Surprising Sports Reunions

SI Staff | Feb 1, 2008

Surprising Sports Reunions

Chris Webber and Don Nelson

John W. McDonough/SI

There are plenty of examples across sports of surprising reunions -- players who once feuded becoming teammates again, a coach and a player putting aside past differences for another go-round, a player rejoining an organization after previously leaving on bad terms. We're highlighting a select few here, starting with the latest unexpected get-together.<br><br>That Webber and Nelson have joined forces again is a stunner for Warriors fans who remember how their relationship unraveled even as Webber was winning the 1993-94 Rookie of the Year on Nelson's 50-win team. ''I have no love for Don Nelson,'' Webber said after the Warriors traded him to the Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and three first-round picks in November 1994. Nelson was fired after a 14-31 start in '94-95.

Mark Messier and the Rangers

AP

While Messier's first stint with the Rangers (1991-97) included a long-awaited Stanley Cup in 1994, it ended badly as then MSG president Dave Checketts explained the team's reluctance to extend the aging Messier's contract by saying, "How long should we pay for that cup?" Messier spent the next three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, only to then rejoin the Rangers with a two-year deal at age 39. During his introductory news conference in July 2000, Messier and Checketts symbolically buried the hatchet.

Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant

AP

In <i>The Last Season</i>, his book about the 2003-04 Lakers, who lost in the championship round before Jackson stepped down as coach, the Zen Master labeled Kobe "uncoachable" and described the star guard as a "callous gun for hire." A year later, Jackson was back guiding the Kobe-led Lakers, and he recently signed a two-year contract extension reportedly worth $24 million.

Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner

AP

At some point, it stopped being surprising. All told, Steinbrenner hired Martin five times to manage the Yankees. During his third stint as skipper, Martin said, "All I know is, I pass people on the street these days and they don't know whether to say hello or goodbye."

Bobby Bonilla and the Mets

AP

A celebrated free-agent pickup in 1992, the controversial outfielder didn't meet expectations -- he wore earplugs at times to counter the Shea Stadium boo-birds -- before being shipped to the Orioles in 1995. But the Mets brought him back in '99 via trade with the Dodgers, a second tenure marked by Bonilla's reported clubhouse card-playing incident with Rickey Henderson while the Mets were losing a decisive Game 6 of the NLCS against Atlanta. In parting ways in 2000, Bonilla agreed to a buyout in which the Mets would pay his salary in deferred payments -- $1.193 million each July 1 from 2011 to 2035, for a total of $29.8 million.

Bill Parcells and Terry Glenn

Damian Strohmeyer/SI, John Biever/SI

The Cowboys' first trade in the Parcells era landed them Glenn, the injury-plagued wide receiver whom Parcells famously referred to as "she" during their time together in New England. Glenn went on to have two 1,000-yard seasons with the Big Tuna in Dallas.

Fabio Capello and David Beckham

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

The Italian coach's stormy tenure at Real Madrid is now infamous for his unilateral decision to -- gasp! -- bench the aging Beckham. But pressure from both his players and the fans forced him to put international soccer's pretty boy back on the field, and Becks promptly led Real to its first title in four years before leaving for Major League Soccer. Now Capello has been hired to coach the flailing English national team -- did he learn his lesson the first time?

Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O'Neal

AP

Before he feuded with Kobe, Shaq clashed with Penny in Orlando when both were young stars with the egos to match. Years later, Shaq derisively likened Penny to Fredo, one of the Corleone brothers in <i>The Godfather</i>. But that didn't stop Penny from trying a comeback alongside Shaq in Miami this season. Alas, the Heat waived him in December.

Bill Buckner and the Red Sox

Gray Mortimore/Getty Images

Buckner signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in 1990, four years after his infamous World Series gaffe. He ended up playing 22 games with the big league club that season, his 22nd and last in the majors.

Jeremiah Trotter and the Eagles

AP

Just weeks after Philadelphia's loss to the Rams in the 2001 NFC title game and his second consecutive Pro Bowl appearance, Trotter's contract dispute led to a messy public divorce with the Eagles. After two listless seasons with division rival Washington, the middle linebacker returned to Philadelphia, where he worked his way up from special teams into the starting lineup for the franchise's first Super Bowl team in 24 years. The Eagles released Trotter for a second time in August 2007, and he spent this past season playing sparingly in Tampa Bay.