Sports Stars We Are Loving to Hate Right Now
Some athletes we just love to hate. But generally, when an athlete is hated by some, he is loved by others. Hated athletes are also often described as “polarizing.”
We're not talking about off-field alleged criminal activity here, but instead about what these players do on the field, say about the game or just their general personalities. Often, it’s a case of the bigger the star, the bigger the opinions about him.
Here are 12 people fans are talking about right now, and more often than not, the comments are not good. The worse the general consensus, the more we love to hate these guys.
Johnny Manziel
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For a rookie who rides the bench, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel gets a lot of press, and it was particularly heavy leading up to the 2014 NFL season.
Sometimes people are not thrilled with a young guy getting so much attention, and it’s especially not great when much of the attention is focused on his off-field partying. However, the Manziel hatred has died down a bit in proportion to the decreased attention on him lately.
Brian Hoyer has started every game for the Browns, and he’s been playing well. Although, now there is speculation that Hoyer might not want to sign with the team long term with Manziel there.
LeBron James
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Truth be told, LeBron James has done a lot to atone for his past mistakes. He isn’t hated with nearly as much venom as he was, say, around the time of The Decision.
Still, it's doubtful that folks in Miami are too happy about his departure. And whether he’s in Cleveland or Miami or on the moon, James will always be one of the most highly scrutinized players in the NBA.
Floyd Mayweather
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Boxer Floyd Mayweather has never lost a professional fight, yet somehow people don’t love him.
They don’t love his Twitter beef with 50 Cent, they don’t love his bromance with Justin Bieber and, at times, they don’t love his general cockiness. His Twitter avatar is a picture of him in bed with wads of cash for crying out loud.
And while he's supremely talented in the ring, some think he has avoided fighting Manny Pacquiao. The two fighters recently got in a Twitter battle on just that subject.
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Yasiel Puig
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The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder’s 2014 season is over, but during his two major league seasons thus far, people have loved to criticize Yasiel Puig's showboating and on-field confidence.
In the 2013 ALCS, Puig hit what he thought was a home run. He tossed his bat and started to celebrate before realizing the ball had stayed in the park. He quickly rounded the bases for a triple.
Then, in August 2014, Puig got in a little jeering match with veteran Albert Pujols during a game. The next month, he got real fired up when San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner hit him in the foot, causing a bench-clearing brawl.
Love him or hate him, Yasiel Puig is definitely a controversial figure in baseball.
Randy Orton
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Randy Orton is one of the WWE’s most polarizing figures—he’s been called hated, and he’s been called boring. Even despite these hilarious Vines of the wrestler performing his signature move, the RKO, people still dislike him.
The 12-time world champion, like many on this list, is controversial. A 2011 radio interview in which he called a female wrestler “a slut” didn’t help his cause. He also won Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s award for “Most Hated Wrestler” in 2007 and ’09.
His upcoming fight with rival John Cena is generating buzz for the controversial wrestler once again.
Alex Ovechkin
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The Washington Capitals captain isn’t exactly beloved by hockey fans—or fellow players, for that matter.
Former NHL player Jeremy Roenick wrote about Ovechkin on his website (h/t The Washington Post), saying, “There is no structure to his game. He goes wherever he wants to go and that’s NOT how we are taught to play this game, and that’s what makes me hot.”
Many seem to blame the Capitals’ lack of team success on Ovechkin, although others find that unfair given his 51 goals in the 2013-14 season. Some think he’s just concerned with his own celebrity as opposed to helping his team win.
Some people love him. Go figure.
Richard Sherman
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If people didn’t know of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman before the 2014 NFC Championship Game, they likely knew of him after. His postgame interview with Erin Andrews of Fox Sports was, well, spirited.
But since then, and even before, Sherman has been in the media spotlight for antagonizing other players. Per Yahoo Sports, Sherman yelled, “U Mad Bro?” at Tom Brady after a 2012 victory over the New England Patriots. He has also been engaged in highly publicized Twitter beefs with Darelle Revis and Patrick Peterson.
Brad Keselowski
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NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski has a reputation for being aggressive with other drivers, speaking his mind and acting like a sore loser at times.
Keselowski was fined $50,000 and put on probation for an altercation at the 2014 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He intentionally tried to spin a fellow driver during a cool-down lap, and the animosity continued into a garage.
After the incident, Jeff Gordon told Kerry Tharp (via JeffGordon.com), “Obviously there was some built‑up animosity towards Brad.”
Back in May 2014, he was the catalyst for a wreck at Talladega, and Jimmie Johnson said that perhaps Keselowski was driving too aggressively.
Alex Rodriguez
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Alex Rodriguez is an old stalwart on lists like this. Unfortunately, he’s back on one.
Virtually the second Derek Jeter performed his last hat tip, the chatter about what the New York Yankees were going to do about A-Rod started up.
As you may have heard, he’s coming off a pretty serious PED suspension.
Manager Joe Girardi has reportedly talked with him about the possibility of backing up Mark Teixeira at first base, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, but whatever the Yankees do with A-Rod next year, odds are people aren't going to feel like hearing about it.
Luis Suarez
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Anyone who bites an opponent on the field of play is worthy of being disliked (right, Mike Tyson?).
At the 2014 World Cup, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez actually bit Giorgio Chiellini of Italy on the shoulder during a match. Shockingly, that wasn’t even his first time.
FIFA suspended Suarez for four months, and he later apologized to Chiellini. According to BBC Sport, Suarez said, “I'm only human and sometimes it's hard to face the truth.”
The truth that you bit someone?
Dwight Howard
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Dwight Howard is continually disliked, and it just seems like it’s due to how he chooses to handle certain situations. He’s a flip-flopper—one minute he wants to stay in Orlando, the next he wants out. One minute, he wants to play with Kobe Bryant, the next he wants the Los Angels Lakers to get rid of him.
From publicly asking to be traded by the Orlando Magic to his feud with Stan Van Gundy to bolting on the Lakers, Howard just really seems like a “me” guy, and people don't like it.
Geno Smith
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New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith isn't doing himself any favors. After all, cursing at fans probably isn’t a great way to get them to like you. And it’s not just fans. Smith also missed a team meeting and has just generally not been playing well. He’s also recently criticized the media for misunderstanding some of his comments.
Fans, his team and, finally, the media—all groups of people Smith has ticked off.
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