The biggest sports turkeys of 2018

With seconds remaining in regulation in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, J.R. Smith did a really good job of corralling an offensive rebound when George Hill missed a free throw. Then he did a bad job of remembering the score of the game. Thinking his team was up by a point, J.R. passed up a point-blank look at the basket and dribbled out to the three-point line, expecting to be fouled. He ignored the screams and pointing from LeBron James, and time expired with the score still tied. The Cavs would get blown out in overtime and swept in the series, and LeBron left for Los Angeles in the summer to be as far away from J.R. as possible. Oh, J.R. also threw a fan's phone into a construction site in July, and in March, he got suspended for throwing a bowl of soup at an assistant coach.

LeBron James is a wonderful basketball player, maybe the greatest of all time, and in 2018, he made the Finals for the eighth consecutive year. And for the first time ever, he played with an (allegedly) broken hand, after punching a blackboard in anger after Game 1. Obviously LeBron was frustrated, but that's no excuse for a 33-year-old man. All we are saying is Michael Jordan never would have done that! (He would have punched J.R. Smith directly.)

Stuff that Manny Machado did in the playoffs included spiking Red Sox first baseman Steve Pearce, leg-whipping Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar in the NLCS and not running out ground balls. Machado said hustling was “not my cup of tea.” So on the rare occasions where Machado ran all the way to the base, he’d take a cheap shot at the guy on the bag. He also tried to punch Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia while breaking up a double play, and he got called for interference when he slid onto the grass and grabbed Arcia’s leg two innings later. A few years ago, he spiked Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, and a few years before that he threw his bat in a game against Oakland. He’s still going to make $300 million this offseason, which he’ll use to retain a good defense lawyer. (Note: Machado hit .182 in the World Series with no extra-base hits.)

The Raptors had lost to LeBron James and the Cavaliers two years in a row. They had a chance to seize control in Game 1 of the conference semifinals, but JV and Toronto couldn’t make a layup. On one possession, up three, JV missed three straight point-blank layups. Then after Cleveland tied things up, the Raptors missed five different game-winning shots at the end of regulation. For the quarter, Valanciunas missed six of his seven shots, and Toronto missed its last 11 attempts. Who blew the last putback? Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors got swept. Again.

Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston once again committed a sex offense, this time allegedly groping his Uber driver. Winston was suspended for three games — one less than Tom Brady got for allegedly plotting to (gasp) deflate footballs. This isn't the first Winston incident: He faced a rape accusation in college where he settled with the victim out of court; Florida State paid out $950,000 for obstructing the police investigation. He's also been busted for shoplifting crab legs and even stealing soda. When he returned from his suspension, Winston's play on the field was almost as bad as his off-the-field behavior, throwing 11 interceptions in five games and losing his job to a guy who looks like a Sons of Anarchy extra who just got fired from a track suit outlet. 

Conor McGregor ended 2017 by losing to Floyd Mayweather and then jumping into the ring during an MMA fight and hitting the referee. In 2018, he celebrated UFC 223's media day by throwing a metal dolly through the window of a bus full of fighters, which led to three charges of assault, two fighters in the hospital and court-ordered anger management classes. Then in October, he lost to rival Khabib Nurmagomedov by submission after months of trash talk that included calling Khabib a "smelly Dagestani rat." Khabib kept telling Conor to "talk now" as he was submitting him, then Khabib went into the crowd after McGregor's friend while McGregor himself fought Khabib's cousin. They've both been indefinitely banned, which means it will be more than two years since McGregor has actually won a fight without using a dolly.

The sport of hockey is known for its fights, but rarely does that translate into cyberbullying. That changed this year when Melinda Karlsson, wife of Ottawa Senators star defenseman and team captain Erik Karlsson, filed for an order of protection in a Canadian court against his teammate's fiancee. According to Karlsson, Mike Hoffman's fiancee, Monika Caryk, sent hundreds of messages online, including some in which she "uttered that she wished I was dead and that someone should 'take out' my husband's legs to 'end his career.'" Though Caryk denied the allegations, the Senators didn't wait around, trading Hoffman to the Sharks, who sent him along to the Panthers the same day. Three months later, they traded Karlsson to San Jose, kicking off what may be the first cyberbullying-inspired rebuild in sports.

