Cheaters, Luck, and Scandals: The 20 Most Controversial Champs in Sports History, Ranked

20.1993-94 Houston Rockets

When Michael Jordan retired to play baseball, teams around the league saw a chance to finally take home a championship after the Bulls three-peated from 1991 to 1993.

The Houston Rockets emerged as the most likely candidates, winning their first fifteen games of the regular season. Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 27 points, 11.9 rebounds, and almost 4 blocks per game on his way to winning MVP, and the Rockets sliced through the Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz before meeting the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. With some help from John Starks’ awful shooting in Game 7, the Rockets dashed Patrick Ewing’s hopes of getting a ring.

Still, a debate ensued: Would the Rockets have won if Jordan hadn’t retired? For his part, Kenny Smith told All the Smoke that the Rockets would’ve won even if MJ played. “We woulda beat they ass,” he said, insisting that fatigue would’ve eventually caught up with the Bulls. “He’s not gonna win eight in a row. He’s not.”

Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995, but the Rockets missed their date with destiny after the Orlando Magic eliminated Chicago in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Houston would then go on to sweep the Magic to claim back-to-back NBA championships. But the fact that the Bulls three-peated from 1996-98 had many hoops fans thinking the Rockets caught a break with MJ in cleats. —Jerry L. Barrow

19.2000 New York Yankees

Despite being two-time defending champions, the New York Yankees staggered into the postseason losing 13 of their final 15 games. But they hit their stride in the postseason, taking out the Oakland Athletics in five games and the Seattle Mariners in six. Their run continued with an extra-inning win against their crosstown rivals the New York Mets in Game 1 of the World Series.

Roger Clemens took the mound in Game 2 with a simple game plan: Don’t let Mike Piazza beat him. Piazza had been Clemens’ kryptonite. In four previous games, the Mets catcher was 7-for-12 with three home runs against the Rocket. Earlier in the season, Clemens ensured Piazza couldn’t add to his stat line. He beaned him in the head with a 90+ fastball. Clemens went a step further in the first inning of Game 2 after Piazza hit an innocuous foul ball that shattered his bat in Clemens direction. The Rocket picked up the jagged shard and whipped it towards Piazza who was trotting down the first base line.

Attempted assault with a deadly weapon typically garners an ejection or at least getting thrown in timeout. Instead, it resulted in a bench clearing scrum and Clemens went on to pitch eight shutout innings. (He was later fined $50,000 for the incident.) The Mets would get to the Yankees bullpen but lost the game 6-5 and the series in a gentleman’s sweep. But their fortunes might have been different had Clemens been rightfully tossed in the first inning for his tirade. —Ian Stonebrook

18.2007 New York Giants

As the stage set for Super Bowl XLII, it appeared the New York Giants were heading for a beating of epic proportions. The New England Patriots, coming in undefeated at 18-0 thanks to Tom Brady and a rejuvenated Randy Moss, were a heavy favorite toeing towards history.

Thankfully for Eli Manning’s respectfully mid roster, luck, guts, and equipment were on their side. Infamously, a third-and-5 chuck to utility wideout David Tyree, a special teams player most of the season, turned into a jump ball-turned tie-up-turned “Helmet Catch.” The miraculous 32-yard reception wound up being the last catch of Tyree’s career, resulting in an upset for the ages. Adding insult to injury, the referees missed a blatant holding call on Giants center Shaun O’Hara when Manning was in the grasp of two Patriots defenders. A decade later, O’Hara admitted he committed a penalty prior to the Helmet Catch. “I said, ‘Screw it,’” he told ESPN. “I was squeezing [Richard Seymour’s] trachea as hard as I could and not letting go.”

The referees held on to their yellow handkerchiefs and a box of perfect season Patriots t-shirts ended up being donated to Nicaraguan children. —IS

17.2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers were the favorite to win the NBA Championship when the season was suspended on March 11, 2020, after the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Four months later when an amended season was restarted inside a bubble in Walt Disney World, the Lakers odds increased. No team benefitted from the break more than Los Angeles. Led by then-35-year-old LeBron James and the injury-prone Anthony Davis, the break ensured the Lakers were rested and healthy when the playoffs commenced in August.

