You know, I still remember the day that Latrell Sprewell tried to behead PJ Carlesimo. It was like he got to live out every Warriors fan's dream. But no, it was bad. The worst thing being after Sprewell choked Carlesimo, he went outside for 20 minutes, thought things over, then came back in and started throwing haymakers at Carlesimo.

Well, now that Sprewell is out of the NBA, and broke (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy), someone obviously needs to take his place. And that guy is Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon.

Chacon spent his Wednesday evening arguing about his recent demotion to the bullpen with Astros GM Ed Wade, and needless to say, it didn't go very well.

Chacon was told by Wade to go to manager Cecil Cooper's office, but Chacon instead decided to throw Wade to the floor, hop on top of him, and start wailing away. A bold, but probably not particularly bright, move.

Now, don't think Wade was being some kind of class act himself. He reportedly told Chacon to "(expletive) look in the mirror." And that's when Chacon decided to bring the pain. Since Wade wouldn't talk, here's Chacon's full take:

"He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade. "I'm sitting there, and I said to him very calmly, 'Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, 'You better stop yelling at me.' I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, 'You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.' So at that point I lost my cool, and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him, because at that point I wanted to beat his (behind). Words were exchanged."

If I were Chacon, I would have just said "I blame steroids."

As usual, it's probably somewhere in between. Both guys were probably being complete jackasses - one an ego-sensitive ballplayer, the other a crappy GM with a Napoleon complex (who's also on a short leash) - and things went completely south in a hurry.

That doesn't excuse what Chacon did, but don't make Wade out to be any kind of saint either.

Chacon is likely going to be suspended by the team for the rest of the season, and if you think anyone's going to scoop him up in the offseason, uh, I would guess no.

As for the Astros, I bet they wish they could get the same kind of fight out of their players on the field. Because they absolutely suck.

Astros Pitcher Attacks GM [Houston Chronicle]