Humiliation is without doubt one of the strongest human feelings. We always remember it when it occurs to us, and when channeled successfully, it will possibly assist us to develop into the perfect variations of ourselves. Nonetheless, humiliation is an especially uncomfortable expertise; we don’t prefer it when it occurs to us, and we actually don’t prefer to see it occur to individuals we care about.
The look on an individual’s face after they’re embarrassed is one which all of us acknowledge nicely. What when you’re an elite golfer who utterly misses a shot on nationwide tv? Or think about one of many best basketball gamers of all time immortalizing you in probably the most unflattering manner attainable.
This checklist is all about humiliation: how we take care of it, and the way we hopefully bounce again whereas studying from it. All of us have had moments so humbling that we wished we’d simply stayed in mattress that day. On this checklist, we’re going to learn the way different individuals handled this uncomfortable emotion in actual time.
Associated: 10 Expertise Shifts That Are Making Folks Uneasy
10 Joe “Iso Joe” Johnson Takes Basketball Corridor-of-Famer Paul Pierce to College
In skilled basketball, there’s a time period to explain probably the most disrespectful performs that one participant can execute on one other: breaking his or her ankles. In layman’s phrases, which means the offensive participant adjustments course so quickly that the defensive participant doesn’t have time to maintain up. Normally, the defensive participant slips or falls, including to the comedic impact of the humiliating play. In 2012, the now-retired skilled basketball participant Joe “Iso Joe” Johnson executed such a vicious transfer on NBA legend Paul Pierce.
On Nov. 28, 2012, Joe Johnson efficiently pulled off a play on Paul Pierce that had all the components of an important ankle-breaking session: extremely fast dribbling expertise with the ball held very low to the bottom, a fast change of course that prompted Paul Pierce to fall down, after which a flawless execution of really hitting the shot. After making the basket, Johnson merely smiled as he converted to defensive mode, understanding that he had simply embarrassed one of many best gamers to ever play the sport of basketball professionally.
In 2019, Tracy McGrady, one other retired NBA legend, lovingly took Paul Pierce down reminiscence lane on their ESPN sports activities present. In a section known as “The Biggest Ankle Breakers of All Time,” Paul Pierce was pressured to look at and relive a special 2012 encounter the place he had his ankles damaged by NBA participant Jameer Nelson. To his credit score, Pierce laughed, smiled, and took the loving ribbing by his pals in stride.[1]
9 Whiplash Movie’s Band Director Humiliates Out-of-Tune Musician
As a musician myself, this merchandise on the checklist actually resonated with me. No musician likes to have their musicianship, or lack thereof, known as out publicly. The 2014 film Whiplash has an extremely emotional scene the place a band director, performed by actor J.Okay. Simmons, embarrasses a trombone participant within the band in entrance of all of his colleagues. You’ll instantly acknowledge the band director actor as the identical man who performed J. Jonah Jameson within the three Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies.
Because the scene progresses, the band director first says that somebody within the band is taking part in out of tune. He then asks the particular person to voluntarily determine themselves. When nobody confesses, he slowly begins to slim down who the offender is, till he pinpoints one particular person. He then proceeds to humiliate and dismiss the particular person in probably the most soul-crushing manner.
I’m grateful that I’ve by no means skilled this in a musical setting in my life, however I might really feel the ache as I watched the superbly acted scene. The scene fairly clearly resonated with lots of people: the video has amassed hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.[2]
8 Chess Prodigy Reveals Billionaire Businessman Who’s Boss
Magnus Carlsen is indubitably one of many best chess gamers of all time. He’s a five-time World Chess Champion, and he has held the number one place within the Worldwide Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings since 2011. In the same success story, Invoice Gates is without doubt one of the richest and most profitable businessmen of all time with a internet value of over $115 billion (USD) as of mid-2025.
The chess encounter between the 2 males was not actually a case of humiliation: it was simply pleasant banter and competitors. Invoice Gates certainly had no expectation of competing in any significant manner by taking part in chess towards one of many best chess minds of all time. I give him credit score for the willingness to attempt… publicly. The outcomes have been precisely as you’d have anticipated.
