The Texans get almost no national love, but on Saturday, the majority of the country’s football fans will be rooting for Houston’s team.
It has little to do with Brock Osweiler or Jadeveon Clowney and everything to do with the opponent. The New England Patriots have joined the Evil Empire of sports franchises. It’s an elite pantheon that includes polarizing teams and franchises with their share of fans, but an overwhelming number of haters.
The No. 1 attribute these teams possess is winning. Teams like the Patriots and Yankees became known as Evil Empires in part because they win – or in the Yankees’ case, past-tense won – a lot.
To be truly hated, you also must have bandwagon fans in every city that irritate the hell out of the home team’s fans. Hello, Dallas Cowboys.
Browse through the photos above to see the most hated teams in sports.