Photo Credit: NY Post
Stop us if you’ve heard it before: a pro athlete encounters a problem in Scottsdale involving too much alcohol and law enforcement intercedes. If you’ve heard it before perhaps it’s because we’ve written about it a few times, and it’s generally the result of said athlete having a few too many drinks. That’s not always the dynamic, however; on a rare occasion a pro athlete is there to use their skill set to fix an alcohol-fueled problem, as was the case recently in Scottsdale.
Former Arizona Coyotes player Paul Bissonnette was simply minding his own business, enjoying his meal at Houston’s Restaurant near McDonald Drive and Scottsdale Road when a group of six rowdy, drunk golfers decided to cause problems for the staff. As a regular denizen of the restaurant and someone who had gotten to know the staff, Bissonnette decided to make a stand for those staffers when one in particular got aggressive.
What followed was something straight out of an action movie with a protagonist who is well versed at kicking butt. One angry aggressive drunk golfer who was looking for no good turned into six of them, all of them taking their shots and looking to get the knock-out blow against someone that they were blissfully unaware was a professional athlete. The melee shuffled outside the restaurant and towards the nearby CVS.
And like said protagonist, while Bissonnette took a few hits he ultimately beat back all six attackers and left them with enough visible bumps and bruises for them to remember the evening by in case the alcohol erased their memory. All six were arrested and booked into a Scottsdale jail.
Moral of the story? Well there are a few, but to start…don’t pick a fight with a hockey player. They’ve done a lot more fighting than you have.
Another moral of the story? While enjoying a beer or two on the links is nearly as American as apple pie, leave the liquor at home or in the hotel room. While we have no insight as to their drinking habits on the golf course, it’s difficult to believe that just a few beers would lead six men ranging from young to geriatric to all start aggressively confronting dining staff and throwing haymakers at a stranger.
What is less clear at the time of writing is whether or not the golfers were locals. It shouldn’t really matter, but everyone feels a bit more emboldened when visiting a new place and often don’t feel like the rules apply to them.
While it’s unequivocally positive to have an athlete in Scottsdale story be one of an athlete sticking up for someone and beating down some jerks, it’s still highly unfortunate that some drunk idiots felt like our city was an appropriate home for their idiocy. Scottsdale is not your personal doormat, be better than that.