When most people think of the biggest team of scumbags in sports history, they automatically think of the early 2000s Portland Trail Blazers. That’s a bit unfair, however. The Jail Blazers had some terrible human beings in the form of Ruben Patterson and Qyntel Woods, but most of the team’s issues were a byproduct of young men with money doing stupid things. Plus, no one cares about weed today.
With the benefit of hindsight, the 1997 Green Bay Packers were the biggest team of scumbags in sports history. And really, they win the title going away. The most notable difference between this squad and the Jail Blazers is that Portland owned who they were. They were authentic.
On the other hand, Green Bay had a deep and diverse roster of scumbags in 1997 who pretended to be good, god fearing men until they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Possible statutory rapist? Check. Normal rapist? Absolutely. A grandfather sending dick pics? You know it. An allegedly devout Christian who tried to cover gambling debts by bouncing checks? Come on down.
Of course, it does need to be mentioned that not of all this took place in 1997. In fact, most of this happened afterwards, but once a scumbag, always a scumbag. Given that the season occurred prior to the internet age, who really knows what the Packers were getting into at this time? There had to have been some massively unsavory things going down considering who was involved even if it wasn’t reported.
Without further ado, here is your 1997 Green Bay Packers: the deepest, most complete roster of scumbags to ever lace ’em up.
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The biggest team of scumbags in sports history
Darren Sharper
Darren Sharper is without a doubt team captain. The safety was a rookie in 1997 and clearly his time in Green Bay helped mold him into the raging scumbag he would become. Sharper was convicted of drugging and raping nine women over several years in multiple states but the judge in one of the cases estimates the total number of victims to be at least 16. He is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence.
Mark Chmura
Mark Chmura was forced to retire from football in 1999 and didn’t know what to do with himself. In April 2000, he ended up at a prom afterparty attended by his former babysitter. So far, so good.
He was accused of leading her into a bathroom and raping her while they were both drunk but was acquitted of the charges. That being said, no one contests the fact that he was drunk at the party and took a 17-year-old into the bathroom after hanging out with some kids in a hot tub.
Look, we were all relieved that nothing bad happened in the aftermath of Y2K, but that doesn’t make what Chmura did acceptable. These are the actions of a scumbag, acquittal or no.
Brett Favre
Being the face of Wrangler Jeans is enough to make you a scumbag, but Brett Favre has managed to top that on multiple occasions. There was the infamous sexting scandal where an almost 40-year-old dude was sending pictures of his junk to a New York Jets employee. More recently, Favre was forced to return more than $1 million to the state of Mississippi after it was found he was paid for speeches he didn’t give in venues he was never at. Worst of all, the cash came from the state welfare fund.
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Reggie White
Reggie White was a crappy person and without question a massive scumbag. He was an ordained minister as well as a huge homophobe and racist. His moment of glory cam when he appeared before the Wisconsin state legislature to talk about a community projects and instead went on this outlandish diatribe:
“When you look at the black race, black people are very gifted in what we call worship and celebration. A lot of us like to dance, and if you go to black churches, you see people jumping up and down, because they really get into it. White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world. Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home. They were gifted in the family structure. When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They’re very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.”
Somehow, it gets worse. In the same speech, he called homosexuality one of the world’s biggest sins. White was also featured as part of an anti-gay ad campaign that was published in the Washington Post. Homosexual recruitment in public schools, homosexual activists creating laws to mandate acceptance of homosexual behavior and the non-genetic roots of homosexuality were among the wild claims White tried to promote under the guise of free speech.
Wait, we’re not even done with White. The defensive end also pulled a Scott’s Tots nearly six years before that episode of The Office aired. Reggie White is right up there with Ty Cobb in the running for the biggest scumbag athlete of all-time.
Eugene Robinson
Good ol’ Eugene Robinson. The following season, after signing with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent, the safety was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer…the night before a game.
Sorry, make that the night before Super Bowl XXXIII.
Apologies once more, make that the night before Super Bowl XXXIII after attending a ceremony where he was presented with an award that honors the NFL player who exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home and community.
Here’s the deal, there is no way in hell that was the first time Robinson picked up a hooker. Not by a longshot. If you’re that confident to do it in between receiving an award for outstanding character and the Super Bowl, you basically have to be doing it all the time. He was probably raw dogging prostitutes throughout 1997 with the Green Bay Packers.
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Ross Verba
Offensive tackle Ross Verba came into the NFL as a bible-loving Christian and by the end of his career, he was slumming it up with Paris Hilton and Tara Reid. Things would only get worse for Verba from there. He was arrested for writing bad checks to cover a $50,000 debt at the Wynn Casino in 2007. It doesn’t get any scummier than bouncing checks to cover a massive gambling tab.
The story doesn’t end here, though. Verba went down the street and around the corner to the Palms Hotel to do the exact same thing. He racked up huge gambling debts and then penned more bad checks to cover them. As you would expect, he was arrested again.
Verba does deserve some credit for targeting the Palms. A casino run by the idiot Maloof brothers was the only place in Las Vegas dumb enough to not only take bets from the former Packer but then let him settle by check after his escapades at the Wynn.
Antonio Freeman
While relatively minor, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman was placed on probation for a year after pleading no contest to lying to police about a traffic accident. Freeman drove over a curb and hit a light pole in front of a restaurant before telling officers someone else was driving the vehicle.
As you would expect with the accident happening in front of a restaurant, plenty of people saw Freeman driving and told police. While this is small potatoes compared to some of his teammates, it’s scumbagery nonetheless.
Santana Dotson
You can’t have a team of scumbags without one DUI/OWI player. I can’t believe the cops actually arrested Dotson when all he had to drink was just a sheriff’s office.
Craig Newsome
Craig Newsome was popped for using a false drug prescription to obtain painkillers in 2000, a classic scumbag move if there ever was one. By his own accounts, he was submitting fake prescriptions to score painkillers all the time back then before getting cleaned up.
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