Remember Bill Romanowski? He was nuts. So when a starting quarterback gets knocked out by his own teammate, whose take do you want? The take of someone nuts.
Romanowski appeared on ESPN radio Wednesday to discuss the altercation that led to IK Enemkpali breaking Geno Smith's jaw at Jets camp. Romanowski began by saying his bouts were more heat of the moment, but quickly recalled one off-the-field incident.
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"I got in a lot of fights out on the field in training camp, but I never got..." the former linebacker, who played 16 years in the NFL, began. "Well, I take that back. I got in one in our lunchroom with Dexter Carter. But it was a quick one and nobody got hurt. I just threw a microwave at him."
The linebacker spent 16 years in the NFL and his rap sheet of altercations includes, but is not limited to: crushing teammate Marcus Williams' eye socket with a punch during a scrimmage, kicking Larry Centers in the head, spitting in J.J. Stokes' face, throwing a ball at Bryan Cox's crotch and countless fines for helmet-to-helmet hits. Wednesday's admittance is why the "is not limited to" tag is so important for him.
Here's how Romanowski recalls the incident, which took place sometime in the early 1990s when both Carter and Romanowski were with the 49ers. San Francisco's facility had an old microwave that worked pretty well, he said, until you tried to put another sandwich in it. It would take about 10 minutes to heat both at the same time.
Carter put his sandwich in with Romanowski's anyway. He told him to take it out, but Carter didn't. So Romanowski did it for him, then they went back and forth for a few minutes, and Romanowski decided enough was enough — he hurled the microwave at Carter, grabbed him by the neck and pinned him up against the vending machine.
"Never again," he told the 5-9 running back.
The incident at Jets' camp was over $600. Romanowski's was over a sandwich.
If you don't remember Romanowski, the quintessential, roided out late-80s/early-90s linebacker, a quick primer: He wore a neck roll, seemed to bleed on the field a lot and admitted in 2005 to steroid use. He also snapped fingers in piles. Here's his 16-year career in less than three minutes.