What's up with these Guys?

Seriously, what is up with players acting like complete %#&*heads the last few days? First, you got Gary Sheffield basically saying he’s gonna dog it if he’s traded to The Mets. Not that it’s particularly shocking that this perennial breath of sunshine would make such a statement, but the concept itself still boggles my mind. Maybe I’m from the “old school,” but I consider the possibility of being traded as part of the deal for athletes. You go where you’re sent. When did this trend of players controlling where they go become the norm? Dude doesn’t even have a “No-Trade” clause in his $13,000,000/year contract (Of course, given Sheff's moods, you’d be out of your mind to give him the option of not leaving your club).  Apparently, however, it did include a “No-Professionalism” clause. You just shoving dip in your mouth, bro.

Then you got Kenny Rogers going after a cameraman, joining the likes of Dennis Rodman, Sean Penn and The Howard Stern Show’s Scott the Engineer. Although, let’s be fair. The Gambler does have a legit beef. After all, this lens-wielding maniac had the audacity to film him… at a nationally televised event. You’d think the guy was the stalkerazzi who crashed into Lindsay Lohan the way Kenny went batty on him. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what bothers me about it more. That a professional athlete would be such a *******.

Or that I wasn’t there to watch.

            As a member of the media (ESPN The Magazine and espn.com), I’m in locker rooms and attend various sports-related events all the time. Yet, for some reason, every good freak out seems to happen either in another city or a night when I don’t have a reason to be there.  Again, I don’t condone this behavior. I think it’s absolutely absurd and hope Selig comes down hard on this *****. But at the same time, would it kill an athlete to pull this nonsense on a night I’m there to interview someone? The closest thing I’ve ever seen to a Kenny Rogers freak out are the following:

1) Andy Ashby yelled at me a few years ago when he was with The Dodgers. I’m not gonna rehash the whole story, but in a nutshell, I'm guessing he thought I had been talking about him with another reporter. Thus, when I was standing a good 30 feet away, he turned to me and yelled, “DO YOU NEED SOMETHING?” I just shrugged and said “No,” although my buddy Jason pointed out that I should have responded, “No, I need to speak with a name.” I loved that he was out of baseball within a year.

2) A rep for Penny Marshall yelling at the Clippers P.R. guy who wouldn’t let her in the locker room to talk with a player, who may not have even been there. She didn’t have a media credential, which is mandatory for entrance, although at the time, being a Hollywood director willing to plunk down for Clippers season tix should have been enough.

3) I approached Kyle Farnsworth one time during spring training, not seeing he was working on a plate of food. As I got the words “Kyle, do you have a second?” out, he growled, “I’m eating.” I immediately apologized, and in fairness, he didn’t even come close to losing his temper. But Kyle Farnsworth is huge. Seriously. The guy is absolutely yoked. Just him growling was scarier than 95% of professional athletes screaming at me. Not a reassuring sight.

And that’s about it, really.

            In the grand scheme of things, nothing. No meltdowns. No confrontations. No in your face bruhaha’s.  I’m not saying that these guys should be behaving like jerks for the sake of my entertainment. From my experience, 99% of professional athletes behave like professionals, do their job and are reasonably easy to work with (or at least, distantly cordial). And I prefer it that way. But if they’re gonna act the fool, at least send me an email so I can get front row seats. Something constructive oughtta come out of millionaires acting like idiots.