With no hostile crowds, no flights and having ample time for recovery, the king and his men ran roughshod through the Western Conference, needing five games to eliminate the Trail Blazers, Rockets, and Nuggets, respectively, before beating the Miami Heat in six games to bring Jeanie Buss her first title since taking over as the Lakers controlling owner after her father’s death in 2013. —IS 

16.1998-99 Dallas Stars

Brett Hull has 741 goals and two Stanley Cup titles to his name. Only one of each involves an asterisk. Deep into a triple-overtime game in Buffalo, Hull’s skate slid slightly into the crease as he pushed the puck past GOAT’d goalie Dominik Hasek in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. The go-ahead goal ended not only Game 6 but the entire series.

Initially, the home team players and coaches kept quiet, stunned at the outcome and unaware of the oversight. Once off the ice, the Sabres protested the controversial goal after witnessing replays in the locker room and seeing league commissioner Gary Bettman hand over the trophy. Twenty-six years later, the Sabres have yet to return to the Stanley Cup Finals and are in the midst of a 14-year run without making the playoffs. —IS

15.1998-99 San Antonio Spurs

The year was 1999. The sky was falling, computers were crashing, and Charles Oakley was slapping Hall of Famers. When a nearly seven-month lockout ended on January 20, teams and executives scrambled to fill out their rosters and get training camps underway for a 50-game regular season unlike any other. The shortened season featured a compressed schedule (back-to-back-to-backs and four games in five days were the norm) and really bad basketball, poor-shooting affairs with scores in the 60s and 70s. Every team was impacted and couldn’t find their rhythm — except for the San Antonio Spurs who took off following a 6-8 start to the season.

The Spurs won 31 of their final 36 games and cruised through the Western Conference, eliminating the Timberwolves in four, before sweeping the Lakers and Trail Blazers. They also faced little resistance in the NBA Finals, dominating the no. 8 seed New York Knicks, who were without Patrick Ewing and others, in five games.

But doubts about their championship started before the champagne was popped. In March 1999, Phil Jackson, on a one-year hiatus from coaching, said the eventual championship would be “tainted” and would be marked by “an asterisk anyway,” an accusation the NBA’s biggest troll would utter again and again over the next quarter century.

Feelings of a fluke were amplified as the Spurs suffered a first-round exit a year later, becoming the first Finals champ to not repeat since the ‘86 Celtics. —IS

14.2002 Ohio State Buckeyes, NCAA Football

In a tight, sloppy, wildly entertaining national championship game between Miami and Ohio State, one referee decided to leave his mark. Trailing by seven in overtime, the Buckeyes faced a fourth-and-3. They needed to score, otherwise the Hurricanes would win their 35th straight game and defend their title. Then: chaos. Quarterback Craig Krenzel threw to his trusted wideout Chris Gamble, who dropped the ball after being locked up with Miami defensive back Glen Sharpe. The Hurricanes had won the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. But three seconds later, back judge Terry Porter threw his flag for pass interference. The Buckeyes eventually punched it into the end zone from the one yard-line and snatched victory in the second overtime, claiming their first title since 1968.

It was a bitter end to Miami’s dynastic run under head coach Larry Coker—one of those subjective decisions that changed the trajectory and legacy of everyone involved. Yes, the game was won and lost on many other plays and situations, but a late flag, not even thrown by the referee closest to the action, forever tarnishes what was otherwise one of the greatest championship games of all time. —Jake Kring-Schreifels

13.1986 Argentina, Men's World Cup

If the use of hands were allowed in soccer, we’d likely have higher scoring games and higher ratings in America. That type of progressive thinking was put to the test in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup when Argentinean starboy Diego Maradona finished off futbol’s equivalent of a give-and-go by pump faking a header and punching the ball past English goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Known forever as the “Hand of God” goal, the momentum shifting score evaded the eyes of the refs and put Argentina ahead of England, the birthplace of soccer. Around four minutes later, Maradona would score again, a long, glorious run past multiple English defenders that sent lovers of the beautiful game into hysterics. But the Hand of God overshadowed Maradona’s achievement and soiled Argentina’s eventual World Cup win. In 2005, nearly two decades later, Maradona confessed on television that he had used his hand to score the goal. News spread globally inciting another round of PTSD. —IS

