Discussion History Main / UsefulNotesOnBraSizes

** Owens has now pretty much built a reputation as a \\\"locker-room cancer\\\" because of his ego and his tendency to publicly whine about how he\\\'s being mistreated or misused by the teams he\\\'s on.
* Though both players are far from small names, friction between the considerable egos of former Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) teammates Shaquille O\\\'Neal and Kobe Bryant was what lead to Shaq being traded to the Miami Heat. When Phil Jackson was let go, Shaq accused the club of catering to Kobe\\\'s demands at the expense of everyone else\\\'s concerns, causing him to demand to be traded. And Kobe is apparently an extreme prima donna himself. Jackson, in a book released after his separation from the team, referred to him as \\\"uncoachable\\\".
* Stephon Marbury personifies this trope. He declared that he was the best point guard in the NBA while his Knicks were in the midst of a 2-19 stretch, and was so shitty and such a bad teammate that the owner of the Knicks choked down his $18 million salary to essentially bench him for a season. He is the UweBoll of basketball.
* The massive ego of Rickey Henderson (MLB), especially later in his career, is well-documented. Be it from his [[ThirdPersonPerson references to himself in the third person]], blatant narcissism, and his stubbornness to realize that he was a shell of his playing self in the 1980\\\'s when he boasted that he could still outsteal anyone in this league... in his 40\\\'s.
** While not able to outsteal \\\"anyone\\\", he did remain a legitimate threat on the basepaths...even into his 40\\\'s. But yes, his ego far dwarfed his actual accomplishments.
* Jose Mourinho of Chelsea (association football) appeared to be this when he first joined the club. True, he\\\'d just had a spectacularly successful season with Porto, but most considered it a little too far when he began calling himself \\\'The Special One\\\'. Of course, history vindicated him... mostly.
** With him as coach of Inter Milan in Italy, the team has had a good 08/09 season and an \\\'\\\'outstanding\\\'\\\' 09/10 season, but he has become infamous for his feuds with coaches of other major teams - one of his declarations even underwent MemeticMutation. And then, right after winning the UEFA Champions League, he said that was his last game with Inter. Opinions differ on whether, despite the successes, the relationship with the management was too strained or, since such a great season will be difficult to repeat, he decided to leave to preserve the moment of biggest glory.
* According to legend, 19th century {{Cricket}}er W.G. Grace (not a small name by any means) was once out-clean bowled in the first over of a match. He simply re-set his stumps and took block again, telling the bowler, \\\"They\\\'ve come to watch me bat, not you bowl.\\\"
** Appropriately enough, WG is best known to 20th century types as {{God}}. You know, the animated one in \\\'\\\'MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail\\\'\\\'.
* Note, there are several cases in Sports where the person has not done an EvilLaugh and declared \\\"Kneel before Zod\\\". However, in sports, there are general conventions of conduct, better known as sportsmanship, and several players an coaches have violated it, in a way declaring themselves exempt due to their success. One example is New England Patriots (NFL) head coach Bill Belichick, who more than once has famously refused to shake hands with his former assistant coaches when they\\\'ve become head coaches themselves. Or [=LeBron=] James (NBA) refusing to shake Dwight Howard\\\'s hand or even talk to the press after his Cavaliers lost the conference championship to the Magic. Another Patriot, quarterback Tom Brady, (in)famously gave the cold shoulder to fellow quarterback Eli Manning before the New England/New York Giants Superbowl, which New England (in)famously lost.
** In Belichick\\\'s defense, he is nuts.
* From the world of hockey, we have Eric Lindros. Hailed as the \\\"Next One\\\" by scouts when he debuted in the early 1990s, he started things off on the wrong foot when he was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques and refused to report. He was eventually acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers in a massive nine-player trade that Quebec would eventually use to build its Stanley Cup-winning teams when the team moved to Colorado. While Lindros was a dominant player for the rest of the 1990s, he became widely disliked for his largo ego, his showboating and his propensity for sulking. For all his size, Lindros was also very brittle and easy to injure. After leaving Philadelphia, Lindros played for several other teams, but while he still had his bad reputation, his elite skills were pretty much gone.
* When Allen Iverson was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups, it was considered to be a one-sided trade in favor of the Pistons. Instead, Billups helped the Nuggets make it to the Western Conference Finals, and the Pistons regressed, just barely making it into the postseason. Iverson\\\'s ego was considered a primary factor-- refusing to come off the bench, he was eventually taken out of the lineup completely. After leaving the Pistons, he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies the following year, but played only three games before retiring, citing once again that he was too good to come off the bench. He un-retired soon afterward and returned to his first team, the Philadelphia 76ers, for the remainder of the season before leaving them indefinitely on February 22. But he\\\'s pretty messed up beyond just this: NBA columnist and Iverson\\\'s longtime friend, Stephen A. Smith, fears that he\\\'ll \\\"either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.\\\"
[[/folder]]