Great Expectorations Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tennis

This was during the third round of the Men's Singles at Wimbledon in 1995. Tarango was trailing the lowly ranked German Alexander Mronz. At this point Tarango had lost the first set in a tie-breaker and was down in the second. He served what he thought was an ace. The linesperson called it out. The call was over-ruled by the central umpire, Bruno Rebeuh, however, instead of awarding Tarango the point Rebeuh ordered that the point be replayed. That's when Jeff went off the handle and, apart from stating he wasn't playing anymore, added that "you (Rebeuh) are the most corrupt official in the game and you can't do that. No way!" With that Tarango walked off court 13 and out of the tournament.

(Aftermath) The affair escalated post-match with Tarango levelling claims of favouritism by Rebeuh to certain players. He was also shocked to hear that after his walk-off his wife, Benedicte, had walked onto the court and slapped the central umpire. Tarango was fined $US60,000, which was rescinded and was banned from the 1996 Wimbledon tournament.

Answer: Kung-Fu Fighting (Carl Douglas)

As a soccer player Eric Cantona was not just good, he bordered on being a genius. Unfortunately he also had a temper and could be baited. His teammate, Gary Pallister, said of him; "Eric had a fuse on him. There is no doubt about that. Ultimately, he exploded..." On 25 January, 1995 Manchester travelled to play lowly placed Crystal Palace with the incentive that a win in this game would take them to the top of the League standings. Crystal's half-back, Richard Shaw, was given the task of shadowing Cantona in the game and he took every opportunity to, physically, make his presence felt to Cantona. After a particularly rough tackle, biasedly described by United's manager, Alex Ferguson, as "disgraceful", Cantona responded with a careless tackle on his opponent and was red-carded. Manchester's chief of security, "Ned" Kelly, describes Cantona's walk to the dug-out; "This chap (Simmons) charged down the gangway screaming abuse at Eric. Eric was OK with it but then I think Simmons may have called Eric's mother a "French whore" and it all turned. The next thing I know Eric is over the barrier giving Simmons a kung-fu kick".

(Aftermath) Manchester suspended Cantona for four months and fined him £20,000. In the eyes of the Football Association (FA) this was insufficient and they increased the penalty to nine months and the fine by £10,000. That wasn't the end of it for Cantona. He was charged with common assault and sentenced to 14 days in prison. On appeal this was commuted to 120 hours of community service.

Answer: He was overlooked for the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron

Heiden was an icon of his sport. So much so that he was ranked in ESPN's "50 Greatest Athletes of the Twentieth Century" list. At the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York in 1980 he did something extraordinary - winning five individual gold medals at a single Winter Olympics event. In the course of those five victories he set four new Olympic race records and one new world record. The latter would be the fifteenth world record of his illustrious career. By being overlooked for the lighting of the cauldron Heiden figured that he wasn't being appreciated for his contributions to the sport and as a human being. Consequently he declared that he'd rather watch the event on television with his buddies.

(Aftermath) The honour of setting the cauldron to flame was granted to the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" US Men's Hockey team who'd won gold at the same Lake Placid Games as Heiden.

Answer: Ricky Ponting

The pressure was mounting on Ricky Ponting. This was his first Ashes series as captain of a (still) powerful Australian Test line-up. Australia, at this point, had held the Ashes since 1989 (16 years) and were expected to retain them. Coming into the Fourth Test of the summer the series had been tied at 1-1 though England had held the upper hand in the Third Test in which Australia had escaped with a draw by the skin of their teeth. The home side had scored 477 on the back of a Freddie Flintoff century and then proceeded to roll Australia for 218. Asked to follow-on (bat again) the Australians were putting up some stout resistance with Ponting at the crease having ground out a sterling 48 runs when he called for a sharp single. England's substitute fieldsman, Gary Pratt, a man who'd developed a reputation in the county as an exceptional fieldsman, swooped on the loose ball and threw down the Australian skipper's stumps. Ponting, allowing his emotions to get the better of him, stormed off expressing his displeasure as he departed. It didn't stop there as he continued to hurl verbal grenades at the English dressing room and, what would only be seen as a show of sour grapes, he would accuse the English of bending the rules by resting their key bowlers and replacing them on the field with specialist fieldsmen.

(Aftermath) Ponting was fined 75% of his match payments at an ICC hearing that night. Australia lost the Test and, ultimately, the series 2-1.

Answer: John Daly

During this period "Long" John Daly's golf game was as volatile as his personality. This day represented the second round of the tournament and he looked likely to miss the cut. Coming to the last hole he'd had three double bogeys and three bogeys to partner his four birdies for the day. It wasn't a good day and he was a ticking time-bomb. His drive at the last hole was wayward and, as he was stepping into the scrub to fetch his ball, he was photographed by Brad Clegg, a spectator who'd ventured too close to the golfer. Daly snapped, grabbed Clegg's camera and threw it to the ground. He then picked it up and slammed it against a tree, sending parts flying.

