Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
- Sports can generate feel-good stories showcasing people who have worked all of their lives to achieve something very few ever get close to.
- This is not a list celebrating those stories.
- We’ve rounded up the cheats, the thugs, and the downright annoying athletes that make the world of sport what it is.
- Shout out to all the villains.
- Visit Business Insider’s home page for more stories.
If you like your sports played squeaky clean, then stop here.
But if you live for the chaotic moments from live events and love to watch an athlete attempt to win through apparently wicked means, then this is the list for you.
Before we go any further, we should be really clear about what we mean by the word "villain."
This is not someone who gets into serious trouble or has legal problems outside of sport, but rather an athlete who attempts to gain success by being a bit mischievous or controversial.
Read more: These are the 15 best fights in the entire history of UFC
Rather than steroid scandals, lawsuits, and wanton violence away from the game, this means diving or flopping in soccer, underarm serves in tennis, and outlandish statements made by motormouth athletes.
A villain, for us, is someone you love to hate, and someone you want to watch just to root against.
So, without further ado, here are the 15 greatest villains in sport, listed in alphabetical order by name.
Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick are a double act that have been synonymous with success for more than a decade.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Sport: Football.
Why they’re bad to the bone: They’re unapologetically successful, and that alone is enough to make anyone who isn’t a New England Patriots fan loathe them.
Together, Patriots coach Belichick and quarterback Brady have won six Super Bowl championships and are the key reasons for the New England dynasty in the NFL.
But the apparent means used to get that success has come under scrutiny, with the Los Angeles Times earlier this year calling the Patriots "football’s perfect villain — cheating, haughty, hated."
Under Belichick’s watch, the Patriots were caught videotaping opponents’ defensive signals in 2007. This became known as "Spygate."
And if that were not bad enough, there was then "Deflategate," when the league believed Brady probably knew deflated footballs were going to be used in the 2015 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, something that would have given the Pats an advantage during offensive plays.
The whole ordeal inspired a 10-year-old called Ace Davis to create an entire science project about it, as he hoped to conclude that Brady is a cheater.
Read more: A 10-year-old boy won a science fair with a project concluding that Tom Brady is a cheater
Dereck Chisora is one of the most unpredictable boxers in the game today.
Photo by Alexandra Beier/Bongarts/Getty Images
Sport: Boxing.
Why he’s bad to the bone: Where do we start?
Chisora bit Paul Butlin in the middle of their 2009 fight, tried to kiss Carl Baker at a prefight staredown in 2010, and spat water all over Wladimir Klitschko’s face in the middle of the Olympiahalle ring in Munich, Germany just before his lop-sided decision loss to Vitali Klitschko in 2012.
Having lasted to the final bell in an exhausting fight against Klitschko, Chisora confronted David Haye at the post-event press conference. Haye responded by attacking Chisora with a glass bottle.
Chisora is one wild man.
Colby Covington is a "MAGA" hat-wearing cagefighter with a megaphone.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Sport: Mixed martial arts.
Why he’s bad to the bone: If you hate spoilers, don’t ever visit UFC welterweight Colby Covington’s social media pages because he revels in posting as many as he can, just to ruin your day.
He trash talks his haters by calling them "nerds" or "virgins," and polarized fan opinion when he presented his interim world title to Donald Trump at the White House.
Covington had nothing but good words to say about Trump, telling MMA Junkie after the visit that it was an "out of body experience" because "he was so cool … he likes chicks, wrestling, MMA. He’s just a regular guy."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- How Stephen Curry saved the Warriors’ season after the ugly Kevin Durant-Draymond Green altercation
- The biggest winners and losers of the wildest draft lottery in NBA history
- Antoine Griezmann is just one part of Barcelona’s $326 million transfer plan as it attempts to banish its Champions League humiliations for good
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Alan Dawson)