The 50 most bizarre sports moments of 2017

To call the Chargers' move up the 405 rushed would be putting it lightly. The Spanos's dash to escape San Diego after being granted relocation rights in late 2016 included releasing a logo that was roundly mocked on social media (perhaps most rightfully so by the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning) and moving into a 30,000-seat soccer stadium that is outdone by plenty of high schools around the country.

For over two years, the Philadelphia 76ers' young star has taken any and every shot he can to grab the attention of the Barabadian bombshell and took to Twitter to continue his plea via  NBA All-Star voting. Embiid cited that landing a spot in the All-Star Game could go a long way toward helping him land his crush, Rihanna. In the end, Embiid landed short of both his goals — for the time being.

Loyalty apparently means a lot to Crowder, who became irked at his own fan base (at the time) for openly cheering the visiting Gordon Hayward, who happened to play the same position as Crowder. Seeing it as a threat to his place in the Celtics' hierarchy, Crowder called the cheers as a "sign of disrespect." Ultimately, the fans got their way as Hayward joined the club over the summer, while Crowder was shipped off as a part of the pact that brought Kyrie Irving to town.

Allen, who has a well-publicized penchant for tripping his opponents, boiled over after getting a technical foul for illegal foot play in a game against Elon University. After a nuclear meltdown for the ages, Allen received an "indefinite" suspension from coach Mike Krzyzewski — that ended up lasting only a game.

In the NHL’s All-Star Celebrity Shootout, former Hart Trophy-winning defenseman Chris Pronger got to live the dream of a great many people: taking a shot at Justin Bieber. The hulking 6-6 former All-Star cornered the the Biebs against the boards and in the process created one of the great images of all time. What makes it even better is that Pronger worked in the league’s Department of Player Safety at the time and fined himself a whole $5 for the shot.

You’ve heard the story by now: Up 25 points in the third quarter, the Atlanta Falcons and MVP Matt Ryan were hawked down by Tom Brady and ultimately defeated in overtime in the two most crushing quarters of football in NFL history. No matter how many times you hear about it, it will never be any less jaw-dropping of outcome, the Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead and all.

Defense went on strike in this year’s NBA All-Star Game, as the game itself took a distant backseat to what basically became an extension of the previous night’s Dunk Contest and Three-Point Shootout. In the end, the two sides combined for 374 points in a 192-182 victory for the Western Conference, highlighted by an ASG-record 52 points for Anthony Davis.

Amid the hustle and bustle after the Super Bowl, a heist worthy of the "Thomas Crown Affair" transpired, as Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady’s game jersey was stolen from his locker. What went on afterward, aptly referred to as "Jerseygate," involved multiple U.S. intelligence agencies, a flight to Mexico and the uncovering of a decade-long string of similar thefts. Eventually, Brady’s jersey was recovered in time for the Pats' celebration at Fenway Park a few months down the road.

Fed up with the dependably deteriorating state of the team he played a decade for, Charles Oakley decided to have words with the boss during a Knicks-Clippers affair on Feb 8. Oakley was ejected from Madison Square Garden after exchanging words with Knicks owner James Dolan and pushing MSG security. In the end, Oakley was temporarily banned from the Garden, and even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had to intervene.

Although he is well-intentioned, perhaps having the excitable, sometimes unpolished Jameis Winston give a motivational speech at an elementary school is not the best idea. The Tampa Bay quarterback made waves when he said, “All my young boys, stand up. The ladies, sit down.” He continued on with a message aimed at motivation, but ultimately it was cringe-worthy in his divisiveness.

Although he has since gone on to say he was trolling when he uttered it, then Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving made waves when he stated a belief that the world was flat on the Road Trippin' podcast with teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye. Irving chalked it up as a social experiment to see what he could get people to talk about. Meanwhile, many others still hope he made the most of his classroom time during his brief stint at Duke.

There is nothing even close to a filter when it comes to Bill Walton. For a time during a Kansas-Texas game he called in February, he decided that clothing was optional too. The Hall of Famer shed the tie-dye top he was wearing in order to adorn another that was gifted to him by Texas head football coach Tom Herman. Undoubtedly, it caused for an awkward moment for the fans and his broadcast mate Dave Pasch alike.

