Lux about the main madmen of the sports world, after which Evgeny Kuznetsov will seem like an angel.
Well, let's say, the point is not even hypocrisy. It is clear that those who shower Evgeny Kuznetsov with rotten tomatoes have every right to do so. He is an athlete, he is a player of the national team, and one of the brightest players of the generation. And then he lied.
But personally I love hypocrisy the least. It seems that this character trait has long been cultivated and often you can’t separate it from completely normal and correct behavior algorithms. I have a suggestion for you - erase half of your favorite musical compositions, stop watching and declare your love to most of your favorite directors and film actors. Finally, throw away most of the books, especially modern ones. An annotation was present on one of the albums of the cult group TUL: “this album is forbidden for listening to those who condemn drug use.” In fact, the group's message was that during the recording of a music album, there is always some kind of sound player who mixes music by smoking a joint. Well, how can I dissemble and condemn Kuznetsov when my favorite writer is Hemingway, who crushed Daiquiri from morning to evening on Liberty Island? My favorite musician is Kurt Cobain, and the film is Pulp Fiction. And should I blame Kuznetsov? He is an adult boy, he made a mistake for which he will pay for disqualification in the international hockey arena. Someone will say that this is not enough ?! Well, well, he will undergo rehabilitation, probably miss a dozen NHL games. In the end, he will repent for his lies. But everyone lies, the US president lied, swearing on the Bible. It's okay - he lives somehow. likely to miss a dozen NHL games. In the end, he will repent for his lies. But everyone lies, the US president lied, swearing on the Bible. It's okay - he lives somehow. likely to miss a dozen NHL games. In the end, he will repent for his lies. But everyone lies, the US president lied, swearing on the Bible. It's okay - he lives somehow.
Evgeny Kuznetsov is a sports superstar. Regardless of whether it is sport, model business, cinema, music - around superstars almost always happens the same thing. Accessible beauties, imaginary friends revolve around you, alcohol and drugs surround you. And Evgeny Kuznetsov was no exception. Someone competently leaves all the temptations of stellar life, someone does not. But even against this background, Yevgeny Kuznetsov does not even seem like a hyperbolic example of a sports “scoundrel”. No, no, in the ranking of the main rebels of the sports world Kuznetsov will not be not only in the ten, it seems that he will not fall even in the hundred. But about the most brave athletes in the world, whose “examples” are before our eyes, we decided to tell in this material. Against their background, Evgeni Kuznetsov is a well-educated intellectual with the broadest horizons.
Ron Artest
Let's start not with drugs, but with alcohol, which is nothing more than a legalized drug. Did alcohol kill fewer people? But you still, for some reason, calmly go to the bar after the working week to skip a few liters of beer and a couple of piles of strong. Meanwhile, the green snake tempts, drives you crazy, destroys lives, sometimes even more abruptly than some LSD. Here, of course, I could bring a lot of stories from my personal life. But just in case, we have a person who is the quintessence of sports drunkenness and madness. One of the main crazies in the history of the NBA is Ron Artest, aka Metta Wold Peace, aka Friend Pandas.
Not so long ago, Ron Artest admitted that as a player of the Chicago Bulls, he drank cognac in breaks of matches.
- It all started with a small dose to relieve stress. But at some point I completely lost control. I ran away to the locker room before all the partners, grabbed a bottle of Hennessy, which I hid in my bag and locked in the toilet. I could drink half a bottle, sometimes even more. Then he hid the bottle and, as if nothing had happened, went out to listen to the trainer's installation, ”says Artest.
From the very beginning of his career, Artest has been one of the main anfan of the league terribly. In the first season, he broke two ribs to Michael Jordan, who had just returned to the NBA. The number of stories with the craziness of Artest grew exponentially until it reached a peak during the game against Detroit (then Artest was already a player of the Indiana Pacers).
But first, it’s worth noting the causes of all the problems of Artest. He grew up in one of the most criminal areas of New York - Queensbridge, which is actually a union of six areas of Queens. Queensbridge is known for its brutality and gangsta rap. From here, NASA and Mobb Deep start their careers. The famous line - “Of course Queensbridge Mardoras” - is dedicated by the participants of Mobb Deep to their own area.
At age 12, little Ron took part in a fight on the basketball court of his area. As a result of this fight, his friend died, who was beaten to death by a leg from the table.
“They wanted to remove Air Max from him, which he had just recently bought.” These were the older guys. He refused. The fight began. As a result, he was beaten to death before my eyes! Since then I have been constantly afraid! - recalls Artest.
