Lahey of the decade!!!

[BCRantzilla]

With the first decade of the new millenium almost behind us I thought it would be cool to honor our Lahey of the Decade!

For those of you who don't remember what a Lahey is, it was the A-Hole of the month in the sporting world on my old websites. (Mike Killbreath threatened lawsuits to every provider that would take me at the time but a few of them still remain.) Here's the Laheys that were selected including the 2004 Lahey of the Year:

Mike Killbreath of IIHL and many other hockey scams in the Michigan area fame. The 2004 Lahey of the Year!
Dan "MOOSE" Lewis: GBL mogul and fight promoter.
Gary Barnett: Disgraced football coach at Colorado University with a perchant for getting his players to rape cheerleaders and even fellow players.
Bud Selig: MLB Commisioner and all around douchebag.
Tonya Harding: Her boxing career was a bigger mess than the rest of her life has been.
Joe Kolodziej: The first Lahey to be put in jail for fraud and he served 4 years for defrauding his partner in the IIHL. 2004 Lahey of the Year runner up.
Worth Christie: MASSIVE basketball FRAUD and 2005 Lahey of the Year.

In the 4 years that have followed there have been scores of Lahey's in the minor league sports world. Minor league sports is loaded with dreamers, egomaniacs and crooks. Here's a shortlist of epic Lahey's that came and went in this decade for your consideration:

David Waronker: Runner up for the 2005 Lahey of the Year and the man responsible for setting pro hockey in the Southern USA back 5-10 years. He owned WHA2 and bluffed his way into taking over the ACHL/SHL/SPHL. It took years for bad business dealings to catch up with him and he was finally run out of the league by 2007.

Joe Newman: Where do I even begin? He has run the ABA's "revival" throughout this decade and the bloody details of this debacle are longer than the complete works of Shakesphere and Stephen King put together and lasted longer than most marriages. The best and worst of "Crazy Joe" can be found in the ABA board right here at OSC.

Jim Cashman: Another former Lahey of the Year contender and I believe the 2006 winner if I recall. Jim ran one trainwreck "A-Puck" hockey league into the ground after another until his legal troubles finally caught up to him and the NEHL was shut down in 2008. He now works at Wendy's. (God's honest truth.)

Sally Anthony: She only owned a team for one season in the ABA but it was one of the most epic crash and burn stories in the history of minor pro sports. She was a 4th tier singer that was popular in the region, (alledgedly,) and as frontperson of the Nashville Rhythm in 04-05. This one had firings in the middle of games, 22 year old coaching selections, suicide attempts, half cocked signings, lost meds, the works. JUST READ: http://www.oursportscentral.com/boards/showthread.php?t=1265&highlight=Sally+Anthony

Roger Goodall: NFL Dictator ERR Commisioner and the poster child for why they are the No Fun League. (Mostly for how he handled Spygate and his former employers, the Patriots.)

Vince McMahon: XFL, nuff said.

nlfan: Infamous Northern League and American Association blogger and poster. Nobody has chased more fans away from following indyball online than this guy. He may have a lot of stats at his disposal but he just might be the biggest jerk on the web. This is why nobody has any respect for him in spite of his knowledge.

I know I may have missed a few so if you have ideas feel free to post them here. After discussion I will cut the numbers down to have a final vote. ENJOY!

[raho]

hey...m new here buh i wanna join this..=S

[SignGuyDino]

The convicted criminal from Florida who shall not be named.

Mandatory nomination.

[robster2001]

Jim Terry, he of the EIEIO -- um -- EIFL.

Carolyn Shiver and Cleveland Gary, a two-headed nomination for their utterly hopelessness as they ran the NIFL into the ground.

Andrew Haines, who's failed in more sports with more teams than just about anyone (and is apparently looking to fail in politics now).

