Spare Change: A History of Athletes Being Accused of Leaving Crappy Tips

Image via Complex Original

Year: 2002

Net worth: $30 Million

After you win a Super Bowl, you should be treated like a king in your city. Such was the case for Brooks after the Buccaneers defeated the Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII. Brooks supposedly went out to eat at a Tampa restaurant, and his entire meal was comped. Nice gesture. What wasn’t so nice was that after Brooks was done eating, he reportedly decided that the term comped should extend to the notion of tipping the wait staff. No wonder the Bucs have never won anything ever again.

Year: 2002

Net worth: $1 Billion

Apparently, the G.O.A.T. on the basketball court was not the G.O.A.T. when it came to taking care of those in the hospitality industry. From Chicago to Washington, D.C., Jordan’s reputation as a miser is somewhat legendary. It’s said that MJ would routinely run up bills of $1,000 or more in Chi-town and not leave a single dime for the wait staff. Once described by Charles Barkley as being “as cheap as they come,” Jordan’s lack of generosity followed him in the later stages of his career in D.C. as well. The greatest story, though, has to be when he and Wayne Gretzky were sitting at the tables in Vegas, and the Great One called out Jordan for tipping a waitress $5 for a drink. Apparently, Gretzky took back the five, gave her a hundred, and showed MJ how it’s done in the desert.

Year: 2002

Net worth: -$1 Million ($30 Million Reebok trust fund, which can't be accessed until 2030)

Allen Iverson is no stranger to financial issues. And according to one server at a Philadelphia area restaurant, those issues were front and center at The Answer’s bachelor party a few years back. Apparently, Iverson and 25 of his closest friends ran up a bill of X amount of dollars on food and drinks, which was subsequently paid for by his mother upon her departure from the party. Cool, right? Well, Iverson and a few others kept turning up, but refused to throw down once they were done. They attempted to walk out on a $200 bill all together—forget the tip—and when confronted by the manager, AI allegedly threw two bills on the floor and stormed out. Damn.

Year: 2005

Net worth: $50 Million

When you earn the nickname “No Tippin' Pippen,” you know your reputation as a scrooge probably isn’t something that’s just being imagined by a few angry folks in the service industry. Apparently, Scottie Pippen’s cheapness had no limits. He even went as far as to attempt to negotiate some strippers down from their regular fee at the Penthouse Executive Club once. Come on, Scottie. If you’re trying to negotiate strippers down from their normal fee, you’re probably in the wrong place to begin with.

Year: 2008

Net worth: $270 Million

Back in 2008, when LeBron was enjoying his first stint in Cleveland, the King decided to pop into XO Prime Steaks with his entourage for a little late-night meal. And by late night, we mean he was reportedly there until about a quarter to four in the morning. And by little, we mean the bill came to $800. Now, we’re not trying to say that just because LeBron has money he should throw ridiculous amounts of change at people. But leaving the alleged $10 tip that he did on this meal is a little bit appalling.

Year: 2009

Net worth: $550 Million

Tiger is an absolute legend for his notorious stinginess at dining establishments. It’s widely believed that Woods simply doesn’t carry cash so that he can avoid the idea of tipping all together. Apparently, Woods has even made women carry cash in Las Vegas so that they can tip for him when they go out. Tipping $5 on a $10,000 blackjack hand is bad. Taking that tip back because you remembered giving the waitress a tip earlier in the night is downright deplorable, if it is, in fact, true.

Year: 2009

Net worth: $150 Million

Talk about throwing shade. According to Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open, former rival Sampras was “dull,” “robotic,” and “lacking inspiration.” But perhaps the worst jab dished out from the former World No. 1 was the story he told about Sampras’ alleged slight of a valet. Agassi recalls that Sampras once gave a valet a $1 tip for fetching his ride. You probably could’ve pulled out at least a fiver there, Pete. Still, why did this little anecdote belong in Agassi’s book to begin with?

Year: 2013

Net worth: $1 Million

Melky Cabrera probably rues the day he decided to leave a crappy tip for a waitress at a Chili’s in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Not because it was the wrong thing to do, but because this waitress also happened to be a baseball blogger. Ouch. Melky left Melissa Dickson $10 on a $77 bill, and Melissa left Melky with a few rather choice words on his tipping habits. Chi Sox Diaries never had so many hits.

Year: 2013

Net worth: $55 Million

Brees caught the ire of many when it was reported that he left a $3 tip on a $74 order from the Del Mar Rendezvous restaurant in California. It was revealed by the blog The Dirty that Brees was a cheapskate for leaving the $3, but what they didn’t report was that the order was for takeout. Basically, Brees was getting all this hate for giving someone $3 to put food in a bag. Does anyone normally tip anything on a takeout order? The restaurant apologized to Brees right after the story broke, because they presumably knew the truth about the order. Sounds like someone else owes the Saint quarterback an apology, though.

Year: 2014

Net worth: -$1 Million

Did you go out to a bar for this summer’s World Cup match between the United States and Belgium? So did Warren Sapp. Only, we’re pretty sure you probably tipped more than the Hall of Famer. Sapp and a few friends watched the game at a bar in Florida, but when it came time to pay the $70 bill, Sapp left a big fat zero for a tip. Not $10, not 20 cents, not even a string of lint.

The receipt made its way to the Internet, as most things of note tend to do these days, and ended up on Darren Rovell’s Twitter timeline for the whole world to see. Apparently, Sapp was unhappy with the waitress and he said he left before the game even started. That’s contrary to what the waitress and her manager say. And it looks like Sapp not only stayed for the whole game, but stayed an hour after the final whistle.

Year: 2014

Net worth: $2.3 Million

Recently, PYT, a burger joint in Philadelphia, accused  McCoy of tipping 20 cents on a $60 bill. That’s .03 percent for anyone without a calculator. Anyway, several Philadelphia media outlets reported Shady’s stinginess, but it’s not clear that this is exactly the case. While PYT posted the receipt on their Facebook page, Facebook commenters attempted to discredit the post with everything from waiters testifying to McCoy’s generosity to claims of the receipt being Photoshopped. PYT v. Shady. Who ya got?