Readers: Most disruptive players From the Page 2 mailbag |
We've already listed our 10 most disruptive players in team sports from the past 10 years, so now we give you your chance to vent.
After going through more than 500 e-mails, we've listed Page 2 readers' top 10 choices below. Be sure to vote in the poll at right to crown the most disruptive athlete of them all. Here's the readers' list:1. Carl Everett (46 letters) Carl Everett is to a team clubhouse what hydrocloric acid is to a Puffs tissue. He has no respect for the game he plays or those who control it. That includes umpires, teammates, and his own manager. He does nothing constructive to help his team win, and his stats aren't even close to justifying his poisonous presence. He effectively quit on his team to the point where management asked him not to return for the rest of the season.
If he plays baseball anywhere next year, it will be a sad day for America. Being from the Boston area, I get to see the craziest show on Earth that is Carl Everett. He has got to be the most cancerous individual in all of sports, headbutting the umpires, showing up late on gamedays, fighting with teammates and coaches and missing the team bus.
Matt Tierney Weymouth, Mass. An interesting stat that all ESPN analysts miss in which Carl Everett is the leader: Number of fly balls jumped at which are at least 30 feet away.
That's to go along with the annual family-day eruptions, the lack of dinosaurs and managers.
2. Dennis Rodman (36 letters)
Between all the forementioned reasons and the fact he would be late for practice, or not show at all, and what about the time he was found at the Palace parking lot with a gun in his car. Oh, if only John Salley would talk, I bet there would be some incredibly entertaining stories about Dennis from him. It's unfortunate that fame could do to somebody what it did to Dennis.
3. Randy Moss (31 letters)
Stick the asterisk next to his name now. *Never won a Super Bowl.
Jay Stancil London, Ky.
4. Jeff George (28 letters) And look at the quarterbacks who took over teams after George left/was cut: Jim Harbaugh, Chris Chandler, Rich Gannon, Daunte Culpepper, Tony Banks. Four of these guys quarterbacked their teams in the conference finals within two years after George left, and Banks has a winning record as a starter with the 'Skins this year.
George is 0-2 in his career in playoff games. Teams simply get better after George is gone.
Here is a guy that wore out his welcome in numerous cities, including Oakland where they gravitate to objectionable personalities. That alone speaks volumes.
5. Deion Sanders (23 letters)
He also had the rare distinction of being a two-sport gypsy (I've lost track of all the teams he played on -- at least four football and three baseball). He even got Tim McCarver wet!
6. Isaiah Rider (18 letters)
7. Barry Bonds (14 letters)
And don't ask him to be in the team picture.
8. Albert Belle (11 letters)
Sure, Rodman was a loon, but for most of his career, he was simply the best rebounder the league had seen in over a decade. Rocker, on the other hand, managed to insult everyone who wasn't a redneck from South Carolina. Even his own teammates wanted him gone.
Jordan wanted Rodman. Nobody wanted Rocker.
10. Ryan Leaf (7 letters)
Dishonorable mention |
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