Doing something stupid, or just being an idiot in general isn’t the same as holding the idiot ball.
the person carrying the idiot ball is often acting out of character, misunderstanding something that could be cleared up by asking a single reasonable question or performing a simple problem-solving action, but that he isn’t doing solely because the writers don’t want him to. It’s almost as if the character is being willfully stupid or obtuse.
Doing something stupid, or just being an idiot in general isn’t the same as holding the idiot ball.