The Loop
The biggest athlete-media blow-ups in sports history
Over the weekend, reports leaked that Red Sox hurler David Price got in a heated confrontation with Hall-of-Fame pitcher and Boston color-man Dennis Eckersley on the team's plane, with Price furious over Eck's critical remarks about the club. Of course, athletes and journalists clashing is nothing new. Here are eight famous dust-ups between players and media members.
Jim Rome vs. Chrissy Jim Everett
Everett, a Pro Bowl quarterback, had been routinely called "Chrissy" by Rome -- a reference to women's tennis star Chris Evert -- for his aversion to getting sacked. When Rome had Everett on his ESPN 2 talk show, he called Everett "Chris" to his face, causing the field general to shove Rome to the ground.
Dennis Rodman's low blow
Categorizing this as an altercation is wrong; "assault" is more like it. After tripping over cameraman Eugene Amos, "the Worm" proceeded to kick Amos in the groin. Rodman was suspended 11 games by the NBA, and paid Amos $200,000 in settlement.
Mike Gundy's a man!
The Oklahoma State coach took the stand to defend the demotion of starting quarterback Bobby Reid. What resulted has become the anthem for all men turning 40.
Get out of Ryan Leaf's face
If you're wondering when the Colts felt secure in their pick of Peyton Manning over Leaf, this was probably it.
Hal McRae's glorious rant
The diatribe is aimed at a scrum of reporters rather than an individual writer, and, thanks to the innumerable bleeps, it's hard to make out what McRae is actually saying. But the ending -- "Put that in your ******* pipe and smoke it!" -- is better than any malapropism Yogi Berra produced.
Deion douses McCarver
If you've ever listened to a game called by Tim McCarver, you've likely wanted to pour a bucket of ice water over your own head. That said, McCarver -- who criticized "Prime Time" for playing two sports in one day -- didn't deserve this treatment from Sanders.
You won't get a dime out of Jim Calhoun
This is a tenuous term of "journalist" -- although you could say the same about this piece's author -- as a freelancer/political activist questioned Calhoun's salary during Connecticut's massive state deficit. Calhoun, notoriously a salty guy, responds in style.
Rogers' rage
Not only did "the Gambler" knock down two cameramen during pre-game warm-ups, the four-time all-star returned to the scene of the crime 20 minutes to repeat his act, this time kicking the camera as well. Rogers was charged with two counts of assault and suspended by Major League Baseball.