, while batters said that the orange color made it too hard to read the spin on the ball. Lucky for them, Finley's fail would never see regular-season action.

Year: 2007

Uniform technology has been one of the major fields of innovation in sports for the past decade, but ultimately, it is the opinion of the actual athletes that matters most. Reebok learned this the hard way when the NHL debuted the apparel brand's new, supposedly more comfortable hockey sweaters in 2007. Advertised as lightweight and breathable, the jerseys were instead suffocating and unbearable. Players found themselves weighed down by the sheer amount of sweat they were accumulating from the new shirts, which were also easily torn. With their hand forced by players' complaints, Reebok dumped some features and so-called "improvements" before bringing out a new line of sweaters in 2008.

Year: 2013

In the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII, the Baltimore Ravens led the San Francisco 49ers 28-6 before a strange and lengthy power outage would effectively kill their momentum. Lasting 34 minutes, the power outage was apparently caused by a device that was made specifically for the purpose of preventing something like this from happening. Brilliant. Can we just all agree that Bane was behind it? That's a way cooler story.

Year: 1993

The 1993 heavyweight title fight was billed as Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield, but it was James Miller aka "Fan Man" who ended up getting knocked out. Equipped with a powered paraglider, Miller descended into the Las Vegas Caesar's Palace during the championship bout, but ran into trouble when his parachute lines became snagged on the overhead lights. He delayed the fight after he fell into the crowd and had to be taken away by security, spawning a legend and one incredible video in the process.

Year: 1988

Back before the Bruins moved to TD Garden, their home ice was never afforded the luxury of an air-conditioning system. Unfortunately for them, this was a problem when the warmer months came around as it would often result in fog rising up from the ice due to severe condensation. Such was the case during Game 4 of the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals between the B's and Edmonton Oilers--a game that ended up being cancelled altogether due to adverse playing conditions. However, it wasn't just the fog that contributed to the cancellation. Early on in the second period, the power gave out out in the arena, forcing a replay of the contest two days later. Double fail.

Year: 2010

Some advice for all you aspiring architects out there: If you build a dome in Minnesota, you better be damned sure that it's ready for some adverse weather conditions—this is Minnesota, after all. And in case you didn't know, THEY GET A LOT OF SNOW THERE. Apparently the builders of the Metrodome were unaware of this fact, because in 2010, after a severe winter storm and 17 inches of snowfall, the dome of the Vikings home stadium gave way when three roofing panels tore open. The Vikings were unable to play at home for the remainder of the season.

Year: 2006

The NBA's ill-advised switch to the Spalding synthetic basketball was ended after only a half-season of action due to players' gripes about inconsistent bounces, cut hands and fingers, and a strange stickiness to the ball that made passing and dribbling more difficult. At one point Dwyane Wade even claimed that the new ball was affecting his ability to score, saying, "My bank shot is no longer existent. My game-winning shots, I'm telling you, it's [in the] past." Eddy Curry also remarked, "The ball never leaves my hand the same way. It sticks to my middle finger. It bounces differently off the dribble and on the shot." Although, we're pretty sure that switching back to the old, leather ball still didn't save Curry's game.

Year: 1998

At this point, is there anyone who has a good word to say about the BCS? The oft-criticized bowl selection system has been a punching bag for fans, coaches and media alike since its inception in 1998. Driven by a computer-generated, polling formula, the BCS has often failed to create a fair and satisfying result for teams and fans, notably because of the system's inability to accommodate more than two teams of equal win-loss records. Even President Obama had beef with the system, saying in 2008, "I think any sensible person would say that if you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season and many of them have one loss or two losses [and] there's no clear decisive winner, that we should be creating a playoff system." Thankfully, college ball will be rolling out their College Football Playoff format for the 2014 season. This just goes to show that computers aren't as smart as we think.