Bad sports dads

When Tiger Woods lost his father Earl last week to cancer, at the age of 74, it was pretty much agreed by everybody: Earl, was a good dad.

How would we know? Just look at his son. A champion, a gentleman, and now a husband. Soon to be a father. Successful, driven, disciplined and goal oriented in life.

What more could he have done?

Not only that, but Tiger considered his dad his best friend in life, which doesn't always happen when a father pushes his son to become a great athlete.

But then I think Earl knew better than to just "push." Pushing your kid into sports, or to become better, rarely works. If it does, the effect is usually temporary. A result of the child aiming to please the father, rather than achieve goals for their own reward.

There are a lot of sports dads who were no question, "good dads." One need look no further than Cal Ripken Sr., Calvin Hill, Archie Manning, or others for a direct example.

But why talk about the "good" dads? That's no fun. Let's talk about the "bad" ones. The really bad ones. The dads so horribly wrong in their concept of how to raise a sporting child, that you shudder to think about it.

Here's my informal Top 10 list of really bad dads.

1. O.J. Simpson: Oh sure, he might have had a catch or two with Sydney and Justin in the backyard (when he wasn't practicing his "chipping" with a 3-wood ... ahem) but then again, he did murder their mommy in a hot-blooded rage. That sort of negates almost every trip to the putt-putt center followed by Chuck E. Cheese.

2. Christophe Fauviau: This is the French clown who poisoned 27 of his son's and daughter's rival tennis players with a sleeping narcotic by spiking their water during matches. One of them fell asleep at the wheel and died while driving home from a match. They actually had to deliberate what to do with the guy in France. Here in America, I would hope he'd get the rocket sled to "Ol' Sparky" for that stunt.

3. Marv Marinovich: Here's a great idea. Take your kid, and don't allow him to eat at McDonalds. Don't allow him to drink a single soda. Program his every waking moment of childhood to become "Robo QB." Then turn him loose in college, and be shocked that he turns into a drug freak failure. Good job, Marv.

4. The fathers of tennis teens Jelena Dokic, Mary Pierce, and Jennifer Capriati: I mean, do you really need details on all these guys? It's like they were cloned. Here's the formula. Become overbearing teeny-bop tennis dads, berate every official in juniors along the way. Become more of an ass when they are pros. And just don't be shocked when one of them turns up with a nose ring living in a hotel room with a heroin junkie.

5. Henry Bibby: How wonderful must it be for dad Henry to watch his son play in the NBA after winning a National Championship for Arizona, and know that he hates his guts and wants no part of him?

6. Rick Barry: Ditto the above, only all four sons -- Brent, Jon, Drew and Scooter -- are unanimous in thinking the ol' man is a jerk. I don't know what this means, but at the Barry family "Tribal Council," Rick was voted off the island the first night.

7. Carl Lindros: The father of the Flyers' walking concussion of a hockey superstar, Carl did a great job at butchering his kid's career by playing "agent" and threatening to have Eric holdout until his face turned purple and exploded.

8. Julius Erving: Remember Alexandra Stevenson? No? Well, neither does Dr. J! Ha ha! Ba-dum-bum! Ol' Alex made her dad proud, when she got to the semi's at Wimbledon as the love child of one of the good doctor's sexual conquests of a Philly sportswriter from back in the day. And by "made him proud" I actually mean, "made him deny to the press that she was his daughter."

9. Pete Rose: Ah, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, now does it kids? Are the Rose boys the first ever father-son tandem to both suit up in a Major League game, and ALSO both wear an orange jumpsuit? Somebody call Elias, because I think we have a winner!

10. Marc O'Hair: The father of PGA Tour up and comer Sean, he would make his son run a mile for every bogey he made - in Junior golf! Plus, he made his teenage son sign a contract, which stipulated his ol' man's "cut" of any future winnings on the PGA Tour. Nice. As they say: "It's all about the kids, anyway. Right?"

Finally, I would be remiss if didn't mention my favorite "bad sports dad" - Lt. Col. Bull Meechum. Sadly, he's just a fictional character played by Robert Duvall in a movie called "The Great Santini."

Still, what better way to show your love for your son than to bounce a basketball off the back of his head all the way upstairs in the house to his room while taunting him? Sometimes dads just have to find the right buttons to push.