11/21/24
May 16, 2007
Top ten sports brawls in sports history.: It’s no secret that sports can get pretty heated at times, and intensity and aggression are prized intangibles that lead to success. Athletes are forced to compete at or near an emotional threshold, which they are occasionally pushed over. When that happens, the uglier side of sports is revealed, as gloves are dropped, mounds are charged and punches are thrown.
posted by TelamarketersBeware to general at 10:21 AM - 40 comments
If you don't wanna click through the paginated format that serves to pump up the click throughs.... 10. Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers, December 9, 1977 9. San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves, August 12, 1984 8. Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins, March 13, 1955 7. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants, August 22, 1965 6. Soviet Union vs. Hungary - Olympic Games (Water Polo), December 7, 1956 5. Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees, May 19, 1998 4. Chicago White Sox vs. Texas Rangers, August 4, 1993 3. Indiana Pacers vs. Detroit Pistons, November 19, 2004 2. Canada vs. Soviet Union - World Junior Hockey Championships, January 5, 1987 1. Chicago White Sox vs. Umpire George Moriarty, May 30, 1932
posted by gspm at 10:30 AM on May 16, 2007
Where is the redwings/avalanche rumble in the playoffs?
posted by Debo270 at 11:39 AM on May 16, 2007
What about the Heat and Knicks Brawl in the Playoffs???
posted by dlopez916 at 11:54 AM on May 16, 2007
I had never heard about White Sox vs. Moriarty before. Obviously I have no idea who was right or wrong or which, but I would have to surmise that Mr. Moriarty must have had some size 12 brassy stones to challenge an entire team to a fight, as an ump no less, and basically win. BTW does anyone else have a hard time reading articles that aren't even proof read by the web site they are on? Ye Gods of internet quality control, where art thou?
posted by THX-1138 at 11:56 AM on May 16, 2007
No 3/26/97 Wings-Avs? Not a list worth reading then.
posted by stevis at 12:03 PM on May 16, 2007
World Junior Hockey Championships? As in kids brawling? Any list that glorifies something like that has no credibility with me
posted by NerfballPro at 12:46 PM on May 16, 2007
The brawl that should have been: Patrick Sullivan vs. Matt Millen, 1985. If Sullivan had gone over to the Raiders with a posse and Millen retaliated and got whupped and humiliated for eternity, think of all the god-awful Thanksgiving Day Lions games and barf bag/head scratching draft days we would have been spared. To say nothing of regular season games. All those A-1 head coaches Millen has come up with - they'd be checking their tee times at the Ray Handley Invitational instead of making us suffer. And I'm not even a Lions fan. Just an opponent of sanctioned lifetime idiocy and mediocrity.
posted by beaverboard at 12:55 PM on May 16, 2007
I was once caught in the middle of a very Pacers-Pistons-like fight. But it was hockey in Rochester New York, 1987...nasty melee between players and fans. Shane Churla, Binghamton's goon, was exiting the ice after an ejection for fighting. For some reason he was directed right through the overflow-seating area, and (imagine this) some fans didn't like the guy and let him hear it. Before I knew it, Churla and about a half-dozen other Whalers had jumped right into the stands and were duking it out with fans. Which is when I knew it was time to get the hell out of there -- taunting, fun. Fighting with well-equipped giants, stupid. In any case, a pic of the mess made it to the next morning's paper. My grandmother spotted me right away, clipped the photo out of the paper and put it on the fridge ;-)
posted by diastematic at 01:04 PM on May 16, 2007
Amen stevis
posted by Debo270 at 01:39 PM on May 16, 2007
Oh, I dunno - the Avs/Wings was a good one - but as far as brawls go, the Maurice Richard (and certainly for those who watched it) the Canada/Russia Wolrd Juniors (Theo Fleury was on that team) brawl are probably more epic. The Richard one basically held the NHL hostage and the Juniors one was a full on bench clearer where they were flicking the lights in the building on and off to try to get the players to stop fighting. I'd youtube it, but work forbids such non-revenue generating shenanigans.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:18 PM on May 16, 2007
I can't remember which NFL teams they were, but they called the game in the third quarter due to fans throwing stuff onto the field, I mean it was bad, bad. Then after they cleared the stadium of all the fans they made the players come back out and finish the game. Was it Cleveland and the Jag's? Help I am trying to remember.