12.1988-89 Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Men's Basketball

The 1989 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship between Seton Hall and Michigan came down to the wire with the underdog Pirates clinging to a 79-78 lead. All the elements were there for a thrilling finale. With ten seconds remaining, Michigan’s Glen Rice corralled an airball and found point guard Rumeal Robinson, who pushed the ball up the court. But just as Robinson drove the lane, referee John Clougherty called Seton Hall’s Gerald Greene for a blocking foul. There was minimal, if any, contact — the very definition of a ticky-tack foul. From there, Robinson calmly sank both free throws; Seton Hall’s Daryll Walker’s desperation heave bounced harmlessly of the glass; Michigan were national champions; and Seton Hall were left stunned.

Pirates head coach P.J. Carlesimo refused to criticize Clougherty afterwards. Twenty-five years later he remained gracious. “Sure, I wish he hadn’t made the call, but the thing that everyone forgets is if he hadn’t made the call, they were going to get a shot,’’ he said. “Rumeal would have dribbled himself into a jump shot or he would have passed it to Loy Vaught and Loy would have taken an elbow jump shot.”

Which is the point most fans were making. They’d much rather a championship game be decided by the players making or missing a shot than by an ill-advised whistle in the final seconds. —JLB

11.2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning

Though a franchise in Florida defeating a Canadian club might sound like an upset, the Calgary Flames were underdogs in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals against the powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning. Still, the Flames, led by sniper Jarome Iginla, were up three games to two and seemed poised to collect their first Stanley Cup since 1989.

With around seven minutes remaining in Game 6, the Flames’ Martin Gelinas, who was nicknamed The Eliminator after scoring series-winning goals that spring against Vancouver, Detroit, and San Jose, appeared to have struck again. Gelinas redirected the puck past Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin but Tampa’s Dave Andreychuk cleared the puck before officials could tell if it crossed the crease. Because there was no on-ice goal signal, the play was not reviewed. Martin St. Louis would score 33 seconds into the second overtime forcing a Game 7 which Tampa would win 2-1. Flames fans still insist they were cheated. When the Flames retired Miikka Kiprusoff’s number in 2024, the Saddledome crowd chanted, “It Was In.” —IS

10.2005-06 Miami Heat

Dwyane Wade’s superhero-like performance against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals cemented his status as an all-time great. Flash averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 6 games to help bring the Miami Heat their first NBA championship. But it’s how he scored those points that was unsettling to people like then-Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Wade attempted a Finals record 97 free throws in the series, averaging over 16 per game. There were touch fouls, flops, ticky tack calls. The referees seemed to give the third-year shooting guard the benefit of the doubt on every 50-50 whistle. Wade insisted that his aggressive play got him to the line so often, but former NBA referee Tim Donaghy later claimed that the league wanted to extend the series after Dallas jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The league found no wrongdoing, yet almost two decades later Cuban is still saltier than payusnaya caviar. "I'll take that to my grave that it was stolen from us,” the tech billionaire insisted in a 2025 interview. —JLB

9.2023 Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football

On one hand, the 2023-24 Michigan Wolverines appear to be one of the most dominant teams in recent memory. In their ninth season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, they ran the table at 15-0, finally defeated rival Ohio State, outscored opponents by a total of 538 to 156, shut out Iowa in the Big Ten championship game 26-0, and defeated a game Alabama team in the Rose Bowl, before dominating No. 2 Wahington 34-13 in the National Championship. However it all happened under a cloud of controversy when it was revealed that staffer Connor Stallions had stolen signs from future opponents via a network of spies who conducted illegal off-campus in-season scouting. The network of individuals was referred to as the KGB. Nothing shady there.