When Magnus Carlsen goes up towards a chess opponent, he goes straight for the jugular. He’s not solely one of many best chess gamers of all time, however he’s additionally one of many best velocity chess gamers of all time. Which means that his strategic thoughts works very quickly, and he can visualize many potentialities and performs prematurely. Which means that although Invoice Gates is an especially clever man, he was manner out of his depth on this competitors.
Carlsen wanted solely about twelve seconds of his personal clock time to soundly defeat Gates. The truth is, your entire video, together with greetings and post-game feedback, solely took one minute and twenty-eight seconds. Invoice Gates realized firsthand that true chess genius is an actual, tangible entity that may be each highly effective and humbling whenever you come face-to-face with it.[3]
7 Professional Golfer Utterly Misses the Ball
Golf is a troublesome sport that requires a singular mixture of grit, willpower, talent, bodily power and health, willpower, and self-discipline. Nonetheless, even world-class skilled golfers have dangerous days. In 2018, skilled golfer Beatriz Recari endured the uncommon and dreaded whiff: when a golfer utterly misses the ball throughout their swing. The YouTube clip of her whiff has a whole bunch of hundreds of views as of late 2025. The look on her face on the finish of the video speaks a thousand phrases, starting from embarrassment to frustration and disappointment.
Nonetheless, nice athletes don’t let their moments of problem outline them. Recari had an extended and profitable skilled golf profession that spanned sixteen years on the Women European Tour and the LPGA Tour (2006–2022).
In 2022, she introduced that she had retired from skilled golf to reside a extra relaxed life at her dwelling in Miami, Florida. Throughout her profession, she overcame many struggles, together with a battle with an consuming dysfunction. At one level in 2007, she weighed lower than 100 kilos. Nonetheless, she was in a position to admit her dysfunction, and he or she battled again to regain her skilled golf type. She received the Finnair Masters golf event in 2009, and he or she received the LPGA as soon as in 2010 and twice in 2013.
She determined to finish her profession in 2022 after many hip and leg-related accidents decreased her skill to play at an elite degree. Her profitable profession enormously overshadows her uncommon and embarrassing momentary whiff.[4]
6 Knuckleball Grasp Tim Wakefield Strikes Out 4 Batters in One Inning
The knuckleball is without doubt one of the most troublesome pitches for batters to hit, probably the most troublesome for catchers to catch, and probably the most troublesome for pitchers to grasp. There are solely a handful of pitchers in Main League Baseball historical past who’re thought-about masters of throwing the knuckleball: Phil and Joe Niekro, Hoyt Wilhelm, Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey, Charlie Hough, and Tom Candiotti. Of those males, solely Dickey has received the coveted Cy Younger Award, which he earned as a member of the 2012 New York Mets. To be a grasp of the knuckleball is to be part of a really small and elite group.
The physics of what makes the knuckleball so troublesome to hit, catch, and throw are quite simple. A traditional pitch, like a fastball or a curveball, spins quickly because it travels by way of the air. This spin grips the air and permits the pitcher to rigorously management its motion. Nonetheless, the knuckleball is the precise reverse: it’s thrown with nearly no spin in any respect, and studying tips on how to throw with low spin takes years of devoted observe. Because the ball floats towards the plate, the air pushes on the seams unpredictably and erratically, inflicting it to flutter, dance, and rise or dive on the final second. The hitter, pitcher, or catcher can’t predict how a knuckleball will transfer as a consequence of its irregular physics.
Hitters and pitchers in skilled baseball have loads of pleasure. To make it to the Main Leagues takes years of dedication, exhausting work, and beating out different wonderful gamers for the comparatively few coveted positions. One of the vital dominant issues a pitcher can do is to strike out all the batters they face in an inning. It’s even attainable, although uncommon, for a pitcher to strike out 4 batters in a single inning, which happens if a catcher drops the third strike and the batter safely reaches first base. That pitcher was Tim Wakefield.
