Best Sports Beatings...

Hitting the internet at lunch I came across an article written by Kevin Hench of Fox Sports. In it he listed his top ten favorite sports beatings. After reading the article I chose two - one because I remember seeing it happen on TV and it served the young punk right and the other because it was just downright funny.

My First Favorite...The Express beating
The best beatdowns are the ones you never see coming. So when a 26-year-old third baseman charges a 46-year-old pitcher and gets his head handed to him, well, this is a very, very special beatdown.

It was August, 1993, the final year of Nolan Ryan's illustrious career. Robin Ventura was a rising star with the Chicago White Sox. When Ryan hit Ventura with a curveball, that's where Ventura's troubles began. His first mistake was charging the mound after being hit by a breaking ball, his second mistake was choosing the wrong guy to make a stand against.

When Ventura got to the mound, Ryan was waiting with a Texas-sized beatdown. He corralled Ventura, throwing his left arm around the kid's neck, and administered seven unanswered punches with his magic right arm. The "fight" was so one-sided it looked like Ryan could have just started giving Ventura a noogie, spanked him and ordered him back to the dugout.