Matt Harvey Isn't Alone: 5 Other Times Athletes Went AWOL
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For a short while Saturday, the Mets didn't know where star pitcher Matt Harvey was. He failed to show up at Citi Field for the team's game against the Miami Marlins, which led to a three-game suspension without pay.
Here are some other times over the years that athletes went AWOL:
DERRICK ROSE
New York sports fans only have to think back to January to remember the last time a pro athlete no-showed for a game around here.
Rose was unaccounted for when the Knicks tipped off for a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 9. It turned out he had flown home to Chicago without informing the team. The point guard claimed he needed to be with his mother. Rose was fined but not suspended over the incident.
BARRET ROBBINS
In January 2003, the Raiders center went missing the day before he was supposed to play in Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego. It turns out that Robbins was partying in Tijuana, Mexico, after not taking his depression medication. He resurfaced the night before the Super Bowl, but the Raiders decided to leave him off the roster.
MORE: Palladino: Harvey's Fall From Grace Is An Old New York Story
CEDRIC CEBALLOS
In March 1996, Lakers forward Cedric Ceballos missed a team flight, and then no one on the team heard from him for five days. He claimed he had "family problems" to deal with, but he was spotted with a man and two women at an Arizona resort during his absence. The Lakers' co-captain was suspended without pay for the two games he missed and fined, costing him more than $56,000.
CAMEROON OLYMPIANS
After their events at the 2012 London Olympics ended, seven athletes from Cameroon -- five boxers, a swimmer and a soccer player -- vanished from the Olympic Village. It was presumed they all fled to seek political asylum. While the boxers resurfaced a few weeks later at an English gym, the whereabouts of the other two athletes are still unknown.
'JOEL RON MCKELVEY'
The day before the 1995 Sugar Bowl, a Texas defensive back who went by the name "Joel Ron McKelvey" went missing after a newspaper revealed he was actually 30-year-old Ron Weaver, who had played small-time college football a decade before. Weaver, who did not have the NCAA eligibility to play using his true identity, initially denied the allegations to his coach, but soon afterward bolted for California. He later pleaded guilty to fraudulently using a Social Security number, but served no jail time.
