Infamy in Sport

Leaf Me Alone!

2008-06-24T20:23:00.001-07:00

When the big boys fall, they sure do fall hard.

Such was the case with Ryan Leaf. Leaf was one of the hottest prospects coming out of college in 1998. It was a crowded year; Leaf finished third in the Heisman vote that year, losing out to Peyton Manning (second) and Charles Woodson (first). Regardless, Leaf caused waves during the draft, and went second to the San Diego Chargers who gave away quite a lot to get that coveted second spot.

Leaf went on to a memorable start that season, winning his first two pre-season games -- a feat last matched by John Elway. Those two games, however, were the last two memorable games of Leaf's career.

The third game was a mess, with some memorable statistics: 1-for-15 for 4 yards and 5 interceptions. After the game, leaf took out his mighty anger on a reporter, and had to be restrained by Junior Seau. The Chargers went on to lose 15 games that season behind Leaf's Not-So-Mighty arm. Leaf left the Chargers shortly after and met his ultimate demise following several quite brief stops with the Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Seahawks.

We all miss ya, Ryan -- NOT!

Joe Just Wants A Kiss

2008-06-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sideline interview during a Monday Night Football game. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty! as proven by the following clip. It was December 20 2003. The Jets were playing at home, and during halftime a ceremony was held to introduc their All-Time Jets squad. 'Broadway' Joe Namath was in attendance, along with other Jets greats.

Following a commercial break, coverage returned with Suzy Kolber interviewing Joe about the performance of Chad Pennington, the Jets' quarterback at the time. Apparently, Joe had a bit too much to drink at the celebration, and instead of answering Kolber's question proceeded to profess his attraction to her. Comedy Gold.

Namath checked in to rehab a few weeks later.

Mike Schmidt Cries -- er, Retires

2008-06-18T10:41:00.001-07:00

Oh boy. Mike sure says all there is to say about this video.

After a long and pretty successful baseball career, Mike announces his retirement with this teary mini-speech. Truly one of the lower points in his career, IMO.

Jim vs. Jim

2008-06-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

This one almost slipped out of my conscious, had it not been for the large billboard of Jim Rome I saw in Culver City last night.

Back in the day, before his persona became too much for him to live up to, Jim Rome actually was quite an a-hole. One of his more famous targets was Jim Everett, whom he repeatedly mocked as "Chris Evert", famous female tennis pro, due to his aversion to being hit after multiple concussions.

Rome finally had the cojones to invite Everett to be a guest on his show in 1994. As soon as Everett sat down, Rome launched into the "Chris" bit, at which point Everett all but threatened Rome with physical violence, predicting that Rome would cool off. Of course he didn't, and what followed was this gem of a clip.

Save by Richter!

2008-06-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Boy, I get chills watching some of these videos again.

The Scene: Game 4, 1994 Stanley Cup Finals
The Teams: New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks
The Players: Mike Richter, Pavel Bure

In a tight game, young superstar Pavel Bure is tripped on a breakaway by Brian Leetch of the Rangers. Bure is then given a penalty shot. What follows is one of -- if not the -- best hockey saves EVAR. Richter does his best imitation of Gumby to keep that puck out of the net, and send the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup victory in 54 years.

Clint's Little Slice of Hell

2008-06-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ouch! What a title!

For any true aficionado of sports injuries, this one just may take the cake. On March 22 1989, Clint Malarchuk was in goal for the Buffalo Sabres, who were playing the St. Louis Blues. On a breakaway, Blues right winger Steve Tuttle collided with Sabres defenseman Uwe Krupp in front of the goal. As a result of the collision, Tuttle went down -- and on the way, his skate blade snuck up under Malarchuk's neck guard and sliced his jugular vein. Cameras broadcasting the game cut away as soon as the extent of Malarchuk's injury became apparent (most likely it was the large amount of blood pooling on the ice), and in good time -- several players on the ice lost their dinners at the sight, and a few fans did the same, and two heart attacks were reported.

Theisman Goes Down!

2008-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the more unforgettable sports injuries ever. On the Blitz, Lawrence Taylor gets through the line and nails Joe Theisman, only to hop up after the tackle calling frantically for the medical staff. One can only imagine that LT heard Theisman's leg snap as he went down. I even find this video hard to watch sometimes, but it's certainly not as gruesome as some others that are still to come.

This video is from an ESPN retrospective, and includes some additional commentary from Theisman and others.

Chaney goes Nuclear

2008-05-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Oh, another classic in the coach metldown category. Who doesn't remember John Chaney threatening to kill John Calipari?

As the story goes, Chaney, then coach of the Temple men's basketball team, was upset at being chastised for criticizing the officials a week earlier, while Calipari, then coach of UMass, gave a good tongue lashing to three refs and the A-10 league commisioner with no rebuke. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, but it sure makes for good tape. Right?

Hal McRae goes McNuts

2008-05-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is a personal favorite in the coach/manager freakout category. While manager of the Kansas City Royals, Hal McRae had this colossal meltdown on tape. According to wikipedia, the line of questioning taken after the Royals 5-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers on April 26 1993 so infuritated McRae that he tossed his phone off his desk, wouding a reporter. Curiously, the wikipedia article doesn't speculate on how much coke Hal might have done that day.

Welcome!

2008-05-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

From the twisted mind that brought you Rocket Science for Dummies (shamelss plug), it's Infamy in Sport, the blog that attempts to catalog all of the most infamous, memorable, ridiculous, hilarious, nauseating, and classic sports moments of all time. Mostly this is a project for me, in order to have a central location to find all of these -- hopefully someone else will enjoy it as well.

So, browse and check out the videos. Feel free to send suggestions/hints/reminders, and they will be summarily rejected by the editor.

--Ed.