The 25 Sorest Losers in Sports

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When it comes to sports, you win some and you lose some. Nobody likes to lose, but it wouldn't exactly be considered a competition someone didn't do it.

When you win, a celebration is almost always in order. But it's important to keep things professional and dignified. The same thing goes for a loss. It's possible to express disappointment without acting like an escaped mental patient. 

Well, for some people it is. Here are the 25 sorest losers in sports. 

25. Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers Coach

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I actually had no idea that Packers coach Mike McCarthy was a sore loser until well after Green Bay's surprise defeat by the Giants in the 2012 NFL Playoffs. He took it as well as you can take something like that at the time. 

But then in August 2012 McCarthy uttered the ultimate sore loser phrase (and I'm paraphrasing): the Giants didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. Short of blaming the referees for a loss, there is no bigger sore loser phrase in sports than that. 

You can't beat yourself unless you literally just fumble the ball on purpose. The other team can take away the ball, knock you off your game, cause turnovers, beat you physically and mentally and score more points.

24. McKayla Maroney, U.S. Women's Gymnastics

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We all love U.S. women's gymnastics superstar McKayla Maroney, particularly after she inspired one of the most hilarious sports memes in the history of memes. The entire fierce five came home from the 2012 Olympics in London as superstars, but aside from Gabby Douglas, it's Maroney who is the true star. 

Maroney was absolutely guaranteed the gold medal in vault. If you watched the coverage, the announcers went on and on about how she was the best in the world and how there wasn't anyone who had the slightest chance at challenging her. All that talk must have jinxed her because she fell on her second vault. 

Despite the fall, Maroney still took home silver. That may have been a pretty big deal for most athletes, but her disappointment with the situation is written all over that half-smile. 

23. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics

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Celtics big man Kevin Garnett doesn't like losing. In fact, I get the sense that Garnett doesn't like a lot of things. But losing has definitely got to be up there at the very top of the list. 

KG isn't a particularly pleasant presence on the court even when the Celtics are winning, so it was no surprise that he had absolutely no interest in a post-game handshake after the Heat beat them in Game 7 in the 2012 NBA Playoffs.

22. Dabo Swinney, University of Clemson

Nothing stinks more than a lose to your hated rival, so I'm cutting Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney a little slack for lashing out like a lunatic after his Tigers' third consecutive loss to their in-state rival Gamecocks, all three of which have been under his watch. 

Honestly, I could see myself doing the same thing. 

But there are two problems with that. 1. I'm not the head coach of a major football program, so I'm allowed to act like a condescending a-hole since the media isn't always following me around. 2. The comments attributed to Steve Spurrier that got him so fired up were wrongly attributed. 

21. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid

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Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has a long history of irritating opponents with his goal scoring and dramatic flopping. And as it it turns out, he's a sore loser too. 

In June 2010 Ronaldo's Portugal team lost 1-0 to Spain in the World Cup quarterfinals and Mr. Ronaldo was displeased. In fact, he was angry enough to spit in the face of a cameraman who was filming him after the loss. 

20. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens

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What's interesting about Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is that he's not just a sore loser, he's also a sore winner. He handles the media spotlight worse than any other starting quarterback in the NFL. 

I'm not saying Flacco is a bad quarterback, and neither is anyone else really. But he seems to think that there's a national conspiracy directed at him, particularly after a loss. 

19. Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks

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The Knicks haven't have a lot of success of late and they continued their record of non-success in 2012 with a first round loss to the Heat in the NBA playoffs. The series only went five game and it was even less competitive than it sounds. 

Honestly, nobody on the Knicks seemed to care all that much except for Amar'e Stoudemire, who really took out his rage on the wrong inanimate object. Stoudemire busted up his hand after a Game 2 loss after taking on a fire extinguisher and losing...big time. 

18. Chinese Olympians

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It's an unpleasant world the Chinese Olympians live in where a silver medal is cause for tears. There were a number of Chinese athletes weeping like children on the podium after disgracing their country with second place finishes. 

Let's just hope they were being dramatic and aren't serving time at some kind of hard labor camp right now. 

17. Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions Coach

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After the summer the Lions had, you have to wonder what kind of ship head coach Jim Schwartz is running in Detroit. But what can you expect from a team when their leader sets such a poor example of how adults are supposed to behave. 

When the Lions lost a close one to the 49ers in 2011, Niners coach Jim Harbaugh's "sorry you lost" back slap was a bit too exuberant for the likes of Schwartz. And Schwartz, for his part, decided to address it on national television by trying to pick a fight with Harbaugh right there on the field. 

16. Derek Anderson, Carolina Panthers

Considering the rarity of wins during the unremarkable starting career of NFL quarterback Derek Anderson, one would think he'd be able to deal with losing a little better. Anyone with more interceptions than touchdowns should be used to losing.

But in 2010 Anderson, then with the Cardinals, lost his cool (as if he ever had any) after an embarrassing loss to the division foe 49ers. A reporter had the nerve to ask the quarterback what he and teammate were laughing about on the sideline during the game and Anderson just went mental. 

First he started yelling about how nothing about the game was funny and then he denied laughing entirely before cutting the presser short and storming off. Seems his duties as Cam Newton's clipboard holder are much more suited to his temperament, as well as his abilities. 

15. Serena Williams, Women's Tennis

Maybe tennis superstar Serena Williams sucks at losing because she does it so infrequently. She is coming off yet another U.S. Open win and her first singles gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London. That being said, she's got some issues when things don't go her way. 

Her most famous incident came at the 2009 U.S. Open in which she was disqualified for threatening to kill one of the line judges. The initial call was just a foot fault but the whole situation took on a much uglier tone soon after.  

14. Kevin Borseth, University of Michigan Former Coach

Former head coach of the University of Michigan's women's basketball team Kevin Borseth became infamous for this post-loss press conference. It was quite clear as he coasted into the frame and threw his papers down in a huff that things were going to get interesting. And they did. 

13. Andy Roddick, Retired Tennis Player

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Former tennis player Andy Roddick announced that he would retire after the 2012 U.S. Open. Well, he didn't win the tournament, but he actually managed to keep his crap together. Which is not exactly the norm. 

Roddick is what people in the tennis biz call a racquet smasher—a person who frequently engages in racquet abuse. Roddick has been known to smash racquets, yell at officials and complain about the dampness of the ground after a loss. 

12. Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys Owner

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Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys for $140 million in 1989 and turned it into the second most valuable sports franchise in the world, second only to England's Manchester United. Jones had a pretty good run in the 90's, winning three Super Bowl Championships. 

But Jones just hasn't learned how to adjust to the new NFL in the salary cap era and he's becoming increasingly sour about the whole situation. Every season that the Cowboys get bounced in the first round or miss the playoffs altogether, GM Jerry takes to the media to express his frustrations. 

When the Cowboys lose, Jones is always the first one addressing them media complaining about the loss and sharing all the changes the "coaches" (see: Jerry Jones) are going to make. 

11. Tiger Woods, PGA

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In golf legend Tiger Woods' defense, he spent nearly a decade of his career not losing. And even then he didn't handle the rare bad day very well. So the last several years have to have been a major shock to his system. 

When Woods is playing poorly, usually on Saturdays and Sundays, you can see the growing hostility and frustration written all over his face. He's testy with the media. He's cool towards fans. And he's just plain angry by the end of most days.

10. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears

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Here I go, picking on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler again. Sorry Bears fans, I really don't have anything against you and I really enjoy Chicago, but Cutler just doesn't handle anything well. 

When he's with his beautiful fiancé, he acts like a psycho. When he wins, he's uninterested in elaborating on his success. And when he loses, he could give a tiny rat's a** what you think. He's a sore loser, a sore winner and he just seems unsatisfied with life. He reminds me of a less pleasant Jake Plummer. 

Sorry again, Bears fans. 

9. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

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Celtics superstar point guard Rajon Rondo is well known to be moody and sometimes difficult to get along with. So much so that the crazies in charge were actually considering shipping the rising star out of Boston in early 2012. 

