Turkeys of the Year in 2017

With Thanksgiving upon us, it's time to look back at the worst in sports from 2017. That's right. It's our annual Sports Turkeys of the Year list. See who made the cut.

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Nov 21, 2017

Turkeys of the Year in 2017

LaVar Ball

Whether claiming his son is better than Steph Curry, starting a twitter feud with President Trump or claiming he could beat Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1, LaVar Ball established himself as the most overbearing parent in sport.

Chris Foerster

Note to kids: If you’re going to do drugs, don’t film it. Especially if you’re one of the highest paid coaches in the NFL.

U.S. Men's National Soccer Team

Oh boy. After an embarrassing loss to Trinidad & Tobago, there were no words to describe the USMNT’s performance in losing a World Cup bid. I guess we’ll have to wait until 2022 to cheer on the red, white and blue. Side note, shoutout to FOX for paying $200 million for an event nobody in America is going to watch.

Kevin Durant

Was there anything worse than Durant accidentally calling out his Thunder teammates and coaches from his own, verified account instead of his burner identity? Trainwreck.

Alex Rodriguez

Before a mid-May game, Fox tweeted a picture of A-Rod’s note for the game, which had eight words on it: Child: Birth control, Baby, Pull out stuff. It’s crazy that the only notebook A-Rod had in his house was the one from junior high sex ed.

Mia Khalifa

Mia Khalifa has embarrassed athletes aplenty. Duke Williams was caught red-handed. So was Wilson Contreras, though the Cubs catcher did use the hacking excuse. Mr. Irrelevant 2018 and current Broncos quarterback Chad Kelly even gave it a try. By now, athletes know to avoid the former adult film star. Neither Steelers rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster nor Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield wanted to get anywhere close to the controversial sports personality when she not-so-subtly

Chris Christie

Christie, who is a giants sports fan, was in Milwaukee for a Cubs-Brewers game when he found himself the target of abuse by a Chicago fan. Instead of ignoring it, Christie got in the face of the fan and gave him an earful. No punches were thrown but it was a not a good look for the soon to be former-New Jersey governor.

Ah, the age old question. Who would win in a race: Michael Phelps or a shark? Great Gold vs. Great White. Well, we got the answer to that question, kind of. Not really. Phelps appeared to get destroyed by the shark but the thing is, it wasn’t even a real shark, it was a computer-generated image of a shark! I want my money back.

Arda Turan

He punched a reporter after becoming enraged over an article written about him. Probably not the best idea to get rid of a negative article by punching the guy who wrote it. And Turan subsequently got dropped from the Turkish team and then quit international play altogether. Not the best day at the office.

Aubrey Huff and Kyrie Irving

Oh boy, where to start. Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter, we got an exclusive insight into the mind of former baseball player Aubrey Huff. The highlights include Huff’s belief that dinosaurs are merely 6,000 years old (and lived in harmony with people) and the idea that dragons aren’t imagined. Not to be outdone, Kyrie Irving stated in a February interview that the world is flat, then tried to walk back his statement a few months later.

Atlanta Falcons Defense

The good news: The Atlanta Falcons jumped out to a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl against the powerful New England Patriots: The bad news: The defense allowed 31 straight points to allow the biggest comebacks in Super Bowl history.

Nike's NBA Jerseys

Talk about a disaster. Nike paid $1 billion for an eight-year deal to make NBA jerseys, only to see FIVE jerseys get shredded mid-game just one month into the season. Hey, they may leave players semi-clothed but at least you can connect the jersey to an app.

Venice Marathon Race Organizers

Everything was going great for East African runners Abdulahl Dawud, Gilbert Kipleting Chumba, Kipkemei Mutai and David Kiprono Metto, who were leading the way at the Venice Marathon. Unfortunately, the lead motorcycle they were following veered off course, costing the runners two minutes and allowing Eyob Faniel to sneak in the win, marking the first victory by an Italian runner in 22 years.

For someone who is known for his loud, unpopular takes, Craig Carton has been suspiciously quiet after being accused of involvement in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving concert tickets. The longtime WFAN radio host resigned in disgrace in September.

Maxime Hamou

French tennis player Maxime Hamou committed one of the more obvious blunders of the year, forcibly kissing reporter Maly Thomas after a post match interview. He was immediately banished from the French Open and Thomas said that had they not been live on air, she would have punched Hamou. Ouch.

Dick Stockton

During the Jaguars-Rams game, Stockton got a little too detailed while reading the prompter. “Look on graphic for the final two bullet points.” Hey, mistakes happen. Sometimes you pull a Ron Burgundy. It happens to the best of us.

Latrelle Lee

Football can be an emotional sport, but Tennessee State Latrell Lee took things to a while new level. While on the sideline during a game against Southeast Missouri, the 22-year-old lost his temper punched strength coach T.J. Greenstone four times in the head. He was expelled from school two days later.

Phil Jackson

Who knew getting rid of a 72-year-old white guy would be so good for a franchise? After years of poor leadership, Jacskon stepped away from the Knicks who are playing better than ever in their triangle-free offense.

Cleveland Browns

You know the saying, “Browns gonna Brown.” Apparently the Browns were so excited they were going to get QB A.J. McCarron from the Bengals that they missed the deadline to submit the trade paperwork because they were too busy celebrating. Cleveland is 0-10. They screwed that up in a way only the Browns can.

Gil Roberts

In one of the weirder stories of the year, Gil Roberts claimed he ingested a banned substance after “frequently and passionately” kissing his girlfriend days before his March drug test. What a ridiculous excuse, right? Turns out, Roberts wasn’t lying. He was cleared in July.

Mohammad Anas

Wanna get away? Anas, a South African soccer player, accidentally thanked both his wife and girlfriend during a postgame interview. He then went deep into the bag of excuses by saying that it was all a misunderstanding and that he always refers to his daughter as his girlfriend. Sure you do!

Turkeys of the Year in 2017