5 Biggest Losers of 2010

5.

Larry Brown may very well be one of the most sanctimonious, narcissistic people - let alone coaches - in professional sports. Brown stepped down as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats December 22nd and it couldn't have come sooner. Brown finished with an 88-104 record during his tenure with the 'Cats. Did he have top quality talent in Charlotte? Not really. Did Coach Brown set Charlotte back some years with his antics? Absolutely. A carbon copy of what Brown did with the New York Knicks the season prior - who seem to be flourishing quite well with a capable coach and Raymond Felton. "On to the next one" should be Brown's slogan in life. "I look at Sacramento ... I respect the heck out of Geoff (Petrie). I coached half that team. I don't mind going somewhere that's rebuilding, but wherever I go, I want everybody to feel that I'm the right person" said Brown when asked about his rumoured interest in the Sacramento King vacancy. Are you kidding me? This guy is turning into the NBA version of Bobby Petrino. What once was a highly respected, highly proficient bench boss in the NBA has become somewhat of a laughing stock. His 1327 victories in the ABA and NBA are put him only 9 games back of Don Nelson for the all-time lead. We all know that he'll land somewhere to win those 9 games - and not many more - to pad his ego (and his wallet) some more. Then, hopefully, Mr. Brown can move to Del Boca Vista and take up Parcheesi.

4. Hedo Turkoglu

$53 million over 5 years was the price tag the Toronto Raptors committed to paying the then sought after free-agent, Hedo Turkoglu in the summer of 2009. At the time, the price paid could be substantiated. “Turk” was one of the Orlando Magic's top performers in their NBA Finals and was drawing plenty of All-Star hype for his much improved play. The sharpshooter out of Turkey was torn between signing with the upstart Portland Trail Blazers or be lured in by the culturally diverse – which includes a rather substantial Turkish community – Toronto (Raptors). After some creative number crunching by Raptor Director of Finance for Basketball Operations, Steve Fruitman, Turkoglu joined the team via a 4-way trade that allowed the team to sustain enough cap flexibility to sign Jarrett Jack and Rasho Nesterovic to bolster their bench. Win-win situation, right? Wrong. The Istanbul product was held back from starting the season with his new team because he was deemed unfit. Lovely. Once Hedo stopped indulging in Pizza Pizza and got back into playing shape he did very little on the court to warrant much playing time whatsoever. What was a 17/5/5 player just one year prior became a shadow of his former self while donning the red and white. His numbers plummeted to a measly 11/4/4 and his already below average defense regressed to a porous level. With so much invested in Turkoglu which rendered such a poor return on investment, it wasn’t too much of a shock that the Raptors were on the outside looking in during NBA playoff time. Not only was Hedo a failure on the court, but his antics off the court were equally horrid. Case in point, he threw a temper tantrum in a Toronto night club after a civilian accidentally took his picture. Turkoglu had a member of his posse confiscate said camera and delete the “evidence”. What a loser. To top things off, Turk decided to go on record on Turkish television to announce his displeasure with the Raptors and his desire to be traded. This guy has some nerve. Fortunately, Brian Colangelo was able to rid himself of this cancer and receive Leandro Barbosa in return. Turkoglu was traded back to his old stomping grounds in Orlando. Hopefully, he comes to his senses and revives his career.

3. Randy Moss

Has there ever been a bigger drop off in terms of who’s throwing you the ball than what Randy Moss has experienced this season? Moss went from the All-World Tom Brady, to the steadily regressing loser ahead of him on this list (Brett Favre), to the player who could quite possibly be the worst QB I’ve seen in the league in the last decade, Rusty Smith. The Marshall product could easily have cemented himself as the greatest WR of all-time by now if it were not for his selfish, discourteous and downright questionable behaviour. Being on a perennial powerhouse, surrounded by perhaps the greatest mind in football history, wasn’t good enough for Randy. He unleashed the following bomb “I want to be here as a Patriot. I love being here. But I just think, from a business standpoint, this probably will be my last year here as a Patriot. And I’m not retiring.” Bill Belichick ain’t no chump. He recognized that Moss was just a somewhat productive, aging, pain-in-the-ass WR and offloaded him to Minnesota. Suffice to say, Belichick 1 – 0 Moss. What was once old was new again in Minny. Moss brought hope to a struggling Viking team that needed a boost given the absence of star wide out, Sidney Rice. The dust was wiped off of thousands of #84 jerseys in anticipation of Randy coming home. To his credit, Moss was pretty productive in his first few games but then the inevitable happened: Randy Moss became a problem. This time the veteran – and I use that term loosely – decided to take some plays off (a la his Raider days). Moss was ceremoniously released the next day but then Coach, Brad Childress. Moss was picked up by the Titans to help in the absence of Kenny Britt but he got his just desserts – Rusty Smith. Randy will be hard-pressed to find a suitor for next year…all because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Loser.

2. Brett Favre

Can you say tarnished image? Brett Favre was once the most beloved player on the gridiron for his genuine love of the game, statistical accolades and resiliency in times of adversity. Unfortunately, Favre's ego, indecisiveness and newfound love of sexting have tainted his image so much that he is now viewed as disingenuous and disloyal…not to mention a pretty mediocre QB. I don’t want to bore you with all the details this past offseason because they’re getting redundant. In short, Favre says he’s going to retire, then the Vikings send Steve Hutchinson, Jared Allen and Ryan Longwell to Mississippi to bring him back, and he succumbs to their demands and his own ego. Favre ever so eloquently stated "As we were driving on that last drive it seemed like it was destiny -- for us. I was so close, so close to getting these guys to the Super Bowl…I owe it to this organization to give it one more try." I’m sure that the Mississippi gunslinger’s inspiration to re-return wasn’t monetarily fueled. Come on, $25 million over 2 years for a 40 year old QB seems to be the going rate…not. Favre led the Vikes to a 6 win season (1 of which was orchestrated by Joe Webb) – which means about $2.5 million per victory. That is Rickey Henderson type stealing if you ask me. Not only was Brett a loser on the field but even more so off the field. Allegations of Favre sexting and sending dirty photos of himself to Jenn Sterger (Google her) arose in 2010. Furthermore, the Wrangler wearin’ Favre was sued by two massage therapists who claimed "a hot bed of sexual harassment, sexism and inappropriate behavior" was shown by Brett (and the Jets) during his tenure in New York. Perhaps being married with children didn’t cross Favre’s mind. Brett Favre, you are now a shadow of the man you once were…or at least we thought you were.

1. Tiger Woods

Who is the cream-of-the-crop when it comes to having a horrific year in 2010? Tiger, Tiger Woods y’all (sorry, I had to). It was estimated that Tiger's endorsement deals have gone down from $92 million in 2009 to $70 million in 2010 with Gatorade, AT&T, and Accenture amongst the many electing to be out of the woods with Tiger, so to speak. His play has fallen as dramatically as Mel Gibson’s career. He had the perfect life - most marketable athlete on earth, beautiful wife, a healthy new child – and he threw it away for 17 whores. I don’t think anything else needs to be said. You are the ultimate loser, Tiger.

Blog – 1 year, 4 months ago by mattzilla to Sports in General. 592 views, 2 likes.