The Best of the Worst...

Here we are, it's early February and the sports world is about as dull as possibly can be....at least if you're a fan of Illinois, the Bulls, or are not a fan of NASCAR. The NFL season is officially over, which despite the Bears being incredibly average, is still fun to watch even when your team is playing golf instead of football. So what is there to do except stare out the window at the snow and wish it was spring? Reflect, nap, followed by more reflecting. So here is what crossed my mind recently when Mr. Sunshine himself Bob Knight quit coaching at Texas Tech. Besides Knight, who else has become incredibly easy to despise, dare I say loathe in the world of sports? Here is my top 5, in no particular order.

1. Bobby Knight - Yeah Knight lovers, I know, Bob has won more games than any coach in Division 1 Men's College Basketball history. Knight collected three National Titles while at Indiana. His 1976 team is the last to go undefeated for an entire season. Finally, his players graduate...and at a pretty impressive rate. All admiral feats/accomplishments. There's no denying it. It doesn't change the fact that the man is an insufferable ass, bully, intimidator, etc. who has spent the majority of his tenure at Army/Indiana/Texas Tech treating the "rest of us" like gum on the bottom of his shoe. The media deserves it sometimes, brash 18 year old kids deserve it sometimes, officials deserve it sometimes, heck...even his own son felt the wrath of Knight on a few occassions on the Indiana bench. We all blow up. But to constantly berate and bully his players, not to mention the occassional choke job(Neil Reed anyone?) is NOT an admirable trait. Dean Smith won his share of games, as did John Wooden at UCLA, and it was done with won trait Bobby never had or never will have....class. I for one hope "The General" goes away and stays there.

2. Barry Bonds - He is a tremendous baseball player, maybe the greatest ever. He is the all-time home run king. He's won 7 MVP awards. We all know his bio. We also know he is a cheater and not a very good dude. Barry Lamar Bonds has been his own worst enemy both in Pittsburgh and in San Francisco. There's no great mystery as to why a guy who still managed to hit 28 homeruns in only 340 at-bats in 2007 can't find a job. No one wants the baggage or attitude/surliness that comes packaged with #25.

3. The Detroit Pistons - No, of course I'm not talking about the current club. I speak of the late 80's early 90's band of a-holes who played basketball like they should have had a helmet and shoulder pads on. Fine, they won back-to-back titles in 89 and 90. They had a Hall of Fame coach and point guard. But what they did at the end of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals when the Jordan-led Bulls finally beat them after years of struggles was and still is one of the more classless displays of bad sportsmanship I've ever seen. If you recall, Isiah, Laimbeer, Rodman, and Dumars decided that they'd rather walk off the floor BEFORE the game ended and avoid shaking hands with their arch-rivals. Nice example Bad Boys.

4. The 1972 Miami Dolphins - Is it fun to hate this group of aging buttheads or what? Led by the always delightful Mercury Morris and Larry Zsonka, they get together and toast the first loss of the season by the last undefeated team in the NFL every season. Fine guys, we get it, you were 17-0 in 72. You won the Super Bowl. Great accomplishment, there's no denying it. But delighting in the misfortune of another team/fan base? Nice...real nice. Morris went as far to say that they were "still the greatest" after New England's upset loss to New York in the Super Bowl. Sorry pal, on top of being an upstanding guy who was once indicted for cocaine trafficing, you're also delusional. I know it's not 100% fair to compare contrasting era's in sports. It really isn't. But if you don't believe New England, or the 1985 Bears would have kicked your rear-end up and down the field...well, you've been drinking too much of the bubbly.

5. Ty Cobb - Is any explanation needed? Watch Ron Shelton's very underrated bio-flick "Cobb" sometime and the evidence is more than circumstantial. It's very likely that Cobb murdered a man, was known as womanizer who was, on more than one occasion accused of rape, and the creme de la creme, slid spikes up into the bag. Oh yeah, he was nuts too. Watch the movie, read his bio on the web, whatever, you'll be amazed at what the "Georgia Peach" got away with. What a guy.

Honorable Mention

Terrell Owens
Randy Moss
OJ Simpson
Charles Barkley
Bob Huggins
Woody Hayes
Rae Carruth

So that's all I got. I could go on, but frankly, it puts me in a bad mood just to think about these fella's. Give me your list. Do you disagree with some of my selections? Would you care any other fun adjectives to describe Knight, Bonds, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Pistons, or Ty Cobb? Feel free to add on.