GaryMrMets
11-10-2005, 03:12 AM
Owens not the only athlete to disrupt his team
By TIM DAHLBERG
.c The Associated Press
AP Photos
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
Terrell Owens has, as far as we know, never arranged to have someone killed. He hasn't been caught with a prostitute, doesn't do drugs, and has never been seen wearing a dress in public.
He might have thought about strangling his coach, but last we checked Andy Reid is still breathing.
So maybe his sometimes hysterical agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has a point. Maybe it's time to start giving Owens a break.
Sure, he's a spoiled, backstabbing narcissist who can't keep his mouth shut. That's already been proven. But Owens has company in a long line of athletes who have wreaked havoc in their sports.
With apologies to classy players everywhere, here's a few of them:
Albert Belle: Halloween can be a dangerous time, as some teenagers found out. They egged Belle's house after he refused to pass out candy and the Cleveland Indians slugger got in his car and chased them down. Belle, who regularly barked at coaches and teammates, once drilled a fan with a baseball to the chest, and cursed and chased NBC TV reporter Hannah Storm in the Indians dugout before Game 3 of the 1995 World Series. Belle was fined $50,000 for that and the Indians tried to get him to issue a statement saying he was sorry.
``I told them to take it out,'' Belle said. ``I apologize for nothing.''
Latrell Sprewell: The player handbook for the Golden State Warriors covers a lot of issues. Choking your coach isn't one of them. Sprewell grew so incensed when P.J. Carlesimo yelled at him in practice to make crisper passes that he dragged Carlesimo to the ground and choked him until he was finally pulled off by teammates.
``I wasn't choking P.J. I mean, P.J., he could breathe,'' Sprewell said. ``It's not like he was losing air or anything like that.''
David Wells: The portly pitcher can't keep his mouth shut or his pen down. Wells, you may remember, told in his short-lived autobiography about how he was ``half drunk'' when he pitched a perfect game in 1998 for the Yankees. Worse yet, he took shots at several of his teammates. The Yankees fined him $100,000 and made him promise not to promote the book. He didn't promise to keep quiet, though, and this year was suspended again for making disparaging comments about commissioner Bud Selig.
``A lot of people think, obviously, that I'm an idiot,'' Wells said. ``That's fine.''
Eugene Robinson: His team was in its first Super Bowl ever, and Robinson was its leader. His teammates called him ``The Prophet'' for his religious beliefs and work ethic, and the day before the Atlanta Falcons played their biggest game ever he received the Bart Starr Award for high moral character. That night, police say, he drove from the team hotel to a seedy part of Miami and offered an undercover officer $40 for oral sex. Robinson was arrested, but got out in time to play. The All-Pro safety was beaten on a key 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter in the loss to Denver.
``Lord Jesus, what do I tell my wife and kids?'' Robinson asked when arrested.
Dennis Rodman: The rebounder appeared one night on the Jay Leno show in a black leather slit skirt, and wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography. He was once found in his pickup truck with a loaded shotgun in the Detroit Pistons parking lot, which he claimed later was the night he killed the old Dennis and let the new Dennis emerge. His dyed hair, numerous tattoos and piercings were one thing, but San Antonio traded him after he didn't arrive with the rest of the team for a critical playoff game.
``Fifty percent of life in the NBA is sex,'' Rodman once said. ``The other fifty percent is money.''
Odai Hussein: Talk about a disruptive influence. Sadam Hussein's eldest son, now deceased, used to run the Iraq soccer team and before every match players were forced to watch a video in which Odai threatened them if they did not win. He was a man of his word, jailing the team's best player three times after losses. Other players were beaten, had their feet scaled and toenails ripped off if they didn't perform.
Randy and Keyshawn: There must be something in the water that wide receivers drink. How else can you explain Owens, Randy Moss and Keyshawn Johnson all at the same time? Moss got into it with a Minneapolis parking meter maid, but it wasn't until he abandoned his teammates in the last two seconds of a game last year and fake mooned the crowd at Green Bay that the Vikings decided it was time for him to go. Tampa Bay came to the same conclusion about Johnson, who, among other things, missed curfew before games, skipped team meetings and missed the team plane coming back from a loss in San Francisco.
``Tell everyone I'm in New York looking for apartments,'' Johnson said.
The list, of course, goes on and on. A teammate of Ryan Leaf's once described him in the locker room as a ``nightmare you can't imagine,'' while Rafael Palmeiro destroyed what was left of the Baltimore Orioles this year with his attempted comeback from steroid suspension.
And no list is complete without the soap opera that went on in Los Angeles with Shaq, Kobe and Phil.
Today's athletes, though, can be excused for just about anything they do. They're worshipped by fans, coddled by management and paid millions to play games. Reality rarely intrudes into their lives and, when it does, they're surprised by the consequences.
Owens is the latest example of that.
