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View Full Version : The Top 10 most idiotic fans in sports history



KoriEllis
09-01-2004, 03:26 PM
Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago

msn.foxsports.com/story/2863708 (http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2863708)

So the defrocked priest has struck again? First, he ambles out into the middle of Formula One auto race, and then he interrupts the Olympic marathon. What gives?

There is, of course, something indelibly vicarious about "fan-dom." Who hasn't conducted fake interviews with oneself while shaving regarding that dramatic — if imaginary — final touchdown drive? Anyhow, we want to be a part of the action. More to the point, we wish we were good enough to be a part of the action.

You can observe this principle in action during the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. But Bulls, like professional athletes in general, are best observed either on TV or from a safe distance and behind sturdy fencing. Even so, that childhood longing to feel the glare of the lights is mighty strong. ...

And sometimes these desires get the better of the maladjusted among us. So we run onto the field of play and do something irredeemably dumb, sometimes felonious and occasionally sinister. In return, we get infamy, a trip to the pokey, a hefty fine and maybe even a forearm shiv from an agitated NFL lineman. Is it worth it? Of course not. Heck, most networks won't even give you airtime anymore.

Still, we're led to wonder: Where does the defrocked priest rank among the all-time Top 10 Most Idiotic Sports Fans? We're here to break it down. And remember, defrocked priest and your ilk, we're not here to honor you; we're here to ridicule you.

10. Robin Ficker
It's pathetic enough to be a Washington Wizards fan, but a Wizards fan with an attitude? Ficker, back in the days of U.S. Airways Arena (formerly the Capital Center) made a name for himself by relentlessly heckling opposing players from his seat behind their bench. So annoying was Ficker that the NBA started printing stern warnings about verbal abuse of players on the back of game tickets. But once the new MCI Center went up, Ficker lost his courtside seats.

9. Morganna
Remember her? Remember those? Morganna the Kissing Bandit was the buxom baseball groupie who made a cottage industry out of running onto the field to smooch ballplayers. She famously did so to George Brett during the '79 All-Star game, but there were countless others, back when it was cute to run on to the field. She retired in 1999 or thereabouts, presumably due to back problems.

8. Spike Lee
Celeb fans are always an annoying lot, but Spike takes top honors. In '94, he jawed with Reggie Miller, and Reggie responded by almost single-handedly felling Lee's beloved Knicks. As if he hadn't already eaten enough crow, Lee later wrote the forward to Miller's biography. Bragging rights? Well, Reggie's the better baller, and he never directed Summer of Sam.

7. Jeffrey Maier
This is why many people harbor an intense disdain for the Yankees. On Oct. 9, 1996, in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Derek Jeter hit a shot to right field that Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco camped under for a sure out. But a 12-year-old kid named Jeffery Maier reached over into the field of play, snatched a sure out from Tarasco's glove of and, thanks to an agreeably incompetent umpire, became a Gotham hero. Think Steve Bartman (see below) with better timing and "oh, he's just a kid" cachet.

6. Fan Man
A.k.a., the most interesting thing to happen to the heavyweight division in 20 years. You'll probably recall that Fan Man crashed the 1993 Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield title bout. He sailed into Caesar's Palace powered by, you guessed it, a fan. The only thing dumber than his stunt was the decision of Bowe's brainless entourage to beat him senseless while he was tangled in the ropes. Sadly, Fan Man took his own life in the Alaskan wilderness in 2002.

5. Steve Bartman
Yes, the guy who got all up in Moises Alou's foul-ball business on Oct. 14 in last year's National League Championship Series. He's not the ultimate interloper (since it was a foul ball), and the Cubs certainly get most of the blame for the Game 6 tank job against the Marlins. Still, if Bartman lets Alou do his thing, the Cubs might have been in the World Series. At least he gave Chicagoans a good idea for their Halloween costumes.

4. The Arizona State student body
On Jan. 20, 1984, two days after his father was brutally murdered in Lebanon, Steve Kerr took the floor for the University of Arizona basketball team. They were playing archrival Arizona State, and Kerr, then a freshman, would go on to score 20 points in the first half alone. But what was most memorable, sadly and disgustingly, was that the ASU fans, during the game, began chanting "PLO" at Kerr in seeming honor of his father's killers.

3. The defrocked priest
And now we come to the inspiration for this little jaunt through the annals of spectator ignominy. If you're wearing a green beret, red kilt and knee-high socks, you're probably crazy. If you wear those and attack the leader of the Olympic marathon, you're certifiable. That's Cornelius Horan, an Irish defrocked priest, who likes to dangerously insert himself into major sporting events. About a year ago, he ran into the middle of a 200-mph British Grand Prix. And this time around, he cost Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei de Lima a gold medal.

