Michael Vick is once again the world’s most hated athlete. Vick has done a lot over the last few years to shed his bad boy image, but his dog fighting legal mess still makes him an extremely easy player to dislike.
The poll, conducted by Nielsen and partner E-Poll Market Research, found that 60% of respondents said that they “somewhat dislike,’ or “dislike a lot,” or “dislike” Michael Vick.
Stephen Master, VP of Nielsen Sports, said that Vick had a high awareness number (42 percent) which means that several people outside of the core NFL crowd know who he is. Unfortunately, most people know him for his dog fighting scandal.
Masters said:
“His awareness is up there with Peyton Manning, but a lot of it is people knowing him for the wrong reasons.”
Tiger Woods is another player who is trying to live down past mistakes. Woods, who tied Vick at a dislike rating of 60%, is still trying to make his fans forget about his serial cheating. With Tiger’s two-year hiatus from golf he hasn’t given people much else to talk about. Woods is, however, back on the green and has started to win again. Will a few championships make people forget about Woods’ cheating ways?
Plexico Burress took third on the list thanks to his recent gun possession charges and Kris Humphries took fifth thanks to his recent relationship / divorce to Kim Kardashian.
Yahoo reports that Ndamukong Suh was in the running for most liked player in the NFL four months ago, but Suh’s like-ability has fallen fast. Thanks to a dirty play during a national televised game on Thanksgiving Day, Suh is now the fourth most hated athlete.
Master said:
“He went from being so popular to being a pariah in one season.”
Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, and Kurt Busch complete the list of the 10 most hated athletes.
