As 2016 wraps up, we had to take a look at some of the most bizarre sports stories we have been blessed with so far. Sports is often an escape and reminiscing about the good, bad, ugly, and funny is a nice break from the day-to-day trudge through life. Baseball, football, basketball, and Olympics - there has not been a shortage of bizarre sports stories to talk about this year.
When Chandler Jones was on the Patriots, he decided to use a form of synthetic marijuana often known as "Spice" or "K2" that is not able to be traced on a normal drug test. Jones freaked out and was taken to the hospital. He ended up just having a bad reaction to the drug.
Hoverboards quickly rose in popularity, and professional athletes are not excluded from the fads that plague modern society. Given that hoverboards have a propensity to explode and he saw Cam Newton riding one, it's not surprising that Rivera threw out a ban on the portable disaster machines.
Harbaugh has been known to be wild in his antics across the board, but when it comes to recruiting players, he goes above and beyond. Harbaugh climbed a tree in order to prove something to a four-star recruit and his family. But hey, it worked.
Agassi is one of the best tennis stars America has ever had and revealed that he played a lot of his games without the safety and comfort of underwear. He forgot to bring underwear to the French Open once, and a superstition was born. Just goes to show that athletes will do anything and everything they can to gain a perceived advantage.
Mike Tyson is known for silly antics, a high-pitched voice, nibbling on men's ears and loving Phil Collins' song "In the Air Tonight." Well, now he is known for threatening to do whatever boys do to his daughters to those boys. "Whatever you do to my daughter, I'm gonna do to you. You better make sure you're pecking her on her lips or cheek because if you give her the tongue, buddy, you better brush your teeth." Just a word of caution to anyone looking to date Tyson's daughter.
A Seahawks fan started a petition to ban Cam Newton from entering CenturyLink Field in Seattle. This stemmed from Cam throwing a "12" flag on the ground after the Panthers beat the Seahawks. The fan called Cam "one of the most unprofessional, unsportsmanlike individuals on the planet." Looks like Seattle has some bigger things to worry about this year rather than focusing on a flag being thrown to the ground in an opposing team's stadium.
It doesn't get much dumber than this: An NBA player on a team that can't seem to get out of its own way, Blake Griffin, decided it was a good idea to punch an equipment manager, which resulted in Griffin breaking his hand. Dumb isn't a strong enough word for this decision.
A member of the Denver Broncos' practice squad was sent home from the Super Bowl after being questioned and released by the San Jose police department. While he wasn't cited by the police department, Gary Kubiak decided it was best for the team if Ryan Murphy wasn't at the Super Bowl as a distraction.
Arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL was brought into controversy when his wife was shipped HGH from the Guyer Institute. It is unknown what drug was prescribed to Ashley Manning, but HGH is illegal in the NFL and Manning was treated at the Guyer Institute at the same time as Ashley was receiving the prescription.
Stephan Savoia is the photographer who shot the now Internet-famous "crying Jordan" meme, and he was unaware of its existence. When he found out about it, he spent some time googling the meme and was thrilled with the creativity and ingenuity of all the different versions of Jordan crying.
Some lucky family stumbled upon seven Ty Cobb baseball cards printed between 1909-1911. They were in a paper bag in an attic somewhere in the southern U.S. The family wished to stay anonymous, but collectors have labeled the Ty Cobb find "The Lucky 7."
NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace reminisced about the one time he thought he needed to fart before he got in his race car and when he stopped, he realized he had sharted. He got in his car, qualified second for the race, and had to sit in his car while talking to reporters for about 10 minutes before he was able to shower and get some fresh undies on. Just another clear example of why you should never trust a fart.
Kanye West didn't think much of the Clippers' new mascot, Chuck the Condor, but neither did much of America. No word on if Steve Ballmer is going to take Kanye up on his offer, but I'm sure America would love to see what Kayne would come up with.
Much has been made of the argument between the drugs the NFL provides to its athletes to help deal with pain and the benefits of marijuana. Eugene Monroe donated some cash and asked other members of the NFL to do the same. The NFL hasn't bent in its resolve, but time will tell how long that will last.
LeBron James knows all about being cryptic and vague when it comes to social media. He unfollowed the Cavs' Twitter and Instagram accounts in the middle of the season, which doesn't send a positive message about his feelings toward the team, but no one loves being in the spotlight more than LeBron does.
Aaron Rodgers and one of his former Cal teammates say they saw a UFO while they were in New Jersey before the NFL Draft in 2005. Rodgers says the night was overcast so they weren't able to really make out the object, but he heard an alarm going off at a power plant and heard fighter jets scramble.
Don Mattingly decided he doesn't want to allow his players to wear facial hair because old baseball traditions with no relevance still seem to find their way into baseball. There are plenty of baseball players who have facial hair and plenty who are clean-shaven who produce at an absurdly high level.
Romo has had a pretty solid career as a quarterback, but there was a time when he didn't know if being an NFL QB was the right career path. He prayed and was content with going back to Wisconsin to be a golf club pro. Fortunately, someone had bigger plans for him.
