Sports run on pressure. Coaches, managers, and players are expected to make split-second decisions while thousands of people watch from the stands and millions more may be watching at home. Most of the time, they manage to keep a lid on it. Every so often, though, that lid goes flying.
These 10 moments went well beyond the usual arguing with an official or grumbling through a postgame press conference. There are flying chairs, broken hockey sticks, uprooted bases, profanity-laced rants, and one incident that ended a legendary coaching career overnight. Decades later, fans are still watching many of them. Here are 10 sports meltdowns that earned a permanent spot on the highlight reel.
Bobby Knight Throws a Chair
Indiana was hosting rival Purdue on Feb. 23, 1985, when Bobby Knight decided arguing with the officials apparently wasn’t getting the message across. After receiving a technical foul while protesting the officiating, Knight watched Purdue’s Steve Reid head to the free-throw line. Then he grabbed a red plastic chair from the Indiana bench and sent it skidding across the court.
Officials eventually assessed Knight three technical fouls and ejected him. The chair toss became one of the defining images of his career, and Knight later found some humor in it. During an appearance with David Letterman, he joked that he had simply been trying to send the chair to an elderly woman who needed somewhere to sit. It was a decent line. The officials remained unconvinced.
Woody Hayes Punches a Player
Some meltdowns become funny with enough distance. This one really doesn’t. On Dec. 29, 1978, Ohio State trailed Clemson 17-15 late in the Gator Bowl when Tigers defender Charlie Bauman intercepted quarterback Art Schlichter. Bauman’s momentum carried him out of bounds along the Ohio State sideline, where Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes struck him.
The incident immediately overshadowed the game. Clemson held on for the 17-15 victory, and Ohio State fired Hayes the following morning. Hayes had coached the Buckeyes for 28 seasons and was already one of the biggest names in college football, but the punch became his final act on a sideline. He never coached another game.
Dennis Green Tells You Who They Are
The Arizona Cardinals looked like they had the Chicago Bears buried on Monday Night Football on Oct. 16, 2006. Arizona led 20-0 at halftime and 23-3 late in the third quarter. Then everything came apart. Chicago scored two defensive touchdowns, Devin Hester returned a punt for another, and the Bears somehow escaped with a 24-23 victory despite failing to score an offensive touchdown.
Dennis Green arrived at the postgame press conference in no mood to admire the comeback. His furious response produced the line that followed him for the rest of his career: “They are who we thought they were! And we let ’em off the hook!” The rant became so famous that portions of it were later worked into a Coors Light commercial. Losing a 20-point lead is rough. Hearing yourself relive it during commercial breaks probably didn’t help.
Lee Elia Unloads on Cubs Fans
The Chicago Cubs fell to 5-14 on April 29, 1983, after losing 4-3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. The announced crowd was only 9,391, and some of the fans who remained after the game heckled Cubs players as they headed toward the clubhouse. Manager Lee Elia had heard enough.
What followed was an extraordinary, profanity-heavy rant directed at his own team’s fans. Elia defended his players, complained bitterly about the booing, and pointed out that most Chicagoans were at work while a much smaller group was sitting in the ballpark giving the Cubs grief. The uncensored recording is spectacularly unsuitable for office speakers. Elia lasted only a few more months as Cubs manager, but the rant has survived for more than four decades.
John McEnroe Cannot Be Serious
John McEnroe was already developing a reputation for arguing with officials when he met fellow American Tom Gullikson in the first round at Wimbledon on June 22, 1981. After one of McEnroe’s serves was called a fault, he turned his attention toward chair umpire Ted James and started arguing that the ball had caught the line.
Then came the sentence that would follow him forever: “You cannot be serious!” The argument continued, McEnroe received a point penalty during the match, and Wimbledon later fined him $1,500. The British press had already embraced the nickname “SuperBrat,” and this did absolutely nothing to talk them out of it.
Mike Gundy Is a Man, He’s 40
Oklahoma State had just beaten Texas Tech 49-45 on Sept. 22, 2007, but Mike Gundy wasn’t interested in spending his postgame press conference talking about the win. He arrived with a copy of The Oklahoman and zeroed in on a column by Jenni Carlson that had criticized quarterback Bobby Reid.
Gundy defended Reid and demanded that criticism be directed at the coaches instead of college players, eventually delivering the immortal line: “Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40!” The three-minute rant exploded online almost immediately. The reaction wasn’t universally positive, either. Some sportswriters criticized Gundy’s treatment of Carlson, and Reid later told ESPN that the episode had been painful for him despite Gundy publicly presenting it as a defense of his player. Whatever else you think about it, nobody forgot the number 40.
Jim Mora and the Playoffs
Jim Mora’s Indianapolis Colts lost 40-21 to the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 25, 2001, dropping them to 4-6. Indianapolis actually piled up 491 yards of offense, but turnovers wrecked the afternoon. Peyton Manning threw four interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and the Colts turned the ball over five times altogether.
Mora was already irritated while discussing the mistakes when a reporter asked about Indianapolis’ playoff chances. That produced the reaction everybody remembers: “Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs! You kidding me? Playoffs?” He finished by saying he was just hoping the Colts could win another game. The delivery did most of the work. More than two decades later, you can say the word “playoffs” in the right tone and an NFL fan will know exactly what you’re doing.
Lou Piniella Takes the Bases
Lou Piniella had plenty of memorable arguments with umpires, but his Aug. 21, 1990, performance as manager of the Cincinnati Reds was special even by his standards. Barry Larkin was called out at first while trying to beat an inning-ending double play against the Chicago Cubs. Piniella stormed onto the field to argue with first-base umpire Dutch Rennert and was ejected.
That should have been the end of it. It was not. Piniella ripped first base out of the ground, threw it, picked it back up, and then launched the bag into right field. Cincinnati went on to win 8-1, so at least his team had a considerably better night than the equipment.
Earl Weaver Battles the Umpires
Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver didn’t merely disagree with umpires. He made an event out of it. Weaver was ejected roughly 95 times during his managerial career, and some of his arguments have become almost as famous as the games themselves.
One of the best-known came on Sept. 17, 1980, when umpire Bill Haller happened to be wearing a microphone during a game against Detroit. Weaver came out to dispute a balk call and delivered a spectacularly profane argument that was captured on tape. On another occasion, after demanding that a coach bring him a rule book during an argument, Weaver ripped the book apart and tossed the pieces into the air when the umpire wouldn’t change the call. Naturally, Weaver still wound up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Apparently destroying the rule book does not erase the rules.
Jim Playfair Goes Full Hulk
Jim Playfair supplied one of hockey’s great viral meltdowns on March 27, 2010, while coaching the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Abbotsford’s J.D. Watt received a five-minute charging major and a game misconduct after a collision with Hamilton goaltender Cedrick Desjardins. Playfair strongly disagreed with the call.
That is putting it mildly. Playfair grabbed a hockey stick and smashed it against the boards until it broke. He tore off his suit jacket, climbed onto the bench, destroyed a second stick, and continued giving the officials a fairly animated review of their work. Hamilton won 4-0, but almost nobody remembers the score.
The AHL fined Playfair an undisclosed amount but did not suspend him. He later acknowledged that it wasn’t his proudest moment, though he declined to apologize for it. By then the video was racing around the internet, preserving one very bad minute at work for the rest of time. Thankfully, most of us don’t have that problem.