Since we’ve opened up a new calendar, hopefully you got yours for $4 or less, it’s time to open up the doors for another Class to enter the hallowed hall of Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame. The rules are simple: To get in Carl Everett”s Crazy Hall of Fame, the nominee has “to be absolutely bat shit crazy to get inducted. The offenses must have occurred on the field of play so arrests for DUI, dog fighting and other things aren’t eligible”.
This years class features two veteran’s of batshit crazy. The first is a U.S. Olympian, turned boxer, turned D-List TV personality, who made us all proud and the second is guy that could have been your grandfather.
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With out further audieu here are the Veteran Committee’s picks for 2011:
Tonya Harding – She hired her ex-husband and a thug to whack fellow skater and Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan’s knee. Kerrigan was hurt, but did get compete in the Olympics as did Harding, who had the famous crying and pointingto her skate laces incident. Once it was found out she was a part of the hit, the Ice Skating Federation banned her from life so now she boxes and appears on Tru TV.
Woody Hayes – The former Ohio State football coach actually ended up losing his job as the Top Buckeye in 1978 after he punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman on the OSU sideline after an interception in the Gator Bowl.
This wasn’t the first time Hayes had a run in, he went crazy on referee Jerry Markbreit in 1971 during the Michigan game at Ann Arbor when a pass interference call was missed. Hayes stormed onto the field, launched a profanity-laced tirade at Markbreit and tore up the sideline markers, receiving a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. A further enraged Hayes then proceeded to throw the penalty flag into the crowd, began destroying the yard markers and threw the first-down marker into the ground like a javelin before being restrained by Buckeyes team officials; Hayes was then assessed an additional 15-yard penalty and ejected. Hayes was suspended for one game and fined $1000, which in 1978 money was a lot of dough.
Now onto the Regular Membership category and this year it’s a large one with a lot of hockey, both players, teams and a dad, a Turkish soccer star, two NFL players, a NCAA basketball player and our first High School Hall Member.
Ronald Syna – a Maitland FL hockey dad was upset that his son got roughed up in a hockey game amongst a bunch of 15 year olds in 2010. After the game the elder Syna sought out the offender, Calvin Dickinson who had been penalized for the rough play, and according to witnesses he pushed, threatened, cussed and repeatedly punched the yute. Good thing the guy wasn’t John Gotti the poor kid would be in the river.
Umit Ozat – A Turkish Club soccer coach decked a fan when he ran towards the Manisaspor coach during a game in January 2011. The rogue fan sprinted onto the field after Ankaragucu equalised shortly before time expired. Ozat clearly wasn’t up for any of the supporters joining him in celebrating and when one young fan tried to rush onto the field, Ozat dropped him. A powerful right hook floored the young man as chaos erupted with a brawl kicking off on the field as players were trying to resume play.
Herb Pope – The Seton Hall basketball player was ejected from his team’s NIT game against Texas Tech in March 2010 when he punched Red Raider player Darko Cohadarevic not once, but twice in the family jewels. I thought you were supposed to dribble balls in basketball? Pope surely has had a unique NCAA career having transferred to the Hall from New Mexico, maybe that soccer chick taught him his moves? Then the ball punching incident and shortly there after in spring practice he collapsed and nearly died only to return to the court for 2010-11 season. He had also been shot five times at a party in 2007.
Cortland Finnegan and Andre Johnson – the NFL duo are linked together much like Billy and Reggie and a few others in the Hall because of an on field incident in 2010 season. Finnegan who is known as a pest really got into Johnson good during a November game in Houston and the mild mannered Johnson became so enraged that he ripped the helmet from Finnegan’s head and started to brutally pound him while Finnegan took it all the while looking for a yellow flag. Both players were flagged, ejected and fined by the league but not suspended for the act.
Rick DiPietro and Brent Johnson – It isn’t often when two NHL goalies go at it but when it happens it’s pure gold and that was the case on February 2, 2011 when New York Islanders netminder DiPietro and Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Johnson went toe-to-toe; blocker pad-to-blocker pad during a game in Pittsburgh. DiPietro really took a beating as Johnson left him with a broken face and an injured knee that caused him to miss 4-6 weeks of the season. All that damage was done with just one punch. Who says goalies aren’t bad asses?
What started as the goalie fight then escalated into a full out, old fashioned, good time hockey brawl just ten days later in Uniondale NY when the teams next met. This second game produced 346 penalty minutes, 10 ejections, 15 fighting majors and 20 misconducts. It also led to suspensions and fines.
Islanders forward Trevor Gillies got 9 games for delivering a blow to the head of Penguins forward Eric Tangradi and punching him several times, leaving him with concussion-like symptoms. Team mate Matt Martin got 4 games for punching Penguins forward Maxime Talbot from behind ala Todd Bertuzzi, though not nearly as violent.
The only Penguin to get suspended was Eric Godard, he received an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a third-period brawl.
Rick Rypien – On October 19, 2010 Rypien while playing for the Vancouver Canucks left the ice in Minnesota to attack a young 15 year old fan he thought was taunting him for his 10 minute misconduct penalty in the 2nd period of the game against the Minnesota Wild. When Rypien was walking down the runway to the locker room he saw the young fan applauding his fate and reached up and grabbed him by the jersey. Only when an older male fan, presumably the boys father, intervened did Rypien let go of the teen. Rypien was suspended for 6 games for the incident.
Mason Holland – A Desoto, FL high school basketball player, Holland, attacked a game referee and threw him to the court after being assessed a technical foul during a game in December 2010. His team, Arcadia Desoto, was forced to forfeit the game and Holland was removed from the team and was facing expulsion from the school.
Matt Cooke The Pittsburgh Penguin got a four game suspension for the hit from behind he put on Columbus Blue Jacket Fedor Tyutin during a game on February 8, 2011. It is Cooke’s fourth career suspension and the longest, all the previous three were two games each. The infraction came in the first period of the game. Fedor Tyutin skated to the corner to retrieve a dump-in. The player had his back to the ice, facing the boards, when Matt Cooke left his feet and hit him from behind.
The Maritime Junior Hockey League handed out 22 games worth of suspensions for a brawl that started before the game did on Saturday February 5, 2011 between the Summerside Western Capitals and Miramichi Timberwolves. The brawl started during warmups when players from both teams entered the opposing zones and dropped their gloves. Four players, two from each team were suspended between three and five games and both head coaches got two game suspensions and $1500 fines.
And the finale for the 2011 Class is the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars who engaged in 3 fights in the first four seconds of the game on February 3, 2011. The first fight was Dallas’ Steve Ott vs Boston’s Greg Campbell right at the drop of the puck; that was followed by Krys Barch (Dallas) and Scott Thornton (Boston) on the ensuing face off, then two seconds of playing time later it was go time for the Stars Brian Sutherby and the Bruins Adam McQuaid to cap off the fisticuffs trifecta. Then 3 minutes later when things got boring Adam Burish and Andrew Ference squared off. In the video note the fan along the glass in the Whalers T-Shirt. So why did these fights happen? Well it goes back to this incident in 2008 between the clubs.
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