Friday Question: Which athlete do you hate the most?

In a perfect world there’d be no hate. I don’t know if John Lennon said that, or Elmo from Sesame Street. Obviously we all should aspire to hate less and love more, but when it comes to sports that’s not an option.

Naturally there are athletes we just grow to hate with a red-hot passion. People who get our blood boiling every single time they set food on the field, court, ice, or whatever playing surface is on offer. Today we thought we’d share stories of the players we will never forgive and still haunt us to this day.

I will never, ever, ever forgive Brooks Orpik

By James Dator, SB Nation.com

I totally understand that if you’re a Pens fan then Orpik is a hero to you, but I absolutely detest the guy. It’s a beef I’ve had for almost 20 years now, and I don’t see it ending in my lifetime.

So let me set the scene: It’s 2006 and my beloved Carolina Hurricanes are having the season dreams are made of. Eric Staal has ascended to be one of the best young centers in the NHL, Cam Ward is breakdancing in the net and making saves that are seemingly impossible, and with veteran leaders like Rod Brind-A’mour, Doug Weight, Glen Wesley, and Mark Recchi everything is coming together.

We approached the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s March 6, a game beens the Pens and Canes, two of the best teams in hockey. Then the unthinkable happens. Orpik established this history of LOVING to pick on smaller guys. On some level I don’t blame him, because that’s an enforcer’s job — but he singled out Carolina wing Erik Cole, who had his back turned. Orpik boarded him from behind, fracturing a vertebra in Cole’s neck.

Nobody in the NHL had a reputation for being as kind and gracious as Erik Cole. His teammates obviously loved him, opponents even talked about how he’d learn they had personal troubles and either call them or send cards. He was just that kind of guy. And here’s Brooks Orpik standing over him when Cole can’t physically move on the ice, seemingly pleased that he used his 6’3, 218 pound frame to obliterate a guy who was an inch shorted and 20 pounds lighter than him.

Cole would eventually return in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and had a chance to experience winning the cup, but he wasn’t the same player after the hit. It’s a testament to Cole’s toughness that he went on to play as long as he did.

You know what you did, Ulf Samuelsson

by Mark Schofield, SB Nation.com

Last week at SB Nation, we discussed players whose departure broke us as fans, and I went with Wade Boggs.

It was a decision that came after a long internal debate.

The other player I thought about was Ray Bourque, the longtime defenseman for the Boston Bruins who came close many times, but never enjoyed the chance to lift the Stanley Cup while in Boston. Bourque meant the world to the Bruins, their fans, and the greater Boston area, but he left in 2001, traded to the Colorado Avalanche.

But it was a bittersweet departure, as Boston sent him somewhere to give him a chance to finally win a Stanley Cup. And when Colorado did win a title, four days later, Bourque was back in Boston, as a Stanley Cup Champion, sharing that Cup with the Boston fans.

Yes, it came during a time when Boston was starved for a title, so starved we would celebrate one of our heroes winning a championship elsewhere, but it speaks volumes about what Bourque meant to us.

Which brings me to one of the seasons he had a legitimate shot at a championship, the 1990-1991 NHL campaign, and Ulf Samuelsson.

The Bruins were the best team in the Prince of Wales Conference, finishing the regular season with 100 points, the only team to reach triple digits in the Conference. Bourque led the way with 94 points, followed by center Craig Janney and winger Cam Neely. All three finished with eight points as the Bruins won their opening-round series four games to two over the Hartford Whalers, and Boston defeated the hated Montreal Canadiens four games to three to win the Adams Division Finals, setting up a date with Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Conference Finals.

Boston won the first two games at the old Boston Garden, 6-3 in Game 1 and 5-4 in an overtime win in Game 2, and the series shifted to Pittsburgh with the Bruins two wins away from their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in four years. Having lost to the Edmonton Oilers in both 1988 and 1990, a rematch was on everyone’s mind.

But in Game 3, everything changed.

