When Tom Brady announced his retirement (for real this time?) on Feb. 1, I couldn’t help but think about how, honestly, my feelings about the guy had evolved throughout the years. Early in his career, I was at least a bit dismissive of Brady’s success because of the Patriots’ “system.” As a postseason rivalry blossomed with the Ravens, I flatly kind of disliked the guy because it was fun and there was just enough meat on the “deflated football” bone for me to justify not wanting to give him his due.
But as his career continued, my emotions sort of evolved. I felt an amount of respect for the guy. I wouldn’t necessarily admit it out loud, but it was real. It made me think about other Baltimore sports “rivals” throughout the years for whom I either developed or always felt some amount of appreciation. So with that in mind, here are The 15 “Begrudgingly Respected Rivals.”
(Note: you’re not all going to agree with me. I understand that. I tried to reflect the feelings of the collective fan bases, but pleasing everyone is about as likely as Brady definitely not having second thoughts about his retirement between now and the start of the season.)
1. Duke Forward Shane Battier
I know a lot of Maryland fans have grown to respect JJ Redick because of his media persona late in his NBA career and now post-career. I think he’s doing a hell of a job, but I’ll never be able to fully shake my feelings about him. I just never quite hated Battier the same way. He was so much more than a one-trick pony — an excellent defender and rebounder in addition to a solid scorer. He felt less “Dukey” than so many of their star players at the height of the Maryland rivalry.
2. Blue Jays Outfielder José Bautista
This one will definitely bother a number of Orioles fans, but I … actually kind of appreciated some of Bautista’s antics. His 2015 playoff bat flip is one of the most iconic moments in modern baseball history. I loved that it pissed off a certain group of baseball fans who hate the idea of the game being fun.
3. Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick
There is no world in which I’ve grown some sort of fondness for Belichick. But try as we did to discredit him, the Annapolis High School alum just remained so damn inevitable that trying to keep up the hate was futile. He didn’t win you over as much as he wore you down. I’ve been forced to admit my jealousy for his robotic, do-your-job approach to coaching, wishing every coach was as capable of separating emotion as Belichick is.
4. Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady
Again, I know not all of you agree. But it’s fairly similar to Belichick. Try as you might to discredit the guy, all Brady did was win. And the respect he showed to Ed Reed was borderline endearing. I’m not sad to see him go, but I kind of have no choice but to tip my cap.
5. Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow And Wide Receiver Ja’Marr Chase
As much as we enjoyed the postseason downfall of the Bengals, I’ve had to admit a few times that I’m struggling to hate these guys. They’re both damn good players, and other than a couple of questionable fashion choices from Burrow, they’ve mostly come off fairly well. Burrow’s father was even an obsessed Johnny Unitas fan! Eli Apple is easy to hate. Joe Mixon as well. But hating these guys has been much tougher.
6. Titans Running Back Eddie George
As we were reminded in the “Bullies of Baltimore” 30 for 30, the Ravens-Titans rivalry was white hot for a few years in the old AFC Central. There’s something about the respect that Ray Lewis had for George, how good the team’s battles were and how hard of a runner he was.
7. Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski
I’m genuinely not sure I ever disliked the guy at all. He was equal parts “goof” and “great,” and football was just more pleasant overall because he was part of it.
8. Steelers Linebacker James Harrison
Recently, I was trying to explain to a young Ravens fan (my producer Griffin Bass) about how the Ravens drafting Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. would be one of the wildest moments in football history considering his father was perhaps the most hated player in Ravens-Steelers history. “Even more than James Harrison?” Griffin asked, not understanding the history. I paused and thought, “I’m not really sure that we ever particularly hated James Harrison.” We definitely wish he would have never left Baltimore, but damn if he didn’t kind of represent everything we loved about the Ravens-Steelers rivalry — just wearing the wrong colors.
9. Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning
Much like with Brady, this took awhile. When his career began, I simply had no choice but to hate Manning. He wore the stolen colors of my father’s favorite football team. Unless he worked to rewrite the travesty, I was going to hate him. But he was a hell of a player. And damn if I haven’t rewatched the “United Way” sketch from SNL at least 500 times.
10. Red Sox Pitcher Pedro Martinez
David Ortiz is one of the most popular baseball players in recent memory and yet, on behalf of all innocent dugout phones everywhere, most Orioles fans hate the guy. But Pedro Martinez? I’m not sure I know an Orioles fan who particularly hates Pedro Martinez. It probably helps that the Orioles were never competitive during his time in Boston. But it definitely helps that the guy was just a bona fide rock star.
11. Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu
Ravens fans of a certain age probably spent a few hundred hours fighting about why Ed Reed >>>> Troy Polamalu on internet message boards throughout the years. But unlike other great Steelers players who drew significant ire (Ben Roethlisberger and Hines Ward stand out) from Ravens fans, Polamalu was … largely respected. The dude could just flat-out play.
12. Yankees Closer Mariano Rivera
You might notice that Derek Jeter isn’t on this list. I actually think there was a time in his career that Orioles fans kind of r2spected the guy. But as we watched a player whose career WAR was almost the exact same as (checks notes) Bobby Grich get treated like he was somehow baseball’s version of Michael Jordan, it broke us. We really hated how dramatically overrated he was. And naturally we hated other Yankees (like Alex Rodriguez, for obvious reasons). But we just never really singled out Rivera. The dude was nails. We wanted to see him lose, to be certain, but it was never really personal.
13. Duke Forward Kyle Singler
This was probably a bit more personal. I badly wanted to hate Kyle Singler. He was the embodiment of what we hated about Duke basketball. He was an overhyped, weird-looking white kid who in my mind I can see pounding the floor like a dork even though I have no idea if he ever actually did. But unlike other Duke players who fell into this category (see “Randolph, Shavlik” or “Allen, Grayson” or “the current head coach”), Singler had the goods. He was an absolute rock star during the Blue Devils’ run to the 2010 national title, and I simply had no choice but to respect him.
14. Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin
The Steelers have had two head coaches during their rivalry with the Ravens. Most Ravens would describe one of those coaches as “a sniveling prick” and the other as “a hell of a coach.” And that’s despite the latter being the one who tried to trip Jacoby Jones on Thanksgiving. But that dude is, indeed, a hell of a coach. There’s no getting around it.
15. Yankees Outfielder Bernie Williams
You know how little I hated Bernie Williams? When I first thought of the idea for this list, I didn’t even put him on my master list of options because I just don’t think of him as a “hated” rival. He was a good player and a seemingly decent dude who was just employed by the wrong organization.
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