The 25 Biggest Rivalry Traitors in Sports History
Who are the athletes you have the biggest love/hate relationships with?
Who are the athletes considered the biggest "Benedict Arnolds" of the sports world?
The rivalry traitors. The athletes who have played for both sides of the competition and made a significant impact on the game.
You loved them when they played for side A of the competition, but when they flipped and started playing for side B they became the person you loved to hate the most.
These aren't just athletes who happened to play for both teams, these are the athletes who will be remembered throughout their careers for switching sides in these rivalries.
So here is a list of 25 of the biggest rivalry traitors of all time.
No. 25 Karl Malone
1 of 25He spent nearly his entire career playing for the Utah Jazz before jumping ship to play for the Lakers his last season in the NBA.
No. 24 Terrell Owens
2 of 25The man better known as T.O. became a major traitor when he left the Eagles to play for one of their biggest rivals, the Cowboys.
No. 23 Shaq
3 of 25While many may not see it at first glance of this towering, retired basketball player, he is in fact a traitor. He played for both sides of one of the biggest basketball rivalries of all time—the Celtics and the Lakers.
For eight years (1996-2004), Shaq played for the Lakers, before moving onto the Suns and the Cavaliers. He ultimately ended his career with the Lakers biggest rival, the Celtics, with whom he spent the 2010-2011 season.
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No. 22 Adam Vinatieri
4 of 25The New England Patriots seem to have several rivalries in the NFL, one of which is with the Indianapolis Colts.
After playing for the Patriots from 1996-2005 and winning four Super Bowls with the team, Adam Vinatieri became a traitor when he signed with the Colts in 2006.
No. 21 Jeff Kent
5 of 25Like in all professional sports leagues, the MLB has its well known rivalries, one of which belongs to the Dodgers and Giants.
Jeff Kent became a traitor to the San Francisco Giants (who he played for from 1997-2002), in 2005 when he signed with Los Angeles and became a Dodger.
No. 20 Juan Uribe
6 of 25Another traitor in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry. Juan Uribe also left the Giants and became a member of the Dodgers this year.
No. 19 Bill Sharman
7 of 25Getting a coaching job anywhere in the NBA has to be a dream come true, but does it still feel that way when you're coaching a rival team?
Bill Sharman was a Celtic for the last 10 years of his playing career from 1951-1961. When he became a coach he worked his way up and became the Lakers coach starting in 1971 and remained there until he retired in 1976.
No. 18 Eric Mangini
8 of 25He was once part of Bill Belichick's coaching staff for the New England Patriots, but then in 2006, after five years with the team, he jumped ship to take a head coaching position with rival team the New York Jets.
In addition to leaving, he turned his former team and co-workers in for cheating in what has now been dubbed "Spygate" or "Cameragate."
No. 17 Curtis Martin
9 of 25Curtis Martin played for only two teams in his entire career, two teams who happen to have an intense rivalry.
After only two season with the Patriots (1995-1997), Martin left to play the remainder of his career for the Jets before his retirement in 2006.
No. 16 Dusty Baker
10 of 25He may manage the Cincinnati Reds now, but back in his playing days this guy was yet another in the long line of traitors in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry.
After playing for the Dodgers from 1976-1983, he left to join the Giants, whom he played with for only the 1984 season.
Maybe playing for a team he had once seen as the enemy was just too much to take for Baker, causing him to sign in 1985 with the Athletics.
No. 15 Dwight Gooden
11 of 25Cross town and same state rivalries are always intense no matter what level or which sport they come from.
So it's no wonder why many would see Dwight Gooden as a traitor when he joined the New York Yankees in 1996, after having spent 10 years playing for the New York Mets.
No. 14 Orel Hershiser
12 of 25This guy not only played for both sides of the Dodgers/Giants rivalry, but he did so multiple times.
He began his career with the Dodgers, spent one season with the Giants and then ended his career with the Dodgers. He also played for the Indians and the Mets in between stints with either team.
No. 13 Nick Saban
13 of 25This guy was a true traitor to the LSU Tigers.
He coached the LSU football team from 2000-2004 before moving on to coach the Miami Dolphins for the 2005-2006 season.
