Who was the biggest prick athlete you ever encountered in person?

[riffraff]

I was a ballboy for the Spurs from '75 till '82 and saw everyone roll through San Antonio from George McGinnis and Marvin Barnes to the 'Doctor' and Larry Bird..etc. Without question, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic were two of the biggest douchebags to fans wanting autographs. A simple 'no, not now' will pacify most people, but those two clowns just acted like you were invisible. Even Bird, who only came to town once a year would sign as many as he could, although trying to talk to him was a wast of time.

But the vast majority of the guys on opposing teams were pretty generous to people, especially if you caught them before the game during shootaround time.

 

[O.C.Buckeye]

Dukie Vitale...asshole.

Not sure how many people here remember the Dapper Dan Classic that was held in Pittsburgh every year? Had the TOP 25 high school players in the country long before the McDonald's All America Game, ABCD camps, etc.

Before the main game they always had the Pittsburgh City League All Star game. I'm 10 years old and you could walk all around and get every famous coach and top recruit's autograph. From Jerry Tarkanian to Coach K to Lou Carnessica, etc. Well, Vitale announced the game for ESPN and inbetween games he was sitting down at the table facing the court. I walk down and politely reach over and go, "Mr. Vitale, may I please get your autograph?" He doesn't even turn around, just holds his hands out for the program and then reachs back for my pen. Grabs the program (mind you, everyone else signed on the front of the program or on their photo) and just scribbles his name on the back corner of the program and shoves the program back at me without even looking at me or anything else.

I walked away thinking what a waste of time with so many other big names around.

Norm Stewart (old coach at Mizzou) GREAT GUY! He was there joking and laughing with every single person who came up to him for an autgraph. He personaly asked me if I had a girlfriend. I reply "I have 1", he looks at me and goes "You need to get 4 more" and just smiled.

 

[go2guy]

Mark Brunell


True story..........my family's company has a suite in Alltel Stadium for the Jag games. As a result, each year we get 4 tickets to any away game and we get to fly with the team to wherever it is they are playing. Well, around 1998 or so (give or take a year), my parents went with the team to an away game. Long story short, the Sunday before the game, they got to eat breakfast with the team. Each table had 6 seats. My parents and another couple were already sitting down, and Brunell walks by the table to find a seat and my parents simply say, "Good Morning." Not only does he ignore them, he turns right around and goes and sits at another table, like they were going to ask him for autographs or something. He never would sign autographs for fans after games.

To this day, I hate the prick, and I was so happy the day we cut his ass.

My friend hates Mark Brunell with a passion and actually cheers against any team he plays on because wouldn't sign his football and was a jerk about it. His cousin is Keenan McCardell and everyone else treated him cool and treated him like fam. I told him to let that shit go but he still harbors hatred for the man 'til this day for him.

 

[Horseshoe]

Is not Brunell a big Christian?..or is that just a badge to wear and not his true life's walk?

 

[go2guy]

Is not Brunell a big Christian?..or is that just a badge to wear and not his true life's walk?

Yeah supposed big Christian which baffled me when my friend told me but he was not offended by him not signing the ball which everyone else at the function did but how he said it. Keenan told him man don't worry about it, he does that to everybody. Hate to see how he was when he was a sinner.uppy:

 

[dray]

Lavar Arrington is the biggest jerk in the NFL. For a preson that is very much overrated, stardom went to his head the minute he signed the contract. He hates signing autograph for kids, unless a camera is around, and before he started being guest on all these shows, was very bad with the press. what an *******.




:finger: :finger: :finger: :finger: :finger:

you're kidding right? Met him once after a game signing autograghs before he got back on the bus. One of the coolest players.

 

[LarryTalbot]

Several years ago I went to one the Net's summer workouts because they were holding an open autograph session afterwards. Jason Kidd was the primary focus and he was cool with signing the autographs, but the biggest asshole there was Shawn Bradley. The jolly green giant literally signed maybe for 2 minutes and then walked off. Some pissed off fan yells out, "Hey Shawn, where you going?" The big guy doesn't say anything but waves his hand like "piss off." The fan finishes it with, "That's all right, you're autograph means shit anyways." The people laughed and he left into the locker room.

O yea, one thing to add. He wasn't on the team, he was fighting for a roster spot lol. Go figure, he goes back to dallas to play 5 minutes per game.

 

[barman]

The high school running back that stole my short term girlfriend in 11th grade.

No one even comes close.

 

[Hope1]

nice- B Crenshaw, Nick Price, K Clijsters, D Tursunov

idiots ( or at least, perhaps, got them on a 'bad day')- N Faldo, T Henman

 

[AmosOtis]

WORST...by far ryne sandberg....at the hotel in houston...the cubs had just swept the stro's and this boy maybe 10 wanted an autograph of ryne's..he had everthing ready...pen picture the whole works..he was leaning over the red rope as far as he could and he asked very nice...mr. sandberg may i get an autograph please....sandberg walked right up to the young man..(1 foot away from me...) and said get the f**k away from me..