It was fear that became the catalyst for what happened in Auburn Hills on November 19, 2004. After Artest fouled on the center of the hosts Bene Wallace, he in response rudely pushed the offender. And the mess began, which eventually ended with the wildest fight in NBA history. A skirmish ensued between the players of both teams. Artest walked to the sideline, shouting insults at Wallace. In response to rudeness, Wallace threw a towel at Ron, and then one of the Pistons fans John Green supported the captain of his favorite team and threw a glass of beer at Artest. An angry Artest climbed into the stands to give back (he did not understand who had thrown the mug, and attacked a completely stranded fan with his fists). As a result, a serious fight ensued between Pistons fans and several Pacers players. Returning to the site, Ron hit another home fan who taunted him. Due to the fight, the game was stopped 1 minute before its end. As a result, the NBA commissioner punished Artest and his two teammates (Jermain O'Neill and Stephen Jackson) with a long disqualification, and Ben Wallace was suspended from basketball for 6 games.
On November 21, the NBA commission ruled that the suspension of Artest would last until the end of the season (73 games plus 13 playoff matches), which was the longest suspension in the history of the NBA for cases not related to the use of doping and fraud with contractual games. Another eight players (four from the Pacers and four from the Pistons) were excommunicated from basketball for various terms, from one to thirty games. All Indiana players involved in the incident were required to pay fines and do community service. Several Detroit fans were banned from entering the Palace of Auburn Hills forever. Due to his disqualification, Artest lost about $ 5 million in salary. After this fight, in an interview with ESPN, he announced that he would like to meet with Ben Wallace in the boxing ring.
Artest denies being drunk that night. And calls fear the main reason for what happened.
- I was not drunk! I felt fear, my head was completely confused, and I, like an adrenaline intoxicated animal, which was pressed against the wall, began to beat everyone in a row! - recalls the striker.
A few years later, Artest fell into scandal again, his wife accuses Ron of beating. In total, the case ends with a court in which the judge makes a decision obliging the basketball player to undergo rehabilitation and psychological assistance. And that helps. Ron Artest moves to the Lakers, works with a psychologist, opens a charity foundation for psychological assistance, and finally becomes the NBA champion, scoring a decisive three-point shot in the seventh match of the NBA finals.
Now he is a mentor for young people, asks him to be called Metta Wold Peace, makes friends with pandas and brings up his wife, who opens her arms.
Aaron Hernandez
This story will be the most terrible and gloomy. Even against the backdrop of some clinical idiots from American football, the story of the talented tight end of the most titled team of the last two decades seems like complete madness. As if the protagonist fled from the pages of the series “Law and Order” and “True Detective”. According to the degree of swirling, the story of the life and crimes of Aaron Hernandez can coexist only with incidents from the life of another American football player - O. Jay Simpson. But the difference is that in the case of Simpson the drugs were not involved, there was a high degree of faith with its exclusivity and impunity, mixed with animal jealousy. But when it comes to Hernandez’s crimes, a loop of narcotic psychosis is added to the cocktail of glaring obscurantism.
On April 15, 2015 in Bristol, Massachusetts, a verdict was issued in the case of the New England Patriots title end Aaron Hernandez. The court finds Aaron Hernades guilty of intentional murder and sentenced the 25-tape footballer to life without the right of parole. Hernandez was charged with three murders: his former friend Odin Lloyd, and two immigrant domestic workers from Cape Verde, Daniel Abreu and Sofia Furtado, in whom Hernandez allegedly fired five bullets after a party at the Cure Lounge, where Abreu accidentally spilled a drink on Hernandez.
They say that Hernandez believed that One Lloyd could pass it. They also say that Odin communicated with one of Hernandez’s enemies, and there was a conflict between them on this basis. There was also a version that Lloyd could harass the sister of Hernandez. Be that as it may, Hernandez decided to send his former friend to the world. For this, he first posed with a gun, uploading photos to a social network, then, together with his comrades, he drove for Odin, drove him to an abandoned area and shot him from the same Glock of the 45th caliber. Lloyd felt that something was going wrong, and managed to send a message to his sister: “If anything, you know who I am with. NFL! ”A little earlier, Hernandez wrote on his social network a cryptic message:“ No one can be trusted! ” In general, all these Mexican passions led to three corpses,
Hernandez and his company have long terrorized the population of the suburbs of Boston. Violence has become the hallmark of the Hernandez gang. And the main engine of the process was Angel dust, a hard drug used by an athlete. According to rumors, Hernandez was addicted to drugs at the university, but during his professional career, everything was completely out of control. Money, fame and drugs finally ripped off the head of the young player, and he went all out.
On April 19, 2017, at 3:05 a.m., Hernandez was found hanged in a solitary confinement cell in the Susa-Baranowski Correctional Facility in Lancaster, Massachusetts. In order to reduce scores with life, the football player used a sheet tied to a window grill.