The late Tim Wakefield spent 17 years with the Boston Crimson Sox, and his mastery of the knuckleball gave him an excessive amount of profession longevity. The knuckleball is thrown at a comparatively low velocity, which implies that it delivers a lot much less put on and tear on the pitcher’s arm, permitting them to have an extended profession. For instance, grasp knuckleballer Charlie Hough loved a 25-season profession in skilled baseball.
On Aug. 10, 1999, Tim Wakefield completed the unlikely feat of hanging out 4 members of the Kansas Metropolis Royals in a single inning utilizing his elusive pitch. The ball escaped the catcher throughout one of many strikeouts, permitting the runner to achieve base. Nonetheless, Wakefield’s knuckleball proved to be an excessive amount of for 3 different batters. That inning cemented his place as one of many best knuckleballers of all time.[5]
5 Amadeus: Mozart Humbles Salieri in Entrance of an Emperor
Amongst music-related field workplace hits, the 1984 American drama movie Amadeus is without doubt one of the most well-known. The movie revamped $90 million (USD) on the field workplace on a funds of $18 million. It’s probably the most adorned movies of all time: it was nominated for 53 awards and it acquired 40 of them, together with eight Academy Awards. It acquired the 1984 Academy Award for Finest Image and Finest Director.
One of many key motifs of the film was envy: how an elite composer can develop into jealous of one other composer who’s at a genius degree. The movie tells the story of the aged musical composer Antonio Salieri, who finds the precocious reward of a a lot youthful composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, to be each divine and infuriating. The film tells the story of how Salieri finds it unattainable that such lovely music emerges from the thoughts of such an immature and vulgar particular person.
In one of many film’s most memorable scenes, Mozart performs one among Salieri’s compositions for the Emperor as if the composition have been a easy tune written by a baby. Then, Mozart proceeds to play it because it ought to have been composed if it have been created by a real grasp. The look on Salieri’s face as Mozart ornaments his piece is priceless. I just lately watched an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson on The Diary of a CEO the place he suggested that it is best to “expose your self to one thing that humbles you each single day.”
Nonetheless, after I watch the scene from Amadeus, I can think about how crushing it could have felt to have one’s life’s work trivialized in entrance of the Emperor by a precocious man-child. The wonderful scene combines humor, the sting of envy, and the wonderful, plain energy of uncooked, unfettered genius.[6]
4 Elite Marathoner Destroys the Discipline
The leaders in a 26.2 marathon race usually end in occasions that differ by seconds. Nonetheless, the boys’s winner within the 2025 Chicago Marathon completely destroyed the remainder of the sector. Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo completed the race in 2 hours, 2 minutes, and 23 seconds, about one and a half minutes earlier than the second-place finisher.
I watched the video of Kiplimo crossing the end line, and what’s so wonderful is which you could’t even see any of the opposite runners but. Now and again, an elite athlete emerges who’s thus far forward of the competitors that the battle nearly now not appears honest. Normally, that particular person is internally pushed by some expertise that pushes them far tougher than everybody else. For instance, Michael Jordan’s father favored his older brother over him, and that drove him to show to his father that he, too, was worthy of his consideration.
I’m undecided what drove Jacob Kiplimo to such a exceptional end. Even on the elite ranges of accomplishment, some outliers exist on a degree all on their very own.[7]
3 MLB Pitcher Makes His Opponent Look Silly With Cartoonish Eephus Pitch
I’m an enormous baseball fan, so this checklist contained two baseball-related objects. Just like the knuckleball, the eephus pitch is notoriously troublesome, however for a totally completely different motive. The knuckleball’s lack of rotation ends in unpredictable actions, whereas the eephus pitch has a special secret: its exceptionally sluggish velocity and its extraordinarily excessive arc. The eephus pitch is usually thrown at a velocity of between 35 and 55 miles per hour (about 56 to 89 km/h). That is far slower than the fastball, which will be thrown in extra of 100 miles per hour (about 161 km/h).
The extraordinarily sluggish velocity and excessive arc of the eephus pitch is extremely troublesome for skilled baseball gamers to hit as a result of it’s so a lot slower and a lot completely different than the pitches that they’re used to. This makes the eephus pitch considerably of a novelty that’s not often thrown in actual video games. Since its effectiveness is dependent upon it not being anticipated, throwing it an excessive amount of would most likely result in catastrophe: it being hit 400-plus toes (about 122 meters) into the stands.
