Who's your football Darth Vader??

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

We have another thread going about our favorite players, and it has been a fun read. On the flip side, who do you/did you loathe?? We've all been there! It could be an individual player, a coach, or an entire franchise/university, but there is that week when Saturday/Sunday is approaching and you know it is __________ Week. You want your team to win them all, but sometimes some in the fan base say things like, "I would trade our entire season if we could just beat _______ this weekend!"

On the college level, my Darth Vader has to be the University of Texas. Arkansas left the Southwest Conference after the 1991 season. Folks probably 35ish and younger have no recollection of the intensity of this rivalry in all sports (but especially football). LOL! I could on. Though the two schools haven't played regularly lately, it has been satisfying to see them struggle. Hopefully Mike (Hot Springs Bathers, I believe) will chime in and support me on this!!

At the professional level, it is a flat-footed tie between the Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland-Las Vegas franchise and the Dallas-Kansas City franchise. In the case of the latter, I will admit to softening my stance a bit in light of my learning about the early AFL and all Lamar Hunt did to keep the league afloat in its early years.

I will stop before turning bitter...LOL! Seriously though, rivalry is the lifeblood of sports and football grudge matches are at the forefront! Let's have fun with this and not get too bent out of shape! Football season is upon us (and my Chargers already have suffered two significant injuries!!).

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[Hot Springs Bathers]

Robert I will chime in on the college front and of course it is Texas! I did admire what the program has accomplished back in the good ole days. Now days I pull for all the SEC schools when playing out of conference.

Even though Arkansas has been in the SEC for 25 years now I don't think the fan base has developed a "Darth Vader" school. Of course Alabama is the 800 pound gorilla but you have to remember the two biggest names in Tide history were Bear Bryant and Don Hutson--both from Arkansas of course!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Jerry Jones.

In the day, Jimmy Johnson.

[Steve D]

The Oakland Raiders!

The worst, most infamous play in all of pro sports history:

The (Un) Holy F&*^ing Roller!!!!!!!!


Steve

[Kurri17]

Modern day, I will double up on the above post with Jerry Jones. The way he treated Landry was simply unacceptable to me then and always will be.

Player-wise, and back in the day, I simply could not stomach Theismann (if I misspelled that I'm OK with it).

[albrshbr]

As a life-long Bills fan this is an easy one, Bryan Cox of the Dolphins.

Many incidents over the years, but here is an example:


"Bryan Cox walked slowly and Carwell Gardner sprinted. They almost ended up in the same place.
In an ugly finish to a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Gardner had to be restrained from going into the Dolphins' locker room to continue a brawl with Cox that had started on the field.
Gardner was grabbed by a Bills security officer and warned by NFL security official Charlie Jackson. Gardner and Cox were ejected from the game with 1:41 remaining for fighting. Both were assessed personal fouls. Both probably will also be assessed fines by the NFL.
Particularly Cox, who walked off the field after being ejected. His relationship with the Buffalo fans being tenuous at best, Cox was jeered lustily by most of the fans and replied by spitting on the field in the direction of the fans five times.As he walked into the tunnel leading to the locker rooms, Cox was showered with drinks and garbage. One Buffalo security guard even booed Cox. This after the NFL and the Bills had increased security last season in response to a Cox lawsuit over treatment at Rich Stadium."

Yeah...…….a guy we just don't like

[quinnsryche]

Terrell Owens was and remains about the biggest douche in all of football. Complete a-hole on the field and proves to be unchanged as he refuses to go to the HOF ceremony. They should recant their choice and kicks his miserable ass out of the Hall.

[jefferyepayne]

Having grown up in Western PA in the 70's when the Steelers were king I have to admit that I am a lifelong Steeler hater. Not sure if it was the obnoxious classmates in middle school or wanting to root for the underdogs, but they have always been my least favorite team. I dislike them with a passion and Big Ben in particular.

Out of thin air in the mid 1970's I decided to start rooting for the Patriots. Of course the Steelers / Pats have been going at it tooth and nail now for 15 years, which is pretty ironic as in the 1970's the Steelers and Patriots weren't big rivals. Oakland was probably a bigger rival ... particularly due to that bogus roughing the passer penalty on 4th down on Stabler that probably costs the Pats a chance to go to their first SB. It took 25 years but the 'tuck rule' game was karma in action ...

jeff

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Steve D

The Oakland Raiders!

The worst, most infamous play in all of pro sports history:

The (Un) Holy F&*^ing Roller!!!!!!!!


Steve

That was spontaneous genius by Stabler, who for all his rowdy image was a cerebral quarterback.

[steve B]

Plenty of choices, but I'll go with Richie Incognito.

How someone that harassed his own teammate out of the league still found someone to sign him is beyond me.
Of course his whining about random stuff since then hasn't helped.

[Jeff Alcorn]

USC for a ton of reasons and Stanford mainly due to the disrespectful antics of their band over the years. I still like watching the replay of Cal's miracle win on the kickoff return because it culminated with Cal players running over the Stanford band.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The USC fight song is reason enough to hate them.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The USC fight song is reason enough to hate them.

Hard to hate a school with those cheerleaders.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Hard to hate a school with those cheerleaders.

OK, fair point.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Yeah, hard to not like the sweaters.

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[JustinD]

Unquestionably anything Michigan, we have a strictly Green house around here.

Although, thanks to Mike Hart for starting a curse that his consistently overrated team can't handle to this day.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Unquestionably anything Michigan, we have a strictly Green house around here.

Although, thanks to Mike Hart for starting a curse that his consistently overrated team can't handle to this day.

Now now, little brother.
As a Michigan alum, though, I kinda agree with you about overrated -- in my mind Harbaugh has been somewhat of a disappointment, and isn't in my opinion a very good game coach. Case in point Iowa 14 Michigan 13 in 2016, a loss clearly due to Harbaugh's poor coaching.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

As a Michigan alum, though, I kinda agree with you about overrated -- in my mind Harbaugh has been somewhat of a disappointment, and isn't in my opinion a very good game coach.

I honestly didn't understand why it seemed all the San Fran players were happy to see him go until around the last season. I think everyone is starting to realize that all the antics and weirdness get old with not much return.

It seems there's another weird story or interview in the news every day around here. The odd chicken story of the other day for example, I think if he was anyone else he might be committed some days. There's quirky and then there's foil hat wearing.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The chicken thing was and is weird, but he is a weird dude. I miss Bo. You may not have liked him, and God help you if you disagreed with him, but he didn't do weird stuff.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The chicken thing was and is weird, but he is a weird dude. I miss Bo. You may not have liked him, and God help you if you disagreed with him, but he didn't do weird stuff.

agreed, tradition is not a bad thing.