posted by jsteelers36 at 02:52 PM on May 16, 2007
I'd youtube it, but work forbids such non-revenue generating shenanigans. Mine doesn't! http://youtube.com/watch?v=8ydbATVriqA with bonus typical YouTube retardocomments.
posted by mkn at 02:56 PM on May 16, 2007
Good link. Glad to see the greatest individual man-on-boy beat down of all time was on there. See #1... (you tube)
posted by vito90 at 02:59 PM on May 16, 2007
World Junior Hockey Championships? As in kids brawling? Any list that glorifies something like that has no credibility with me They were 17, 18 and 19 year olds, and it was a full-out brawl involving every single player on the ice and bench. I'd pick a 17-year old Canadian junior hockey player over any NBA slap-and-run player in a fight. I remember reading about the "Slaughter in the Water" between Russia and Hungary. Nothing like fever-pitch political strife to make things interesting in a sporting event. I'm surprised there isn't an India/Pakistan cricket brawl or an England/Argentina football fight somewhere on that list.
posted by grum@work at 03:39 PM on May 16, 2007
the Canada/Russia Wolrd Juniors (Theo Fleury was on that team) brawl are probably more epic. That was the most fun I have ever had watching a hockey match. Even made it thru the whole 5:24 clip. Which is 5 minutes longer than all the other matches I've seen. To all the hockey loveing spofites I am only kidding!
posted by Folkways at 03:42 PM on May 16, 2007
I don't know. This seems way to U.S.-centric, even with the pair of international events. I mean, ten sports brawls and not one of them is about soccer/football? Seriously?
posted by Joey Michaels at 04:57 PM on May 16, 2007
It's amazing to realize how many very prominent current superstar hockey players for Canada (and Russia) were in the 87 junior tournament and on the ice for the brawl. The Canadian roster is online at the hockeycanada site and includes such big names as Shanahan, Theo Fleury, Pierre Turgeon, Glen Wesley, and Mike Keane.
posted by mikelbyl at 05:36 PM on May 16, 2007
The list is a joke. There is no mention of the Broad Street Bullies, No mention of the Big Bad Bruins, and I seem to remember a pre-game brawl involving the Habs and Nordiques in which some players came running on to the ice in their bare feet. The Junior Hockey brawl was instigated by the Soviets as they had already been eliminated from medal contention and they wanted to get the undefeated Canadian team in trouble. Well, it worked, as both teams were expelled from the tournament. The Canadians were assured of a medal, silver if they won the game, bronze if they lost. and would win the gold if they beat the Soviets by 5 or more. The score at the time of the brawl was 4-2 Canada, with about 30 minutes still to play.
posted by tommybiden at 09:30 PM on May 16, 2007
The list is lacking, to be sure, but was worth it just to remind me of the Nolan Ryan - Robin Ventura dustup. I never liked Robin Ventura, and to this day admire the mini-beatdown Ryan gave him before the other players got involved.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:27 AM on May 17, 2007
I don't know what the hell Ventura was thinking about here. What if Ryan had decided to put one in his ear...Anybody remember Dick R aka the monster from the Red Sox. There was a big reason nobody came out to the mound, how about 6'5" 260 with a fastball at 90plus. Isn't it interesting that in the earlier days of baseball nobody came out at pitchers like Cy Young, Glover Cleveland Alexander, Lefty Grove, Bob Feller, Babe Ruth and then later Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale , Ryan Duran, Ryan, Lee Smith and many others in the 60's and 70's. Don Drysdale was one of the most feared pitchers during his playing days because he made it known that if you got in his way fear not the ball was coming at you...McCovey use to hit Drysdale fairly regularly but he made a statement a long time ago about not even thinking about going out to the mound and McCovey wasn't a small man by any means. Ryan Duran , a relief pitcher with the Yankees and Angels in the early 60's, was considered wild. He had coke bottle glasses and couldn't see the end of his nose much less the batter. A rather small individual he could pitch a baseball well over 95 miles an hour plus. And to make it even worst sometimes he came by way of third base and to a right hander to stand in with his known wildness was someone who had a whole lot of guts or little brains. A story about Duran in the first game with the Angels after being traded to them for Bob Cerv in 1961. The Angel piitcher, Eli Graba, injured himself after the first batter and was replaced by Duran. As he was warming up he kept losing his coke bottle glasses and in trying to find them kept almost stepping on them. Mickey Mantle was in the on deck box and was looking and talking to the umpire and watching the glasses incident. Remember, he was his teammate a couple of days before and known as being wild and not always able to control his pitches. After the third or fourth time of almost stepping on his glasses, Duran, then did step on them and break them into pieces. He looked at the broken glasses and then just said something to his catcher and put them into his backpocket. Mantle due up was told to get into the box and just sat there looking like you got to be kinding me. He struckout on three pitches and then the announcer, the late John Ramsey, made a PA announcement that the new pitcher, Ryan Duran, was pitching for the first time with contact lenses. Duran pitched 6 innings and struckout 12 Yankees. Gibson was another pitcher nobody would even think about coming out. Yeah, the batter has a bat, but it doesn't go 90mphplus at your head. Brawls are rather stupid if you sit back at look at them. But I go agree with the old school guys what happens on the field, gym floor, etc stays on them. All these suits in hockey, baseball, basketball etc really ruin it for everyone. If something happens and they want to go at each other than make it easy for them, put on the gloves and make them go 3 -3minute rounds with 8oz gloves..trust me there won't being as many fights as you lthink after going the distance in the ring I don't care how good of shape the individuals are in after 3 rounds they will not be able to lift their arms much less try to hit each other....