And yes, the guy that I am pretty sure Dino is referring to deserves a nomination, too. Although, like Beetlejuice, one shouldn't say his name too loudly as it might cause him to throw lawyers at us. :)

[patmc16]

nlfan: Infamous Northern League and American Association blogger and poster. Nobody has chased more fans away from following indyball online than this guy. He may have a lot of stats at his disposal but he just might be the biggest jerk on the web. This is why nobody has any respect for him in spite of his knowledge.

Kind of surprised at this one. I am only a (very) occasional reader of the nlfan forums so maybe I'm missing something on him. Might be a little "know-it-allish" from time to time but who isn't?

Seems like Newman should get a lifetime acheivement award if nothing else.

Big Mike is the local favorite, just cause his misadventures came so close to here.

robster beat me to the punch with the tools from the NIFL (can a female be a tool?). They might even beat out Newman because the NIFL at least seemed to be a good operation for some time and then was utterly destroyed and made a laughing stock. The ABA was a joke almost from the beginning. They just find new ways to get lower and lower.

[SignGuyDino]

Jim Terry, he of the EIEIO -- um -- EIFL.

Carolyn Shiver and Cleveland Gary, a two-headed nomination for their utterly hopelessness as they ran the NIFL into the ground.

Andrew Haines, who's failed in more sports with more teams than just about anyone (and is apparently looking to fail in politics now).

And yes, the guy that I am pretty sure Dino is referring to deserves a nomination, too. Although, like Beetlejuice, one shouldn't say his name too loudly as it might cause him to throw lawyers at us. :)

No, that guy you're referring to is from Georgia. He doesn't deserve to be named, either.

[BCRantzilla]

Lots of great additions to the pile everyone! I'll clarify a few noms and comment on the newbies!

nlfan: Correcting someone on a mistake or inaccurate info is one thing, to act like a full blown douchebag over it is quite another. nlfan tends to cross this line so often that few, if anyone posts on the AA or NL boards anymore. That and his tendency to spam every board that covers these leagues and chase THOSE fans off the web add to why he is the very definition of league killer.

Crazy Joe: I definitely plan on giving him his due as an ICONIC Lahey soon enough but for now he's definitely in the running for LOTD! :)

Sally Anthony: Andrew Haines is pretty notorious for his backbiting and burning of many cities but Sally's debacle was way too epic to ignore.

Silver definitely deserves consideration but if we're going to elect a female LOTD her downfall has to be in Sally's league and I'm not sure about that one yet.

Haines: Thanks for posting him because I forgot him when going over all the others. (That said, many of my original Lahey's are sort of forgotten now anyway so it all works out.) Andrew is definitely a strong contender and likely a Top 5 guy easy.

PM me with the "unnamed" names so I can have a good laugh though, I have a feeling that there's some new blood that needs to be recognized.

Big Mike Killbreath: You guys who have been around since the good ole days KNOW how near and dear Tubby is to my heart. The methods he has used to stay out of prison make one surprised that he doesn't have Mafia ties. The EXTREME arrogance he has shown in the process puts Kolodziej, Cashman and even Crazy Joe to shame. Add that to his EPIC abominations fighting with me and numerous others on OSC and you have what may not be LOTD worthy but at least Top 3 to Top 5.

Keep the nominations coming and I'll narrow it down in the next few weeks!!

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Worth Christie tops all though. He's quiet now because he runs the same basketball scam ONLY every 20 years or so (no joke). That's why it seems like a fresh new idea every time around.

[BCRantzilla]

Worth Christie tops all though. He's quiet now because he runs the same basketball scam ONLY every 20 years or so (no joke). That's why it seems like a fresh new idea every time around.

He will definitely be on the ballot when the finalists are listed but the fact that he isn't as prolific as some of the others may keep him from winning the title.

[Shootmaster_44]

I would think a good 75% of the people involved in minor league basketball especially in the ABA and CBA deserve to be nominated.

Also, I'd nominate the Federal Hockey League founder (if I could remember his name lol) and the guy who ran the NAIFL.

[BCRantzilla]

Federal League guy is a decent choice but he was overshadowed by bigger names in his own time. I'll have the final contestants down sometime this week!