Funniest Moments: Top Five Podium Meltdowns in Recent Memory

When I heard that Bleacher Report was going to be opening up a page on the "Funniest Moments in Sports,"

I was stuck deciding a topic upon which to theme my article. To help get inspiration, I decided to look around YouTube a bit.

I searched "funny sports moments," and a clip of former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green reciting his famous line from the 2006 season (More on that later).

I remembered how much I enjoyed watching coaches (and sometimes players) meltdown during interviews.

I kept watching, and after some laughing and some elimination, I came up with my top five.

I decided to keep this list "within recent memory," since there are not a lot of clips on YouTube from events that took place prior to 2000.

Now, without further ado, please enjoy the top five podium meltdowns in recent memory:

Meltdown No. 5: "They are who we thought they were!"

The Monday Night Football contest featuring the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals was a memorable one.

Not only because the Bears managed to score 24 points with only three coming from the offense, but also because of Arizona coach Dennis Green's press conference following the game.

I guess Coach Green was trying to make it clear that the Bears were, in fact, "who he thought they were," because apparently, it's a big deal to be able to recognize one's opponent.

Meltdown No. 4: "I'm tired of bleepin losing!"

The Seattle Mariners of 2008 were pretty pathetic. The team that went out and signed some big names over the '07 offseason was expected to compete with the Angels for the AL West title.

By June 4, the Mariners were the worst team in baseball, and former manager John McLaren couldn't take it anymore. 

He's tired of bleepin losing! Unfortunately, he didn't get to see that "total team bleepin effort" because he was fired just days later.

With a $100 million payroll and the worst record, I'd be pretty pissed off too.

Meltdown No. 3: "Offensive rebounding!"

You know it's a bad day when the coach's first action of a press conference is hurling his papers at the podium.

That's what the University of Michigan girls basketball coach Kevin Borseth did.

He's damn sick of never getting any offensive rebounds, and he's letting everyone know it. Pounding on the podium while screaming at the reporters doesn't get better than this.

I just feel bad for the girls on the team who have to go to practice the next day. I wonder what the "focus" of that practice will be?

Meltdown No. 2: "That's my quarterback"

I am sure that just about every sports fan has heard this line, and seen the press conference that goes along with it many times. It stands as one of the funniest and most emotional conferences ever, and who better than Terrell Owens to be the star?

T.O. put on his teary show just after his team lost the NFC Divisional playoff game to the New York Giants. Quarterback Tony Romo was under scrutiny for going on a vacation to Cabo with his girlfriend Jessica Simpson during the bye week.

He made it clear that Tony Romo, is in fact his quarterback, that that it is really unfair if the reporters make any association between the quarterback's vacation and the loss.

That really is unfair, you know? Trying to say that a team is at some kind of a disadvantage because their most important player took a week off from practice...what were those mean journalists thinking?

That is definitely a hilarious meltdown, but who gets the No. 1? Let's find out...

The Best Podium Meltdown in Recent Memory: "I'm a man!"

There have been a lot of tirades from coaches in the past few years. We have seen that with some of the examples here, and others from all different sports. The factor that sets this one apart is the passion and the heat of Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy.

This meltdown, over a newspaper article talking about one of his players, consisted of a good three minutes of Gundy chewing out a single writer from the crowd.

Turns out that Gundy is a man, and he's 40!

Reporters: go after him if there's a problem. Also, the newspaper is garbage.

Mr. Gundy wins the award for top meltdown, and his "I'm a man! I'm 40!" line will be remembered above the rest for a long time.

Honorable Mentions: Meltdowns that didn't quite fit

Michael Strahan getting pissed off on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. I wouldn't want to be the guy he was mad at. He wasn't at a podium or in an interview, but it's worth watching.

Hal McRae. This guy went absolutely nuts after a reporter asked a question he didn't like. We're talking about hurling a full-size desktop phone at the ceiling.

Chris Berman. Looks like Swami isn't such a great person to work with. A crazy rant all because apparently someone walked in front of him while he was on the air. WARNING- this video contains explicit, unedited language. There wasn't an edited version available.