Growing up in Kansas City, my father always liked taking our family to the movies during the summer. He loved to watch a good action movie. I can remember him arguing with his friends for weeks about different scenes in the original Terminator movie. In all of these movies, there was a good guy to root for and a villain to go against.
Over the years, there have been several villains in movies. Superman had Lex Luthor, Batman had the Joker, and Luke Skywalker had Darth Vader. Anyone who knows me can tell you who is my all-time villain. That would be Wesley Snipes’ character Nino Brown in the best movie ever, New Jack City.
I thought about this topic while listening to an ESPN sports radio show discussing something similar this past weekend. Just like in every action movie, there is a villain that the audience is supposed to go against or strangely root for.
In baseball, you could consider Barry Bonds a villain. He broke the home run record and is known as one of the best baseball players ever, with an asterisk, since he took performance enhancement drugs “without knowing”. Side note, if my head size went from a 7 to an 8 after age 24, I would check with a doctor about that. He was always a complete jerk to the media.
Basketball has their fair share of villains. Dennis Rodman is the first one that comes to mind. He was an original Bad Boy for the Detroit Pistons championship teams. Dennis and his teammates believed it was their duty to beat the crap out of Michael and Scottie any chance they could.
Football has a couple villains as well. One of the most recent inductees to the villain fraternity would be Gregg Williams, GODFATHER of the BOUNTY. He turned a mediocre New Orleans Saints team into a championship defense just by giving the team an incentive (BOUNTY) to do what they were already going to do.
Villains in the sports world can be players, coaches or even owners. Let me know who are some people you think are the villains of their sport and what they did to give themselves the VILLAIN title.
Brandon McConnell of “Respect Da Game”, for War Room Sports
Tags: All's Fair in Sports and War, Barry Bonds, Batman, Brandon McConnell, Darth Vader, Dennis Rodman, Gregg Williams, Lex Luthor, Luke Skywalker, New Jack City, Nino Brown, Respect Da Game, Sports Talk Radio, Superman, Terminator, The Joker, The War Room, War Room Sports
Bill Lambier because he is Bill Lambier. Biggest villan to me was Pete Rose. TO made a pretty solid case for villany.
I’m not totally sold on the “Greg Williams is a villain” camp. As near as I can tell, the worse thing the members of the Saints did was lie to the commish. Football is a violent game. The NFL is using the bounty platform to set an example for not following league specific rules. If you want to look for an NFL villain, what about Ray “nobody saw anything” Lewis. The NFL seems to have forgotten the questionable murder situation involving a limo and Mr. Lewis.
Sorry about the post. I had to fit thoughts in between Cat in the Hat episodes with my daughter…
What about Floyd “Money” Mayweather. He has become the most person in all of sports. The villan can’t possibly be to bad, he is laughing all the way to the bank.
Kobe “Bean” As your brother, and you know I hate the FAKERS, but you have to be a badass to wear the VILLAN name. Kobe loves being the villan. Then he will go out there and kick your a$$!
T.O before he was a Cowboy. STEP ON THE STAR? NINJA PLEASE!
Artest is to stupid to realize he is a villan so I don’t count him.
Isiah Thomas was the mastermind of the BadBoys in Detroit. That’s probably why he got blackballed off the Dream Team olympics.
Bob Knight. enough said, if he picks up a chair get out the way.
The late, and great Al Davis, the RAIDERS, black and silver his voice, the way he got rid of Lane Kiffen. He went out with a bang. Don’t mess with Al. Just Win Baby!
Scott Boras the agent is the most hated person when it comes to athletes and contracts. He will hold his players out and still find a way to sucker franchise teams in paying crazy money for players.
As we discuss earlier, you putting Barry on their is classic, everybody hates his ass but each time he show up at the plate all EYES were on him. the SI magazine cover of I’M BARRY AND YOU’RE NOT!
The real Villain is expanding instant replay