By By Tony Krausz/assistant sports editor
May 1, 2004
The other night, while delving into one of our favorite things here at the Rants &Rambles office watching hockey, our minds began to wander from the ice after seeing Colorado Avalanche forward Matthew Barnaby.
Barnaby plays a style that can best be described as a mucker. He's just a pest out on the ice. He's that guy who always seems to be able to get under his opponent's skin, and if there is some kind of disturbance, you can bet dollars to donuts that he is in the middle of it.
Watching the brash forward glide around the ice and slam into bodies got us thinking man what a pest, sure wish he was on the team we cheered for.
Which led us to thoughts of other athletes who we all but despise but wish they played for the teams we cheer for.
Barry Bonds is one of the guys you plain don't like, until he's in the uniform of the team you want to win.
There is little question that Bonds' attitude doesn't bring to mind sugar plums and happy thoughts. No, the greatest slugger of his generation appears to be quite surly, and possibly down-right mean.
He's the guy you love to boo when he comes into your hometown stadium. The one you love to bash when hitching up on the barstool and watching the game.
That is until he plays for your team.
If Bonds is bashing homer after homer, that are going farther and farther, in the right uniform, he becomes the greatest thing since the invention of the electric typewriter.
When Bonds is playing for "your team" that whole BALCO thing becomes almost secondary, and his grim demeanor is more of a quirky personality trait than a reason to speak against him.
Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss is another guy who people love to take shots at and relish every time he messes up publicly.
There is no question the former Marshall standout is one of the best receivers in the NFL, but if you root for the Packers, Moss is scum.
He's childish, he has a tendency to get in trouble with the law and his "I'll play when I want to" attitude is easy to despise. In essence, he is an easy target for wrath when he's on the "other team."
But if he suits up for "your" team, forget about it.
Moss is misunderstood. All of those things people say bad about the wide receiver are what makes him great.
Moss becomes the ultimate competitor instead of the spoiled athlete.
When he goes up in the air, higher than anyone else on the field, to pull in another touchdown in the "right" uniform, he's just fine.
Moss and Bonds both have attitudes that are easy to be put off by, especially when they are helping to beat "your" team, but this dislike for being on the "wrong" team doesn't end at guys with less than stellar personalities.
Brett Hull was one of the most popular St. Louis Blues hockey players of all time. He all but single-handedly made the Blues relevant in the Gateway City, and he did as much charity work as possible for his adopted town.
But when the winger up and left for Dallas, the boos that rained down on "The Golden Brett" where deafening.
Hull is now a Detroit Red Wing, one of the Blues fiercest rivals. The folks in "Hockey Town" used to make sure he knew their displeasure for him was well known every time he skated on the ice at Joe Louis Arena.
Of course, that all changed when he put on a Red Wings uniform and started pumping in goals from the slot with the quickest wrist shot in the NHL.
Detroit loves Brett now, and the folks in St. Louis, well forget about the hundreds of goals Hull scored as a Blue, he's a Red Wing now Boo!
It is simply amazing what a wardrobe change can do for an athlete's fan base.