2003 Most Bizarre Sports Moments
Iced Buns in Edmonton
Some hockey fans will do anything to get attention. During an outdoor hockey game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadians, a 50 year-old man, wearing only a T-shirt and one sock, tried to run across the ice during the game. The 50 year-old streaker only made it part way to the rink before jumping into a snow bank, in front of a crowd of nearly 60,000. The man was arrested, but not charged. Police decided that anyone who runs naked through the snow when it's -4 (-20 Celsius) degrees outside has been punished enough.Randall Simon Slams Sausage
Outfielder, Randall Simon was just trying to be funny, when he took a swing at an oversized hot dog at a professional baseball game in Milwaukee. During the seventh inning of the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers, four mascots dressed up as a Bratwurst, a hot dog, an Italian sausage and a Polish sausage, ran past the Pirates' dugout. As this sausage race neared its finish, outfielder, Randall Simon, swatted the woman dressed up as the Italian sausage, who fell to the ground. The giant hot dog then stumbled over the sausage and also hit the ground. Both women were treated for scraped knees, while Randall Simon was arrested and charged with assault on the two sausages. The charges against Simon were dropped and he was fined $432 for disorderly conduct. Simon also gave an autographed bat to the injured Italian sausage and apologized.Yankee Zimmer vs Red Sox Pedro
The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox took their rivalry to a new level during the 2003 American League Championship Series. In the third game of the series, a brawl between the two teams broke out, involving players, managers and even groundskeepers. The most bizarre moment of the brawl took place when pitcher, Pedro Martinez, threw New York's bench coach, Don Zimmer to the ground, after the 72 year-old man charged the Red Sox pitcher. While Zimmer shouldn't have charged Martinez, there was no reason for Pedro to beat up a man who's old enough to be his grandpa.Long Distance Celebration
Wide receiver, Joe Horn, of the New Orleans Saints took TD celebrations to a new level with his staged end zone cell phone call during a game against the New York Giants. Before the game, Joe Horn hid a cell phone under the padding used to protect the goal post in the end zone. After scoring one of his four TDs during the game, Joe Horn retrieved the phone and made a call to his kids to celebrate. The NFL doesn't have much of a sense of humor or appreciation for players celebrating after touchdowns. The fun police at the NFL penalized the Saints 15 yards and fined Joe Horn $30,000. The league also made him write, "I will not use my cell phone during games" 100 times.The Canucks Goalie Crisis
Chris Levesque thought his friends were playing a joke on him, when they pulled him away from studying, and told him the Vancouver Canucks needed him to play goalie. Chris is only a backup with a university team in Vancouver and had never played professional hockey in his life, never mind the NHL. The Canucks' starting goalie, Dan Cloutier, was injured earlier in the day. Backup goalie, Johan Hedberg, stepped up but the Canucks needed to have someone on the bench to backup the backup, and they didn't have time to fly someone in someone from the farm club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. So they went looking for Chris Levesque and signed him to a one-day contract. Chris Levesque nearly got a chance to play that night, when goalie, Johan Hedberg hurt himself during the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But Hedberg was healthy enough to keep playing, so Levesque never actually stepped on the ice. It was still closer to playing in the NHL than he could ever have imagined.Related Stories:
