The Biggest Dickheads in Sports

From Kobe's $100,000 f-bomb to soccer's insecure superstars, to the latest 49ers offense, we present a short history of homophobia in sports. Vote for your choice for the biggest dickhead or send us your own nomination.

San Francisco 49er Chris Culliver was chatting up shock jock Artie Lange before the 2013 Super Bowle when he said: “I don’t do the gay guys man. I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff.” He then proceeded to pretty much say gays don’t belong in the league at all, and should only “come out” after leaving for 10 years.

This was before his team was preparing to play against the Ravens (who has a vocal player, Brendan Ayanbadejo, who has supported marriage equality). Later Culliver recanted and even volunteered at the Trevor Project. His teammates denied ever making an It Gets Better video and organization co-founder Dan Savage yanked the vid.

Mike Rice is no longer the basketball coach at New Jersey's Rutgers University after ESPN aired a video of Rice getting violent with players and referring to one with an antigay slur.

Many people, including Miami Heat star LeBron James and Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie expressed anger over Rice's actions that were captured in the video. Rutgers is New Jersey's major public university and the institution gay student Tyler Clementi was attending when he killed himself not long after being outed and harassed by his Rutgers roommate.

Mouthing "fucking faggot" at a ref for sidelining him with a foul cost this Lakers star $100,000 in fines. A much more considerate Bryant later apologized: "The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone." He has since changed his tune and recently spoke "truth to tweeters" who were using "gay" as a putdown.
 

Maradona said of soccer's biggest-ever bane, Pele (who'd criticized the troubled ex-star of being a bad role model): 'What do you want me to say? He debuted with a lad.' In other words, he lost it to a dude'what an inventive comeback!
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When caught in 2008 soliciting sex from three trans prostitutes, the Brazilian soccer player statement was quite reticent: 'As for what happened, I did not have any sexual dealings with those people, I must stress that I am not gay." Alright, then.
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An official attempt to make a video against homophobia in British soccer went awry when no Professional Footballers' Association player or agent would agree to participate.
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When Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Barcelona teammate Gerard Piqué were snapped in an intimate-looking pose together, Zlatan responded to one questioning reporter, "Come to my house with your sister and see if I'm queer."
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Scolari, in 2002, said "If I found out that one of my players was gay, I would throw him off the team." When confronted about his antigay views, he responded: "My friends include people whose sexual preference is different from my own."
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In fine form, Bisping, in a UFC promotional video, called his opponent a 'faggot motherfucker.' This, in the sport whose head, Dana White, has said would warmly welcome a gay fighter.
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Apparently tired of heckling fans, McDowell asked a group of men, 'Are you three giving it to each other in the ass?' He then mimed the accusation, using his thumb, forefinger, and baseball bat.
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'Smh.. '@YahooNews: Gov't says it won't defend constitutionality of law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage''' 'Smh' (shaking my head) was the undoing of Barkley, who, once called out, he tweeted back, ''I'm not discriminating and I'm not a homophobe. I'm standing up for what I believe. Cool down...'
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After a shot of his was called 'out,' Ivanisevic weighed in, regarding the referee: 'That guy, he looks like a faggot little bit, you know.' This outburst followed his comment that he 'played like a faggot at Wimbledon' the year prior. Ivanisevic, who hails from the city of Split, most likely didn't attend his hometown's first Pride rally this summer.
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Cole used his Twitter account to call fellow wrestling announcer Josh Matthews a 'faggot.' The one-word message was deleted quickly and Cole sort of apologized: 'It was obviously not meant the way it was taken.'
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Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Vidmar lasted a week in his new job before his participation in two anti-gay marriage demonstrations and a $2,000 personal donation in favor of Proposition 8 were publicly exposed.
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Volei Futuro player Michael dos Santos came out publicly after fans hounded him with relentless homophobic chants throughout his matches.

In 2007, Former Miami Heat teammate Hardway commented about the possibility of being on a team with a gay player: 'You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known' I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
 

Legendary Green Bay Packers player White was as vile off the field as he was wonderful on it. In a 1998 address to the Wisconsin State Assembly, the late athlete launched into a diatribe against gays, declaring, "Homosexuality is a decision, it's not a race."
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'Very sad to read Sean Avery's misguided support of same-gender 'marriage,'" the Uptown Sports VP tweeted, using the company's public account in reference to the hockey player's recent video in support of gay marriage. "Legal or not, it will always be wrong.'
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The two commentators for French-language TV network RDS made some off-color remarks about ice-skating champ Johnny Weir's during the 2010 Olympics. Goldberg said Weir 'sets a bad example' for young boys and added, "We should make [Weir] pass a gender test at this point." Mailhot then quipped that Weir should compete in the women's events.
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Johnson was fired from the Kansas City Chiefs for his 2009 Twitter exchange where called a heckler a 'fag' with this questionably written Tweet: 'think bout a clever diss then that wit ur fag pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u.'
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Guillen's feud with a Chicago Sun-Times columnist hit a boiling point in 2006 when the baseball manager publicly called his detractor a 'fag.' Guillen went on to explain: 'I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country." Hmmm, we're not sure if everyone in Venezuela, his birth country, would agree.
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CBS aired a pro-life ad sponsored by antigay Focus on the Family, starring football star Tim Tebow and his mother, during the Superbowl, but refused one for ManCrunch.com, a gay dating website, which depicted two male football fans hugging each other on a couch.
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As if a rapping wrestler wasn't bad enough, Cena tried to diss wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson with these cringe-worthy lyrics: 'Just don't go racing to Witch Mountain, Rock, cause your mountain is Brokeback.'
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'While I'm a president of the Croatian Football Federation, there will be no homosexuals playing in the national team,' said Markovic in 2010. He also denied ever meeting a gay football player: "Luckily, only normal people play football."
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"An abomination against almighty God" is what McCartney called homosexuality in 1992, still operating as CU's head football coach. He was also a very strong advocate of Colorado's Amendment 2, which disabled antidiscriminatory legislation from 1992-1996.
 

When Leandro Barbosa and teammate Reggie Evans walked off court after their win over the Orlando Magic, the two held hands. After the scene was posted to YouTube, homophobic commenters went berserk, so much so that site administrators disabled commenting.
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Until 2010, the Creatures' homophobic version of 'Y.M.C.A' ('Why Are You Gay') was often hurled at opposing teams from a prominent contingent of fans seated in Yankee Stadium's Section 203. The Creatures have officially banned the song from their routine.
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In 2009, Clifford publicly admitted to advising two of his op players to stay in the closet. His views are well-meaning, though: "Do I think that's right? Of course not. It's a very sad state of affairs. But it's a fact that homophobia in football is as strong now as it was 10 years ago. If you'd asked me in 2000 whether I thought we'd have a famous, openly gay footballer by 2010 I would have said yes.'
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Grant, speaking of his experience playing rugby at school during a televised halftime show, had these sage words of advice that lead BBC to issue a formal apology afterward: "I discovered it hurt less if you tackled hard than if you tackled like a queen."
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In 2010, Rice decided to celebrate Australia's Tri-Nations rugby victory over South Africa with this juicy tweet: "Suck on that faggots. Probs the best game I've ever seen!! Well done boys." Matthew Mitcham, Olympic gold medal-winning diver, later jumped to Rice's defense.
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Have we learned nothing from Kobe's outburst? During a 2011 game, Noah, a Chicago Bulls player, allowed a heckling fan to get the best him and was caught on camera shouting: 'Fuck you, faggot!' It cost him a $50,000 fine.
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Uche recently became a super villain in the world of women's football when she started a witch-hunt to root out lesbian players on her team. More than 40,000 people have signed a petition to get her fired. FIFA has called for an antidiscrimination day during the semifinals of the World Cup, but Uche remains committed to maintaining a lesbian-free team.