They had everything: money, fame, fans, trophies, and glory. It was their world, we just lived in it.
Then they gave it all back with acts of supreme hubris. They have met the enemy…in the mirror. Sure, Tiger Woods’s fall from grace may have been the swiftest collapse from the highest pedestal, but let’s look at some more men and women who ruled the sports world, and then became instead its greatest scoundrels.
Baseball – Roger Clemens. Before you accuse me of having no sense of history because I’m selecting Roger the Rocket Fuel over the 1919 Black Sox, remember that back then most ball players got paid peanuts, (if that’s justification for throwing games). But more than Bonds, (who also lied), and McGuire, (who tucked tail and hid), Clemens actually begged for a Congressional hearing so he could lie to their face and make a complete donkey out of himself. Whether the Winsterol gave him feelings of invincibility, or whether he just was a blustering bully, Clemens’s fall was the greatest single collapse by a baseball player. He went from sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer and a universally loved and respected champion to a joke, a punch line. he may be getting sized up for prosin stripes soon.
Honorable mention for steroids: Marion Jones – the female track and field star who lied her way into jail after engaging in a smear campaign against anyone who accused her of steroids use. She gave back the five Sydney Olympics track and field gold medals that made her a star and served a six month jail term for perjury. So much for all her bluster.
Soccer – Zinadine Zidane. Sure, he’d won a World Cup and Olympic gold, but in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final against Italy – in what he announced would be the final game of his career – he went off with his head bowed instead of his head raised. In a gesture that will forever live in sports infamy, he turned into a selfish infant and acted like a first year player, goaded by Italian defender Marco Materazzi into an indefensible head-butt, and getting red-carded for one of the dirtiest hits in soccer history. He was ejected in the second overtime of a tie match. That’s like Derek Jeter sucker punching an opposing player in the bottom of the ninth of a tied Game 7 of the World Series.
Here’s his excuse, “he said something about my mother and sister:”
If this was a scrimmage or “friendly” in soccer terms, maybe it’s not utterly unforgivable. If it’s a regular season game in some league, it’s not utterly unforgivable. But your country comes first, and in the final match of your career, on a stage seemingly erected for your coronation and farewell, to bow out literally and leave the field in disgrace makes this one of the most despicable acts in sports history. This will forever be Zidane”s legacy and he will deservedly be defined by it for decades.
Football – Plaxico Burress made a Super Bowl-winning catch, and ruined the New England Patriots unbeaten season in a heartbeat. Months later, a single gunshot ended his career. What an id-jit: he had to go clubbing with his Glock, which was hidden in the waistband of his sweatpants. (All you Michael Vick fans forget, Vick never made it to a Super Bowl…even though his crime was equally, if not more odious…)
Basketball: Gilbert Arenas. See Burress, Plaxico – above.