When rumors started that Saban was leaving Miami to coach at LSU's rival Alabama, he denied the betrayal, but the next season he began his coaching career with the Crimson Tide.
No. 12 Charles Haley
14 of 25Here is another example of a rivalry traitor who played both sides of the fight multiple times.
Charles Haley played for only two teams in his 18-year career—the Cowboys and the 49ers, two teams with one big rivalry.
When Haley left the 49ers after five years to join the Cowboys in 1992, he became a traitor to the rivalry for the first time. Then he did it again when he resigned with the 49ers in 1998 after only four season with the Dallas team.
No. 11 Drew Bledsoe
15 of 25The Patriots built him up and practically put him on a pedestal for eight long years, and then what did he do?
You guessed it, he left to go play for the Buffalo Bills.
No. 10 Roger Clemens
16 of 25Possibly the biggest rivalry in baseball today is the one between the Red Sox and the Yankees. So it's a big deal when a player crosses the line and changes sides.
There was only a single season, which Roger Clemens spent with the Toronto Blue Jays, that separated his time spent with the Red Sox from his time spent with the Yankees. This to many was an ultimate betrayal to Red Sox fans, even if he was traded there by the Blue Jays in 1999.
No. 9 Wade Boggs
17 of 25Wade Boggs is another traitor in the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry.
He spent 10 years of his career, from 1982-1992, playing for the Red Sox, before leaving them to join the enemy Yankees team in 1993.
No. 8 Marian Hossa
18 of 25The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings have one of the most intense rivalries in the NHL.
So it came as a shock when Marian Hossa, after having led his Penguins to the Finals in 2007 against the Red Wings, decided to sign with the Detroit team instead of accepting a new contract with the Penguins.
No. 7 Brett Favre
19 of 25Long time Packer Brett Favre became a traitor when he signed with the Minnesota Vikings, his former team's biggest rival in the NFL.
His reason for signing with them, however, is understandable.
Wouldn't you want to get back at the team that wouldn't take you back or allow you to decide where you would go in the NFL when they didn't want you anymore? And wouldn't the best way to do that be to beat them while playing for the rival team?
He may never have, and never will, come out and say that's the reason he signed with them, but it's a pretty logical reason.
No. 6 Rod Woodson
20 of 25This former football player was a traitor in not one, but two different rivalries in the NFL.
He played for both the Steelers and the Ravens and the 49ers and the Raiders—Both pairs of teams with a big rivalry between them.
No. 5 Johnny Damon
21 of 25Not only is playing for both sides of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry blasphemous, but it is especially so when a player goes directly from one team to the other, which is exactly what Johnny Damon did.
After playing for three seasons for the Boston Red Sox from 2002-2005, he signed with the New York Yankees for the next three seasons after that.
No. 4 Jerry Rice
22 of 25He may be regarded as one of the best wide receivers to have ever played in the NFL, but Jerry Rice was also a traitor for two major rivalries in the league.
Rice played for both sides of the Seahawks/Broncos rivalry as well as the 49ers/Raiders rivalry.
No. 3 Ken Norton Jr.
23 of 25Ken Norton Jr. may be a traitor, but it was the Cowboys fault for letting him go.
In 1994, after winning two Super Bowls with the Dallas team, Norton became a free agent. Instead of trying to resign him and several other talented players, Dallas cheeped out and began looking for talent to replace him, which allowed him to sign with one of their biggest rivals, the 49ers.
That season, the 49ers went on the win the Super Bowl with Norton, giving him his third straight Super Bowl win.
No. 2 Bill Belichick & Bill Parcells
24 of 25OK this one is a two-for-one traitorship.
While these two were still working together they left the Patriots to coach the Jets. Since Parcells couldn't contractually be the head coach, the Jets hired Belichick as the head coach and Parcells as an "assistant."
No. 1 Deion Sanders
25 of 25And the top rivalry traitor on this list is...Deion Sanders.
He makes the top of this list by playing in a three way rivalry. He not only played for both sides of the Cowboys and 49ers rivalry, but for both sides of the Cowboys and Redskins rivalry as well.
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