Theo Fleury
Let's move on to the NHL venues, which are so familiar to the culprit of today's material, Yevgeny Kuznetsov. To a no lesser extent they are familiar to the Canadian striker Teoren Fleury, who was nicknamed "the mighty little mouse."
Fleury was one of the smallest NHL players in the 90s, but at the same time possessed a truly evil, unyielding character. He played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks clubs in the National Hockey League, Tappara in the Finnish SM League and Belfast Giants in the British Elite Hockey League. He was selected in the eighth round of the 1987 draft under the general 166th number, after which he spent more than 1000 games in the NHL from 1989 to 2003.
Being one of the shortest hockey players of his generation, Fleury played in a forceful manner, which often led to conflicts with both coaches and other players. At the 1987 Youth World Championship, he had to take part in the famous fight between the national teams of Canada and the USSR, the hockey player played not the last role in it and, together with the entire national team, was disqualified. Despite his small growth, Fleury scored more than 1000 points in the NHL and in 1989 won the Stanley Cup as part of the Flames. He twice represented Canada at the Winter Olympics, and won a gold medal at the 2002 competitions.
For almost his entire life, Fleury struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs.
- At the age of 16, I first tried beer and became an alcoholic from the very first sip. There were so many problems in life, and then everything suddenly evaporated somewhere - since then alcohol has become vital for me, like air and hockey! - recalls Fleury.
A little later, already being a professional hockey player, Fleury will try cocaine, and with his characteristic passion he will plunge into a new addiction with his head.
The mouse fought with partners, showed indecent gestures to his opponent’s fans, refused to go to the penalty box, quarreled with the referees and the leadership of the league. Finally, the NHL ordered Fleury to undergo a rehabilitation program for alcohol and drug addiction. He lasted a few days. Then he got drunk and refused to undergo rehabilitation. The league disqualified the hockey rebel. The leadership of his then team, Chicago Blackhouse, was forced to bribe Fleury's friends so that they forced him to attend a society of anonymous alcoholics and called for stopping cocaine use. The hockey player missed the first two months of the championship, after which he was restored for exemplary behavior. In January 2003, while relaxing with his teammates in the Columbus strip club, Fleury took part in a drunken brawl with the guards, after which, in unconsciousness and in bloodied clothes, he was detained by the police. The incident did not result in disqualification, but the authority in the team decreased significantly, the club insisted on breaking the contract.
- I hate to train. I hate my life. I hate hockey. I'm over it! - almost sobbed Fleury.
In November 2004, he admitted that after leaving the NHL, problems only worsened. His second wife, Jennifer, whom the hockey player met in 2005 when playing as part of the Horse Lake Thunder, helped him become addicted. Fleury was very fond of Jennifer and was afraid that she would leave him, so from September 18, 2005 he completely refused to drink and cocaine. A year later, they officially registered their marriage and had a daughter, Skyla.
With the assistance of the publisher, Christy McLellane-Day, Fleury wrote the autobiography, Playing with Fire, which was released on October 16, 2009. In it, he admits that he was sexually harassed by junior trainer Graham James, it was his childhood psychological trauma that he linked his problems with alcohol to, he writes in a book that because of this he even tried to commit suicide in 2004, “he kept a muzzle in his mouth charged pistol. " Among other interesting facts, the hockey player notes that he spent almost all the money earned on drinking, drugs, gambling and women. Fleury admits that during the Rangers game, he failed the blood test for drugs thirteen times, but the club’s leadership turned a blind eye to it, since the team needed a driven striker (league functionaries denied this fact). In the first week after the release, “Playing with Fire” became the the best-selling book on Amazon.com, and letters from many people who faced the same difficulties in life began to come to Fleury.
Mike Tyson
Well, what about without one of the main Busoters in history?
- He is a great guy, he was just long and hard on the head! - says Elizabeth Hurley after meeting with Mike Tyson at a charity dinner in London.
He was really hit on the head for a long time. And the power of blows of heavyweights should not be doubted.
- It all started back in 11 years. I was a troubled child, and there were drugs everywhere. Already at this age I tried marijuana and cocaine. We generally smoked shoals just as if it was some kind of chewing gum! - Tyson recalls his childhood.
But then Tyson’s life changed and he met Casa D'Amato, who became a mentor, coach and Mike’s closest friend. From the age of 14, Mike lived in the D'Amato family.
“He practically saved me.” He took me from the street. He told me that I would not have a future if I did not tie up with my lifestyle and friends. And I trusted him, which changed my life! - says Tyson.
In October 1985, the year before Tyson took the title away from Trevor Berbick, Cas D'Amato was hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia. Doctors were forced to put the patient in a coma for a more successful fight against the virus.
However, D'Amato never left her. He died on November 4, 1985, at the age of 77, from interstitial pulmonary fibrosis.