But you won't have to wait long. There will be many more to come.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org
11/09/05 19:09 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By TIM DAHLBERG
.c The Associated Press
AP Photos
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
Terrell Owens has, as far as we know, never arranged to have someone killed. He hasn't been caught with a prostitute, doesn't do drugs, and has never been seen wearing a dress in public.
He might have thought about strangling his coach, but last we checked Andy Reid is still breathing.
So maybe his sometimes hysterical agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has a point. Maybe it's time to start giving Owens a break.
Sure, he's a spoiled, backstabbing narcissist who can't keep his mouth shut. That's already been proven. But Owens has company in a long line of athletes who have wreaked havoc in their sports.
With apologies to classy players everywhere, here's a few of them:
Albert Belle: Halloween can be a dangerous time, as some teenagers found out. They egged Belle's house after he refused to pass out candy and the Cleveland Indians slugger got in his car and chased them down. Belle, who regularly barked at coaches and teammates, once drilled a fan with a baseball to the chest, and cursed and chased NBC TV reporter Hannah Storm in the Indians dugout before Game 3 of the 1995 World Series. Belle was fined $50,000 for that and the Indians tried to get him to issue a statement saying he was sorry.
``I told them to take it out,'' Belle said. ``I apologize for nothing.''
Latrell Sprewell: The player handbook for the Golden State Warriors covers a lot of issues. Choking your coach isn't one of them. Sprewell grew so incensed when P.J. Carlesimo yelled at him in practice to make crisper passes that he dragged Carlesimo to the ground and choked him until he was finally pulled off by teammates.
``I wasn't choking P.J. I mean, P.J., he could breathe,'' Sprewell said. ``It's not like he was losing air or anything like that.''
David Wells: The portly pitcher can't keep his mouth shut or his pen down. Wells, you may remember, told in his short-lived autobiography about how he was ``half drunk'' when he pitched a perfect game in 1998 for the Yankees. Worse yet, he took shots at several of his teammates. The Yankees fined him $100,000 and made him promise not to promote the book. He didn't promise to keep quiet, though, and this year was suspended again for making disparaging comments about commissioner Bud Selig.
``A lot of people think, obviously, that I'm an idiot,'' Wells said. ``That's fine.''
Eugene Robinson: His team was in its first Super Bowl ever, and Robinson was its leader. His teammates called him ``The Prophet'' for his religious beliefs and work ethic, and the day before the Atlanta Falcons played their biggest game ever he received the Bart Starr Award for high moral character. That night, police say, he drove from the team hotel to a seedy part of Miami and offered an undercover officer $40 for oral sex. Robinson was arrested, but got out in time to play. The All-Pro safety was beaten on a key 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter in the loss to Denver.
``Lord Jesus, what do I tell my wife and kids?'' Robinson asked when arrested.
Dennis Rodman: The rebounder appeared one night on the Jay Leno show in a black leather slit skirt, and wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography. He was once found in his pickup truck with a loaded shotgun in the Detroit Pistons parking lot, which he claimed later was the night he killed the old Dennis and let the new Dennis emerge. His dyed hair, numerous tattoos and piercings were one thing, but San Antonio traded him after he didn't arrive with the rest of the team for a critical playoff game.
``Fifty percent of life in the NBA is sex,'' Rodman once said. ``The other fifty percent is money.''
Odai Hussein: Talk about a disruptive influence. Sadam Hussein's eldest son, now deceased, used to run the Iraq soccer team and before every match players were forced to watch a video in which Odai threatened them if they did not win. He was a man of his word, jailing the team's best player three times after losses. Other players were beaten, had their feet scaled and toenails ripped off if they didn't perform.
Randy and Keyshawn: There must be something in the water that wide receivers drink. How else can you explain Owens, Randy Moss and Keyshawn Johnson all at the same time? Moss got into it with a Minneapolis parking meter maid, but it wasn't until he abandoned his teammates in the last two seconds of a game last year and fake mooned the crowd at Green Bay that the Vikings decided it was time for him to go. Tampa Bay came to the same conclusion about Johnson, who, among other things, missed curfew before games, skipped team meetings and missed the team plane coming back from a loss in San Francisco.
``Tell everyone I'm in New York looking for apartments,'' Johnson said.
The list, of course, goes on and on. A teammate of Ryan Leaf's once described him in the locker room as a ``nightmare you can't imagine,'' while Rafael Palmeiro destroyed what was left of the Baltimore Orioles this year with his attempted comeback from steroid suspension.
And no list is complete without the soap opera that went on in Los Angeles with Shaq, Kobe and Phil.
Today's athletes, though, can be excused for just about anything they do. They're worshipped by fans, coddled by management and paid millions to play games. Reality rarely intrudes into their lives and, when it does, they're surprised by the consequences.
Owens is the latest example of that.
But you won't have to wait long. There will be many more to come.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org
11/09/05 19:09 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.