A Sutton United-Arensal game in February proved to be quite the day for Wayne Shaw. Not only did Sutton’s reserve goalie have a piece of pie during the game, but he also violated gambling laws by eating the pie and visited a bar at halftime in the process. That is one hell of a way to quit a job.

No stranger to outlandish commentary, one of Arian Foster’s final declarations during his career may have been his best. The former All-Pro running back stated a belief he could "take a wolf one-on-one," with his supporting evidence being his weight advantage and possession of thumbs give him the advantage. Sundays (or any other day of the week) are not quite the same without a microphone in front Foster.

Kane and Abel. Liam and Noel Gallagher. Jeannie and Jim. Every sibling rivalry has its own unique grounds to be fought on and fought over. Jeannie Buss declared herself victor of the most notable brother vs. sister fight in NBA history when she squeezed her brother Jim out of control of the Los Angeles Lakers in March. Considering the state of the franchise under Jim, it was a welcomed coup.

Now listen, Skip Bayless annoys many of us but perhaps none more than Charles Barkley. When asked to give his thoughts on the Fox Sports commentator, Barkley went a bit too far by telling Dan Patrick he would "kill him on live TV." Take a breath, man, and remember, it's only sports.

There is no denying Cristiano Ronaldo is an attractive man. As such, it should be fairly easy to make a bust of him that reflects that. However, that task fell short of when a tribute to the soccer star was revealed that looked to be more of a likeness of Alfred E. Newman than the superstar soccer sensation. Fortunately, an upgraded version was produced to replace it.

The biggest star of the spring training baseball slate for the New York Mets was not David Wright or Matt Harvey, nor was it Noah Syndergaard or Yoenis Cespedes. Instead it was a Single-A outfielder by the name of Tim Tebow. The former Heisman Trophy winner continued his push at a second career in pro sports by drawing large crowds to follow the spectacle of his attempts at hitting a baseball successfully. The sideshow saw him hit a few home runs but also be utterly dominated by Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer as well.

Rule of thumb: Keep business and pleasure separate. Now an essential rule of survival: DEFINITELY keep your wife and your girlfriend as far apart as possible. This basic function escaped Ghanaian soccer player Mohammed Anas, who mentioned both in a post-match interview.

The entire situation surrounding the fall of Aaron Hernandez hit a new level of bizarre and sad. The saga bottomed out when the former Patriots tight end committed suicide in his jail cell shortly after being acquitted of a double homicide charge. What followed was a weird case of scenarios stemming from his suicide note and following a money trail left behind by Hernandez that continues to make this as odd of a scenario as has been seen in many years.

Dating anyone with the same last name as you can cause some concern. For those with more standard names, it can likely be brushed off as coincidence. However, if your last name is Bumgarner and you have allegedly dated a woman with the same name as you — from the exact same town you are from — it is a five-alarm fire of reason to take pause. While the story could not be proven, it is still one of the quirkiest (and concerning) tales of the year.

Matt Harvey had a really rough year. Not only did he outright stink on the mound, but he also struggled through more injury woes. However, the low point came when he failed to show up to Citi Field on May 7, which prompted the Mets to send team security to look for him. While the pitcher cited illness initially, it was eventually discovered the absence stemmed from a prolonged day of golf and partying. Ultimately he was suspended for three games, an outcome that would be punishment enough but was trumped by having his supermodel girlfriend Adriana Lima show up in the tabloids back with ex-boyfriend Julian Edelman. If there is anybody who is likely looking forward to 2018, it's Harvey.

After showing up in Metropolis with expectations of reviving the woebegotten Knicks franchise, Phil Jackson stepped down as Knicks president amid a hurricane of failures that included feuds with the team’s top two stars in Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingas, a battle of words with LeBron James, and an average of 55 losses per year.

It takes a certain level of talent to make a WWE broadcast hit a new level of weird, but LaVar Ball pulled it off seamlessly. In an appearance on the program on June 26, the elder Ball upstaged his son Lonzo’s first appearance at the Staples Center since being drafted by the Lakers by taking his shirt off and doing mock martial arts poses during a talk show segment with The Miz. Cap it all off by LaMelo Ball dropping profane language on live TV, and it was a train wreck of epic proportions.

