Who Are Your All Time Dirtiest Players?

RunawaySlave

RunawaySlave

Zeitgeist
BGOL Investor
Responding to the selecting of John Stockton as one of the all time great point guards in the NBA got me to thinking about this question:

In any sport, who would be your all time dirtiest players. By dirty, I mean cheaters. Before anyone starts with Barry Bonds, keep in mind that IF Bonds is found to have taken anything (it still hasn't been proven yet), that the vast majority of major league baseball players are also taking what he is taking and thus, it cannot be deemed as "cheating" if the whole damn league (at least 50%) is doing the same thing.


When thinking of Stockton as a dirty muthafugga, I am reminded of a fighter from a long time back named Johnny Bumphus. They used to call him "Bump City". I am sure brotha Mercer will remember him, he was the light welter champ for a minute. As talented as they come, this man had it all. Quite possibly one of the most talented boxers I've ever seen. Made the Olympic squad in 1980, but never got the chance to fight due to the boycott. Everybody knows he would've won the gold though. He was that good. Bumphus did go pro and end up winning the title eventually. In a VERY good division too....

Well, back around 1982 or 83, Bumphus had a title bout against a man named Gene "Mad Dog" Hatcher. Nothing special, just your everyday, average fighter. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. He was a white dude fighting as a lite welter even though he had some experience as a full fledged welter. But he was NOT gonna make a dent in that division during that time period so he moved back down to the lite division......

So they're fighting, and Bumphus is KILLING this dude. I mean, he's pitching a shutout. Scoring combinations and hatcher can't touch this guy. Hatcher wasn't woozy or anything, but you could tell that it was only a matter of time before he was.

So I think it was round 6, Bumphus still dominating Hatcher (as usual) and the bell rings ending the round. Bumphus lets down his guard and is on his way back to his corner when all of a sudden.......


BOOM!!!


Hatcher hits him was a haymaker and drops Bumphus. But AFTER the round ends. One of those FLUSH shots too. Bumphus is clearly hurt by this shot. But the ref simply comes in and issues a WARNING to Hatcher about this obvious cheap shot. They might've have even deducted a point from his score, but they did NOTHING to give Bumphus time to recover. It was the same minute break between rounds. You could see Bumphus was not the same after that. He spent the next few rounds playing defense and was never the same......

Of course, Hatcher wins the fight....

Oh, and the announcers never said shit. Other than the usual "what a gritty performance" type remarks. (I think it was then that I stopped respecting all announcers)

I am reminded of Hatcher vs. Bumphus because it reminds me of the Stockton vs Kevin Johnson matchups when both played out West. I use Johnson because we KNOW Isiah used to wax Stockton's cheating ass on the regular, but Johnson was more of a Stockton contemporary, and he'd dominate Stockton the same way Bumphus dominated Hatcher for 6 rounds.

Then, Stockton hits Johnson with a haymaker AFTER the bell rings and Johnson drops his guard and Stockton ends up winning the fight


Anyway, that's my story for dirty mutha fugga of the year. I got more stories about ODBs. Who are yours?
 
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before i reply, i'd like to request a clarification. are you using "dirty" to mean using cheating tactics? or is "dirty" limited to delivering cheap shots?

i HATE to put the "dirty" label on players because so much of what is perceived of as "dirty" has become an accepted part of the game.

"cheating" could be construed to mean holding, grabbing, hooking, flopping, and ref-baiting.
 
Both. Don't care if the tactics are accepted or not. As long as it's of a physical nature. I don't really count mind games (like ref-baiting), because that is dependant on the other players' mind
 
Soon as I saw the title, I knew that bruce bowen would be first on the list. Now theres good defense, but some of bowens tactics are just plain dangerous........Think of one other cat in the league that has had more run ins and complaints about dirty play since like 2000. But if i had a list, it would look like this

1. Bruce Bowen
2. John Stockton (malone was dirty too, but not enough to be on the list even though Isiah might disagree
3. Bill Laimbeer

There were other players that had reputations for being dirty.......bill cartwright and his elbows, Robert Parish, Rick Mahorn plus a whole host of others I cant really think of at the moment
 
I don't really count Cartwright (as much as I hated him as a player). He was just a doofus with no coordination. But he does qualify since his actions usually HURT other players.

Guys who use tactics like the "pull the chair out from under you" like Malik Rose and Rick Mahorn, were dirty, but their tactics didn't really result in serious injuries. My disdain is for the players who seem to want to injure another player, or just don't care about the next man

bowenkick2.jpg
 
jmufuggindilla said:
3. Bill Laimbeer

There were other players that had reputations for being dirty.......bill cartwright and his elbows, Robert Parish, Rick Mahorn plus a whole host of others I cant really think of at the moment
Click to expand...

i'm having a difficult time with my own list.

bill laimbeer was a chicken shit and took many a cheap shots, so i can agree. but i also know he did this to get inside people's heads, and get them off their game, and it worked. so some people (not me) would argue that it's just part of the game (like trash talking).

but robert parish? since when?

i also understand the perception that rick mahorn was "dirty", but i always admired his physicality. it wasn't until his twilight years that the skills eroded into shortcuts and trickery.
 
OK.

other than bill laimbeer, dennis rodman would top my list.

bruce bowen, IMO is overly villified. without question, he has done numerous questionable things. but his actions are exaggerated by the media.

bruce bowen has tripped a player. so has josh howard. shit happens.

jason terry punched michael finley in his nuts. reggie evans grabbed and pulled chris kaman's nuts.

karl malone kneed hakeem olajuwon in the nuts. manu ginobili kneed amare stoudemire in the nuts.

tobe cheap-shotted fellow euros manu ginobili and marko jaric in the face. do a handful of episodes mean that a player should always be remembered as "dirty"?
 
cranrab said:
jason terry punched michael finley in his nuts. reggie evans grabbed and pulled chris kaman's nuts.

karl malone kneed hakeem olajuwon in the nuts. manu ginobili kneed amare stoudemire in the nuts.

tobe cheap-shotted fellow euros manu ginobili and marko jaric in the face. do a handful of episodes mean that a player should always be remembered as "dirty"?
Click to expand...


Intent means everything here. Something done in the heat of the battle isn't necessarily dirty IMO. Also, if I approach you as a man (as Chris Childs did with Kobe), that is not considered "dirty" play or a "cheap shot". Something unexpected, such as a boxer hitting a man not only below the belt but below his nut sack

That's why I gave the example of Hatcher vs. Bumphus. Bumphus had turned around and was walking back to his corner when Hatcher cold-cocked him. Clearly his intent was to harm Bumphus

What is your basketball equivalent of that?? Forget all the head games. It's about physicality. If Laimbeer hurt someone physically and it was intentional, then add him to the list


Reggie Evans' stunt was clearly dirty, but it was also clearly not intended to injure Kaman. But Evans also has a body of work to stand on. So it's not an isolated incident. Jason Terry punches a man in his nuts. Cleary, there was intent to injure. But I have no idea if Terry has a HISTORY of violent outbursts or not. Or even of history of cheap fouls, so I can't say if he is or isn't

This is more about the players' own history than one or 2 incidents.
 
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