Anti-Sportsman of the Year

SI Staff | Nov 29, 2012

Anti-Sportsman of the Year /

Anti-Sportsman of the Year

Lance Armstrong

These days it seems like for every sports hero, there is a cheater. For every "good sport," a bad one. Whether it was by trying to game the system or by flat-out cheating, spouting profanities at a fan or directing racist epithets at an opponent, athletes have given sports fans a fair share of stupidity to endure this year. We've managed to whittle the list down to the 14 biggest examples of un-sportsmanship. Without further ado, we present the Anti-Sportsmen of the Year. Lance Armstrong tops the list of athletes who should have his or her Sportsman of the Year Award revoked. Armstrong's legacy crumbled faster than his steroid-fueled thighs used to take him up France's Pyrenees Mountains; former teammates admitted that not only had Armstrong constantly used steroids, but also that he practically forced his teammates to do the same. Not that he'll admit to any of it.

Olympics Badminton

Who would have thought that the biggest scandal to come out of the London Olympics would have involved badminton? But that's exactly what happened in August, as eight competitors from four women's teams were disqualified for having allegedly thrown the games to secure a more favorable draw. The farcical matches were met with boos from the crowd and no forgiveness from the IOC.

Raffi Torres

When Raffi Torres received a two-game suspension for throwing his shoulder into Marian Hossa's face, it wasn't just because he had committed interference, charging and an illegal check to the head -- it was also the third time Torres had committed a similarly dangerous foul that season.

Luiz Adriano

During a Champions League game in November, Shakhtar Donetsk forward Luiz Adriano violated age-old soccer etiquette by scoring an uncontested goal against Nordsjaelland. after a drop ball. The Brazilian forward shot into an empty net following a stoppage in play when a Nordsjaelland player was injured. He was later charged by UEFA based on Article 5 of its disciplinary regulations. It includes clauses on conduct which is "insulting or otherwise violates the basic rules of decent,'' and which "brings the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute.'' UEFA suspended Adriano for one game.

Philip Hindes

Early on in the men's cycling team sprint, Olympian Philip Hindes saw that he and his Great Britain teammates hadn't gotten off to a good start. Rather than try to stage a comeback, Hindes fell down on purpose, forcing the race to be restarted. Hindes' team went on to win the gold medal.

Taoufik Makhloufi

Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi lackadaisically jogged the men's 800-meter race at the Olympics, claiming he had a knee injury; although many suspected that he was saving his energy for the upcoming 1500-meter race. Makhloufi was withdrawn from the 1500 by the IOC, but eventually reinstated, going on to win gold by 0.71 of a second. Imagine how much faster he would have been if he hadn't had to struggle through that pesky "knee injury."

Christine Sinclair

While it was a memorable 4-3 semifinal victory for the U.S. women's Olympic soccer team, defeated Canadian captain Christine Sinclair claimed that the match was a fraud. Sinclair said that the referee had "decided the result before the game started" and, months later, still says that she does not regret making that statement.

Cameron van der Burgh

Five days after having won gold in the men's 100-meter breaststroke, South African Olympian Cameron van der Burgh admitted to having taken more than the one permitted dolphin kick during the race. Video replay cannot be used to retroactively disqualify swimmers in the Olympics, and because none of the London judges noticed, van der Burgh still has his gold medal.

John Terry

Soccer fans already knew that Chelsea captain John Terry was not a model citizen (having an extra-marital affair with your teammate's girlfriend tends to do that to your reputation), but the FA's May ruling that Terry had racially abused Anton Ferdinand in November 2011 really put the nail in the coffin on that one. Somehow Terry's employers at Chelsea did not think the FA's ruling to be reason enough to strip him of his captaincy. So much for the club's "zero tolerance" approach to racism.

Kurt Busch

Bob Pockrass is a well-liked, well-respected reporter for Sporting News who has been on the NASCAR beat for years. That didn't stop Kurt Busch from threatening to "beat the sh--" out of him after Pockrass asked a frustrated Busch an innocuous question.

Melky Cabrera

In the middle of a career-best season, Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera tested positive for high levels of testosterone and was suspended for 50 games. Cabrera arranged a creative scheme involving a fake website that he tried to place the blame onto, but the MLB saw through the deceit. We can at least take solace in the fact that even though the Giants won the World Series, Cabrera will probably not be getting a ring.

Steve Blake agrees to two-year deal with Blazers

Jeffrey Loria

The owner of the Miami Marlins, arguably the worst in sports, embarked on a housecleaning this fall by dealing shortstop Jose Reyes, pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio to Toronto in a 12-player trade. This came after getting South Florida taxpayers to plunk down 80 percent of the cost for his $634 million baseball park. Taxpayers ended up paying $409 million for Loria's retractable-roof stadium, an absolute fleecing.

New Orleans Saints

The Saints were anything but saintly from 2009-11. News broke in March of this year that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had established a bounty program that rewarded players for injuring their opponents. More than two dozen players were implicated in the scandal. Four players were suspended including linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who has been suspended for the 2012 season. Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the season too, while Williams was suspended indefinitely.

Published Nov 29, 2012

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