Who should be Outsports' jerk of the year?

Read more about the nominees here

I'm voting for the steroid freaks because somebody has to.

Well in terms of me as a gay man, Tony Dungy wins. But overall it's Michael Vick. What he did was just so reprehensible and inexcusable.

Since there's no Belichick, I voted for the Steroid-taking Athletes.

This was a really tough call... Michael Vick deserves it because of what he did to those poor dogs. But when i think of Outsports, I think of gay athletes and stories... so that made me choose between Tony Dungy and Tim Hardaway. In the end, Hardaway was an easy choice... it's hard to imagine that in 2008 (or soon to be) we can still have people so homophobic.

I voted for Vick because Dungy and Hardaway are only a few out of the many homophobes throughout professional sports(or several other professions for that matter).

Yes, homophobic words and/or opinions hurt & abusing one's body w/ 'roids (to win at all costs) is wrong...However, I voted for Michael DICK since all of the aforementioned jerks did not intentionally kill innocent sentient beings. ...

BTW, can we also write in votes for certain OS posters for jerks of the year?

Jeez SC, stop begging for votes!

Between Dungy and Hardaway, I'd have to go with Dungy no doubt. His homophobia is so much more harmful than Hardaway's. Dungy is very well-respected, educated, quiet and subliminal. His words carry a whole lot more weight than Hardaway, who just came off as a moron. I voted for Vick, but the more I think about it, I'd have to go with Dungy.

Deleted

You my friend have psychic abilities!

You know, what happens to people is more important than what happens to dogs.

Beotch!



Tell that to a dog lovers face & you'll get the greatest beat down!

Dungy-especially with the rumors about his son

QUOTE(SCTrojan December 28,2007)
"You my friend have psychic abilities !"

We are NOT thinking about the same guy!

Not in this case.

Hi all, please stick to the topic at hand, not guessing who likes which board members. Thanks!

As an animal lover, it wasn't a hard choice for me at all: VICK!

Thanks, TD, for saying that out loud (so to speak) -- I've gotten the impression that subject is perceived as "off-limits" in the Dungy discussion and it shouldn't be. Of course we'll never know the truth but even the possibility makes me sad as well as angry.

I'm a Colts fan and even I voted for Dungy given the nature of our site.

No list of nominees can be complete without Belichick....I write him in.

I must be really out of the loop, because I've never even heard of Sebastien Gacond, and Richard Gasquet's name only 'rang a bell' when I found the Outsports story. Both of them made some rather ignorant statements, as did Dungy and Hardaway, but Michael Vick wins my vote hands down, even though his actions had nothing to do with us gays. He is more than a 'jerk', he is a sadistic criminal, which is far worse than being a homophobe, IMO.

The steroids and Vick stories were certainly the higher profile stories. Just looking at the photos of Vick's VA home with the out buildings and fencing painted black gave me the creeps, but I'd leave it to ESPN of SI to bestow their version of this title on one of those.

In an Outsports context I'd have to go with one of the other four. Gacond and Gasquet were lower profile.

For me, nothing tops "I hate gay people."

Right back at ya!

What Michael Vick did was wrong, but it's not comparable to harming people. He doesn't belong on the list. My vote goes to Tony Dungy. I think he's particularly reprehensible because, as someone said, there will always be the unanswerable question of whether his "values" in some way contributed to the sense of despair that led his son to take his life.

A couple of write in nominations-the 1972 Dolphins, especially Mercury Morris. Shut the f**k up already! And boxer Roy Jones Jr., who has admitted in the past that he raise roosters for cock-fighting and was a staunch supporter of Michael Vick. He now admits that he also raises pit bulls for fighting. What a guy!

I'm not saying they deserve to beat out the likes of Dungy or Vick, but they at least Dishonorable Mention worthy.

Write in for MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. All this time he let Barry Bonds hang out to dry, knowing damn well what was going on in baseball and not doing anything to prevent it. Then, when the Mitchell report comes out he decides he wants to be front and center in handing out the punishments when someone should be chastizing his enabling ass!! Agree too that Bellicheat should be on this list.

It has to be Dungy. I can overlook idiots like Hardaway. However, comments from a "respected" person such as Dungy gets my vote for Jerk of the Year.

I understand everyone's choices and respect them but personally I feel that anyone (not just Michael Vick) who could get involved with dog fighting etc are totally disgusting.It's not just the fighting,it's all of the other heinous,barbaric acts such as how they executed the dogs,that is totally gut wrenching.In my opinion,the brutality of those "actions" far outweighs the "words" of the other nominees.

Interesting discussion. Richard Gasquet's emphatic declaration of his 'straightness' doesn't belong on the list. If we criticized every insecure young male who made comments such as his, and they do regularly simply out of youthful ignorance, there'd be no room for real news. "Accusing" young guys of being gay, which is often how it appears in media, is bound to create declarations such as his.

Michael Vick's a criminal; he's exactly where he belongs. Although I'd just as soon see him clean up dog poop all day long for about ten years.

Tony Dungy has positioned himself as thisclose to God. If his late son really was gay, then God gave him an opportunity to grow and to teach and to heal. Unfortunately, the tragedy simply amplified the worst part of his religious fundamentalism: my way is the only way and you're wrong until you become like me. While I empathize greatly with his loss, and acknowledge that losing a child is possibly the worst pain of all, his bible thumping approach to everything including the game of football is potentially more damaging than any other 'offense' on this list. He's like so many others who think homosexuality is the problem - when the real problem is the persecution of homosexuality, especially within religious circles.

I voted for Vick because:
Anyone who claims that he didn't know that it is wrong to tortue and kill dogs, is a jerk.

The others are jerks too, but MV is the worst.

I'll vote for Michael Vick. He's a jerk, and a thug.

It seems Vick is wearing the crown for jerk of the year.

I think there needed to be an all the above catagory. All were jerks in someway or another.