# Most popular athlete who was a jerk **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357 "2009-12-15T14:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357/101 "2010-01-05T15:07:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But was Babe Ruth a pure “jerk”? No question, he was far from a clean-living milk drinker. With Babe Ruth, all the good things you heard AND all the bad things you heard were true. > > Yes, he really was a lush and a skirt chaser, with enormous appetites (for food, sex, booze, whatever). On the other hand, he was also an extremely kind, generous man who seemed to genuinely love his teammates, his fans, the game of baseball ,and people in general. > > He really DID visit sick kids in the hospital and sign autographs… of course, he was likely to go to a speakeasy a few hours later, where he’d down a fifth of gin and pick up a few flappers. > > At the same time, teammates like Waite Hoyt said that, for all his MANY faults, the Babe really did try, in his own way, to be a good father and a good Catholic! > > He was no saint, but it’s not at all clear he deserves to be tagged as a “jerk. I’m not much of a baseball fan, but based on this alone, Babe Ruth may be my favorite athlete of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Albrecht\_Durer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@Albrecht\_Durer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albrecht_Durer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357/102 "2010-01-07T01:10:07Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Disagree on both counts. First, I am a Schumacher fan (ever since '94 when Senna died, on the basis that I was a Mansell fan to begin with because he was British, when he retired after winning the title in '92 I followed his successor Alain Prost, when he retired after winning the title in '93 I followed his successor Ayrton Senna, and when he died in '94 I followed what looked like the heir to the throne, cravenly ignoring Damon Hill - what can I say, I was 9 years old at the time). > > Despite “supporting” him for 15 years, I have to come down against him here and say that driving Damon Hill off the road in Australia in 1994 was not a “one-time thing”, given that he tried a similar manoeuvre against Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 (which failed - I’ll always remember Martin Brundle commentating on the replay “No, Michael, that didn’t work; you hit the wrong part of him, my friend.”) > My analysis is that both were heat-of-the-moment bad decisions, at least one of which he apologised for afterwards (possibly under some duress from his team). > > Secondly, though the above shows he was certainly ruthless, I don’t think he is emotionless - he recently appeared as the special guest on the UK’s _Top Gear_ TV show, and he was quite jokey and relaxed, as indeed he seemed to be in a few interviews with him I’ve seen. > > Anyway, I think he’s well down the list in terms of answering the OP, even though I cannot deny that twice driving into rivals is an assholish thing to do. I could not disagree more. Intentionally smashing an opponent in a fast-moving, multi-million dollar speed machine to keep an advantage is as big a jerk move as they come. I don’t care if he’s the nicest guy in the world and he and Jeremy Clarkson save starving children together; nothing can salvage your reputation when you purposefully endanger lives to win. Besides, looking at things cynically, his appearance on Top Gear may have just been a callous attempt to butter up the public in preparation for making Jenson Button smash into a wall in Monaco this spring. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357/103 "2010-01-07T01:33:53Z")
He may have been more likable when he was in F1, but lots of people couldn’t stand Nigel Mansell when was in CART. His own teammate, Mario Andretti, retired a year early because he couldn’t stand to be around him. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357/104 "2010-01-07T14:53:42Z")
> [@Albrecht\_Durer](#): > > I could not disagree more. Intentionally smashing an opponent in a fast-moving, multi-million dollar speed machine to keep an advantage is as big a jerk move as they come. I don’t care if he’s the nicest guy in the world and he and Jeremy Clarkson save starving children together; nothing can salvage your reputation when you purposefully endanger lives to win. Point taken, but I don’t think either move endangered any lives - if they were on a public road, maybe, but not in an F1 car. The one against Hill was at one of the slowest corners on the circuit, and you could argue he was simply defending the racing line (although it has to be said that he must have known his car was damaged at that point). Against Villeneuve, I don’t remember where on the circuit it happened, but I think there was plenty of run-off area on both sides of the track. That notwithstanding, I am prepared to concede that both were jerkish moves, but my take is that they were terrible errors of judgement, which do not necessarily define his character as a whole. > [@](#): > > Besides, looking at things cynically, his appearance on Top Gear may have just been a callous attempt to butter up the public in preparation for making Jenson Button smash into a wall in Monaco this spring. 🙂 Well if so, I don’t think that will work :). > [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > He may have been more likable when he was in F1, but lots of people couldn’t stand Nigel Mansell when was in CART. His own teammate, Mario Andretti, retired a year early because he couldn’t stand to be around him. I’ve heard this about Mansell in the UK, too - very popular with the public, hated by his colleagues. So possibly a jerk in a relatively minor way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-athlete-who-was-a-jerk/521357.md?page=5)