Sports Notes - Bottom 10 Moments in Sports, 2006 - December 2006

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

The tennis father in France arrested on suspicion of drugging his 16-year-old son’s opponents, one of whom died in an auto accident while driving home from a match, “tops” the list of the year’s “Bottom 10 Moments in Sports,” according to Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).

Tuesday December 12, 2006

PCA’s Bottom 10 List

10. Moments from a triumphant World Cup climax to his stellar career, Zinedine Zidane is ejected after head-butting an opponent for insulting Zidane’s sister.

9. Chicago Cubs catcher Michael Barrett ignites a 10-minute, bench-clearing brawl by sucker punching the White Sox’s A.J. Pierzynski after a collision at the plate.

8. Denver-area parents must break up a fight between coaches of opposing 7-and-under girls’ soccer teams, resulting in one of the coaches facing assault charges.

7. A football brawl between the University of Miami and Florida International University results in 31 player suspensions and the unforgettable image of a player swinging his helmet as a weapon.

6. The Tennessee Titans’ Albert Haynesworth is suspended for five games after stomping the helmetless head of the Dallas Cowboys’ Andre Gurode, who required 30 stitches.

5. At a Philadelphia-area football game for five- and six-year-olds, a player’s father allegedly brandishes a .357 magnum during a dispute with a coach over his son’s playing time.

4. When two high school sports stars are sentenced to 60 days in juvenile detention for a “prank” that left one man physically disabled and another brain-damaged, an Ohio judge rules the players may complete their sports seasons before serving their sentences.

3. A Stockton, CA youth football coach is caught on tape charging the field to level an opposing 13-year-old player who had just been flagged for a late hit on the coach’s son.

2. A Corpus Christi, TX youth football coach is caught on tape attacking an 18-year-old referee, who said the coach grew angry when asked to stop swearing in front of the five- and six-year-old players.

1. A tennis father in France is arrested on suspicion of drugging opponents of his 16-year-old son by tampering with their sports beverages; one of the opponents died in an auto accident while driving home after a match.

About Positive Coaching Alliance

Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) has conducted thousands of live group workshops nationwide for roughly 200,000 youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

PCA trains workshop attendees to create a positive, character-building environment for youth athletes, replacing the prevalent win-at-all-cost mentality.

PCA trains Double-Goal CoachesTM, whose first goal is winning, and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports. This coaching method takes its name from “The Double-Goal Coach,” a book by PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson.

Since its founding in 1998, PCA has affected more than 1 million youth athletes, ages five to 18. More than 900 youth sports organizations (YSO's), cities and schools have partnered with PCA to host workshops across the U.S., primarily near PCA’s hub markets of Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, New York City and Washington, DC.

Thousands of other coaches and parents learn PCA methods via online courses at www.PositiveCoach.org. PCA has the support of elite coaches and athletes on a National Advisory Board that includes Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson as National Spokesperson.

The board’s 60-plus members comprise luminaries from academia, business and sports, such as Kansas City Chiefs Coach Herm Edwards, NBA and NCAA Champion Coach Larry Brown, former senator Bill Bradley, NFL Hall of Fame Member Ronnie Lott, Olympic Gold Medalist in Swimming Summer Sanders, former San Francisco 49ers Coach Bill Walsh, former University of North Carolina Men's Basketball Coach Dean Smith, Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito, and Los Angeles Galaxy President Alexi Lalas.

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