• took the most money possible
• played soft
• got injured easily and often
• slacked off
• demanded a trade
• garnered absolutely nothing in return in that trade
• returned to Toronto with an amusing self-righteous swagger and consistently buries the home team with big games and game-winning shots

The only saving grace for Raptors fans is that Carter continues to play with all the heart and constitution of a graham cracker against everyone else.

For LeafsNation, enemy #1 is probably Daniel Alfredsson, the top player on the team's top rival. He's more of a traditional, pro-wrestling bad guy - who relishes his role as antagonist, even mocking Leafs captain Mats Sundin with his fake stick toss a few years back. Fans love to boo him and he seems happy to play along.

For baseball fans, there are the usual suspects, i.e., anyone tainted by performance enhancing drugs. But A-Rod gets booed in every park that isn't New Yankee Stadium.

Robbie Alomar was once the favourite target of Toronto boo-birds, but Robbie and the fans have since kissed and made up. Roger Clemens was also a consummate villain - revitalizing his career with two superb years, then whining his way out of town.

Since he's now retired, there's A.J. Burnett, who opted out of his contract, took more money from the Yankees and immediately won the World Series.

But Rios? Fans should be thrilled to be out from under his contract. Even in his two all-star seasons, Rios was always more promise than performance. Career highs of a .302 average, 24 home runs and 55 walks do not a future Hall of Famer make. He never took that next step, and he's not likely to at age 29.

Sure he had this less-than stellar youtube moment, but otherwise, he's a pretty forgettable bad guy. Even his "they don't care" rant about Toronto fans was feeble.

Remember that generic henchman with no nametag in Austin Powers: Goldmember? On the scale of Toronto Sports Villainy, that's Alex Rios.

Labels: Alex Rios, boo

¶ posted by Jim Turner at 2:06 PM