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Rocker heads the flock of 2000

ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- To truly contend for our annual turkeyship you have to do something so dumb, so absurd, so impossibly bird-brained that anyone with the sense of a turkey would think you were a dodo.

Step up to the chopping block, John Rocker.

Not that the Atlanta Braves' reliever didn't have plenty of competition for our third annual Turkey of the Year Award. Roger Clemens gave Rocker a run for the title. There was that red-sweatered, hotheaded Hoosier. And there's always poor Ryan Leaf.

Still, Rocker's blockheaded comments to Sports Illustrated writer last December - after the polls closed on 1999 Turkey voting -- were so out there and so universally scorned that this was a no-brainer. Much like Rocker.

Reactions CNNSI.com users cook up their own Turkeys... batch 1 | batch 2, and tell us what they are thankful for this year.

He slammed the driving habits of Asian women. He dismissed Mets fans as degenerates. He called one teammate a "fat monkey." And of course, there was his classic No. 7 train rant about sitting "next to some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." It sure was.

Rocker followed that up with a nose-to-nose confrontation with the reporter who wrote the piece. He "accidentally" bumped a TV cameraman. He disparaged newspaper photographers. He -- in perhaps his smartest move of the year -- refused to talk to the press.

So John Rocker, you win. You're CNNSI.com's top Turkey of the Year.

The Rest of the Turkeys
	They pumped and preened their way through their medal ceremony in Sydney to the amusement of some and the horror of others. Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but the U.S. 4x100 relay team showed that Turkey is a universal language.
	Oh, the irony! Bob Knight tries to teach a teen manners -- kind of like John Goodman sharing diet tips -- and it gets him canned. For all the good he did at Indiana, the often foul-mouthed coach gets a fowl for a career worth of feather-brained acts.
	It's not the bat thing. It's the beanball thing, the "inside of the plate is mine" deal, the "Me Roger Clemens, you nothing" attitude that makes the Yankees' pitcher look so bad. OK, OK. Maybe it is the bat thing. "I thought it was the ball." Riiiight.
	Ken Griffey Jr. took what could have been one of the better stories -- star takes pay cut to go home and leads team to World Series -- and turned it into a soap opera of moaning and underachievement. Have a little whine with your Turkey, Junior.
	Happy Birthday doesn't get this kind of play. Which is why we give the Baha Men and their hit Who Let the Dogs Out -- heard in every stadium everywhere -- a Turkey. As the wise Men sing, "Ah, doggie is nothing if he don't have a bone." Sic, guys.
	You want to talk foul-mouthed? Nobody could outdo Carl Everett of the Boston Red Sox this year, who head-butted an ump, ticked off his teammates, feuded with his manager and made Albert Belle look like a pussycat.
	How did the Baltimore Orioles turn a monster payroll into a 74-88 record? Answer: Peter Angelos. The meddling owner has driven off good managers, players and play-by-play men. Baltimoreans know it. They'd like to roast him and his Turkey.
	He gets his feathers ruffled because he gets his butt kicked earlier in the game, so Marty McSorley goes high-sticking Donald Brashear. The slash was bad enough. That he threw it because he couldn't beat Brashear man-on-man was true Turkey.
	We know cheating is an integral part of sports. But the front office of the Minnesota Timberwolves took it to new heights with their under-the-table dealings with Joe Smith. They'll pay for it, too. The price of a Turkey is sky high these days.
	Enough heart-tuggers about synchronized swimmers from Zambia. Stop with the updates of the so-called Dream Team. You guys ever hear of live coverage? This is the Olympics! No Emmy for Dick Ebersol and NBC-TV. Just a Turkey.
	First off, they weren't that dreamy. They won the gold, but c'mon. For all the talk of the U.S. Dream Team in Sydney's Olympics, the American basketballers almost got beat by Lithuania. Well, at least now they have something else to stuff.
	We haven't seen somebody with this much blind loyalty since Hillary. Wade Phillips is going to stick with Rob Johnson no matter what Doug Flutie does for the Buffalo Bills. Few Bills fans agree. They'll cook Wade and his Turkey if the Bills bomb.
More...	Sports Illustrated Photo Gallery: Giving Thanks

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