Tiger Woods vs. LeBron James: Who's the Biggest Villain in Sports?

When a sport’s greatest hero turns into its greatest villain overnight, the result is fans getting more satisfaction out of seeing that athlete lose than they do watching their favorite team win. 

Tiger Woods and LeBron James fit into that category.  Tiger and LeBron were kings of their realms before choices they made outside the lines destroyed their reputations.

The question is: who’s the bigger villain between the cheater and the narcissist?

Who Tiger Screwed

Woods broke a horde of hearts on his way to becoming a villain.

Tiger let down his wife, Elin Nordegren, along with his children by cheating with countless other women. 

He let down his dedicated fans, because the flawless role model they adored turned out to be anything but, as he lived a lie even Hollywood couldn’t have imagined. 

You could say he let down his mistresses as well if he actually promised to end his marriage for them.

Woods had everything: the fame, the money and the model wife, but he blew it all.  I guess he’s still filthy rich and famous, but he’s not as rich.

And he’s now famous for all the wrong reasons.

Who LeBron Screwed

Cleveland.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it.  Even though he was raised in Akron, Cleveland is close enough to call itself LeBron’s hometown.  The city had embraced him since high school, and he played there for seven years, making the attachment understandable.

Fans outside of Cleveland (Miami Heat fans specifically) note that he was a free agent...free to go wherever his heart desired.  If keeping promises means anything nowadays, he wasn’t free.

He promised the city a championship. 

This is a city that has had to deal with loss like no other, and because of that loss, LeBron’s broken promise of a title will never be forgotten.

Tiger's Most Moronic Statements

"

"The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today.  And that's how I look at my life.  I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend.  That's the beauty of tomorrow.  There is no such thing as a setback.  The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better."

"

Holy hypocrite!

Woods said that to a small audience in Florida (via ESPN) years before his affairs were exposed. Looking back, that quote makes everything Tiger did look fake.  

You won’t find many foolish lines from Woods, because he built himself into the most marketable athlete on the face of the planet by picking the right endorsements and saying the right things in front of a microphone, hence his extremely scripted apology after the scandal.

LeBron's Most Moronic Statements

LeBron overtakes Tiger and then some in this department:

The quote that amplified The Decision: “I got a goal, and it's a huge goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland.  And I won't stop until I get it.”

The Decision itself: “In this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat."

Building up the hype, and hate: “Not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7.”

Taking credit for the Cavaliers' 67 total wins in 2009: “As much as I loved my teammates back in Cleveland, as much as I loved home, I knew I couldn’t do it by myself against that team.”

Giving the haters what they want, a response:

"

"Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today.  They have the same personal problems they had today.  

"I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. 

"They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal.  But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

"

Tiger's Hate-O-Meter High Point

Tiger's demise follows the typical dramatic story format.

His dominance as a golfer and the building of his flawless reputation was just the exposition.  The rising action featured mistress after mistress telling their story, the car accident followed by even more women coming out of the woodwork to reveal their secret. 

The climax was when Woods’ finally admitted to his affairs on live television, eventually admitting to over 120.

That is when the story took a turn for the worse, and the amount hatred of Woods reached an all-time high.

LeBron's Hate-O-Meter High Point

Hatred toward LeBron spiked at many points of his career, but there were two key moments:  

Obviously, "The Decision" itself was the only one which resulted in a voodoo-like reaction, and Cavs fans could feel the loathing as hatred reached full capacity. 

Guaranteeing eight championships was a big mistake as well because, while it didn’t trigger as extreme of a reaction as "The Decision" did, it increased James’ volume of haters tenfold. 

"The Decision" made him public enemy No. 1 in Cleveland; the guarantee made haters out of other fans, players, ex-players and front offices around the league.

Conclusion

Biggest Villain: LeBron James

Yes, what Tiger Woods did was far more hurtful than what James did.  Woods destroyed his family’s lives: period.  LeBron’s move to Miami didn’t really break anyone’s heart.

But that doesn’t matter to sports fans.  Tiger may have upset his fans, but he didn’t break a promise to them, he didn’t call out his haters, LeBron did.  If James was actually careful about what he said into a microphone like Tiger is, he wouldn’t even be a villain.

Sure, Cleveland would still feel betrayed by The Decision, but not nearly as much if he kept his mouth shut.  No other fanbase would hate LeBron if he thought before he spoke. 

Tiger may be the bigger villain in real life, but as an athlete, many golf fans don’t even care about what Woods did in his private life.  Every reason LeBron is hated (besides stupid Illuminati rumors) is basketball-related, and that’s why he’s the biggest villain in sports.

David Daniels is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and a Syndicated Writer. Follow  him on Twitter.