If there was a Mount Rushmore of spitting incidents in sports, it’d be hard to narrow it down to four heads.
There’s Roberto Alomar spitting on umpire John Hirschbeck after he rang the second baseman up on strikes.
There’s former NFL linebacker and psychopath Bill Romanowski spitting in J.J. Stokes’ face.
And who could forget June 14, 1987, the day Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez allegedly hit Kramer with the “magic loogie” in “Seinfeld?”
This week, two new candidates threw their hats into the ring.
First, Ohio State freshman forward Jared Sullinger said he was spit on twice at the Kohl Center in Madison, once before the Badger-Buckeye tilt and once after in the melee of the Wisconsin win and court storming.
It’s entirely possible it happened, especially afterward in the confusion, but impossible to confirm.
In the other incident, it was impossible to miss the expectoration in question.
The second spitting occurred in a golf tournament in Dubai over the weekend, as famous adulterer and former best golfer in the universe Tiger Woods searched for his first win since crashing his car into a fire hydrant two Thanksgivings ago.
While lining up a putt on the 12th hole, a crouching Woods let fly a giant glob of saliva visible to a television camera across the green. People already see spitting as a disgusting habit, and when you have the abhorrent sportsmanship and decision-making track record of Tiger, it makes it that much worse.
Woods received an undisclosed fine from the European Tour for breaking its code of conduct, and rightly so. Even though it wasn’t directed at anybody or anything, it was still one of the nastier things I’ve seen lately.
Rebecca Springer • Feb 19, 2011 at 9:40 am
He’s especially good at expactorating… my what a guy that Gaston!!