After Jimmy Butler *allegedly* went on a date with Karl-Anthony Towns’ girlfriend, Towns refused to sign his rookie extension until the team decided to deal Butler. Since Butler needed a trade to preserve his Bird rights and his big contract this summer, he began acting out. In one legendary and embarrassing practice, Butler screamed at his teammates, coaches and team executives, before sitting down for a conveniently timed ESPN interview. After Butler sat out most games that weren’t on television, and Coach Thibodeau played him 40-plus minutes when he did suit up, Butler was mercifully dealt to Philadelphia once the Timberwolves were 4-9. Luckily, his personality should fit in well in a city where fans boo Santa Claus.

After myriad scandals, including an extramarital affair/extortion case, sex parties with strippers and escorts and a massive FBI investigation into bribery, Rick Pitino was finally fired as head coach of the Louisville basketball team before the 2017-18 season. But he didn't go away. He joined Twitter, referring to himself as "Pitweeto." He sued the university for wrongful termination. He also sued Adidas, which was thrown out of court. But Pitino's biggest turkey move was announcing that he was ready to coach in the NBA again despite being 66 years old, a college coaching disgrace and a total failure in his previous NBA job. Rick, Danny Ainge is not walking through that door! R.C. Buford is not walking through that door! Michael Jordan is...actually MJ might hire him.

A massive two-year investigation into college corruption snared 10 defendants, including four NCAA assistant coaches and two Adidas employees. The FBI probe targeted big college programs like Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina State and Miami, and while countless NCAA violations have been uncovered, it's not clear where any federal crimes happened. There's also an unknown "rogue FBI agent" involved in the case, who apparently misappropriated thousands in federal money for gambling, food and beverages. Ultimately, schools will still be cheating, and the players will continue to be exploited, and the FBI seems concerned with players getting too much money. Don't they have better things to spend millions of taxpayer dollars investigating? 

No one comes off well in the Browns organization. Not coach Hue Jackson, who was fired after going 3-36-1 in his Browns career. Not owner and gasoline fraudster Jimmy Haslam, who has been involved in a massive federal investigation and has only 23 wins in his seven years owning the Browns. But the worst turkey was failed head coach turned failed offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who revealed himself as a bully during the run of “Hard Knocks” on HBO. He wore a bucket hat, he undermined his head coach, screamed at his players on the sidelines and got clowned by Carl Nassib. After all of Todd's maneuvering, he and Jackson were fired on the exact same day.

Defending champions Germany were the odds-on favorites to repeat as World Cup champions, but they lost two matches in the group stages and didn't even advance to the knockout round. Germany's aggressive blitzkrieg attack that led to a 7-1 shellacking of Brazil in 2014 was betrayed by a lack of discipline against Mexico and South Korea, who crushed them on the counter-attack. In addition, an ugly undercurrent of racism emerged, as so-called "foreign" players like Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gundogan got racist abuse afterward due to their Turkish heritage. You could also argue that coach Joachim Loew panicked, making five changes to his lineup before the loss to South Korea that swept Die Mannschaft out of the tournament.

It's almost unfair to target a young safety who overperformed in his rookie season, including two pass deflections and an interception in the Divisional Playoff game against Minnesota. But when you're on the wrong end of the first playoff-game-ending touchdown pass in playoff history, you're going to end up on the Sports Turkeys list. With 10 seconds left, the Vikings had third-and-10 from their own 39, looking for a play where they could simply get of bounds and into field-goal range. And then the "The Minneapolis Miracle" happened. Case Keenum hit Stefon Diggs with a high pass, and Williams made a diving tackle attempt that missed Diggs and instead took out his teammate cornerback Ken Crawley. Williams probably should have tackled Diggs in bounds instead of diving, but at least the Saints won their rematch with the Vikings this season on their way to a 9-1 start.