Michigan didn’t have their championship revoked following a nearly two-year investigation. But in August 2025 the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions levied a $20 million fine against the school, suspended new head coach Sherrone Moore for three games, and dropped a ten-year “show cause” penalty against Harbaugh, who, by that point, had decamped for a job with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, that begins in 2028. Why 2028? Harbaugh is already serving a four-year show cause for earlier infractions. —JLB

8.1990 Colorado Buffaloes, NCAA Football

First Down: a bubble jacket brand promoted by Jamie Foxx in the mid ‘90s. Fifth Down: an extra play awarded to the 1990 Colorado Buffaloes in a road win over the lowly Missouri Tigers in early October of one of the strangest college football seasons ever played.

At the tail end of a muddy yet high scoring affair at Faurot Field, the No. 12 ranked Buffaloes hustled into their hurry up offense against the unranked Tigers. A slew of slips, spikes, and strategic timeouts all amounted to the chain gang failing to flip down the downs marker after a goal line stand, allowing a "fifth down" touchdown to win the game. The Buffaloes wound go on to finish 11-1-1 and claim a share of the National Championship after defeating Notre Dame 10-9 in the Orange Bowl, leaving the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as co-champions. That stings. —IS

7.2006-07 AC Milan, Champions League

The 2006-07 AC Milan season ended in glory but began in contention. Ties to the Calciopoli scandal implicated the Italian club in the ring of the referee manipulation and match-fixing controversies. Similar bad behavior had cost Juventus its 2005 and 2006 Series A title and the club was forcibly relegated to Serie B. AC Milan, however, were only docked eight points prior to the 2006-07 season and allowed to participate in Champions League after initially being barred.

Evading suspension and entering an easy pool, Milan made the most of their undeserving opportunity, riding the Golden Boot of Kaká to the finals. An Athens takedown of Liverpool completed a season many fans felt should’ve never happened in the first place. —IS

6.2018 Boston Red Sox

Anything you can do, we can do quieter. That could have been the motto manager Alex Cora brought into the Red Sox clubhouse to start the 2018 campaign. After winning the World Series with the Astros the year before, Cora got mixed up in another, albeit less-blatant, sign-stealing scandal—this time implemented by J.T. Watkins, the Red Sox video replay system operator, who utilized game feeds to supply information to runners at second base, who would then relay catcher signs to hitters.

The Red Sox got off relatively easy. Watkins was suspended for the entirety of the shortened 2020 season, the team forfeited a second-round draft pick, and Cora finished out his own suspension from his Astros sign-stealing involvement. Mookie Betts even admitted the team used the video to their advantage—before claiming just about every team had some kind of sign-stealing system in place. The degree of deceit might be less than Houston’s, but rules are still rules, and the Red Sox got caught red-handed during a year they won it all. —JKS

5.2001 New England Patriots

There tends to be leniency when officiating a sport’s elite athletes, but it’s rare to enforce an obscure rule in favor of a fresh-faced quarterback. And yet, that’s what happened in the 2002 AFC Divisional playoffs, when the Patriots pulled off a snow-covered victory against the Raiders in overtime. In the final minute of regulation, with New England down 13-10, Tom Brady was sacked in Oakland territory and fumbled, effectively ending the team’s comeback. Until referees reviewed the replay and, citing the “Tuck Rule,” determined Brady’s “pass” was actually incomplete, the result of his arm having already moved forward. Adam Viniatieri eventually tied the game and the Patriots rode the momentum to the first of six Super Bowl titles.

It’s a great sliding doors moment in NFL history. Had the Raiders been allowed to recover the football, would the Patriots dynasty have achieved similar glory? Later that decade, the NFL investigated the Patriots for illegally taping Rams practices ahead of that same Super Bowl, thanks to a since-retracted Boston Herald story that alleged wrongdoing. Though the Pats were absolved for any malfeasance that season, the allegations further tainted their first Lombardi trophy. And despite the Tuck Rule being officially eliminated in 2013, Raiders fans have never been able to put the call behind them. —JKS 

4.2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers

The 2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers may have had to overcome internal tension between their biggest stars, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, but they also got plenty of help from the referees on their way to three-peating as NBA champs.

