Sox & Dawgs established Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame in 2007 and its members are, like any Hall of Fame, in rarified air. Only this air lacks a lot of common sense and is full of batshit crazy. In fact that along with the incident happening on or in relation to the field of play is the only way to get into this Hall. We don’t induct folks based on off the field incidents like spousal abuse, DUI, dog fighting, etc.
In the five years since the Hall was established it has 14 Charter Members, among them its namesake, as well as Ron Artest, Todd Bertuzzi, Albert Haynesworth, Serena Williams and Connecticut’s very own, Bill Romanowski.
The Hall also has 44 Regular Members, which include individuals like Julian Tavares, John Chaney, Delmon Young, Milton Bradley and Rasheed Wallace. Pairs like Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson and teams like the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins for their 2011 brawl.
We’d like you to take some time and vote for as many of the nominee’s as you like. You can enter them in the comments or via Twitter @SteveMichaelsII. Thanks in advance for your votes. This years potential class include a stripping coach, two references to “Slap Shot”, a mascot who drew blood, two of the NFL’s dirtiest players and a hockey brawl from the 1975 WHA Playoffs.
To see the nominees, plese click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
Here are the nominations for this year’s class:
Nominee A:
In July 2005 Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez wasn’t on the field as Wade Miller was prepared to deliver a pitch when low and behold Manny pops out of the door of Fenway’s fabled Green Monster. So Miller throws the pitch and Tampa Bay outfielder Joey Gathright doesn’t swing, but on the next pitch he singles to left field in front of Ramirez who throws to home a tad late and wide.
After the game Miller admitted to not checking to see if Ramirez was in the field and as he said, “why would I check?”
So what was Manny doing behind the door? “I (urinated) in a cup,” said Ramirez.
The joys of Manny being Manny.
Nominee B:
An altercation between the basketball coach and a player on the Holy Family University basketball team in January of 2011 led to the resignation of the coach and the player unable to play due to his injury he sustained at the hands of the coach.
While conducting a rebound drill the coach, John O’Connor (possibly a terminator) knocked sophomore Matt Kravchuk to the ground during a rebounding drill. O’Connor claims he was trying to “instill toughness in his team” after a poor performance in the teams prior game.
Camera’s caught O’Connor knocking Kravchuk to the ground and then kicking him to get up and finish the drill. When a dazed Kravchuk got up and walked to end of the line O’Connor shouted, “what’s the matter got a little blood on ya? Good.”
The incident led to the coach resigning after coaching five more games before the incident became public.
Nominee C:
Vanderbilt Commodore mascot, Mr. C., went into the student section of the stands at a home basketball game against Tennessee. Mr. C. proceeded to put the Commodores fan in a mock chokehold and then accidentally struck him in the face with a right hook hard enough to draw blood.
Mr. C. was stunned when the student needed attention to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t the only beating that Vanderbilt took that night, Tennessee came back from a double-digit deficit to win 60-51 on the road.
Nominee D:
In the third period of a CHL hockey game in February 2011, between the Colorado Eagles and the Mississippi River Kings, a Colorado player was tackled hard to the ice during an altercation by an official.
Greg Pankewicz, Colorado’s assistant coach, became irate at officials for the takedown, which led to the player getting injured. So after screaming and throwing stuff on the ice, Pankewicz took to stripping, reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Slap Shot”.
While in slap shot it was an on ice player who did the strip tease, Pankewicz started taking his clothes off on the bench and throwing them onto the ice. After methodically taking off his three-piece suits, shirt, tie and loafers and chucking it all on the ice he was sent to the dressing room.
He was suspended for the remainder of the regular season (14 games) for his action and was allowed to return during the playoffs.
Nominee E:
University of Texas-El Paso head basketball coach Tim Floyd, was ejected during a game against East Carolina in February 2011. Floyd earned a warning for being out of the coaches box and according to him he was barely out of the box. Floyd said he turned his back and walked back to the bench and got a technical foul. He said he always earns his technicals and because he felt he didn’t earn this one, he throw a fit.
He was so out of control he received his second technical, which resulted in his ejection from the game. But Floyd wasn’t done as he refused to leave the court. That was until a police officer escorted him to the UTEP locker room.
