Gary Sheffield - Attention Whore

Urbandictionary.com defines "attention whore" as follows:

Label given to any person who craves attention to such an extent that they will do anything to receive it. The type of attention (negative or positive) does not matter.

Detroit Tigers outfielder/DH/attention-whore/trouble-maker Gary Sheffield seems to be constantly in the middle of a controversy, complaining about something, or manufacturing some sort of drama out of thin air. Here is a brief description of his tumultuous career and the various dramas he has started or been a part of:

• When he was a 19-year-old minor leaguer, Sheff and his uncle Dwight Gooden were involved in an incident where Sheff was charged with resisting arrest and battery. Later that same year, while on probation for the first incident, he was charged with DUI, eluding arrest, and speeding.
• When he was with the Milwaukee Brewers, he started at shortstop for a while. After his play started to decline, and a "better" SS came along (Bill Spiers was better? Really?), he was moved to third base. Rather than just be a team player and accept the move, he claimed the team was racist. The team eventually got tired of his whining and shipped him to San Diego.
• A few days after the 1995 season, he was grazed by a bullet while his car idled at a stoplight in Tampa.
• When he was with the LA Dodgers, he was involved in a scuffle in the stands at Wrigley Field. He claimed he was acting as a peacemaker.
• During one off season when he was with the Dodgers, he decided to use the press to lobby for a trade. He insulted his teammates, derided club management, called chairman Bob Daly a liar, screamed racism when the club refused to double the value of his contract, and made vague accusations about misdeeds he had uncovered within the organization.
• Um, steroids.
• After a fan took a swipe at him in the right field corner in Fenway Park in Boston, he shoved the fan. Charges were filed against him, but were later dropped.
• Sheff pulled out his "race card" again, accusing Joe Torre of treating white players differently, and saying the Jeter wasn't "all the way black."
• In the June, 2007 issue of GQ Magazine, Sheffield was quoted saying that there are more Latin baseball players than black players because Latinos are easier to control.
• His wife was "featured" in a sex tape with "singer" R. Kelly.

Sheff's in the news again. He's currently involved in a lawsuit with his former agent Scott Boras over fees that Boras wants Sheff to pay him for a contract he signed with the Yankees a few years ago. Sheff claims he fired him before his contract negotiations started, so he owes him nothing. It's only a matter of time before Sheff accuses Boras of being racist. He's like the Uncle Leo of baseball players ("I'll bet you the cook is an anti-Semite. They don't just overcook a hamburger, Jerry.").

Maybe it's just a coincidence that all of this keeps happening to Gary Sheffield. Maybe he's a wonderful guy, and he's just unlucky. Or maybe he's just a real prick. I know which way I'm leaning.