ESPN.com - Readers: Most disruptive players

ESPN.com: Page 2

Wednesday, December 12, 2001
Updated: August 10, 1:53 PM ET
Readers: Most disruptive players

From the Page 2 mailbag

We've already listed our 10 most disruptive players in team sports from the past 10 years, so now we give you your chance to vent.

OUR TOP 10

Here's how Page 2 editors ranked the most disruptive players from the past 10 years:

1. Dennis Rodman
2. John Rocker
3. Randy Moss
4. Rasheed Wallace
5. Albert Belle
6. Carl Everett
7. Roy Tarpley
8. Terrell Owens
9. Bob Probert
10. Bobby Bonilla

Dishonorable mentions: Isaiah Rider, Derrick Coleman, Jason Williams, Stephon Marbury, Toni Braxton (for breaking up the Jason Kidd-Jim Jackson Mavs), Terry Glenn, Bill Romanowski, Lawrence Phillips, David Wells, Rickey Henderson, Jaromir Jagr, Tie Domi, Bryan Marchment

After going through more than 500 e-mails, we've listed Page 2 readers' top 10 choices below. Be sure to vote in the poll at right to crown the most disruptive athlete of them all.

Here's the readers' list:

1. Carl Everett (46 letters)
Carl Everett is to a team clubhouse what hydrocloric acid is to a Puffs tissue. He has no respect for the game he plays or those who control it. That includes umpires, teammates, and his own manager.

He does nothing constructive to help his team win, and his stats aren't even close to justifying his poisonous presence. He effectively quit on his team to the point where management asked him not to return for the rest of the season.

If he plays baseball anywhere next year, it will be a sad day for America.
Eric Hoffman
Cleveland

Being from the Boston area, I get to see the craziest show on Earth that is Carl Everett. He has got to be the most cancerous individual in all of sports, headbutting the umpires, showing up late on gamedays, fighting with teammates and coaches and missing the team bus.


	Carl Everett shows who's No. 1 in our readers' list.

It's hard to root for the Sox with him on the squad, I'll stick with the Patriots and root for heroes like Terry Gle ... crap, the Bruins with Marty McSorl ... dang, the Celtics, yeah, the Celtics (don't shoot anyone, Antoine!).
Matt Tierney
Weymouth, Mass.

An interesting stat that all ESPN analysts miss in which Carl Everett is the leader: Number of fly balls jumped at which are at least 30 feet away.

That's to go along with the annual family-day eruptions, the lack of dinosaurs and managers.
Tavis Burns
Springfield, Vt.

2. Dennis Rodman (36 letters)
This is not even fair -- Dennis Rodman should win this unanimously. Actually, the only reason anyone else will get a vote is because Rodman is so obvious. Let's start over and name the trophy after Rodman and then vote for the Rodman Cup Award winner.
Mike Weddle
Andover, Minn.


	Dennis Rodman, the unanimous winner of the Rodman Cup Award.

Between all the forementioned reasons and the fact he would be late for practice, or not show at all, and what about the time he was found at the Palace parking lot with a gun in his car. Oh, if only John Salley would talk, I bet there would be some incredibly entertaining stories about Dennis from him. It's unfortunate that fame could do to somebody what it did to Dennis.
Mike Roberts
Waterford, Mich.

3. Randy Moss (31 letters)
"I'll play when I want to play" ... and he wonders why he fell so far in the draft. It took some time but he has become the disruptive selfish player everyone expected.

Stick the asterisk next to his name now. *Never won a Super Bowl.
Eric Everhart
Berkley, Mich.


	Randy Moss didn't feel like going for No. 1 in our readers' list.

How one so talented could just let it go to waste is beyond me. But that's what Randy Moss does. He doesn't care about football, his team, or the fans. He's out for himself and making himself look good ... which, ironically, makes him look like an arrogant jerk.
Jay Stancil
London, Ky.

4. Jeff George (28 letters)
I have to vote for Jeff George. Goes AWOL for first five weeks or training camp with the Colts in 1993. Has a public blow-up with June Jones on the Atlanta sidelines. With the Vikings, he took a protective slide on the opponent's 2-yard-line rather than try to get into the end zone (Vikes ended up getting only a FG).

And look at the quarterbacks who took over teams after George left/was cut: Jim Harbaugh, Chris Chandler, Rich Gannon, Daunte Culpepper, Tony Banks. Four of these guys quarterbacked their teams in the conference finals within two years after George left, and Banks has a winning record as a starter with the 'Skins this year.

George is 0-2 in his career in playoff games. Teams simply get better after George is gone.
Joe Bowling
Indianapolis

Here is a guy that wore out his welcome in numerous cities, including Oakland where they gravitate to objectionable personalities. That alone speaks volumes.
Mark Gibson
Jefferson, La.

5. Deion Sanders (23 letters)
Hands down, the most-disruptive athlete of all-time is Deion Sanders. He is the king of disruption and the "it's all about me" disease. He was never a team player and was hated wherever he went.

He also had the rare distinction of being a two-sport gypsy (I've lost track of all the teams he played on -- at least four football and three baseball). He even got Tim McCarver wet!
Seth Coman
New Orleans

6. Isaiah Rider (18 letters)
No matter how many different teams he plays on, he wears out his welcome quicker than Typhoid Mary. Rider is the only one who thinks there isn't a problem. His picture needs to be next to the definition of "pariah" in the dictionary.
John Fisch
Houston

7. Barry Bonds (14 letters)
The guy had to hit 73 home runs to have his team like him. And even then they didn't like him all that much.

And don't ask him to be in the team picture.
Ed Chabot
Edwardsville, Ill.

8. Albert Belle (11 letters)
Nobody likes him, Nobody. He chased kids down in his car on Halloween, are you kidding me? Getting Hannah Storm to hate you is like getting fans into a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game.
Adam Coppinger
Lexington, Ky.


	John Rocker looks for some love.

9. John Rocker (9 letters)
Sure, Rodman was a loon, but for most of his career, he was simply the best rebounder the league had seen in over a decade. Rocker, on the other hand, managed to insult everyone who wasn't a redneck from South Carolina. Even his own teammates wanted him gone.

Jordan wanted Rodman. Nobody wanted Rocker.
John Gromadzki
Euless, Texas

10. Ryan Leaf (7 letters)
Ryan Leaf: Bazooka arm, Skittles brain.
Brad Ennett
Green Bay, Wis.

Dishonorable mention
Rasheed Wallace, Keyshawn Johnson, Vince Coleman, David Wells, Tie Domi, Eric Lindros, Terry Glenn