One of the vital well-known eephus pitch strikeouts within the historical past {of professional} baseball occurred on Sept. 9, 1981. The New York Yankees have been taking part in towards the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the sixth inning of the sport, and Yankees pitcher Dave LaRoche was going through Brewers hitter Gorman Thomas. In a way, throwing an eephus pitch will be seen as a bit of bit disrespectful as a result of the pitch just isn’t taken 100% critically: it’s sort of a humorous novelty. So when LaRoche struck out Gorman Thomas with the high-arcing, cartoonish pitch, the group roared in approval. I’m certain that anytime LaRoche and Gorman met after that 1981 day, that pitch was a humorous subject of dialog.[8]
2 Carl Lewis Butchers the Nationwide Anthem in Entrance of Air Jordan and Others
Carl Lewis is without doubt one of the best sprinters and Olympians of all time, however there are occasions when an individual has to learn to keep of their lane. Typically, a excessive degree of accomplishment in a single space makes an individual far too assured in areas by which they haven’t any enterprise treading. Lewis realized this lesson the exhausting manner.
Once you fail so badly that the YouTube video of your failure racks up hundreds of thousands of views, that’s a powerful signal that it is best to have simply remained in mattress that day. Carl Lewis was invited to sing the Nationwide Anthem earlier than a Nets–Bulls recreation on the Meadowlands on Jan. 21, 1993. This was on the peak of the Bulls’ first rise to prominence. Earlier than Michael Jordan’s first retirement from basketball, he was within the area the evening that this occurred.
Lewis proceeded to carry out a cringeworthy, off-key rendition of the Nationwide Anthem that’s so dangerous that, as a lifelong Chicagoan, I had a really troublesome time getting by way of the entire thing. I needed to mute the amount as I watched the seems to be of disbelief on the faces of the gamers.
As I watched the video, I used to be reminded of a little bit of knowledge by the late nice Phil Woods (the saxophonist who performed the solo on Billy Joel’s “Simply the Means You Are”). “I by no means carry out a bit in public that I haven’t completely practiced in non-public.”[9]
1 Air Jordan Showers His Opponents in Shards of Damaged Glass
Michael Jordan was one of many fiercest rivals within the historical past {of professional} sports activities. I watched an interview along with his son, Marcus, the place he stated that his dad didn’t know tips on how to flip it off. Even when he was competing towards his sons at dwelling, he would go at them simply as exhausting as he did his skilled opponents.
In August of 1985, Air Jordan attended a Nike-sponsored basketball occasion in Trieste, Italy, and all hell broke unfastened. One of the vital memorable occasions within the historical past of organized basketball occurred at that occasion: I’ll get to that in a bit. First, we have to go over some historical past.
Darryl Dawkins was often called “Chocolate Thunder,” and he singlehandedly modified the sport {of professional} basketball ceaselessly. The truth is, he utterly modified how the basketball rim is designed. In 1979, Darryl Dawkins shattered the glass of an NBA backboard not as soon as, however twice. After the second occasion, he was known as into the NBA commissioner’s workplace for a one-way dialog. The commissioner mainly stated, “Please don’t do it once more.” To reduce the probability of gamers shattering NBA backboards ever once more, the rim was redesigned to interrupt away when the drive utilized to it by the participant exceeded a sure threshold.
Now, again to Mr. Jordan. What made Jordan’s dunk so exceptional was this: His dunk and his shattering of the backboard have been completely timed. Nearly not one of the falling glass touched him, whereas the three opposing gamers have been utterly showered in falling glass. As I used to be compiling this checklist, not solely did I do know beforehand that this was going to be the final word merchandise, however it was watching this video a few years in the past that impressed me to compile this checklist.
As of late 2025, the glass bathe has amassed greater than six million views on YouTube. Thanks a lot for studying this checklist. I hope that you just loved it as a lot as I loved writing it![10]