Roberto Osuna was still serving a 75-game suspension under baseball's domestic violence policy when the Houston Astros decided to trade for him at the deadline. It's the longest suspension ever issued under baseball's relatively new policy, but Houston felt like it was worth morally compromising its team to stabilize the bullpen. This blew up spectacularly in the ALCS, when Osuna entered Game 3 in the eighth inning. Osuna retired two batters and gave up two singles before his eternal weakness flared up again: He started hitting people. Hitting Brock Holt loaded the bases, then Osuna hit Mitch Moreland to force in a run. With the bases loaded, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a grand slam, effectively ending the game, the series and any optimism Houston had felt about bringing an alleged abuser into its clubhouse.

In a truly bizarre NBA story, a writer from The Ringer uncovered some secret Twitter accounts that seemed to have an unusual connection to Philadelphia 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo. The users, primarily one going by "Eric jr," revealed seemingly inside information about Markelle Fultz, criticized Joel Embiid and leaped to the defense of Colangelo's fashion choices, declaring "That is a normal collar. Move on, find a new slant.” Eventually the culprit was revealed to be Colangelo's wife, and Colangelo himself resigned right at the beginning of the biggest free-agency period in 76ers' history. Not surprisingly, superstars wanted no part of this drama, and they had to settle for non-stars like Wilson Chandler and center/rapper Mike Muscala.

Chris Paul's return to the Staples Center as a member of the Houston Rockets was tense, with the Clippers winning a hard-fought game that included dust-ups between Blake Griffin and Trevor Ariza, as well as coach Mike D'Antoni. But it was after the game when things got crazy, with a contingent of Rockets — Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green were the ringleaders, with Chris Paul and James Harden claiming they were peacemakers — entered the Clippers' locker room through a secret tunnel, looking to fight. No one got hurt, Ariza and Green got suspensions, and it was probably for the best that the Rockets didn't throw any punches. Based on their playoff performance, they would have missed 27 shots in a row.

When Derek Jeter's ownership group purchased the Miami Marlins from skinflint former owner Jeffrey Loria, the poor beleaguered baseball fans of South Florida were relieved. But their relief disappeared quickly as he started dismantling the team, dealing 2017 MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees and future 2018 MVP Christian Yelich to the Brewers. He also dealt Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis and second baseman/outfielder Dee Gordon to Seattle, thus ensuring the team would have no outfielders whatsoever. And his payroll slashing wasn't relegated to the players; Jeter also fired franchise icons Tony Perez, Andre Dawson, Jeff Conine and Jack McKeon, though he made the outgoing team president do it. He could have at least given them gift baskets. He's also getting rid of the home run sculpture, ensuring that the Marlins will have nothing memorable about them at all.

Trevor Bauer is known for a lot of things. In 2016, he sliced his finger open working on a drone and had to push his starts back in the playoffs. He’s also a well-known supporter of Birtherism and a prominent climate change denier. Despite his feelings about global warming, Bauer certainly melted down in the first round of the baseball playoffs. He gave up a home run to Alex Bregman in a Game 2 relief appearance and was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings in Game 3. The Indians got swept at the hands of the Astros, which should give Bauer an extra few weeks of flying his drone this offseason.

While going up against young phenom Naomi Osaka in the US Open, Serena Williams got into a spat with an overzealous chair umpire. First, the umpire assessed a highly dubious penalty to Williams for receiving coaching then penalized her a point for "racket abuse." Then during a subsequent argument where Williams pleaded her case about the coaching call, the umpire gave her an unprecedented game penalty, making it 5-3 and effectively ending the match. Ramos let the match get out of control, perhaps thinking that the crowd came to see the chair umpire, and ruined what should have been an amazing moment for Osaka, winning her first-ever Grand Slam title. Perhaps her language was sharp, but even John McEnroe agreed that he'd said far worse with no repercussions. So it’s hard not to think that the umpire's decision was influenced by Serena’s gender.