Perhaps no player in history has gone to a further extent to endear himself to his new fan base than Butler did during his introductory press conference with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The former Chicago Bull invited fans to call him to personally discuss anything they would like in an unprecedented show of kinship. The number was disconnected shortly afterward, but a few lucky early responders did get through to his voicemail at least.

At one point or another, many an inebriated young adult has agreed to an ill-advised footrace of some sort. The Atlanta Braves took this idea to a new level this summer when they invited fans to try their luck against "The Freeze," a masked track star who tracked down often overmatched fans across the SunTrust Park warning track. Although The Freeze was eventually conquered, it created some hilarious moments of hope, followed by failure.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback turned master of ceremonies for this year’s ESPYs, and his monologue moments garnered mixed reviews. There were some highlight moments, which included a mixture of self-deprivation and shots at past hosts. But there were also back-to-back moments of uneasiness after comments regarding the breakup (and subsequent successes) of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — both of whom were present and unamused.

The experiment that was Ice Cube’s BIG3 league was a success this summer and sparked an uptick in interest in the potential of 3-on-3 basketball. It went as far as to make an impact that resonated up to the Olympic Games, as it was announced the hoops format would be a part of the Games in 2020. Now we can hold our breath and see if games of "21" and "Horse" follow suit next.

Advice on how to endure amid controversy would seemingly be right at home coming from Michael Vick, who is uniquely qualified to offer perspective to Colin Kaepernick. However, when it came in the form of a scolding, "maybe you should clean up your image" type of take that Vick offered to Kaepernick involving his hairstyle, it comes off hypocritical. And the fire of commentary back at Vick proved that.

As one can tell by looking at him, WWE superstar John Cena takes meticulous care of his physical well-being. Well, in a conversation with People Magazine , he also revealed that his self-care goes to some extreme lengths of detail in regard to man scaping as well. The 16-time heavyweight champion detailed that he takes 30 minutes per day to shave his entire body, leaving only the hair on the top of his head. Safe to say we never got the chance to be that intimate with Stone Cold Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan, thankfully.

Exhibitions within the world of sport are nothing new, as men have taken on animals in competitions for years. Except for Jason Jason Mamoa’s take on the character in this fall’s "Justice League" film, Michael Phelps is the closest thing we have ever known to a real-life Aquaman. While it seemed enticing (if not still insane), the end result was slightly different than what was advertised.

Usually, there is a pretty standard collection of columnists and insiders that breaks news on dealings within baseball. However, when Quintana changed addresses within Chicago, the news came from some rather unlikely sources via social media. While we can save a direct mention of the names of the sources that broke news, inquire within for the rather remarkable scoop as it played out.

2017 saw Ball turn his 15 minutes into over nine months of often self-serving banter. Between the promotion of the Big Baller Brand’s $495 ZO2 signature shoe and his Don King-like promo media stops, Ball found time to challenge none other than Michael Jordan to a game of 1-on-1 that he unsurprisingly predicted he would win. Jordan, never one to let a shot at competition go by unacknowledged, said he could beat Ball one-legged.

Midway through a regular Wednesday night at the ballpark, a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals was upended when a stray cat bounded across the Busch Stadium outfield before being painfully retrieved by a field attendant . The feline would soon gain its nickname after Yadier Molina launched a grand slam to pull the Cardinals back into the ballgame the next at-bat after the cat was apprehended.

Give him credit for trying, but Hugh Freeze’s penchant for going off the grid, if you will, came back to bite him. Freeze resigned from his role at Ole Miss after call records showed a string of calls to an escort service on his university-issued cell phone.

For all intents and purposes, Jay Cutler was done with football after his last year in Chicago. He was even prepared to move on to the analyst booth with Fox — that is until the Miami Dolphins were surprisingly able to coax the cigarette-swilling QB back into action after a season-ending injury to Ryan Tannehill. Predictably, the results since have been mixed at best.

While no one knew exactly what to expect of the fight between the two stars, it was a safe bet that the media tour arranged around the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight would guarantee some highlights. It did feature the type of trash-talking antics the two are known for, but the four-city tour also overstayed its welcome and took some nasty pitfalls at times. After a few profanity-filled, borderline questionable shots at each other’s backgrounds, it was clear that just one of these spectacles would have been enough.

