10. Dennis Rodman
Leading off our list is recent Hall of Fame inductee “The Worm”. No doubt Rodman is one scary dude. Ridiculous amount of tats before everyone in the league got inked up? Check. Multiple body piercings? Check. Dresses up like a woman on a regular basis? You get the idea. He may be a different kind of scary, but be rest assured the guy didn’t average 13.1 rebounds on his athleticism alone.
9. Bill Romanowski (NFL)
Romanowski ingested steroids by the fist full and had a healthy serving of HGH for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Notice how I didn’t say allegedly? One of the dirtiest players in the history of the NFL admitted said PED use during the BALCO scandal. Between breaking Kerry Collins jaw and shattering the orbital socket OF HIS OWN TEAMMATE, this is one guy you do not want to mess with.
8. Donald Brashear (NHL)
Just about every team has an enforcer, and Brashear is one of the all-time greats. He’ll scrap with just about anyone, and more often than not comes out victorious. Brashear led the league in penalty minutes 6 times and even tried his hand in MMA. Bad. Ass.
7. James Harrison (NFL)
The poster boy for hard hits (and the fines that go along with them) is one of the NFL’s most intimidating defenders. Not a scary guy you say? Just ask Ed Reed. Or Josh Cribbs. Or Mohamed Massaquoi. Or Vince Young. Or this fan. The list of players that have gotten jacked up by Mr. Harrison goes on.
6. Lawrence Taylor
Hide yo’ quarterback, hide yo’ underage prostitutes. This level 1 sex offender was one of the baddest dudes on the planet during his playing days. His egregious cocaine binges makes Charlie Sheen look like Tim Tebow. He broke Joe Theisman’s leg in half. He once beat up 2 drug dealers in an attempted robbery and proceeded to smoke their crack. It seems that on and off the field, LT was a bad man.
5. Kimbo Slice (MMA/Boxing)
Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson gained notoriety on youtube, but we’re not talking Rebecca Black “Friday” type fame. The former Miami Hurricane was featured in a series of backyard brawling videos where he demolished most opponents with some of the heaviest hands anyone’s ever seen. After a brief (and let’s face it, disappointing) MMA career, Kimbo’s pro boxing debut resulted in a 17 second 1st round knockout of James Wade this past week. When Slice said “If I get these haymakers on you, you a done dotta”, he meant it.
4. OJ Simpson (NFL)
It’s been said that The Juice was considered for the role of the Terminator, but the producers feared he was “too nice” to be taken seriously as a cold-blooded killer. Although he was acquitted of the murders of his wife and Ron Goldman, OJ currently resides in cell block D of the Lovelock Correctional Center serving out a 33 year sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping. This list of scariest athletes wouldn’t be complete without OJ, leaving us to wonder his true response to this question.
3. Elijah Dukes (MLB)
How do you make it into the top 3 scariest athletes of all-time without (allegedly) killing two people in one night? How bout sending a picture message of a handgun to your wife and then promptly leaving the following voicemail on her cell- “Hey, dawg. It’s on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain’t even bulls——-. Your kids too, dawg. It don’t even matter to me who is in the car with you. Ni—-, all I know is, ni—-, when I see your motherf—— a– riding, dawg, it’s on. As a matter of fact, I’m coming to your motherf—— house”. Dukes has been arrested at least 3 times for battery and most recently (5 months ago!) for assaulting a pregnant ex-girlfriend. ‘Nuff said.
2. Ray Lewis (NFL)
I have the utmost respect for Ray Lewis. While several other athletes on this list are grade A scumbags, Lewis is a role model and reportedly an unbelievable teammate and humanitarian. That doesn’t mean the dude’s not scary though. While he may be past his prime, Lewis still strikes fear into any receiver whose route takes them across the middle of the field. He’s one of the hardest hitting MLB the NFL has ever seen and an all around badass. Back in 2000, a fight broke out between Lewis and another group of people, resulting in the stabbing deaths of the two assailants. While no one knows for sure who killed the men, the white suit Lewis was wearing the night of the killings has never been found. Note to self: never fight Ray Lewis.
1. Mike Tyson (Boxing)
In his prime, Iron Mike was the most feared man in the history of boxing. He won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout. Youngest ever heavyweight champion of the world. Convicted rapist and provider of some of the most insane, scary and memorable quotes of all time. Some of my favorites include:
“Anyone with a grain of sense would know that if I punched my wife I would rip her head off. It’s all lies. I have never laid a finger on her.”
“I ain’t the same person I was when I bit that guy’s ear off.”
“I could feel his muscle tissues collapse under my force. It’s ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm.”
You get the picture here. Mike Tyson was both tough and crazy, and that my friends makes him the Scariest Athlete of All-Time.
