Athletes Who’ve Done Worse Than Robin Double-Crossing Batman

Wow. When we got the news that Bruce Wayne was going to be killed off, we were hurt like a Bane backbreaker. But when the rumor started flying that the reason for his death could be Robin… we just couldn’t believe it. But the more we thought about it, the more we came to grips with the reality. Because aren’t there real life figures who’ve double-crossed their supposed allies? Yes, of course we’re talking about sports figures (how’s that for a segue?) and we’ve listed the most egregious violators after the jump. Again, as in the altruistic athletes post, we didn’t rank these guys, but know that deep in our hearts, we consider them all scumbags of the highest order.

• Scottie Pippen: Former Bull Pippen had a lot of great games along side his own Batman, Michael Jordan. But when pushed against the wall, and with Jordan gone during his “retirement,” he was supposed to be the team leader against the Knicks in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. But Pippen refused to come out for the last play where the team almost blew a 22-point lead and ended up squeaking out a win with Toni Kukoc’s buzzer-beating shot. It even supposedly led to a crying Bill Cartwright to ask how he could abandon them. He could just apologize… for being a jerk!
• Brett Favre: Sure, he’s leading the Jets to the supposed promised land now, but how things change over the course of a couple of months. The team he was so loyal to over his career—and whose fans are loyal to him like a puppy is to their owner—was the Green Bay Packers. Well, earlier this season Favre decided to give about an hour and a half time to the Detroit Lions before their game against the rival Pack to dissect their game plan and give them tips. Not that it mattered—they lost to the Packers 48-25—but we think it’s pretty scummy thing for him to do, even if he is God’s gift to quarterbacking as most journalists would have you believe.
• Randy “Macho Man” Savage: Ok, forget for a second that this was a storyline and all that “extraneous” information. The fact that Savage double-crossed Hulk Hogan during the whole Mega Powers ordeal (when they tag teamed as the Mega Powers… in the ring we mean) in the late 80s actually had truth in what played out onstage. Hogan had started to use her as his manager (and honestly, probably sex her), and Savage’s real-life jealousy over his woman being taken over began to seep over into the storyline. This led to the great match in Wrestlemania V when Hogan beat Savage for his second title, but started a feud that was actually real and probably fueled but coke and steriods, but still… real.
• Dixie Walker, Kirby Higbe, Eddie Stanky Hugh Casey, and Bobby Bragan: These are the assholes who signed a petition before Jackie Robinson came to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers saying they didn’t want him because of his race. “Yeah, we don’t want to play with someone who’ll make us so much better because of his race, even if the guy who pays us and our commissioner says it’s okay.” And to say it’s a matter of the era doesn’t help. An racist is a racist no matter what the calendar says… and that’s one to grown (/cue music).

So in this time of thinking back… what’s your favorite double-crossing sports story?
Related: Feature: Athletes Who Don’t Make Us Want To Purge This Thanksgiving