posted by The Old Man at 11:36 AM on May 17, 2007
Aw. No mention of the great Bruins brawl at Madison Square Garden when they all climbed into the stands and started fighting with the fans. Mike Milbury pulled a shoe off a guy and beat him with it. Just priceless.
posted by swerve at 03:22 PM on May 17, 2007
swerve, I want vid of that. Come across, now.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:11 PM on May 17, 2007
Ask, and you shall receive! The "eat some shoe leather, punk!" moment comes around 1:17.
posted by grum@work at 10:44 PM on May 17, 2007
Ah, memories of hockey as a child. 70-71 playoffs if I remember correctly. Leafs, Rangers, MSG, , Bernie Parent gets into a fight. His mask, laying on the ice, is picked up by a Ranger and thrown into the crowd. The NHL delays the game for 30 minutes looking for the mask, asking for its return. No such luck, the Leafs have to bring in their backup goaltender to finish the game. Pretty good backup mind you, Jacques Plante!
posted by tommybiden at 10:50 PM on May 17, 2007
holy crap. i never knew Peter McNab was involved in that brawl. looks like he was the one holding the shoeless guy down.
posted by goddam at 11:21 PM on May 17, 2007
grum, you da man. Thanks. Now I have to explain why I'm laughing.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:32 AM on May 18, 2007
grum, you da man. Thanks. I'll second that! That video speaks for itself.
posted by yay-yo at 09:52 AM on May 18, 2007
Isn't it interesting that in the earlier days of baseball nobody came out at pitchers like Cy Young, Glover Cleveland Alexander, Lefty Grove, Bob Feller, Babe Ruth and then later Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale , Ryan Duran, Ryan, Lee Smith and many others in the 60's and 70's. Actually, Robin Ventura's misfortune is that someone HAD charged Ryan before, when he was still on the Mets. I can't remember who anymore, but I remember the coverage of the beatdown he gave Ventura and their account of it. Ryan just stood there and got tackled and afterward swore he'd never take a beating like that again, that if anyone wanted to charge the mound, they'd have to actually fight him. I'd have liked to have seen the brawl between the Mets and Reds in '86 make the list. It started with Ray Knight cheap-shotting Eric Davis after a play at third and ended up with mayhem, including a group of Reds players dragging Vince Coleman off away from the crowd so they could have their way with him. Plus John Denny kicking people with martial arts moves.
posted by olelefthander at 11:04 AM on May 18, 2007
Isn't it interesting that in the earlier days of baseball nobody came out at pitchers like Cy Young, Glover Cleveland Alexander, Lefty Grove, Bob Feller, Babe Ruth and then later Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale , Ryan Duran, Ryan, Lee Smith and many others in the 60's and 70's. Well, in the "very,very old days" (Cy Young), there used to be fist fights between players, umpires, coaches, managers and fans. They used to spike each other on the basepaths. Fielders would trip, grab and hold on to runners when the umpires weren't looking. Maybe there wasn't a need to rush the mound because people were too busy causing mayhem everywhere else. In the "very old days" (Grove, Feller), there was still the memory of Ray Chapman getting killed by a pitch to the noggin, so maybe there wasn't as much "head hunting" as you might think. In the "old days" (Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale), they had one of the most infamous basebrawls in recorded history. In the end, basebrawls don't happen as often as people think, but they are broadcast every time they do happen. (or the silly "bullpens empty as everyone walks to the diamond to mill around and do nothing")
posted by grum@work at 11:20 AM on May 18, 2007
No league? No Kevin Tamati? No mention of the classic incident where a Wales player started a fight, got knocked out and sent off for his troubles? Granted, Brial's piss-poor efforts just bring rugby brawls into disrepute. Not all Aussies are so soft.