Just when it seemed as if there were no new stones that could be turned over in the epic saga that is the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, a new wrinkle worked its way in. Thus was the case when the Yankees called out the Red Sox for stealing their signs during a game in September, utilizing an Apple Watch to do so. Of course, Boston denied knowledge of wrongdoing, which did nothing but chafe the Yankees even further, who fired back by blaming Doug Fister for using a mouthpiece to communicate the intercepted signals.

Rapper Lil B has made it known in the past that drawing his ire can have dire consequences. Also known as the "Based God," the rapper has placed the infamous "Based Curse" on both Kevin Durant and James Harden, although Durant had the curse "lifted" after he helped the Warriors to a championship. Ball inherited the vacancy in the curse’s reach after he criticized rapper Nas, something that Lil B could not condone. So alas, it appears that Ball will be championship-less until he appeals to the senses of the Based God.

Never one to be subdued in his hairstyle (or anything else), Harper made waves when a picture of the superstar outfielder rocking cornrows hit the Internet. Harper had plenty of time on his hands as he rehabbed from a freakish knee injury, and he immediately drew comparisons to none other than the legendary Kenny Powers as a result.

Never afraid to make a statement, Baker Mayfield kicked off his senior season in grand fashion. After pulling off a victory in Columbus over Ohio State, the quarterback took the Oklahoma Sooners flag and planted it at the 50-yard line of Ohio Stadium. It was a gesture that was returned his way when Iowa State mimicked him after beating the Sooners in Norman the next month.

Social media has changed the landscape of communication — and criticism — of athletes. In an effort to strike back, Kevin Durant went on the offensive via Twitter, albeit from a secret account. His attempt at anonymity backfired when he began speaking in the third person via his own @KDTrey5 account after seemingly forgetting which account he was logged in to.

While Brady has unquestionably mastered the art of working a football around the field, his acumen with the rules of biology leaves room for question. Brady professed a belief that proper hydration can ward off sunburn, citing that he used to be prone to sunburns as a youth but had since been able to avoid it due to his increased H2O intake. But hey, the rules don’t apply to him in many other regards, so perhaps he has even mastered the physiology of the sun too.

A battle of pettiness hit monumental lengths between the defending NBA champions and the president. A day after Stephen Curry indicated the Warriors would decline any invite to visit Donald Trump at the White House, the president took to Twitter to take back the invitation — which of course had already been declined. It was a reply that even drew the angst of LeBron James, who had fallen to the Warriors in the same Finals that they declined to be recognized for.

With the NFL finally relaxing its celebration rules, the league has been full of inventive touchdown parties this year. The eccentric Odell Beckham Jr. had one of the most notable celebrations before going down for the year to injury. In a visit to the end zone against the Eagles, OBJ crawled on the ground and faux-relieved himself in a comparable manner to a dog, which is likely not what the league had in mind when it took the cuffs off end zone fetes.

You’ve got to feel for George Springer. Just moments after he was awarded the hardware (and vehicular reward) for winning World Series MVP, his teammate in Carlos Correa stole the spotlight away permanently. Before getting his own ring, Correa decided to give one out, dropping to a knee and proposing to his girlfriend on live TV. In the process, he raised the bar for every proposal to follow.

A true man of the people, Marshawn Lynch decided to take to the gathered masses of Oakland to watch the rest of the game after he was ejected. To wash it down, he completed his fan experience by taking the train home with the Chiefs' Marcus Peters, whom he had gotten kicked out of the game for defending. They truly broke the mold when they made Marshawn.

In response to attacks against the NFL and its player protests by President Trump, owners from around the game joined their teams in solidarity against the POTUS statements. It featured an awkward blend of compromise and mixed messaging of the true intent that many players take via the protests and provided a strange footnote in the culture wars framing the NFL season.

Well, that was fast. Just moments after a last-second field goal gave the Missouri Tigers a victory over the Razorbacks, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema was notified of his termination — before he reached the locker room. His Green Mile barely lasted 10 yards.

Over a single week, the Tennessee Volunteers technically had three head football coaches. One never even reached campus. Hours after Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano agreed to become the coach of the Volunteers, a massive social media backlash against Schiano saw him be removed from the position. This came from his association with the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal — as well as torch bearer social media mob being incited.