Kansas City Sports: Most Despised Athletes to Kansas City Fans
MOST DESPISED ATHLETES IN KC – NUMBER 8: ERIC WINSTON
Though his tenure in Kansas City was short, Eric Winston will be remembered by Chiefs fans for all of the wrong reasons. The offensive lineman was signed by the Chiefs for the 2012 season and well… It didn’t go too smoothly.
As we all remember, the 2012 season was a rough one. The Chiefs were the laughing stock of the league that year (yes, even the Browns beat up on them that year) and ended the season with the worst record in football. It wasn’t a fun season for anyone in Kansas City.
I understood Winston’s frustrations, but calling out a fan base is never a good idea.
Winston didn’t help the situation though and has gone down in history as one of the least liked athletes in Kansas City.
Here’s the backstory:
The Chiefs were 1-3 heading into a week five match-up against the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead. It was no secret that Matt Cassel had been playing poorly in the team’s first four games and fans were about fed up with number seven for good. He was struggling mightily in this game against the Ravens, throwing two interceptions and losing one fumble.
While casual fans won’t remember who Eric Winston is, diehard fans sure do.
In the fourth quarter, Cassel was injured on a play and laid on his back for several minutes. Fans in the stands began to cheer. As expected, the national media jumped on this story.
Winston made things worse when he bashed the fan base and called their actions “sickening”. Here’s part of his infamous speech directed at Chiefs fans, courtesy of ESPN.com from 2012,
"“It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve never, ever — and I’ve been in some rough times on some rough teams — I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than at that moment right there. I get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn’t done anything to you people. “Hey, if he’s not the best quarterback, he’s not the best quarterback, and that’s OK, but he’s a person,” Winston continued, the big offensive lineman’s voice slowly rising. “And he got knocked out in a game and we’ve got 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out.”"
I understood Winston’s frustrations, but calling out a fan base is never a good idea. He was booed in every home game after this speech and needless to say, did not return to Kansas City the following year.
While casual fans won’t remember who Eric Winston is, diehard fans sure do and they’ll likely never forgive him for those remarks he made in October 2012.