posted by rodgerd at 06:51 PM on May 18, 2007
Now I have to explain why I'm laughing. out of curiosity, would people still be laughing if a brawl like that happened today? almost similar to what happened at Auburn Hills, no? and i don't think anyone referred to that as priceless. or is it just funny because it's Rangers fans getting beat up? (and i'm not calling you out personally l_b_b, it's a question for everyone.)
posted by goddam at 11:21 PM on May 18, 2007
It's different for hockey: it's accepted, even preferred behavior. Plus it's from the 70s (or at least a Bruins team that came from the 70s and sort of lasted into the 80s), back when hockey was still really cool.
posted by yerfatma at 07:02 AM on May 19, 2007
grum, trust me when I say yes there was a lot of that crap going around in some of the some called brawls in Feller and Groves and Ruth's days but never did any of the players to my memory go after the pitchers of that day. Cobb was a sob and did all kinds of things on the basepaths and Chapman's death was a accident. Who in there right mind was going to was going to go after a pitcher with a baseball in his hands...I remember the Koufax incident with Juan in SF and Johnny Roseboro didn't try to hit Juan in the head when he returned the pitch to Koufax. Hitting Roseboro was completely on purpose. He should have been banned for life after that. And the Giants are very lucky that Sandy Koufax didn't go after one of theirs. Cooler heads came to forefront and nothing happened. They put it off as his latin temper and he lost his cool, bull no know what, he turned and took his bat and hit Johnny twice on the head. If Walter Alston hadn't had control of his team god knows what would have happened, remember the Dodgers had some very big players then one of them Frank Howard was one of the strongest in the majors. Frank stands a little over 6'8" at about 275plus and he coming out after you....Stan Williams the relief pitcher wasn't small either as was Joe Moeller at 6'6" 225 and Sandy at 6'3" 230 wasn't small himself. I have stated here in the past that todays players aren' t as hard or as nasty as players in the past and I will still stand by my statement. An example was Frank Howard hitting a homerun off Jim Callison of the Phillies the ball came off Howards' bat about 18 inches off the ground and directly between Callison's legs and kept rising until it went out of the park in dead center field landing to some accounts over 650feet. I don't remember if the umpire but he recalled that story at a dinner that he talked at after retiring from baseball and it is still funny thinking about having that huge individual standing at the plate and then almost golfing a pitch between the pitchers' legs that far. He mentioned that Jim Callison almost couldn't continue in the game because he stool there just thinking about what almost happened to him. The fans seem to have a real curiosity about these brawls and fights but we as fans must be very thankful that cooler heads rule. In hockey you have a stick, basketball a ball but in baseball you have the most dangerous of all equipment a baseball hardwood bat.....
posted by The Old Man at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2007
It's different for hockey: it's accepted, even preferred behavior. jumping the boards to go after fans in a brawl is accepted and preferred behavior?
posted by goddam at 01:43 PM on May 19, 2007
If it's Olde Townies beating on out-of-towners, do you have to ask? Hell, that's right behind baseball as the top local sport.
posted by yerfatma at 02:26 PM on May 19, 2007
ah, so my "it's just funny because it's Rangers fans getting beat up" suspicion is correct then. thanks. wait, out-of-towners? they were at MSG. or are my meds fucking me up again and i'm just not getting what you're saying.
posted by goddam at 03:07 PM on May 19, 2007
No, I was being obtuse: what I mean is if Boston folks are beating on people from out of town, regardless of where it's happening, that's a rootable interest.
posted by yerfatma at 03:44 PM on May 19, 2007
gotcha. well, the way youse have been taking over the Stadium recently we may as well be out-of-towners down here.
posted by goddam at 03:48 PM on May 19, 2007
We were concerned about your gate receipts dropping too low.
posted by yerfatma at 08:22 AM on May 20, 2007
Sorry about the grammitcal error in the link title. I didn't notice it until after I clicked post.