Kyrie Irving had issues with "five big ass bugs" sitting on his pillows when he was sleeping. He said he only got three hours of sleep after sleeping on the couch and not feeling well. Apparently this hotel is haunted, and some of his teammates had issues during their stay as well.
Cole Hamels paid $70,000 to a London-based company to have access to restaurants, goodie bags, a limo with champagne and three other VIP events for him and his wife. The problem is he never got to partake in any of the fun and was turned away from the show itself. Looks like Cole got taken for a ride by the Blue Jays and the London-based company. Maybe stick to the USA, huh Cole?
Ever hit a shot in a spot where you can play it as it lies or take a drop? So did Gary Woodland, but instead of taking that drop, he dropped his pants and hit a shot barefoot in his underwear.
Bucs wide receiver Louis Murphy went to his former college teammate's wedding and fell asleep on the stairs in the courtyard after drinking. Murphy broke a small panel of glass and called the cops for help, but ultimately, everything was fine.
Jeter got a little too close to a restricted area (which isn't the hardest thing to do) and was given a citation. The person who cited him is a Red Sox fan and decided to post the ticket to his Facebook page. The Air Force apologized, and the officers learned a valuable lesson: Don't put stupid things on social media... oh yeah, and Jeter always gets the last laugh.
Escobar has been thrown out of his fair share of games, but the reason for this one is the best. He was upset with the umpires for calling him out on a check swing so he did what any reasonable shortstop would do — he drew an enormous version of home plate in the middle of the infield. Once the umpires saw what his artistic drawing was, they threw him out. Hey, Yunel, maybe stick to playing baseball and let art be a hobby.
Jordan Rodgers (brother of Aaron) opened up about family drama while on the most recent season of "The Bachelorette" and let all of America know that things aren't OK between the members of the Rodgers family. There have been suggestions that the family relationship has been strained since Aaron started dating actress Olivia Munn (there have also been suggestions that his decrease in efficiency on the football field may be a result of his relationship too), but those assumptions are absurd and unfounded.
Remember when your little brother or sister would throw a fit about wearing whatever he or she was told to wear for Christmas pictures? Chris Sale did something very similar except he isn't a 5-year-old; he is a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. He didn't like the throwbacks he was told the team was wearing, and rather than wear them, he decided he would cut up the jerseys so they weren't usable. That is one epic temper tantrum.
Mitch Wallis was simply trying to kick the ball away from the opposing team when he kicked his own leg... and broke it. This sounds like a story out of a fiction novel, but it happened on the most routine type of play. Just a reminder, you may not want to kick yourself in the leg, especially if you're strong enough to break bones with a kick.
Tyler Ulis, starting point guard for the Kentucky Wildcats, went backstage to meet Drake after a concert, and the Wildcats self-reported it to the NCAA. NCAA officials ruled that Ulis was given preferential treatment after a member of Drake's management team recognized him and invited him backstage.
Draymond, Draymond, Draymond... In addition to getting suspended for a Finals game after the NBA deemed he had an infatuation with attacking other men's crotches during basketball games, Draymond decided to snap a picture of his own crotch and share it on the popular app Snapchat. Maybe LeBron has some competition for who likes to be in the spotlight more after all.
Olympic athletes train their whole lives for the opportunity to showcase their talents on a worldwide stage once every four years. The athletes who participated in outdoor water-based events had to contend with their opponents and a super bacteria that was discovered just a month before the games were set to start. Rio was a disaster for many reasons, but a super bacteria had to be at the top of that list.
A dismembered foot and another unidentified body part were discovered by a beachgoer just 36 days before the Olympics were set to start. The foot washed ashore right in front of the Olympic Beach Volleyball Arena. Super bacteria, Zika virus and dismembered body parts — the Olympics were on full display last summer, huh?
Phelps has a game face that makes people legitimately shake in their speedos — or make memes and share them all over every social media platform known to man. Phelps' game face is probably the second best meme (only bested by Crying Jordan) to come from an athlete, and the uses know no bounds.
Termas Monte Carlo. DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan and DeAndre Jordan won't forget that name for a long time. Termas Monte Carlo is a brothel, but if you call and ask what it does, whoever answers says that the establishment plays music, has a full bar and only serves male patrons. The trio of USA basketball superstars left promptly upon learning what the actual business was, but they should have done some research beforehand, don't you think?
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says he thinks bat flips are good for the game. Mike Trout says, "My parents taught me to be humble," and suggested he doesn't want any pitchers to feel like he is showing them up. Bat flips or not, Trout is one of the most exciting players in baseball, but could you imagine him hitting a bomb and joining the Bautista Bat Flip Club? Baseball could only be so lucky.
Jerry Colangelo enjoys many things, but one of them seems to be limiting the freedom of expression of the fans who purchase tickets to 76ers games. During a promotion that promised season tickets to a fan for the season if the fan made a half-court shot, the fan was instructed to take off his homemade Sam Hinkie jersey or he wouldn't be allowed to participate.
