By: Emily Nassi (University of Delaware)
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Last week as I was flipping through channels, I stopped on ESPN, wide-eyed and mouth agape. Apparently, after the Mets unsurprising loss to, Francisco Rodriquez (better known to some as K-Rod) had been arrested for punching the father of his girlfriend in the face. Some thoughts going through my mind were “what an idiot” and “how much worse can get it for the Mets?” But mostly I was thinking, that was really, really stupid of him.
And so, this week, inspired by the hot-headed K-Rod, I will look back at some of the recent fights, arrests, and overall stupid things sports stars have managed to get themselves into.
Nenad Krstic Throws a Chair
Not many people have heard of this guy outside of Serbia and Oklahoma City, but I saw this and thought it was worth mentioning. During a basketball game against Greece, the teams got in a fight and Krstic threw a chair at a player on the Greek team who wasn’t even playing. Excellent.
There’s even video. Krstic was arrested and held overnight.
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Gilbert Arenas Draws a Firearm
In January, Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton got into an argument about a gambling debt, prompting both of them to pull guns out of their lockers and onto each other. Since then Arenas has been arrested and pleaded guilty to the felony charge of carrying an unlicensed piston in public. That’s right. He was storing guns in his basketball locker. Both of them were. The best part is though that they were unloaded and both decided to point them at each other anyway. If they were going to do that, they might have just hit each other with chairs since an unloaded gun can cause the same amount of damage.
Ben Roethlisberger Gets Accused Over and Over of Sexual Assault
In Ben’s defense, he was never actually charged with any crimes. There’s not too much proof on either side, but he’s a football star who makes millions upon millions of dollars and somehow has managed to find a girl who has accused him of rape…not once, but twice? Seems a little fishy. He was suspended for six games, and perhaps that’s the end. Or maybe not.
Plaxico Burress Gives Bill Simmons (and me) Inspiration for an Excellent Halloween Costume
Now I was always under the impression that Eli Manning was the goofiest guy on the Giants, but Burress had managed to prove me wrong. In 2008, Plax shot himself in the thigh after his Glock accidentally went off. The gun was TUCKED IN TO HIS SWEATPANTS. Yes, sweatpants. I won’t even get into the fact that he was wearing sweatpants to a nightclub, but really? If someone has to stick his gun in his pants, he probably shouldn’t have brought in the first place. However, someone from above had to teach Burress the hard way. Burress then tried to hide this from the police and is now serving two years for illegal weapons possession. This story warms my heart and always puts a grin on my face, that’s for sure.