On a play just outside the Boston blue line, Samuelsson caught Neely with a leg check, which resulted in a knee-to-knee hit that left the Boston winger crumpled on the ice, before skating slowly to the bench. On that bench, Boston coach Mike Milbury was losing his mind, shattering sticks as he waited for a penalty to be called.

It never was.

Here is that hit, and you can judge for yourself:

The best view of it comes at the the:39 mark.

Neely struggled the rest of the series, which Pittsburgh went on to win four games to two, before defeating the Minnesota North Stars to win the Stanley Cup.

As for Neely, he was never the same. A serious leg and knee condition developed, and he played in only 22 games in the next two seasons and just 162 of a potential 410 before retiring. He ultimately retired due to a degenerative hip condition, but the knee injury he sustained as a result of the Samuelsson hit was certainly a contributing factor. Neely suffered calcification in the thigh muscle around that knee, and if you try and convince any Bruins fan that the later hip condition was not related to Samuelsson’s hit, get ready for roughly 30 minutes of reasons why you are flat wrong.

Boston returned to the Conference Finals the following year, only to be swept by the Penguins. As for Neely, he played in just nine games during the 1991-1992 campaign, all in the regular season.

The Bruins did not return to a Conference Finals again until the 2010-2011 season, the year they defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since the 1971-1972 season.

By that time, Neely had been retired for more than a decade.

For more on the “what ifs” stemming from the Samuelsson hit, this piece from Stanley Cup of Chowder is worth your time.

Years later, Neely stated that the Samuelsson hit was “behind” him.

But for Boston fans, it might not be behind us.

Cleveland’s hatred runs deep, John Elway earns the nod

by Jared Mueller, Dawgs By Nature

Not going to lie, there was no way to just have one name here, so you’ll get just a bit of Cleveland sports history before focusing on Elway.

• Rain Delay Decision Maker (Not an athlete but don’t care)- The 2016 World Series between the Indians and Guardians entered the 9th inning of Game 7 tied. Then, a little bit of rain got a little heavier, and someone in MLB decided to slow Cleveland’s momentum and allow Chicago to reset. The Cubs won, Indians fans will never forgive that decision that seemed like an overreaction and we believe led to the loss.
• Michael Freaking Jordan – The Cavaliers, led by Mark Price, Brad Daughtery, Craig Ehlo, Larry Nance, Ron Harper and others, should be champions and known in NBA history. Jordan, including and especially “The Shot,” stopped that from happening. His greatness was easy to love, with everyone wanting to “Be like Mike,” but being the impediment that those Cavs teams couldn’t overcome brings the hatred. (Not to mention LeBron James never getting a fair chance to top MJ in the GOAT conversation).
• Pete Rose – Back in the news following his passing, Rose was an all-time great in baseball, but his decision to run over Indians catcher Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game stains his reputation with the people of Cleveland. At 23 years old, Fosse was a first-time All-Star when Rose’s hit in the 12th inning fractured and separated Fosse’s left shoulder. While the catcher played 12 seasons, he was never even close to the player he was before those injuries and had shoulder issues all the way up until his passing in 2021.
• Art Modell (Also not an athlete, so he wasn’t allowed to be THE answer, but he’s THE answer for most Cleveland hatred) – Modell stole the heart of the city (the Browns) and ran away. The words greater than hate are best used to describe how Cleveland feels about Modell.

On to Elway.

Everyone knows about “The Fumble” and “The Drive,” but there was something about how Elway carried himself (on top of ruining the Browns seasons in back-to-back and three out of four playoff appearances) that set him apart for Cleveland’s fan hate. To this day, the things said about Elway around the city are just not nice (or appropriate).

In a similar way to Jordan, Elway was the problem the Browns could never get over. Unlike Jordan, he wasn’t the greatest QB of all time or anything. That made it more difficult, but Elway’s big smile, forcing his way out of Indianapolis and big personality presented an arrogant persona that Cleveland fans hate still. The Denver Broncos are a rival, in Browns fans minds, still to this day because of Elway being involved with the team as an executive and because of the history.

And from last week …

We processed our feelings by discussing which athletes we saw play only to break out hearts when they left our teams. SB Nation commenters had some great responses.