Rondo has also been accused of being a sore loser. He was flat out aggressive with the media after a loss in the 2012 NBA Playoffs and refused to shake hands with the Heat after the Celtics were defeated in Game 7. 

8. Marcos Baghdatis, Tennis

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There's racquet abuse and then there's racquet abuse. Tennis player Marcos Baghdatis definitely engaged in the latter in January 2012 after losing in three sets at the Australian Open. 

No one likes losing, but usually the loser just likes to leave the scene of the crime. Not Baghdatis though, he was in the mood to put on a show. He went to the bench and started smashing racquet after racquet and didn't stop until four of them had been murdered. 

7. Dennis Green, Free Agent NFL Coach

Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green will be remembered for a long time, but probably not for the reasons he had hoped when he began his career. This classic press conference rant gave sports fans some of the all time best one-liners, most notably "They were who we thought they were!" and "If you wanna crown 'em, then crown they a**!"

6. Tony Stewart, NASCAR

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NASCAR driver Tony Stewart has a long history of losing his temper, particularly when someone knocks him out of a race. If you collide with Stewart, don't expect him to hold his tongue...or his helmet. 

Stewart has had run-ins with a number of drivers of the years, most notably Matt Kenseth who he was involved in a crash with in August 2012. Instead of heading off the track for some brew and hot dog, Stewart chucked his helmet at Kenseth's car. 

5. Mike Tyson, Retired Boxer

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Retired boxer Mike Tyson has definitely done a pretty amazing job at rehabbing image, especially for someone who has a face tattoo and spent a stretch of time in jail for rape. But I think we all know he can be a bit of a sore loser.

Nobody knows that better than fellow boxer Evander Holyfield who lost of a chunk of his ear during a fight Tyson was losing to him.

4. Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks Owner

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Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been a court side fixture in Dallas since acquiring the team. He's not exactly a "hands off" owner. Cuban takes a personal involvement in every aspect of the game, including screaming his face off at refs and (in my opinion) is one of the best and most passionate owners in NBA. 

That being said, he's kind of a sore loser—but what billionaire isn't? Cuban takes it hard when his Mavs lose and he took the organization's offseason failures at signing free-agents, and keeping their own talent, pretty hard. 

3. Terrell Owens, NFL Free Agent

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Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world that likes/roots for NFL free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, but even I acknowledge that it's his own behavior that has brought upon this nearly universal dislike for him. 

T.O. has countless issues, but one of them is being a sore loser. He never reacts to a loss like an adult and has made a career of blaming his quarterback, yes even Tony Romo, for any and every loss. After all, Owens is always wide open in the end zone just waiting for someone to throw him the ball. 

2. Hope Solo, U.S. Women's Soccer

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U.S. Women's superstar goalie Hope Solo doesn't actually do all that much losing. The American women's team is the most dominant in the world and recently brought home the gold from the 2012 Olympics in London. 

Perhaps that's why she's so terrible at it?

Not only did Solo lose her marbles at the relatively mundane observations of former teammate Brandi Chastain during the London games, she also behaved like a petulant child after being eliminated from ABC's Dancing with the Stars. 

1. Mikhail Youzhny, Tennis

Hey man, losing sucks. But normal reactions are to smash things, pick fights with the opposition, kick crap around or start taunting the fans. We all have our own ways to deal with losing. 

Very few of us resort to self mutilation to cope with a loss. But that's just what tennis player Mikhail Youzhny did in 2008 after losing to Nicolas Almagro at the Sony Ericsson Open. 

Instead of making a bee-line for Almagro with a racket, he chose to beat his face bloody with his own racket. 

But It's Always Okay to Be Sad

When the Steelers lost in the Super Bowl to the Packers, my friends and I were obviously sad. But nobody broke any bottles of wine over their heads. 

Although I did spend most of the very late hours of the night muttering about how it was all a conspiracy orchestrated by Tom Brady, even though I'm well aware he plays for Patriots. 

Follow me on Twitter to learn more about my various Tom Brady conspiracies!

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