“The 10 Most Disliked Athletes in America” list came out recently and two familiar names to Laker fans made the cut. Metta World Peace and Kobe Bryant were among the group that included Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o, Tiger Woods, Jay Cutler, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Vick, Kurt Busch and Tony Romo.
“the list is based on the latest public surveys from Nielsen Sports and market research firm E-Poll. Candidates were limited to those scoring a minimum of 10 [percent]t public awareness.”
Despite recent strides and progress that Metta World Peace has made to his behavior, his past violent experiences such as the “Malice in the Palace” incident and last season’s thrown elbow at James Harden, still linger in the thoughts of sports fans. World Peace had a 21 percent appeal rating to the public, and was ranked in between the Chicago Bears’ Jay Cutler and the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez.
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Kobe Bryant also made the list, coming in as the ninth most dislike athlete in America with a 27 percent appeal rating. Despite being beloved in Los Angeles and by Laker and Kobe fans all over the world, Kobe remains to be a love him or hate hime type of player. Regardless of making it on this list, Kobe will go down as one of the greatest players to every play the game. The “MVP” chants for the Mamba even away from Staples Center prove that Kobe’s following goes way beyond the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.
