Athletes More Interesting for What They Did Off The Field

We all know the names of our greatest athletes of all time and we love them for all of their amazing accomplishments, but today the staff of the interrobang pays tribute to our favorite athletes who were more famous for their off-field behavior.  

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 1.  Bob Uecker

Uecker had a mediocre .200 average during his six years in the major leagues (but with a .429 average against the great Sandy Koufax).  After his retirement he found success as commercial pitchman, movie actor, TV show host, sitcom star, wrestling announcer and sportscaster.

2.  Brian Bosworth

Named the 6th worst flop on the Biggest Flops of the Last 25 Years list by ESPN, Bosworth’s professional career, following promising years at the University of Oklahoma, was nothing to write home about.  Bosworth will be most remembered for his haircut, outspoken behavior, suing the NFL, and crappy action movie career.

  

3. Tonya Harding

Her resume reads more like the far-fetched antics in a Lifetime TV movie than anything sporty. Most interesting for her parade of ridiculous decisions over the years, Harding’s bizarre tendencies completely overshadowed any memories of her ice skating career.  How many athletes had a hitman try and take out their competition AND then went to celebrity boxing?  AND have a sex tape of their wedding night?  Our guess?  Not many.  And by not many, we mean only one.

 4.  Chad Johnson/Ochocinco

Maybe it was when he changed his name from Johnson to Ochocinco.  Or the time he competed on Dancing With The Stars.  Or MAYBE it was when he offered to live with a fan.  Bullriding, crazy tweets, crazy actions, and crazy choices make him a shoe in for our list.

 

5.  Hollywood Henderson

Playing for the Dallas Cowboys, it’s true he was great on the field. But what he was really known for was what he did on the sidelines, which was snorting cocaine. After retiring from football, he ended up doing 2 years in prison in 1983 for smoking cocaine with two girls in California, he was accused of threatening them with a gun and sexually assaulting them. And finally, in 2000, he won $28 million dollars in the Texas lottery and now attends anti drug seminars as a speaker. Also, his nickname was Hollywood.

6.  Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson

The wife swapping Yankees pitchers, their story is now being made into a film by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck called “The Trade”. They swapped wives in 1972 and announced it during spring training in 1973. New York Yankees General Manager at the time,Lee MacPhail, remarked, “We may have to call off Family Day.”   The swap worked out for Peterson, he’s still married to Kekich’s wife Susanne.

 

7. John Matuszak

NFL wildman known more for his over the top drug use than for his football career. He also posed fully nude in Playgirl, played Sloth in Goonies, and died of a cocaine and darvocet induced heart attack at the age of 38.

 

8. Renee Richards

Renee was born Richard Raskind who played tennis at Yale and became team captain. Raskind became an ophthalmologist and served in the U.S. Navy. Richard Raskind competed in mens tennis competing in national tournaments. Until 1975, when Richard Raskind underwent a sex reassignment operation and became Renee Richards. Renee won a landmark case in the New York Supreme court and was allowed to compete in the 1976 U.S. Open as a woman. Richards ranked as high as 20th in women tennis players, but off the court ranked number one for controversy and transsexual rights.

9.  Todd Marinovich

Todd was trained from the crib by his father Marv to become the perfect quarterback.  He was dubbed the “test tube athlete”.  Growing up, he had never eaten a Big Mac or an Oreo and trained intensely.  Marinovich went on to quarterback at USC, but with college came freedom.  And that’s when Todd Marinovich went wild.  He was arrested for cocaine possession, but was still able to make it into the NFL, signing with the Raiders.  He won the starting job, but failed league drug tests in his two seasons and was dropped at the start of his third and never played in the NFL again.  Todd Marinovich, the ultimate science experiment gone wrong.

 

10.  Darryl Dawkins

True,  ‘Chocolate Thunder’ was known for something that happened on the court.  But it wasn’t high numbers that made him famous.  His massive dunks, which shattered the backboard on two separate occasions, made him famous.  It was after he broke his first backboard when Dawkins started to give his dunks nicknames: ‘The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam’.  Other names included ‘The Rim Wrecker’, ‘The Go-Rilla’, ‘The Look Out Below’, ‘The In-Your-Face Disgrace’, ‘The Cover Your Head’, ‘The Yo-Mama’, and ‘The Spine-Chiller Supreme’.  Darryl also claimed that he was an alien from the planet Lovetron where he rolled with his girlfriend Juicy Lucy.  Still one of the NBA’s most beloved personalities.

11.  Dennis Rodman

A Basketball Hall of Fame inductee for his defensive and rebounding skills, Rodman will always be best known for his life off the court, which include wrestling, acting, a quickie marriage to Carmen Electra, piercings, tattoos, flamboyant hairstyles, and posing in a wedding dress.