Liverpool's goalkeeper Loris Karius had a Champions League final that he'd like to forget. First, he had an absolute howler when he inexplicably threw the ball directly at Karim Benzema to allow Real Madrid's first goal. Then, a Gareth Bale shot went right through his hands for another goal in a battle of two man-bunned footballers. As a Liverpool player, you never walk alone — unless your manager loans you out to Besiktas, as happened to Karius this fall. He's already had another howler in the Europa League, so he actually might be walking alone now.

Frank Reich, the new coach of the Indianapolis Colts, deserves a lot of credit for opening up the offense and allowing his quarterback, Andrew Luck, to shine. But he made what will likely be the worst NFL coaching decision of the year in an overtime game against the Houston Texans. With 27 seconds left in overtime, the Colts faced a fourth-and-4 from their own 43. The choices were clear: Punt the ball away, pin Houston back in its own territory and walk away with a tie against the strongest team in the division. Or, as the Colts did, go for it on fourth down, even though a first down would still leave the team well out of field-goal range. The Colts failed to convert and the Texans drove down the field for an improbable score and victory, one that could loom large in the AFC South standings.

Bill Belichick is among the greatest NFL coaches of all time, and Tom Brady might be the best quarterback. But you wouldn’t know from watching the Patriots constantly calling for Brady to catch passes. Look, Brady has mastered nearly every aspect of the quarterback position and nearly zero aspects of the wide receiver position. Perhaps Belichick is haunted by the "Philly Special," the play the Eagles ran in the Super Bowl to thwart New England. But whatever the reason, he just can’t help putting 41-year-old Tom Brady into pass patterns, and the results are rarely positive. Please, Bill, just let him throw. Don't make Touchdown Tom run!

By the most generous definition of the term, former Buffalo Bill Nathan Peterman was technically an NFL quarterback. Last year, he started two games, including one in which he threw five interceptions in a single half. Buffalo saw his 38.7 quarterback rating and decided to trade away the team's starter. In 2018, it was more of the same for Peterman, throwing seven interceptions and one touchdown pass in his four games. His quarterback rating dropped to 30, and incredibly his average yards per pass attempt was zero. The Bills would have been better off simply falling down with the ball immediately rather than letting Peterman throw a pass. Mercifully, the Bills released Peterman in mid-November, and he was later trolled by Seinfeld's J. Peterman, who called him "a treasure and a disaster all rolled into one."

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was suspended from coaching his team for three games, for covering up the domestic violence arrest of his assistant coach Zach Smith. Of course, this should have been no surprise to Meyer, who was coaching at Florida when then-graduate assistant Smith shoved his pregnant wife against a wall. Somehow, Meyer is still celebrated as a college football icon despite overseeing a Florida football program full of arrests — he was Aaron Hernandez's college coach — and then hiring coaches like Kevin Wilson, infamous for abusing his players at Indiana. There's simply zero accountability with Meyer. Let's hope the rest of the world recognizes this turkey, but it's just as likely Meyer will sneak into the College Football Playoff yet again.

The world of competitive Irish dog racing was rocked by a scandal in 2017, when champion Clonbrien Hero tested positive for cocaine. There were so many questions for the dog, whose winnings were suspended. Was his trainer responsible? Is cocaine a performance-enhancing drug for dogs? Is Clonbrien Hero going to start wearing a gold chain and slicking his fur back? He returned to racing and continued his winning ways, even getting nominated for Dog of the Year. But there's trouble on the horizon, as the doping investigation has been reopened. What kind of message does this send to impressionable young greyhound puppies? Clonbrien, you're no hero in our book.

Enes Kanter is prone to doing some silly things, like perpetuating a one-sided rivalry with LeBron James, or breaking his arm punching a folding chair. But there is nothing silly about the way that Enes Kanter stood up for his beliefs against an authoritarian dictator. In fact, Kanter became a wanted man by the nation of Turkey simply because he opposed its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Many of the guys on this list are turkeys but not the man who stood up to authoritarianism in Turkey.