Facing elimination in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the rival Sacramento Kings, the Lakers pulled out a 106-102 squeaker despite going nearly half of the fourth quarter without making a field goal. How did they do it? Los Angeles shot an absurd 27 free throws (going 21-for-27) in the fourth quarter compared to the Kings’ eight. There were some egregiously bad calls along the way, including some that Kings’ fans can still recite nearly a quarter-century later: Shaq trucking the undersized Lawrence Funderburke; Divac’s sixth foul with just under three minutes remaining; Mike Bibby getting called for a blocking foul after eating Kobe’s elbow resulting in a bloody nose. Something didn’t sit well.

Years later, disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy claimed in court filing that referees fixed calls during the series to ensure that it went seven games. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the Sacramento Kings should have a ring on their finger,” Donaghy said. “They got robbed.” Then-NBA commissioner David Stern denied the allegations, of course, yet there was no question about his rooting interests. When asked in 2004 to name his dream NBA Finals, Stern said, “The Lakers vs. the Lakers.” —JLB

3.2001 Rolando Paulino All-Stars, Little League Baseball

Make no mistake: Danny Almonte dominated the 2001 Little League World Series. The lefty flamethrower, representing the Rolando Paulino All-Stars in the Bronx, possessed a 70-mph heater, struck out 62 of 72 total batters, and threw the tournament's first perfect game in 44 years en route to winning the mid-Atlantic regional title and a third-place finish at Williamsport. But something felt off about his mound dominance. Almonte, who earned the nickname “Little Unit,” stood at 5-foot-8, well above his peers and opponents, and looked mentally sharper than the average 12-year-old. It wasn’t long before other coaches began to question whether Almonte actually belonged on the field in the first place. Spoiler: He didn’t.

After investigating the authenticity of Almonte’s actual age, a pair of Sports Illustrated journalists found that the Dominican-born pitcher had two official birth certificates—one of which made him 14 years old, a blatant violation of Little League rules. When a records official ultimately determined his parents had falsified their son’s documents, the Little League charter committee stripped the team of its victories (including its third-place finish) and redacted Almonte’s perfect game. The scandal changed Little League certificate requirements and forever tarnished Almonte’s name. The only thing the team got to keep? The keys to New York City. —JKS

2.1972 Soviet Union, Men's Olympic Basketball Team

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Such sentiment became the unofficial rallying call of the 1972 Soviet Union Men’s Olympics Basketball team, immortalized in Gold by allies of the striped-shirt variety.

Despite entering the Gold Medal game on a 63-game Olympic winning streak, Team USA faced a tough test against the veteran USSR. Still, they were ahead 50-49 after Doug Collins sank two free throws with three seconds remaining.

The Soviet Union then inbounded the ball as the clock started but Soviet officials protested that they had called timeout. On take two, the United States intercepted the Soviets second inbounds pass and began celebrating. Once again, the referees ordered to restart the play citing that the clock hadn’t been reset to a full three seconds. The Soviets then scored on their third attempt after a referee ordered Tom McMillen to back off the inbounding player, allowing the Soviets to have a clear, unobstructed view for a pass the length of the court. Team USA protested to no avail and refused their silver medals, which remain stored in a vault in Switzerland. —IS

1.2017 Houston Astros

At the beginning of 2017, the Houston Astros found another use for their home dugout’s trash can. According to MLB investigators, bench coach Alex Cora arranged for a video monitor, displaying a centerfield camera feed, to be installed in the Astros’ dugout tunnel. Then, during live at-bats, players would bang a trash can with a bat or Theragun once or twice to signal whether an off-speed pitch was coming. The blatant scheme made just about everyone—from fans to front offices, to opposing players—want to stuff the team inside that same trash can. (That year’s disputed MVP, Jose Altuve, probably would have fit.)

Did the Astros have to forfeit their seven-game World Series victory over the Dodgers? Nope. Did any of their players get disciplined? Ha, are you kidding? The only major wreckage: MLB fined Houston $5 million and took away several top draft picks, while the team fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. Not to mention the chorus of boos that serenaded the team wherever it went on the road after the scandal emerged. Asked on MLB Network whether or not their championship should be considered tainted, Hinch effectively shrugged. "It's a fair question," he said. "And I think everyone's going to have to draw their own conclusion." At this point, the conclusion seems unanimous. —JKS