Nominee F:
On March 8, 2011 Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara slammed Montreal Canadiens player Max Pacioretty into the corner glass stantion that separates the two team benches as the two players skated up ice battling for the puck during a game at the Bell Center in Montreal.
Pacioretty was boarded and collared and wheeled from the ice having reportedly suffered a concussion and fractured vertebrae in his neck while Chara was given a major penalty and a game misconduct. Montreal Police threatened battery charges but decided to forego them.
Chara also avoided a suspension by the NHL for the hit.
Nominee G:
Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh was ejected from a NFL game on Thanksgiving Day for stomping and kicking Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith after it appeared that the Lions had stopped the Packers on an important third down play. The resulting penalty gave Green Bay a first down, which led to a touchdown and a win.
Suh was suspended by the NFL following in the incident for two games.
Nominee H:
Los Angeles Lakers forward Andrew Bynum was ejected and suspended from a playoff game on May 8, 2011 against the Dallas Mavericks after a dirty foul on guard J.J. Barea. With the Mavs up by 30 points late in the game Barea drove the lane for a lay up when Bynum threw a blatant elbow to his ribs. Barea landed hard and the referee immediately called a flagrant foul and ejected Bynum from the game.
Two games earlier in the series, Barea had been clothes lined by the Lakers Ron Artest who got suspended for the following game. Artest, a Charter Member of the Hall, is now ironically known as “Metta World Peace”.
Bynum was suspended originally for five games at the beginning of the next season but had it reduced to four on appeal.
Nominee I:
In December 2010, New York Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi was fined $25,000 by the Jets and suspended for the remainder of the season for tripping Miami Dolphins player Nolan Carroll as the player ran along the Jets sideline during a game.
The Jets later accepted Alosi resignation after finding out he routinely instructed the inactive players to form a wall so as to potentially impede the progress of opposing players.
The Jets were also fined $100,000 by the NFL. Alosi was recently hired to the strength and conditioning coach for the UCLA Football team by new head coach Jim Mora Jr. starting with the 2012 season where he will teach his technique to college students.
Nominee J:
Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison is regarded as one of the NFL’s dirtiest players. He has accumulated numerous fines and a suspension the last few seasons for his illegal and borderline dirty play on the field.
This past season he got suspended for his hit on a defenseless Cleveland Browns QB Colt McCoy, which left McCoy with a concussion.
McCoy was rolling to his left to throw a bubble screen when, after releasing the ball, Harrison took at least two full strides before leveling a helmet to helmet hit on the quarterback which brought a flag for roughing the passer. Harrison was later suspended by the NFL for the play and his continued dirty hits on opposing players.
Nominee K:
In 2010 while playing for the New England Patriots S Brandon Meriweather leveled a helmet to helmet hit on Baltimore Ravens TE Todd Heap that left Heap knocked out and concussed.
During a mid season game at Gillette Stadium Heap was running a pass patter across the middle of the field. Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw to Heap who was violently hit by Meriweather as the ball arrived. Meriweather was deemed to have launched himself into Heap causing the collision and injury and was fined by the NFL.
Nominee L:
The “Brawl in the Mall” between the New England Whalers and Minnesota Fighting Saints in Game 2 of the 1975 WHA Playoffs started when Fighting Saints coach Harry Neale decided to shake things up by putting Bill Butters on the ice with fellow bruisers Jack Carlson and Curt Brackenberry. Shortly after taking the ice, Minnesota’s Butters hit New England’s Larry Pleau with a cheap shot from behind, starting a full fledged donnybrook that caused a delay that lasted 32 minutes. The mele itself had 189 minutes in penalties and featured a heavyweight battle between Carlson, of “Slap Shot” movie fame, and Whalers enforcer Nick Fotiu, a former Golden Gloves champion, that started on the ice and continued in the penalty boxes. Even the two goalies, John Garrett and Al Smith, got into it. Not sure there ever was or has been a brawl like it.
Nominee M:
Tom Cable former head coach of the Oakland Raiders punched out an assistant coach during a meeting in 2009. He then denied hitting Randy Hansen claiming he instead fell from his rolling chair to the ground and that’s what caused his fractured jaw.
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