Who are your Top 5 Despicable B.C. Lions Players?
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:35 pm
In light of David's popular thread about Top 5 Favourite B.C. Lions as well as the other thread about Top 5 Canadian B.C. Lions, I'm going to add a twist with an admittedly more controversial topic. If you had to list the Top 5 most despised B.C. Lions players, who would that be?
I request that you comply with these two requirements:
#1.
Please list PLAYERS only and not head or assistant coaches, managers, owners, and other executives. You can create another thread for that. If that person served both as a player and then afterwards a staff member for the BC Lions, please just think of his time as a player. A very likely person who would be listed would be Jacques Chapdelaine given all the criticisms he received as the Lions offensive coordinator, but please do not list him as such. But if you want to judge him during his 1983-84 stint as a player, then by all means you can do so.
#2.
Obviously the word DESPISE is a very strong word to use, so please be serious about it and don't list those who you only have mixed feelings for or who obviously had some good contributions for the Lions as well. As a great example, I know many of you find Damon Allen as very unpredictable and frustrating sometimes, but to despise him would obviously be way too strong of a word and an obvious overstatement given the fact the he certainly had some noticeable positive aspects as hall of famer. Likewise, despite Doug Flutie leaving the team because of money or Matt Dunigan's ill-fated interception and request for a trade, I've never heard Lions fans despising them.
I guess every person as their own criteria of what it takes to despise someone. For me, it's those who while relatively good performance wise had serious disciplinary issues, or those who certainly had a lot of potential and were given a fair opportunity to do well, but kept blowing their chance again and again.
#1 - #3.
Larry "Slick" Willis, Doug "Tank" Landry, and Mark Gastineau
In the extremely disorganized 1990 season, Willis and Landry were brought into the team to improve both offence and defence and they did relatively well with their previous teams (Stampeders, Argonauts). But as Lions, they were only mediocre on the field but worse, were considered huge troublemakers in the locker room and upon the replace of Joe Kapp by Bob O'Billovich as General Manager, he immediately released those two. Defensive End Mark Gastineau was one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers as a NY Jet and twice led the NFL as the sacks leader. The Lions gave him an opportunity to continue his professional football career by giving him a generous two year contract and he wasn't too old at age 33, still had a few years left. But he become so undisciplined in that the season opener, he was ejected at half-time after a brawl, and survived only 4 games before being released.
#4.
Duncan O'Mahony
After being released by the Stampeders, the Lions gave him a chance to improve his kicking while he was relatively young. But the improvement never materialized and he had to be replaced by older Mark McLoughlin and eventually older Paul McCallum.
#5.
Andre Ware
Andre Ware and Doug Flutie had a lot of similarities with regards to their college and early pro-football opportunities in that both were Heisman Trophy winners who couldn't secure a long-term starting QB position in America. So the BC Lions approached them and gave them a huge opportunity to jumpstart their professional careers. Flutie immediately took that opportunity and worked very hard to establish into one of the CFL greats. But for Andre Ware who certainly had the potential to adjust to become very well too when he was given the starting QB job for the Lions in 1996. But after a handful of games, it was soon apparent that he was not good enough to be a starter and was released in favour of Damon Allen.
Honourable mentions:
Casey Printers after his last game as a Lion.
Steve Muhammad won 1998 outstanding rookie but quickly bolted and allegedly beat his wife.
As a bonus - the most despised non-Lion CFL player - Angelo Mosca because of his hit on Willie Fleming in the 1963 Grey Cup. I'm sure Joe Kapp would agree with me as he clearly has hard feelings between the two in 2011.
I request that you comply with these two requirements:
#1.
Please list PLAYERS only and not head or assistant coaches, managers, owners, and other executives. You can create another thread for that. If that person served both as a player and then afterwards a staff member for the BC Lions, please just think of his time as a player. A very likely person who would be listed would be Jacques Chapdelaine given all the criticisms he received as the Lions offensive coordinator, but please do not list him as such. But if you want to judge him during his 1983-84 stint as a player, then by all means you can do so.
#2.
Obviously the word DESPISE is a very strong word to use, so please be serious about it and don't list those who you only have mixed feelings for or who obviously had some good contributions for the Lions as well. As a great example, I know many of you find Damon Allen as very unpredictable and frustrating sometimes, but to despise him would obviously be way too strong of a word and an obvious overstatement given the fact the he certainly had some noticeable positive aspects as hall of famer. Likewise, despite Doug Flutie leaving the team because of money or Matt Dunigan's ill-fated interception and request for a trade, I've never heard Lions fans despising them.
I guess every person as their own criteria of what it takes to despise someone. For me, it's those who while relatively good performance wise had serious disciplinary issues, or those who certainly had a lot of potential and were given a fair opportunity to do well, but kept blowing their chance again and again.
#1 - #3.
Larry "Slick" Willis, Doug "Tank" Landry, and Mark Gastineau
In the extremely disorganized 1990 season, Willis and Landry were brought into the team to improve both offence and defence and they did relatively well with their previous teams (Stampeders, Argonauts). But as Lions, they were only mediocre on the field but worse, were considered huge troublemakers in the locker room and upon the replace of Joe Kapp by Bob O'Billovich as General Manager, he immediately released those two. Defensive End Mark Gastineau was one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers as a NY Jet and twice led the NFL as the sacks leader. The Lions gave him an opportunity to continue his professional football career by giving him a generous two year contract and he wasn't too old at age 33, still had a few years left. But he become so undisciplined in that the season opener, he was ejected at half-time after a brawl, and survived only 4 games before being released.
#4.
Duncan O'Mahony
After being released by the Stampeders, the Lions gave him a chance to improve his kicking while he was relatively young. But the improvement never materialized and he had to be replaced by older Mark McLoughlin and eventually older Paul McCallum.
#5.
Andre Ware
Andre Ware and Doug Flutie had a lot of similarities with regards to their college and early pro-football opportunities in that both were Heisman Trophy winners who couldn't secure a long-term starting QB position in America. So the BC Lions approached them and gave them a huge opportunity to jumpstart their professional careers. Flutie immediately took that opportunity and worked very hard to establish into one of the CFL greats. But for Andre Ware who certainly had the potential to adjust to become very well too when he was given the starting QB job for the Lions in 1996. But after a handful of games, it was soon apparent that he was not good enough to be a starter and was released in favour of Damon Allen.
Honourable mentions:
Casey Printers after his last game as a Lion.
Steve Muhammad won 1998 outstanding rookie but quickly bolted and allegedly beat his wife.
As a bonus - the most despised non-Lion CFL player - Angelo Mosca because of his hit on Willie Fleming in the 1963 Grey Cup. I'm sure Joe Kapp would agree with me as he clearly has hard feelings between the two in 2011.