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Who's Your Favorite Sports Wack Job?

So by now everyone has seen the Antonio Brown situation play out . Quits mid game , strips off his uniform , is trying to catch Uber's outside the stadium, and cut/retired minutes after the game ends. 

These actions were from a guy who recently returned from suspension for faking a vaccination card. Wack job behavior. 

We could spend days and hours ranking who the biggest wack jobs in all of sports are. I'm sure there's a case for a ton of people to make that list. John McEnroe would go off the handle at the drop of a dime, Ron Artest had a ton of viral moments (if you do get a chance go watch the documentary on him it sheds a lot of light on his issues), and Dennis Rodman's clips and stories from the Last Dance were all worth a documentary themselves. The list goes on and on and the debate goes on and on. 

Instead, I know that deep down we all have that one crazy character in sports that we personally love. Each person loves someone different which is what makes sports great. It also allows them to brag when that person comes up clutch in a big moment. Like all those Laker fans in 2010 who were loving the signing of Artest got to say "this is why it's worth it" when he came up huge in the Finals. 

So I ask , who's your personal favorite sports wack job ? 

I think to me it has to be Rickey Henderson. Maybe because the Rickey stories were always just around growing up. Maybe because all of them make me laugh. Or because he flat out was an elite talent and even old as shit helped the Mets to the playoffs. Whatever the case, I always laughed at Rickey's stories. 

Here's a few gems if you aren't familiar : 

In 1996, Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”

Rickey once asked a teammate how long it would take him to drive to the Dominican Republic

I didn’t believe this one at first. However, I emailed a few contacts within the Sox organization and they claim it actually happened. This is priceless, it really is. The morning after the Sox finished off their 2004 World Series sweep against St. Louis, Henderson called someone in the organization looking for tickets to Game 6 at Fenway Park.

To this day and dating back 25 years, before every game he plays, Henderson stands completely naked in front of a full length locker room mirror and says, “Ricky’s the best,” for several minutes

And my personal favorite ... which later has been proven to be not true but the fact that it was even considered true shows how nutty Rickey is.

Alas, according to both parties involved, it’s not true. I wish it were. Heck, both Rickey Henderson and John Olerud have said they wish it were true. But it just didn’t happen. The story went that a few weeks into Henderson’s stint with the Mariners, he walked up to Olerud at the batting cage and asked him why he wore a batting helmet in the field. Olerud explained that he had an aneurysm at nine years old and he wore the helmet for protection. Legend goes that Henderson said, “Yeah, I used to play with a guy that had the same thing.” Legend also goes that Olerud said, “That was me, Rickey.” Henderson played with Olerud on the Blue Jays and the Mets.

 

I bet a few of you out there are rooting for personal wack job to make a comeback, or come up big this season. It's a tale as old as time. For every 10 meltdowns.. there's always one Artest shot that will make you come back believing your guy still has something in the tank. 

I look forward to hearing your favorite wack jobs. @Return_of_RB