Damn, he was on my list of nice guys. I met him shortly after 9/11 and the D-Backs won the World Series. He was in the area with some friends to play Pebble Beach. We talked sports for about 15 minutes, and he seemed like a really cool guy. I remember that he was very happy that Mark Grace finally got a ring. I didn't ask him for an autograph, probably a good thing.

 

[FairWarning]

Sandberg is very shy, so many do mistake him as being rude.

 

[AmosOtis]

Top 3 Pricks

1 Barry Bonds - Nobody else is even close. He is in a class of his own in this category.

2 Reggie Jackson - He lives here on the Monterey peninsula. I've been here for almost 18 years and haven't heard one person say anything positive about him. Plenty of negative stories though.

3 Lee Trevino - Complete asshole once the cameras stop rolling.


Nice Guys - Corey Pavin, Frank Viola, Tom Glavine, George Brett, Frank White, Bret Saberhagen, Arthur Ashe, Jack Ham, Andy Russell, Rocky Blier, Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Hal Sutton, Pat Haden.

 

[AngleBroom]

A couple years ago, I asked Darren Clarke if he had time to sign an autograph as he had just teed off and walking down the fairway with his group. Not only did he stop and sign it, he stood there in the middle of the fairway with me talking fumbling through my program reading an article about him in there and smoking his cigar. He's a great guy and very personable. My heart went out to him when his wife died, but I couldn't have been more happy to see him smash his first drive down the pipe at the opening hole of the Ryder Cup. Mike Wier is a class act too.

 

[THEPOSTMAN!]

you're kidding right? Met him once after a game signing autograghs before he got back on the bus. One of the coolest players.

This was his 1st trainng camp w/the Skins in PA, when Spurrier was here and Marvin Lewis was coaching the defense. Maybe, someone put a bug in his ear, to make him change his attitude. At that time he was banging Serena Williams, so he always was on his cell phone. He was the biggest thing on the Skins thenl, until everyone realized he didn't understand the playbook.

 

[da1prophet]

If any of you are in the Columbia, SC area and want to see a guy who's been mentioned a lot in this thread live and in person the artist formerly known as 'Charlie Hustle' hisself, Pete Rose, will be speaking at the Koger Center on the campus of the University of South Carolina on 11/8.

 

[FairWarning]

If any of you are in the Columbia, SC area and want to see a guy who's been mentioned a lot in this thread live and in person the artist formerly known as 'Charlie Hustle' hisself, Pete Rose, will be speaking at the Koger Center on the campus of the University of South Carolina on 11/8.

Speaking on morals and ethics?

 

[TomBrady#1]

Speaking on morals and ethics?

LOL. No he just completed a book and he will discuss. "How to lie, and lie and lie some more even though all the facts prove your guilty"

 

[da1prophet]

Speaking on morals and ethics?

I was hoping he was going to speak on baseball handicapping...but here's the skinny:

October 11, 2006 Baseball legend Pete Rose to speak at Koger Center Nov. 8

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader, will speak at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the University of South Carolina's Koger Center for the Arts.


Rose will discuss his career as a player and manager and his acceptance of a lifetime ban from baseball and exclusion from the Hall of Fame. After his talk, Rose will answer questions and sign copies of his autobiography, "My Prison Without Bars," which will be available for sale in the Koger Center lobby.


Admission for USC students, faculty and staff is free, and tickets for the public cost $10. Tickets for faculty, staff and students are available at the Russell House information desk and require university photo identification. Tickets for the public are at the Carolina Coliseum box office, all Capitol Tickets outlets, online at www.capitoltickets.com or by calling 803-251-2222.

 

[htech]

no bad stories, but I have a few positive ones. I played blackjack with Peerless Price for about 3 hours down in the Carribbean. It was just me, peerless and his fiance. giving each other high fives when we hit blackjacks. great guy though. It was my honeymoon, so my wife was about to kill me if I stayed there any longer.

Also, I met Bill Elliott (Nascar) and he was probably the nicest guy I have ever met. We talked for about 10-15 minutes, but unfortunately NASCAR is the one sport I do not follow.

A funny side story, once my buddies and I followed Sammy Sosa's entourage in to skip through the hour wait at some club in Miami.

A few other guys that go out of there way to be nice: Bob Feller, Jamal Anderson, John Salley, Barkley, world cup player alexi lalas

 

[chick'sfridge]

Most of the professional athletes I have known and met are quality guys, one on one. The demands on their time and personal lives sometimes place them in awkward spots, where they can't accomodate fans.

Biggest Prick: Steve Yeager Dodger catcher. Played Dodger team in fundraising basketball game. Yeager had too many cocktails in his warmup activities. Tried to pick a fight with everybody, as the Dodgers were getting pasted, ( 20-0 to start game) by five ex-college hoopsters.

Rusty Staub-Big timed every kid coming out of Dodger Stadium one night. I popped off to him, "It would be understandable, if you were any good, Rusty". He glared at me, but kept on going to his ride.