Tyson became the youngest world boxing champion, but lost his friend and mentor, who took care of him and fell into the abyss.
- I went crazy, I had everything: fame, money, women, titles. But I was unhappy. I started using drugs again. It got to the point that I used cocaine right before the fights! - Tyson admits.
All this could not end with anything good. On July 19, he was arrested for rape. The victim of the crime was Desiree Washington, who won the Black Miss America contest.
There were many inconsistencies in the case, but despite this, on September 9 he was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Tyson will serve three years, be released and return to boxing, but drug problems will continue to haunt the Iron Mike.
In 1997, during a fight with Evander Hollifield, Mike really broke up - he bit off a piece of the opponent’s ear.
For such blatantly unsportsmanlike behavior, Tyson was taken away from a boxing license. He also paid shocked Hollyfield $ 3,000,000 for treatment and psychological recovery. What moved the “iron Mike” in this monstrous battle became clear later.
After 6 years, Tyson admitted that he was under the influence of cocaine when he bit Hollyfield.
Today, Mike Tyson settled down. His lion temper is no longer so wild. But he continues to experiment. Recently, in a podcast by Joe Rogan, he admitted that he had tried all the drugs that exist, except for heroin. Among other things, he admitted to using the powerful psychedelic Di Em Ti. Tyson also opens his own marijuana farm, and if you are ever in California, you can call herbal medicine for Uncle Mike.
Diego Maradona
But even among madmen and rebels there must be a king. As elsewhere, so here, Diego Armando Maradone has no equal.
Maradona’s absolutely wild eyes just scored a goal against Greece at the 1994 World Cup are one of my most striking childhood experiences. I didn’t really see this very Maradona, about whom everyone was just talking. The 1994 World Cup was my first conscious football tournament. And, of course, these eyes ... And the way everyone later said that this was clearly an unhealthy look. And, as the climax - the subsequent disqualification of Maradona for the use of cocaine. Catharsis!
“I saved Maradona dozens of times.” Without the help of the club, I suspect he would not have passed a single doping control. From Sunday evening to Thursday, Diego could do whatever he wanted. But on Thursday, he and the rest of the guys were supposed to be clean. If someone did not succeed, then the scheme was worked out. The urine pad was hidden in his pants and handed over someone else's analysis! - recalls the former president of “Napoli” Corrado Ferlaino.
On March 17, 1991, something went wrong. “Napoli” defeated “Bari” - 1: 0, Maradona passed the test, and cocaine was found in his blood. Diego still claims to be framed. In the 90s, the Naples prosecutor sent a request for the arrest of Maradona several times, believing that he was implicated in drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe.
The ex-wife of Maradona Claudia Villafanya, with whom he lived for 19 years, is sure: she remembers the moment when Diego first tried drugs. This happened immediately after the “Barcelona” agreed with “Napoli” on the transfer of the player. The Catalan club received $ 7.6 million incredible at that time, Maradona became the most expensive player in history, the celebration began right at the airport on the road to Naples - the path before takeoff was the first for the Argentinean. Although Diego in his book Yo Soy El Diego tells a completely different story - drugs in his life appeared when he played for Barcelona and began to earn a lot.
- When you start taking drugs, you lose control. You are sure that everything will be fine. But the situation is only getting worse. Trying drugs is the worst idea in my life! - declares Maradona.
As a Napoli player, the Argentine striker did everything he wanted. He hung out with mafia models and bosses, drank, walked and spent fabulous money. At some point, Diego so lost touch with reality that he grabbed his gun and opened fire on the paparazzi on duty at his estate.
- I lost contact with reality. I betrayed my daughters. When you are under drugs, time does not exist. You think that everything is cool, but it's a lie. You consider yourself a superman, and that's a lie. It seems to you that you are fine, but you have no idea what is happening around you. I was not a good son, father and husband. But my family saved me. You can defeat addiction only with the help of love! - says Diego.
In the 2000s, after an overdose of cocaine, Diego went to rehab. And it seems that he has been clean for more than ten years. But last year, he again appeared in completely inadequate condition at the World Cup match between the Argentine national team and the Nigeria national team. Diego, says that white wine is to blame. May be so! But it seems that the main rebel of the sports world is still not settled down. And in comparison with him and other characters that are presented above, Evgeni Kuznetsov is a real angel.
Other masters of amusement could have been here: from John Jones and the Diaz brothers to Roman Eremenko and Richard Gasquet. But, it seems, we have identified the most disingenuous. Sport is inseparable from temptations and copper pipes. It has been, and always will be. And, God forbid, that these stories never end in the same way as in the case of Aaron Hernandez (by the way, we do not justify him in the least). Health and happiness! And be careful on steep turns of roads into the abyss.
