Sports Figures Gone Mad

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Nov 12, 2009

Sports Figures Gone Mad

Elizabeth Lambert

New Mexico defender Elizabeth Lambert's exploits during a soccer game against BYU became national news when video showed her throwing elbows, colliding with players and yanking a ponytail (inset) to take an opposing player to the ground. Lambert was suspended for her infractions.

Milton Bradley

The Cubs' suspension of Bradley for conduct detrimental to the team (critical comments to a newspaper) is just the latest incident for the troubled outfielder. In his first season of a three-year, $30 million contract, Bradley has already worn out his welcome with manager Lou Piniella (who sent Bradley home in the middle of a game in June), his teammates (who support the suspension) and Chicago fans (who relentlessly boo him in Wrigley Field). The temperamental slugger has been a lightning rod for controversy. In 2007, Bradley tore his ACL during an altercation with first base umpire Mike Winters (Winters had reportedly used profanity towards Bradley and was suspended for the rest of the season and the playoffs). Last season, Bradley reportedly stormed to the press box and went after Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre in reaction to a comment Lefebvre said on the air.

Stephon Marbury

In an interview with a New York City NBC affiliate, New York Knicks Marbury was incoherent at times, veering off topic, refused to discuss the Knicks' upcoming season, made silly facial expressions toward the camera, insisted the interviewee do a dance while he was attempting to go to commercial and answered a call on his cell phone.

Joe Cullen

What could Cullen, the Lions' first-year defensive line coach, possibly have been thinking when he pulled a naked bootleg -- that's code, folks -- through a fast-food restaurant's drive-thru window in August 2006? He was suspended for one game by the NFL.

Terrell Owens

The petulant receiver's 2005 contract dispute with the Philadelphia Eagles proved bizarre even by T.O. standards. While lobbying for a renegotiation of his $49 million deal, Owens destroyed the fabric of the reigning NFC champs with repeated verbal barbs. But he lost it hours after Andy Reid issued T.O. a one-week suspension from training camp when the receiver started doing abdominal crunches in front of the media in the driveway of his Moorestown, N.J., home.

Ricky Williams

Williams shocked his Dolphins teammates when he retired just prior to the 2004 season at 27. Giving up $5 million in salary, Williams told a Miami paper he quit in part so he could smoke marijuana without punishment from the NFL, which reportedly was about to suspend the former Longhorn for four games for violating its substance-abuse policy. He then traveled the world from Europe to Fiji and lived on an Australian campground in a tent. He returned to study holistic healing in a small city near Sacramento. Three seasons later, Williams, who claims yoga cured him of his addiction to marijuana, was granted permission to return to the NFL.

Ron Artest

Long before sparking the worst NBA brawl in history against the Detroit Pistons in 2004 (for which he earned the longest suspension in NBA history), Artest applied to a Circuit City outlet in Chicago in an effort to qualify for an employee discount in the summer of 1999 -- after he had been selected as 16th overall pick in that summer's draft. Before anything could happen, the Chicago Bulls stepped in and made Artest withdraw the application.

Dennis Rodman

Among the many "quirky" actions of one of the best power forwards in the game, Rodman, who once wore a wedding dress to promote a book, picked an odd time to help friend Hulk Hogan wrestle in the WCW -- the 1998 NBA Finals. With his Chicago Bulls leading the series 2-1 against the Utah Jazz, Rodman skipped practice prior to Game 4 to wrestle, a decision that the Bulls organization and fans strongly opposed.

Latrell Sprewell

The former Warrior took exception to Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo's practice criticism and choked the coach while threatening to kill him in December 1997. The rampage landed Sprewell a 62-game suspension and cost him $6.4 million in salary. Sprewell never suited up for the Warriors again but went on to enjoy seven relatively fruitful years with the Knicks and the Timberwolves. Later, he turned down a $1 million-a-year offer because he said it wasn't enough to feed his family. He's out of the league.

Mike Tyson

Tyson's match against Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, was promoted as "The Sound and Fury." And it was Holyfield who wound up furious after Tyson bit both of his ears. Saying that the biting was the only reasonable reaction to Holyfield's unregulated head butts, Tyson was disqualified by referee Mills Lane at the end of the third round.

Albert Belle

Famously surly with the media and fans, the former AL home run champ showed even less love to a group of teenagers. After spying a group of trick-or-treaters throwing eggs at his house on Halloween in 1995, Belle hopped into his SUV and pursued the culprits into a muddy field before bumping into of the youngsters with the truck. Belle received a reckless operation citation along with a $100 fine while the pranksters came away with delinquency charges.

John Chaney

There may not have been a college basketball rivalry in the 1990s more heated than Massachusetts-Temple -- and those passions boiled over after the Minutemen scored a crucial one-point victory on Feb. 13, 1994. After the game, Chaney took objection to UMass coach John Calipari's apparent verbal intimidation of the officials -- and interrupted Calipari's press conference with violent threats. "I'll kill you!" rasped Chaney as onlookers restrained him.

Tonya Harding

On Jan. 6, 1994, Tonya Harding, one of America's top figure skaters, helped cover up an attack on fellow American starlet, Nancy Kerrigan, during a practice session at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. While Harding initially claimed innocence, it was later found she helped plan the attack with her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his hired henchman, Shane Stant, who clubbed Kerrigan on the knee.

Vince Coleman

Coleman became infamous in 1993. Three months after injuring Dwight Gooden's arm by recklessly swinging a golf club in the clubhouse, Coleman was charged with endangerment when he threw a lit firecracker into a crowd of baseball fans waiting for autographs in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.

Bobby Knight

Known for his edgy and short-tempered manner, Knight, then coaching Indiana, made headlines when he threw a chair across the court in a loss to Purdue in 1985. Knight would continue to draw the scrutiny of media, fans and his employers throughout his career, including an investigation after former player, Neil Reed, accused him of choking him at a practice in 1997 (video confirmed the claim). Knight was dismissed in September 2000 after violating a university-imposed zero-tolerance policy by grabbing a student who addressed as "Knight" on campus.

George Steinbrenner

You mess with The Boss, you get the horns. Just ask Dave Winfield, who sued the Yankees owner over failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 guaranteed in his contract. Steinbrenner's response? To pay confessed small-time gambler Howie Spira $40,000 for "dirt" on Winfield. Commissioner Fay Vincent would ban Steinbrenner from baseball for life (reinstating the owner after three years) while Winfield would enter the Hall of Fame as a Padre.

Woody Hayes

Hayes' volatile temper was often on display during key games, such as the Buckeye's 1978 Gator Bowl matchup against Clemson. Hayes' attacked a Clemson player, punching him in the throat after he intercepted a pass along the Buckeye sideline in the closing seconds of the game.