Not everyone is as clever or expressive as Vernon Wells. SLAM! Sports goes through a list today of the greatest fan/athlete altercations of all time. Most are pretty recent, but they dig back into the archives, too. It goes from Michael Ray Richardson and his "big-time" Jew lawyers, all the way back to Ty Cobb in 1912.Some of them don't even count as altercations. Jake Plummer giving the finger to fans, and Davis Love III crying like a little girl. Some are tragic, like Monica Seles getting knifed, and some are sort of bizarrely sad, like the idiot Ligue family attacking a first-base coach. Some, like soccer player Eric Cantona's dropkick of a fan lead to bizarre quotes that I don't even understand.
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."I don't have any idea what that means. Really. None. Anyway, here are my two favorites, both of which I'd never heard of before today:
During an on-ice scuffle between the Rangers and Bruins at Madison Square Garden, Boston's Stan Jonathan was sliced open by an object thrown from the stands while Terry O'Reilly was being menaced by a stick-wielding fan. Bruins players climbed into the stands and began scuffling with fans. Mike Milbury actually removed a fan's shoe and beat him with it.If either of his remaining fingers was the middle one, I doubt he'd ever show it to Ty Cobb again.
Ty Cobb makes Ron Artest look like a peace activist. In 1912, Cobb waded into the stands to pummel, spike and boot a heckler. "Don't kick him!" fans cried. "He has no hands!" The victim had lost all but two fingers in an industrial accident. "I don't care if he has no feet," snarled Cobb when informed of a suspension.
