In July 1997 Dennis “3-D” Scott held a basketball camp in Sterling, Va. for ages 9-17 that ended when Scott went into a rant about his alleged drug use, being paid what he deserves and “the rage inside” of him. The tirade was caught on camera by an independent television station and the news of an Orlando Magic player yelling at kids while blaring profanity-laced music from the back of his SUV spread quickly. Needless to say the camp was canceled and the $200 fee refunded.
The Orlando Sentinel reached Scott for comment a few days after the camp meltdown and he explained his actions:
”Tell all of the people in Orlando that I’m fine. I’m relaxing here with my son and two daughters. I’m just trying to get paid. Write that in the paper for me.”
The contract demand didn’t work and in Sept. 1997 Orlando shipped Scott and cash to the Mavericks for Derek Harper and Ed O’Bannon. By 1999 he had passed through Phoenix and New York before landing with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
I covered the Los Angeles Clippers (and at times the Lakers) 1998-2001 for sports talk AM1150 (now AM570 in LA) before my 2002-04 stint at Fox Sports Radio. By covered I mean I went to every home game and did pre and postgame interviews with whoever would talk to me from the visiting and home teams. Then I chopped up the interviews into soundbites to be used on the shows. It was a classic ‘best of times, worst of times’ situation. I got to watch NBA games in person and talk to the players and coaches but one of those teams was always the LAC. And a good number of the games were at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
The Sports Arena was a terrible building by all accounts. It was cold, dark and usually empty which is understandable since the Clippers played there. The visitors locker room was like a shed with a couple of benches and had cold-to-lukewarm showers in the back. It smelled like a typical locker room smells times 10. The home locker room was better but not by a lot. Charles Barkley played his last game at the Sports Arena (the Clippers moved to the Staples Center in 2000) as a member of the Houston Rockets. He went on a classic Barkley rant after the game about how he was glad he’d never have to play in in the turrible arena again. When pressed to say something positive about the Sports Arena by Ben Maller, Barkley said “It is positively a dump.” With all that said, I loved the place. I mean, I loved the media seating. Reporters sat a few rows back and to the left of the home bench, and next to the entrance/exit for the players and coaches. It was a great place to watch a game. It was an even better place to see a married player talk to a female fan and her baby after the game and to hear the fan tell the child “say good-bye to daddy” as the player walked away. There’s no beating that.
On April 8, 1999 the 20-14 Timberwolves (lockout shortened season) rolled into town to play the 3-30 Clippers. LA’s starting five that night was Sherman Douglas, Eric Piatkowski, Tyrone Nesby, Maurice Taylor and Michael Olowokandi. The lineup was as bad in person as it looks in print. It’s best described as the exact opposite of a murderer’s row. The bench had Lamond Murray, Lorenzen Wright, Rodney Rogers, Darrick Martin, Charles Smith and Troy Hudson. Again, not a group of guys anybody feared. They were a cool collection of individuals (being cool meant remembering my name and giving me usable quotes) but one of the worst basketball teams you’ll ever see. Except for this particular night. The Clippers manned up and handled Kevin Garnett, Dennis Scott and the T-Wolves 99-91. As you would imagine it was all smiles and high-fives in the LA locker room. The Minnesota locker room felt smaller than usual and had the KG after a loss funk and OG locker room stench hanging in the air.
The pool of reporters gathered around Garnett and hit him with all of the “how can you lose to this team?” questions. KG eventually tired of the same thing being asked 10 different ways and said “those guys get paid too.” I responded with “not like you do” leading Garnett to turn and stare at me for a few seconds. Even though he was sitting down it felt like he was standing over me. He then said “ha, funny guy.” And left it that. It was then that I conveniently noticed Dennis Scott sitting by himself.
I knew before the game I was going to ask Dennis Scott about what happened at his 1997 basketball camp. I went into every game looking for somebody to ask something off-the-wall or asshole-ish, if for no other reason than to entertain myself and my co-workers at the radio station. Before leaving the studios for the game I was kicking around my questions with some of the fellas and mentioned the Dennis Scott camp. Dave Broome, a former sports talk radio host and current executive producer of “The Biggest Loser”, suggested I ask Scott about “the rage inside.” Done deal.
I walked over to 3-D and introduced myself. We exchanged greetings and then I started lobbing softballs. After letting Scott settle into a groove I shifted to my good stuff.
HG: Dennis, can you tell me about the rage inside of you?
DS: What rage inside of me?
HG: The rage you were talking about when you were yelling at those little kids…
Of all the athletes I’ve met and questions I’ve asked, only once did I think the player might punch me in the face. Not Scottie Pippen when I asked about his DUI. Not Kobe Bryant in the various verbal games we played. Only Dennis Scott. After giving me the “why i oughta” face Scott simply replied “next question.” The interview was over at that point but I asked a few more questions. Scott didn’t say more than yes or no before I thanked him for his time and exited the locker room. The lesson here is if you actually ask Dennis Scott about the rage inside of him, he’ll probably show it to you rather than explain. And there will be no $200 refund from the ass-whooping.
haha pretty good read.