Fallen Stars - The Rise of Player Hating

I've been a sports fan my whole life. Some of my favorite sports teams are among the most hated in their sports (Cowboys, Bulls, Heat).  Teams have always been hated. For everyone that loves the Cowboys, there are two people that hate them, same for the Yankees in baseball, Lakers/Celtics basketball (more recently the Heat), and Red Wings in hockey.  That's fine, it's a team game and when teams win and they have passionate fans, those fans are hard to deal with.  I don't hate the yankees because of what the yankees do, I hate the yankees for what their fans do.  Sports teams have been loved/hated since the beginning of sports, but in recent years, months even, things have begun to change.  People still have love/hate relationships with their teams, but now that has subsided and it is the player that is loved or hated more than the team.  How did this happen?

Tony Romo, Tim Tebow, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony/Jeremy Lin?

I have never seen a QB more hated than Tony Romo, I don't know if fans that hate the Cowboys hate Romo or if "Cowboy fans" hate him more. 

Tim Tebow, do I even need to address it? Nobody in the history of sports has been both universally loved and hated at the same time.

Tom Brady. Once the golden child has now become hated and then not hated as people loathed the perfect Brady and then stopped hating him when he became human and started losing.

LeBron James. Post-decision LeBron is as hated as I have ever seen an NBA player. He makes poor decisions off the court but has never done anything truly wrong.  Donte Stallworth killed a guy while driving drunk, as did Leonard Little, Ray Lewis was charged with murder but never convicted. Yet, most people don't even know who Stallworth and Little are and Ray Lewis is some sort of hero. LeBron spurned his home team, ran to greener pastures for what he thought was a better chance of winning a championship and he becomes the most hated man in basketball? 

Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin.  My how fast times change. A year ago this time Melo was the savior of NY, now people want him traded so Lin can run the show. Melo was the star, what LeBron could've been had he gone to NY, then he gets hurt, Lin plays out of his mind for two weeks and now Melo joins LeBron has the 2 top targets from a 2 years ago who teams don't want and it has nothing to do with what THEY do on the basketball court. LeBron is balling, Melo's been hurt and had a developmental league roster. Lin comes along and now Melo is disposable. 

Let's put the brakes on all of this for a while. Jeremy Lin may or may not be a star or a bust this time next year. Tim Tebow may never make the playoffs again or could win multiple super bowls.  LeBron may go back to Cleveland, may never win a ring, or could win multiple.  Tom Brady is human. Tony Romo is not Tom Brady, he's also not Matt Cassel, for you Cowboys fans who hate Romo, who are you going to replace him with? I don't know about you guys but I would take Romo over Quincy Carter, Chad Hutchinson, Clint Stoerner, Ryan Leaf, Vinny Testeverde, Drew Bledsoe, and Drew Henson. Do you guys remember them? They still give me nightmares.

The media has made everything big, bigger, and has made everything small, big. Before you jump on a bandwagon or hater train, remember this old saying: Don't hate the player, hate the game. The players don't interview themselves, the players don't film themselves, the players don't show their highlights on ESPN every hour.  The players play, hate it or love it, they play a game. We make them stars, we make them hated.