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| An enemy of the people: Ronni Noervig cost Denmark a game and perhaps a title. |
This appears in the Tuesday, January 1 2012 edition of the Business Mirror.
The 7th
Annual Brewskies
by rick olivares
At the end of every year, Bleachers’
Brew hands out the Brewskie Awards to people, athletes, and teams that have
made the world of sports even more interesting if not controversial. Here are
the 2012 winners.
The Football Hooligan of the Year
Award - Ronni Noervig
Drinking
and driving sure don’t mix. It’s about time people realized that alcohol does not
belong in a football match either. A Danish appeals court ordered a Danish fan Ronni
Noervig to pay the country's soccer federation nearly $320,000 in damages for
trying to attack the referee during a European Championship qualifier between
Denmark and Sweden in 2007.
Noervig
stormed the field in Copenhagen on June 2, 2007, and tried to punch the referee
after he awarded a penalty to Sweden. The match was abandoned with Sweden
awarded a 3-nil win. Noervig appealed the fine saying he couldn’t pay the amount.
But instead of lowering the amount, the appeals court more than doubled it
after the Danish federation raised its claims.
Said the dumb fan: "It was a moment of idiocy." You
got that right.
The
Col. Nathan Jessep Truth Award - Lance Armstrong
Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few
Good Men delivered one of filmdom’s timeless lines when he blurted out, “You
can’t handle the truth!” as he was being grilled by a military attorney
regarding ordering a beating on a US Marine.
This award goes to disgraced icon
Lance Armstrong after he was stripped of all his Tour de France titles and sued
for taking money under the pretence of being a champion. For so long Armstrong denied
the use of performance enhancing drugs and fought his critics and the USADA
regarding this. Then in a stunning turn of events, he gave up the fight citing
that he got tired of fighting as former teammates began to spill the beans on
him.
Charles Barkley is once more proven
right.
The
Mercy Award - the US NCAA
The US NCAA handed out the ‘death
penalty’ to Penn State after former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was
found guilty of sexually abusing players while former and late head coach Joe
Paterno looked the other way. The NCAA levied a four-year Bowl ban, a $60
million fine, and stripping the Nittany Lions’ wins all the way back to 1998.
But hope springs eternal. Penn State finished the football season with an 8-4
record under first year head coach Bill O’Brien.
The
Gratefulness Award - Roman Avramovich, owner of Chelsea.
After Roberto Di Matteo, a former
Chelsea player, guided the Blues to a FA Cup and a Champions League title in
the same season, he was unceremoniously fired a few weeks into the new season
when the Blues stumbled.
Honorable
mention: Mikhail Prokhorov, owner Brooklyn Nets. Less than a month after Nets
head coach Avery Johnson is awarded NBA Coach of the Month for November, he is
sacked after his team goes 14-14 and star guard Deron Williams sounds off his
displeasure about the offense.
Oh, incidentally, both Avramovich and
Prokhorov are rich Russian owners.
The
Coach Killer Award - Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets
Once more Deron Williams threw his
coach under the bus following a trying time for his basketball team. Williams
admitted that he wasn’t playing well yet his comments about not liking the
offense of the now-fired Nets head coach Avery Johnson sure gave team ownership
a sacrificial lamb.
Williams also had a contentious
relationship with former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan who left his long time
club after a spat with Williams a couple of years ago.
But karma’s a bitch because should
Williams play well under interim head coach PJ Carlesimo, he’ll be thought of
deliberately not playing to his level for Johnson. If he doesn’t then, it’s
still on him now that Johnson isn’t around.
Reality
TV Series of the Year goes to the Boston Red Sox
Season Two of their Season from Hell
series proved to be a worthy follow up to the previous year that was best
characterized by beer, fried chicken, and video games.
This past season, they hired Bobby
Valentine that guaranteed some spice and tension inside the clubhouse. Josh
Beckett and a few players played uninspired ball and were traded midway to the
LA Dodgers. Coaches feuded with Valentine. Slugger David Ortiz railed about his
contract when he was injured. And Valentine threatened a radio host and
bemoaned about having the weakest roster in baseball when his team had the
second highest payroll after the New York Yankees. The Red Sox went 69-93 and
finished last in the AL East for their season finale.
Wonder what they have in store for all
in Season Three.
The
Pursuit of Happyness Award goes to Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid
Ronaldo refused to celebrate a pair of
goals scored against Granada citing “sadness” and “professional” reasons. Was
it because Andres Iniesta was named Europe’s Best Player at that time? Was it
because he felt that his salary of £300,000 a week is “a pittance”?
He should watch the Will Smith
tearjerker so he can snap to his senses.
The
Boba Fett Award goes to the New Orleans Saints
Named for Star Wars’ infamous bounty
hunter (who got swallowed up by the Sarlacc Pit). For operating a slush fund to
inflict injuries on opponents, the Saints were hit by the harshest penalties
even levied on a team in the entire history of the NFL.
Saints this team sure isn’t. If there
was a team that should have been hit by a death penalty it should have been New
Orleans. That or getting swallowed up in a Sarlacc Pit.
The
Dennis Rodman loves Eugene Amos Award goes to Michael Koncz and Buboy Fernandez
In 1997, Rodman, then with the Chicago
Bulls, while battling for a rebound against a Minnesota Timberwolves player, tripped
over a photographer’s camera on the baseline. The Bulls forward kicked Eugene
Amos in the family jewels earning him an 11-game suspension, a $1 million fine,
and a $200,000 settlement with the photographer.
After Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Manny Pacquiao
in their fourth outing, an irate Koncz and Fernandez kicked at photographer Al
Bello who was taking pictures of the fallen Pacman.
Keith
Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, later said he
would review the incident and would consider potential penalties against Koncz
and Fernandez. Expounded Kizer, "What I find interesting is that neither
of these gentlemen, nor anyone else on Team Pacquiao, had any problems when the
photographers were doing their jobs and shooting pictures of Ricky Hatton after
Manny knocked Hatton out.”
The
case is still pending and is headed for litigation.
Let’s
all learn to lose gracefully shall we?
----------------------------
Here are the past Brewskies:
Here is a column I wrote several years ago regarding some Christmas carols that are sports related
http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2008/12/bleachers-brew-138-season-to-be-jolly.html
http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2008/12/bleachers-brew-138-season-to-be-jolly.html
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