Top 10 sports villains of the past two decades

Max Hall belongs on this list. I want a recount.

Kobe Bryant is #2 for making 1 gay slur. But Michael Vick killed dogs and is at #6? What about that football player who killed someone last year? He is not on this list. I guess it is worse to make a gay slur than it is to kill somebody or something. Our society is totally messed up.

Not that I'm defending Kobe Bryant. Nobody in sports makes me more ill than Kobe. Especially the way he and his wife treated his maid which is not even mentioned here. The NBA has become fake like the WWF. I don't care what any Laker fan says about the Lakers vs Sacramento series years ago when Kobe hit Doug Cristie in the face intentionally and they called the foul on Doug Cristie which was the only thing that made the Lakers win the series. It was so rigged i have lost almost my full interest in the NBA ever since.

You forgot Tonya Harding. Just sayin'

This list was LAME! What about Pete Rose? What about the entire SEC? They consistently get athletes who have no business being in college, win championships, then leave them high and dry. LeBron definitely belongs on the list for leaving the Cavs high and dry, but Kobe is just plain competitive- he doesn't pout when his team is behind.

I think Vick probably should have been #1 given the severity of the crimes and his popularity (top jersey seller) in the NFL at the time. I'd probably put Bonds at #2, his breaking the home run records on steroids has far more long term implications than LeBron going to Miami or Kobe.

There was certainly "dubious" officiating in that Sacramento/LA series you speak of, but Sacramento still had chances to win that series and blew it (much like Utah in 1998). The Dallas/Miami finals a few years later was worse, and the 1997 NLCS (Atlanta Braves totally jobbed by umpires strike zone) is the worst officiating I've ever seen, along with the Pittsburgh/Seattle Super Bowl.

Dennis Rodman. Whoops! O.J. Simpson. Whoops! Manny. Whoops! Silly, incomplete list.

Oh and Kobe pouts much of the time. Did you see his body language after Pau fumbled a pass two games ago? He rolled his eyes and acted like a 12-year-old.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the person who put together this list doesn't like the Yankees.

Kobe is better than any player on the Jazz in the last... actually ever.

30 years from now no one will know who Karl Malone or John Stockton was, but everyone will remember Kobe's 7 rings, and that he was the greatest player in NBA history besides Jordan.

Pouty Jazz fans. Pass over Jimmer, see the lakers take him, and watch him drop 40 on you in the playoffs.

This article was written by someone from Utah. OF COURSE he thinks Kobe is a villian. The Jazz dont like the Lakers... period. I do not condone some of the things that Kobe has done, but he is booed because he wears the Lakers Jersey... NOT because of his other mistakes.

I agree with the previous posters... SO many left off of this list. Rodman, lambier, tonya harding.

"Villian" lies in the eyes of the beholder.

My list would/could include:

Roger Clemens

The BCS

Mike Tyson (convicted of rape, bites ear of Evander Holyfield, how did we miss that one?)

Pete Rose

Tonya Harding (every list needs a vixen)

Zidane (sure the French love this guy)

Jerry Jones

Jose Canseco

Ray Lewis (wasn't he accused of murder)

Pac-Man Jones

Tiger Woods

Ocho-Cinco or whatever he's calling himself these days

Dick Bavetta (threw that one in for Jazz fans)

Bud Selig (just for being Bud)

Jose Canseco

The list was for the LAST 10 YEARS! Some of these people have been way before that. Do sports fans not read the title?
Oh and if your a great player (Kobe) then it doesn't matter how you behave off the court/field?
"Kobe is better than any player on the JAZZ....." Who cares if he's a great player if he is a total moron off the court!
I think many will remember Stockton- a class act on and off the court....

"It also must be noted that the second he has a bad game, Philadelphia fans will descend on him like Mark Cuban on a financially fledgling franchise, just ask Donovan McNabb."

Thanks for the stereotype, really. Did you consider that maybe there are Eagles fans who appreciate what he's doing on the field and also hope that he is getting his life in order? Ever lived in Philly? We're not all animals.

@cldstar The list was for the LAST 20 YEARS!! Do sports fans not know that a decade is 10 years, so 2 decades = 20 years?

Yes, Tyson should top the list

folks, did you forget to remember that this was only a top 10? can 100 people be in a box that holds 10? Come on now! One thing I've noticed about people in this era is they love controversy and lookin' silly.

I am not all that fond of parrots. TaipeiModerate, did you enjoy listening to Collin Cowherd and repeating his Kobe point here? This list was never to debate the merits of how good Kobe is.

It is about him being disliked and a villain. He is.

Bill Laimbeer anybody?

Great humor here reading somebody typing in all caps that the list is from the last 10 years and getting on people for not reading titles / headlines when the poster clearly was wrong and had not read the title.

As priceless as a Mastercard.

Where is Dennis Rodman?

Rape charges (confirmed adultery), dogfighting conviction, sexual assault allegations, racist and bigoted comments.

And who's the No. 1 villain?

Somebody who decided to play for another team.

Kobe Bryant should be number one...make that a career award. He's a rapist and an all around creep. I never watch the Lakes because I don't want to watch him.

Roger Goodell is climbing this ladder as fast as his legs can carry him.

The BCS, Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson, and Tiger Woods should have made the list. Lebron James was pretty anticlimactic for #1.

Um, Tiger Woods anyone?

No Floyd Mayweather jr.? oh its villain not chicken....my mistake

The list was for the LAST 10 YEARS! Some of these people have been way before that. Do sports fans not read the title?

Ummm Cldstr--Did YOU really read the title. I get The Last Two Decades---please get your facts straight before you begin the chewing out process.

What about Al Davis? He has single handedly destroyed one of the NFL's greatest franchises.