Fight club

The trouble with the Terrell Owens-Hugh Douglas fight was that I didn't get to see it. So I can't accurately report on what happened. I'm sure that more or less serious punches were thrown, but whether or not they landed, and how much damage actually was done...well, I just don't know.

The idea of locker room fights, though, is an interesting one. I'm not talking about on-the-field dust-ups, which are common, I mean within the confines of the locker, or other off-field venues. I'll relate a few that come to mind, plus one that happened during practice, but was a carefully planned, contrived thing.

The best known locker room fight of the '60's involved a pair of Philadelphia Eagles, John Mellekas, a tackle, and Ben Scotti, a defensive back. This was the day after Pete Rozelle announced that the Sunday games, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, would take place as scheduled. A lot of players were upset about this.

"Damn guinea, Rozelle," Mellekas said after practice, "scheduling those games."

"What did you say?" said Scotti, whose heritage was Italian.

"Damn guinea..."

Blam! Blam-blam-blam! The punches came rapid fire. Mellekas had a good 60 pounds on him, but Scotti was a tough kid from Newark. He knew how to fight, and as we all know, it isn't always size that counts. It's who's madder, and who lands the first one.

Eventually it was broken up, but damage had been done. Mellekas did not talk about the incident. But Scotti did.

"His head was so swollen, I don't know how he got his helmet on," Scotti said.

In his first few years, Joe Namath was not popular with a certain faction on the Jets. They resented the money he was making, his lifestyle, his never-ending publicity and the favored position he held with the owner, Sonny Werblin. One year, Namath had come back from off-season knee surgery and wasn't feeling too hot when he reported to camp. The grumbling started his first night there. He'd had enough.