A Side of Clyde
My grandson plays ice hockey for the Sharks. Not the San Jose Sharks, but the Unionville Sharks. It's a coed group of 10- and 11-year-old kids that play ice hockey several times a week in Markham Township in Canada. It's a clean sport and they have a lot of fun.
Come to think of it, even the National Hockey League, with all its brawling, checking and high sticking, was one of the more civilized professional sports, looking back on the year in sports for 1997. It doesn't take much deduction or review to conclude that there was a whole lot of misbehaving going on.
Taking a bite out of sports, it started with Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield and getting a slap on his wrist. Speaking of biting, what more, if anything should be said about disgraced NBC broadcaster Marv Albert?
Basketball made most of the misconduct headlines. Latrell Sprewell choked coach P.J. Carlesimo and his camp hinted at racism. Shaquile O'Neal slapped Greg Ostertag before a game. Charles Barkley threw a fan through a window. Allen Iverson was arrested for possession of a gun and marijuana. Dennis Rodman kicked a cameraman and slurred the Mormons. Isiah Rider was convicted on a marijuana charge.
Marcus Camby described how he innocently accepted thousands of dollars during his last season at University of Massachusetts. The Cal men's basketball program was handed a three-year probation. John Wallace punched and choked the mother of his two boys. Five New York Knicks were suspended from a playoff game.
Kevin Garnett spurned a $102 million contract offer from the Minnesota Timberwolves because it just wasn't enough.
Baseball also had its share of dubious headlines. The World Champion Florida Marlins held a fire sale. Baseball's most high-profile spitter, Roberto Alomar, served a five-game suspension. Wil Cordero was accused of beating his wife. The Anaheim Angels suspended Tony Phillips because of drug charges, but he was reinstated by baseball after the union threatened to call a strike. Perennial poster (bad) boy, Steve Howe, was found guilty of drunken driving.
In other sports, A.J. Foyt slugged Arnie Luyendyk for winning an auto race. Denver Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski spit in the face of San Francisco 49ers receiver J.J. Stokes. John Daly, of golfing fame, went on a drinking binge and destroyed his hotel room. A track coach was sued for kissing 30 of his athletes.
Fuzzy Zoeller made racial slurs toward fellow golfer Tiger Woods, but said he was only joking.
Management had its problems, too. Eddie DeBartolo resigned as president of the 49ers under a cloud of doubt. Barry Switzer, now the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, brought a loaded gun to the airport. The IRS targeted NBA officials who cheat on taxes. Bill Parcells held the NFL hostage in his ugly divorce from the New England Patriots. Coach Bobby Knight was his usual bad self.
All these little bits of misconduct made sports headlines in 1997. I kept looking for misconduct in ice hockey, but the cold facts didn't reveal much. Maybe they do well by confining their misdemeanors and misbehaving to the ice rink and the penalty box.
Who said professional sports is a social and friendly game? They're misbehaving and saving their love for you at the box office.