Already despised by many Boston fans for the way he left the Celtics in 2019, Kyrie Irving has cemented his place as an all-time Boston sports villain with his words and actions since then. He took things to another level on Sunday when he responded to boos and heckling by flipping off Celtics fans on multiple occasions and telling one to, “Suck my d---, b----.”
The list of Boston sports villains is certainly a long one, but Irving is a member of a more unique club: those who played or coached here, only to later turn into a villain because of how they left or what they did after leaving.
So, who else is on that list? And is Irving already No. 1? Here’s what we came up with.
Honorable mentions
Babe Ruth - There’s certainly an argument for Ruth being on this list given that Red Sox fans blamed his sale to the Yankees for an 86-year curse that was named after him. However, the real villain of this story is Harry Frazee, the owner of the Red Sox who executed that sale after the 1919 season rather than double Ruth’s $10,000-a-year salary.
David Price - Again, there’s certainly an argument. But Price, who never seemed like a good fit in Boston during his four seasons with the Red Sox, was probably more of a villain while he was here than he is now. Do Sox fans really even think about him anymore? Plus, the 2018 World Series -- a World Series Price could have been the MVP of -- eased a lot of tension. Obviously things could change if the Sox end up facing Price and the Dodgers in a World Series at some point.
Jacoby Ellsbury - Leaving the Red Sox to sign with the Yankees is a good way to put yourself in contention here, and Ellsbury -- a two-time World Series champion with Boston -- certainly heard his share of boos at Fenway after he did just that in 2013. However, the Red Sox got the last laugh here. His seven-year, $153 million deal with New York quickly turned into an albatross and one of the worst contracts in baseball, as Ellsbury struggled year after year to stay on the field.
Wade Boggs - Boggs also left the Red Sox to sign with the Yankees, but that was only after Boston management reportedly pulled a contract offer off the table following Jean Yawkey’s death in 1992. Boggs was also already 34 at the time he left. Red Sox fans may have hated seeing Boggs ride around Yankee Stadium on a horse after winning the World Series in 1996, and it certainly took too long for Boston to retire his No. 26, but a lot of wounds have been healed here -- and it wasn’t really Boggs’ fault they were opened in the first place.
5. Johnny Damon
Damon became a hero in Boston as one of the leaders of the curse-breaking group of “idiots” that won the World Series in 2004. He hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS in Yankee Stadium. As he approached free agency in 2005, he said, “There’s no way I can go play for the Yankees.” Except, he did. Damon signed a four-year, $52 million deal with New York and promptly sacrificed his long hair and beard to George Steinbrenner’s stupid dress code. Boos and accusations of “traitor” and “Judas” would welcome Damon back to Fenway for years to come. What made it worse was that Damon, unlike Ellsbury, was damn good with the Yankees. He helped crush the Red Sox’ playoff hopes during a key late-season series in 2006 and helped New York win the World Series in 2009.
4. Bill Parcells
Parcells’ hire as Patriots head coach in 1993 helped save the franchise. Along with new quarterback Drew Bledsoe and new (in 1994) owner Robert Kraft, Parcells helped take the Patriots from NFL laughingstock in the early 90s to AFC champions by 1996. That should have made him a hero for life around these parts, but because of the way things ended in Foxboro, Parcells’ Patriots legacy is more complicated than that. Parcells reportedly had already decided to leave the Patriots prior to Super Bowl XXXI against the Packers due to disagreements with Kraft and had been in contact with other teams in the week leading up to the game, including the Jets. The Patriots lost and Parcells left, with the NFL stepping in to broker a deal between the two teams that would allow him to coach the Jets. Parcells and Kraft have made up in the years since, with both expressing regret about how things ended, but many Patriots fans have never forgiven Parcells for having one foot out the door when he should have been all-in on Super Bowl prep.
3. Roger Clemens
Clemens was the most dominant pitcher in baseball for most of his Red Sox career -- winning three Cy Young Awards in 1986, 1987 and 1991 -- but his performance began to slip in the mid-90s. Clemens went 40-39 with a 3.77 ERA from 1993-96, and speculation swirled that he wasn’t giving it his all. When the Red Sox didn’t offer him the kind of contract the then-34-year-old wanted in 1996, he left in free agency and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. Clemens won back-to-back Cy Youngs and back-to-back pitching Triple Crowns with Toronto in 1997 and 1998, only adding to the notion that he could’ve been better in his final years in Boston. Then Clemens won back-to-back World Series with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000 -- including dueling Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox in the 1999 ALCS -- solidifying his spot as a Boston villain. Add in Clemens’ alleged steroid use and Red Sox fans had plenty to hold against him. Some of that hatred has softened over the years, especially as Clemens has continued to be involved with The Jimmy Fund, but many Sox fans will never embrace Rocket again.
2. Eric Mangini
By 2006, Mangini had worked under Bill Belichick in one capacity or another for more than a decade -- first with the Browns, then the Jets, then the Patriots. After one season as New England’s defensive coordinator in 2005, Mangini left to take the Jets’ head coaching job. That alone didn’t seem to sit well with Belichick, who despised the Jets and reportedly didn’t give the move his blessing. Much was made of their icy postgame handshakes during the 2006 season. Things were about to get a lot icier. The Patriots accused the Jets of tampering with Deion Branch during a contract dispute before the 2007 season. After the Patriots’ Week 1 win over the Jets, Mangini informed the NFL that the Patriots were illegally filming New York’s defensive signals. That ignited what became known as Spygate, a scandal that resulted in Belichick being fined $500,000; the Patriots organization being fined $250,000; and the team forfeiting a first-round pick. Mangini was dead to Belichick, the Patriots and their fans from that point on. Years later, Mangini said he regretted reporting the Patriots to the league because he didn’t think it ever should have been blown up the way it did. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.
1. Kyrie Irving
Is this recency bias? Maybe. But the way Irving responded to the TD Garden crowd during Sunday’s Game 1 -- flipping off fans and telling them to suck his you-know-what -- really elevated him to a level of villainy the others on this list never reached. This feels like much more of a two-way street of hatred than the others. Boston fans will never forgive Irving for saying he planned to re-sign with the Celtics and wanted to have his number hanging in the rafters one day, only to then leave in free agency less than a year later. It's easy to forget now, but the excitement around Irving's arrival in Boston in 2017 and those comments a year later was very real. And Irving seems to be legitimately upset about the fact that he now gets booed and heckled in Boston rather than celebrated and given video tributes. Unlike others, and despite what he said before this series, Irving seems willing to respond and go back at fans, including with vulgarity. He was fined $50,000 by the NBA for crossing the line. Last year, it was a Celtics fan who crossed the line by throwing a water bottle at Irving. Hopefully this rivalry stays in-bounds going forward. The next chapter will come Wednesday night in Game 2 at TD Garden.
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