2. William Ligue and son
Ah, the timeless tradition! Fathers, sons and baseball. In the Ligue family, that tradition also entails getting soused, losing the shirts and attacking the opposing first-base coach. Ligue, along with his teenage son, attacked Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa on Sept. 19, 2002 at Chicago's Comiskey Park. With one out in the top of the ninth, the Ligues emerged from the stands behind first base, knocked Gamboa to the ground, and started battering the 54-year-old coach. Only William Ligue can make your garden-variety Little League parent look like a bastion of equanimity.

1. Gunther Parche
Like the Ligues, Parche went beyond the lines of mere idiocy into dangerous lunacy. In 1993, 19-year-old Monica Seles was the best female tennis player in the world. But on April 30, she was stabbed during a match by Parche, who was a crazed Steffi Graf fan and wanted to see Graf recapture her spot atop the sport. Inexplicably, Germany declined to prosecute the man who tried to murder Seles. As a result, Seles to this day refuses to play in Germany.

E20
09-01-2004, 03:41 PM
Where the F is Jack Nicholson and the rest of the Laker Cronies.

ChumpDumper
09-01-2004, 04:45 PM
Honerable Mention: There's always a photographer or policeman who gets in the way of riders in the Tour de France and causes a crash.

I remember one fan actually punched Eddy Merckx (who in his prime would have eaten Lance Armstrong for breakfast) in the gut during a nasty mountain climb.

Shelly
09-01-2004, 04:55 PM
Don't forget Rainbow Man (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_186.html)

I guess he's in prison now (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a971107.html)

Aggie Hoopsfan
09-01-2004, 05:27 PM
4. The Arizona State student body
On Jan. 20, 1984, two days after his father was brutally murdered in Lebanon, Steve Kerr took the floor for the University of Arizona basketball team. They were playing archrival Arizona State, and Kerr, then a freshman, would go on to score 20 points in the first half alone. But what was most memorable, sadly and disgustingly, was that the ASU fans, during the game, began chanting "PLO" at Kerr in seeming honor of his father's killers.

Man that's pathetic.

SAmikeyp
09-01-2004, 05:37 PM
I remember one fan actually punched Eddy Merckx (who in his prime would have eaten Lance Armstrong for breakfast)

you will forgive me if I respectfully disagree.

ChumpDumper
09-01-2004, 06:27 PM
With all due respect, Lance is a one-race racer.

Eddy tore it up all season long. One-days, tours, track racing -- anything and everything.

In a TdF race I'm sure it would be quite competitive, but Eddy's total career victories are pretty ridiculous.

SAmikeyp
09-01-2004, 06:43 PM
He is a one-race racer. It is his success in that one race of which I speak.

TastesLikeChicken
09-01-2004, 06:46 PM
Eddy tore it up all season long.



Did he ever win a race with only one ball?

ChumpDumper
09-02-2004, 12:30 AM
He is a one-race racer. It is his success in that one race of which I speak.Eddy won 5 tours -- possibly could have won more if that was the only race he tried to win every year.

I'm not taking anything away from Lance when I say Eddy was more impressive because he indeed tore it up all year.

Aside from the comebacks of Armstrong and Lemond, the last feat that truly impressed me in cycling was Stephen Roche winning the Tour, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championship race in one year. Nobody even tries do do that anymore.

ShineOnYouCrazyManu
09-02-2004, 12:36 AM
If anyone here saw this summer the European Soccer championship in Portugal, you would have noticed that in the final between Portugal and Greece a fan jumped onto the pitch and threw a flag at a Portuguese player, and then he ran like crazy into the goal, the security guys couldn't catch him. His race was only stopped by the net. He actually crashed into it. Lol.

adidas11
09-02-2004, 02:59 AM
Quote: "Where the F is Jack Nicholson and the rest of the Laker Cronies."

:rollin :lol

Oh and to add another to this list, what about the one guy who was talking trash about Vernon Maxwell's daughter, to the point where good 'ol Vernon went up into the stands to attack the guy?

Polandprzem
09-02-2004, 06:41 AM
That was a fan from Barcelona. The player (Portugeese) - L. Figo he played for FC Barcelona for a long time, than a big rival- club Real Madrit bought him and that was an insult for the Barcelona fans.
He (fan) throw the flag of that club into his face.
But Figo use it like a towel.

sportcamper1
09-02-2004, 11:32 AM
Remember the lady in the 80’s that loved marathons? She just couldn’t finish one...So she would follow the circuit to big cities like New York & then get off the track...Take the Sub Way to get to the head of the pack and then take 1st place in the race...

The guy from Kenya that was leading the whole time was like WTF?

I thought she was very cool... :lol