(Aftermath) There was no disciplinary action taken against Daly who had promised to replace Clegg's camera. Mr Clegg admitted that he was aware of the signs that prohibited the use of cameras by the public on course. Daly bogeyed the last hole and missed the cut by five strokes.

Answer: Yes

The pair were both driving BMWs for Tony Longhurst Racing. Between the two of them they would win every race of the Championships for that season... except that race, race two of round 3. Morris was leading at the time with Longhurst right on his bumper, desperately looking for a way to get around him. With laps running out Longhurst attempted a risky overtake on Morris' outside. The two cars touched wheels and both ended up crashing into the tyre wall. Then, to the astonishment of the crowd and the bellow of race commentator Darrell Eastlake "Tony's put the biffo back into the bingle", Longhurst had raced from his car to Morris and landed three blows to Paul's head through an open window. Not very smart on Tony's part... Paul was still wearing his helmet.

(Aftermath) Longhurst would go on to win the Championship with Morris in second place. There was no penalty levied for the "biffo".

Answer: Taekwondo

Matos, a gold medallist in the men's middleweight division at the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000, was leading 3-2 in his round match against Arman Chilmanov of Khazakstan during the Beijing Summer Olympics when he sustained an injury and called for a medical timeout. Under the World Taekwondo Federation's (WTF) rules Matos was allowed one minute for treatment. At the end of the allotted time he needed to be back in the middle or, at least, request additional time. Despite a warning from referee Chakir Chelbat Matos had stretched the gratitude beyond the allotted time without signalling any of his intentions. Chelbat took the option to disqualify him from the event. Matos raised an argument with Chelbat and then raised his foot and kicked the referee in the head.

(Aftermath) Despite receiving the backing from his country's leader, Fidel Castro, Matos was suspended for life. The Secretary-General of the WTF, Yang Jin-suk, declared "This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind."

Answer: By lying on the track and refusing to move

Drummond was a showman. He demonstrated this in the first heat when he played up to the crowd by miming putting a gun against his head and dropping down dead on the track. This was the second quarter final of the men's 100m championships and the system indicated a false start. When the official moved in front of Drummond holding the red card to signify his disqualification Drummond turned it on. First came the disbelief. "I did not move!" he screamed incredulously. Eyes bulging he yelled again "I did not move!" The official with the red card did not move either. Confronted with the finality that he couldn't face, Drummond moved onto the track and, to the boos of 72,000 spectators, lay down on the track. The farcical aspect is that the official also followed him and stood over him still holding the red card like it was some form of talisman. What was initially laughable was now embarrassing. The officials postponed the race.

(Aftermath) Fifty one minutes after the initial starting gun went off the runners finally crossed the finish line. Drummond was out and he was inconsolable, falling into his coach's arms, sobbing like a child who'd just found out that the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus did not exist. Calls were made for security officials to be onsite, in future, to escort disqualified athletes from the arena.

Answer: John McEnroe

This outburst occurred during McEnroe's fourth round match against Mickael Pernfors of Sweden and, at the time, he (McEnroe) was leading two sets to one. McEnroe had previously received a Code warning when he'd glared at a lineswoman and then bounced a tennis ball on his racquet directly in front of her face after a questionable line call. Later, he missed a shot that he should have made comfortably and, in frustration, bounced his racquet on the court... but, the racquet cracked. "Code violation Mr. McEnroe" came the call and he was penalised a point. McEnroe took his case to the chair umpire, Gerry Armstrong, asking him to "cut him some slack" but Armstrong stood firm. At this point McEnroe called for the Grand Slam chief of supervisors Ken Farrar. When Farrar also stood firm McEnroe walked away and muttered something that cannot be printed here. Unfortunately for him, chair umpire Armstrong heard him and... "Default Mr. McEnroe. Game, set and match".

(Aftermath) McEnroe became the first player since Spain's Willie Alvarez, in the 1963 French Open, to be disqualified for misconduct. In a post-match conference McEnroe was very much subdued and explained that he hadn't recognised that the rule had been changed from a four strike penalty to three... like that explains the outburst John?

Answer: Zinedine Zidane

This was to be Zidane's last game of professional football as a player. It was supposed to end in glory and not in ignominy. Initially it looked like the fairy tale it was supposed to be as an audacious penalty shot from Zidane deflected off the crossbar and into the net to give France the lead. Then, it was a Materazzi header (ironic, isn't it) from a corner kick that equalised the scores. Toward the end of extra time the pair became involved in an exchange of words. Materazzi would advise a French newspaper that he'd responded to a Zidane slight about his (Materazzi's) ability with some "stupid words" about Zidane's sister. Zidane stopped, looked his opponent in the eye and then unleashed that extraordinary head-butt. For a split second the spectators in Olympiastadion in Berlin seemed to catch their collective breaths before erupting in a "did that really happen" buzz.

(Aftermath) The referee held up a red card and Zinedine Zidane's last act as a player was to jog off the field while the World Cup, which was his dream, looked on impassively. Italy would defeat France 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out to claim the title.