The article Ranking Boston’s Sports Villains with Kyrie in Mind originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston.
Everyone loves a good villain. Without Lex Luthor, Superman is just a smug, useless jerk. Without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker is just a whiny brat who complains about power converters. Without the Wicked Witch or Hannibal Lecter… you get the idea.
Boston sports has had its share of villains. Dynasties have been born and died, dating back to Harry Frazee selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Having a hateful player, coach or executive is all it takes to create drama. When they finally beat the Yankees in 2004, it felt special because George Steinbrenner was always there to watch.
The 2024 NBA Finals is ostensibly Celtics vs. Mavericks, but it’s also Boston vs. Kyrie Irving. The renegade guard has committed a number of sins during his brief tenure with the Celtics and will surely be the target of ire when Game 1 begins at TD Garden on Thursday.
But where does he rank among Boston’s biggest badasses of the past 50 years? In honor of Irving’s number 11, here are the top 11 villains, miscreants and degenerates in Boston sports history. (You might wonder why Patriots destroyer Bernard Pollard isn’t on this list, and that’s because, unlike the others on this list, his knockout punches against Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski lacked intent.)
11. John Henry
A recent addition that would have been unthinkable five years ago: John Henry, the manager of four World Series championships, as the villain?
But since firing Dave Dombrowski, Henry has transformed into the worst owner ever — absentee, disinterested and stingy, the Red Sox have become irrelevant under his watch and he cares more about the rest of his vast portfolio than he does about the franchise that bears the “Fenway” name in its FSG.
If, through conscious action (or inaction), you turn a popular series into an afterthought, you’re a villain.
10. David Price
He performed like a man in the 2018 playoffs and the Red Sox wouldn’t have won the World Series without him, but Price’s poor performance in Boston was so bad that it deserves a special mention.
It was bad enough to criticize the iconic and impeccable Dennis Eckersley (who happens to be one of the kindest, most genuine people you’ll ever meet), but Price’s defiance made it even worse: Some in the Red Sox front office and coaching staff feared that an apology to Eckersley would reach Price and ruin their standing in the clubhouse.
There’s a word for it: wow.
9. Roger Clemens
The issue isn’t the Rockets leaving in free agency, because that was a “twilight of career” decision for not only Clemens but also Dan Duquette, it’s everything that happened afterwards.
Clemens began his free agency saying he wanted to play in his hometown of Texas before accepting a record transfer fee from the Blue Jays to play in Canada. He ended up at the center of not only the Yankees but baseball’s steroid scandal. By the time he faced Pedro Martinez in the unforgettable 1999 American League Championship Series, he may have been Boston’s most hated player.
Time has healed the wounds, but we will never forget the impromptu call and response that took place at Fenway that afternoon: “Where’s Roger? He’s in the shower!”
8. Bill Parcells
Tuna shot through New England like a shooting star: smarmy, arrogant, and disgruntled about grocery shopping.
He actually arrived not under Robert Kraft but under James Orthwein, an Anheuser-Busch bigwig who wanted to move the franchise to St. Louis. Parcells immediately clashed with Kraft, and by the time the Patriots reached Super Bowl XXXI against the heavy favorites, Parcells was already looking for a backdoor deal. He ended up joining the hated Jets, snatching up the Patriots’ best player, running back Curtis Martin.
Before the Super Bowl era in Foxborough, no event offered more intensity and drama than the annual Tuna Bowl.
7. Bill Laimbeer
Everything about Laimbeer was hateful, from his Notre Dame-grad stare to his preppy haircut to the Hannibal Lecter facemask he wore on court. Laimbeer was the old man of the Y, a man who made up for being a step slow with sharp elbows and constant grabbing, grabbing and punching.
A proud and arrogant man, Laimbeer delighted in beating people. Robert Parish couldn’t stand it and punched him. Larry Bird fired the ball at Laimbeer.
Laimbeer was the face of the Bad Boy Pistons and even became the subject of a running joke on the TV show Cheers when Kevin McHale looked at an X-ray labeled “Adult Male Gorilla” and said, “That’s not me. That might be Laimbeer.”
6. Pat Riley
Call it a lifetime achievement award: In the ’80s, Riley, with his slicked back hair, tailored suits and American Psycho-like affability, offered a Hollywood counterpoint to the sycophantic Celtics.
He routinely toyed with the referees as the Celtics beat his Showtime Lakers, celebrated two championships at the Boston Garden, then took a second stint as coach of the Knicks and nearly ruined basketball with painful-to-watch displays of bullshit from Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason.
Now he’s the Don of Boston’s annual foe, looming courtside and still finding a way to win long after losing LeBron James. That would be admirable if it weren’t so frustrating.
5. Jack Tatum
“Villain” doesn’t do justice to Tatum’s place in Boston sports history. “Pure evil” might be a better word.
The man who paralyzed Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley with a needlessly brutal hit in a 1978 preseason game, then stared at his bruised body and not only failed to apologize afterward but wrote a memoir, “They Call Me an Assassin,” in which he extolled his destructive powers. He belongs in a different category of villainy.
4. Roger Goodell
One could argue that he was simply doing the bidding of other owners around the league, or trying to make up for his alleged shortcomings in the Spygate scandal, but Goodell portrayed himself as the villain in Deflategate, a scandal that tormented Patriots fans for months.
Regardless of what Tom Brady may or may not have done with that football, we can all agree it was not worth an appeal that reached the finish line at the Supreme Court. Goodell is an unwelcome figure in New England, and that is not likely to change.
3. Ulf Samuelson
Samuelsson’s nasty hit on Cam Neely during the 1991 NHL playoffs is a tragedy you have to experience to understand. Neely missed the better part of two seasons with injuries aggravated by a knee-to-knee collision, ending his career at age 31, but returned in 1994 and scored 50 goals in 49 games.
Samuelsson didn’t mind. He embraced a reputation as one of the league’s dirtiest players. Six years earlier, Montreal forward Pierre Mondoux’s career had been ended by a stick. And Bruins fans can only wish that the refs hadn’t stepped in so quickly when Neely dropped the gloves on Samuelsson in 1993.
Neely took several straight lefts to the head, but Samuelson got a knockout two years later when Tie Domi surprised him with a knockout.
2. Alex Rodriguez
It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years since the Red Sox tried to acquire Rodriguez all fall, only to watch the deal fall apart at the last minute and send him to the rival Yankees.
The A-Rod news came on the heels of Aaron bleeping out, which felt cosmically unfair. The animosity intensified when Jason Varitek shoved his catcher’s mitt in Rodriguez’s face during the 2004 season, and then Rodriguez smacked Bronson Arroyo’s glove in vile fashion during the playoffs.
Add in his bitching about David Ortiz and his own shameful actions during the steroid era and A-Rod is the worst badass of all time.
1. Kyrie Irving
Recent bias? No. Irving left Cleveland because he grew tired of being LeBron James’ sous chef, which should have been a red flag. Even when things were going well in Boston, Irving was viewed as an egotistical know-it-all.
Then he suffered a season-ending knee injury in March 2018, disappeared before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cavs, promised to stay in Boston but then in a fit of anger claimed he owed no one anything, openly cheated on Kevin Durant, constantly criticized his younger teammates, left the Celtics for the 2019 playoffs, defected to Brooklyn, returned to Boston twice for the playoffs, gave the Garden fans the middle finger, and finally, the final obstacle to the 2018 Banner.
Irving was the ultimate villain who nearly destroyed the Celtics from the inside out, and the next chapter of that story will likely be written by the end of the month.
Losing the NBA title this year would hurt badly, but losing Irving would hurt more than words can describe.