There were rumors swirling about the Warriors possibly trading Splash Brother Klay Thompson after Thompson got off to a slow start. Klay didn't seem too concerned as he answered some questions while sipping on some yellow water... errrr, light beer.
Louis Oosthuizen walked up to the 16th hole at Augusta and let a pretty solid shot go off the tee. Then, something magical happened (as it often does at Augusta National): His ball hit off J.B. Holmes' ball and rolled perfectly into the cup. Holmes also benefited with his ball rolling about a foot away from the cup, leaving him an uphill putt.
LeBron James is typically a classy dude. Well-spoken. Purposeful. Smart. That is until he threw a Halloween party and had a bunch of decorations digging at the Warriors blowing a 3-1 NBA Finals lead. Time will tell if this comes back to bite the Cavs, but Cleveland's baseball team may have suffered the karma by giving up a 3-1 lead against the Cubs in the World Series.
Speaking of the Cubs and the World Series, shortly after winning, the Cubs GM decided to celebrate by eating goat in the outfield bleachers to finally put that curse to rest. Theo Epstein is the embodiment of the saying, "You are what you eat." After ending the Red Sox's and Cubs' championship droughts, I don't think that's much of a reach.
King is one of the best writers known to America, and he took the Red Sox to task using his medium in an article printed in the Boston Globe. The Red Sox asked King if he would like to move his seats being that they were putting up protective netting. King declined, choosing to stay, but wrote a scathing piece suggesting that fans needed to be more aware and take care of themselves. Judging by his book-reading habits, we'd like to think that King may be saying thank you to the Red Sox at some point in the future.
There is an open House seat, and Tebow shared his thoughts about aspirations to delve into politics. Tebow happens to live in the district where the seat is available, and that happens to be in the great state of Florida, where he is deemed a legend and the second coming of Christ. Squeaky clean image despite years of probing into his personal life — yeah, the Republicans could use someone like Tebow right about now.
Pat McAfee decided he was going to tweet some jokes about Colorado being foggy on 4/20 due to pot smokers' self-deemed holiday. The NFL decided to get in on the joke and surprised McAfee with a random drug test the next day. McAfee took it in stride. Thank goodness he hadn't participated in any festivities the day before.
Despite all the trophies adorning Wayne Gretzky's mantle, his wife was more enamored with the players on the ice rather than the washed-up has-been sitting next to her. During a playoff hockey game, Wayne and his wife Janet were featured on the Kiss Cam. Janet was too busy watching hockey to notice, but Wayne sat there all puckered up. Even after noticing, Janet deemed the action on the ice better than appeasing the Great One. Apparently Janet prefers ice hockey over tonsil hockey, and that's just fine with us.
Jonathan Nicola was born in Sudan and isn't really sure how old he is. He got busted playing high school ball in Canada but was detained at the U.S. border because his documents for the U.S. list his birthday at Nov. 1, 1986, while his Canadian documents list his birthday as Nov. 25, 1998. He said he always asked his mom how old he was, but she said she could never remember his actual age. Hmmmmmm.
Tunsil has some people who don't want him to succeed in his life. As the NFL Draft was happening, someone hacked his Twitter account and posted a video of Tunsil smoking weed out of a gas mask. Tunsil dropped in the draft, presumably due to the video, until the Miami Dolphins drafted him and ended his slide. Yet another example of social media ruining good things. Maybe don't let other people have your passwords?
Russian diver Ilya Zakharov was defending his title in the three-meter springboard at the 2016 Olympics but failed miserably. He launched off the springboard and landed face first, receiving a 0.0 as an official score. What an embarrassing moment for someone defending his title — kind of like blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after defeating the same team in the Finals one season before.
A boxer from Ireland lost to Vladimir Nikitin from Russia and was less than thrilled. Michael Conlan suggested that the bantamweight bout was fixed and that amateur boxing is corrupt. In a curse-filled tirade, he let everyone know just how he felt about amateur boxing and promised to never box in the AIBA (world amateur boxing association) again.
Klay Thompson dropped 41 points in a playoff game with 33 coming from 11 three-pointers. His secret? Yoda socks. The Force is strong with this young Jedi. Thankfully we have plenty of time to watch him come into his own.
A Seattle-area college is offering an actual college course for bandwagon fans to learn about football. We all hate bandwagon fans, but this is an attempt to make jumping on the bandwagon an acceptable thing. We're all for people falling in love with sports, but to get college credit for learning about a sport and it's not P.E. credit? GTFOH.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won the first championship trophy the city has seen in an eternity, and J.R. Smith celebrated by deciding to avoid covering his chest, stomach and arms for three days. The Cavs flew to Vegas, and J.R. didn't wear a shirt. At the parade a couple days later, no shirt. Apparently Smith is allergic to cotton blends.
Jamie Neal is a writer who grew up in the Bay Area. You can find her on Twitter @TheJamieNeal and you can find her personal work at www.awalktotheprettyside.com.
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