Roger that! He was my most-hated athlete when I was 10

ESPN posed a question on its @SportsCenter Twitter account on Wednesday morning that made me think.

“What athlete did you despise when you were 10 years old?” the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network queried its followers.

My mind raced?

Ten.

The year was 1976 and my sports passions were forming bonds that would last forever.

The Boston Red Sox. The Minnesota Vikings. The Philadelphia 76ers. The Boston Bruins.

Who did I hate the most at that age?

Line up the athletes. There must have been a lot, right?

I started with the much-despised New York Yankees.

I Googled their 1976 roster and went down the list, waiting for my blood to boil as the historic hatred rose to the levels I had when I was 10.

Ron Guidry. Catfish Hunter. Sparky Lyle. Doyle Alexander. Thurman Munson. Chris Chambliss. Graig Nettles. Lou Piniella. Micky Rivers. Roy White.

Sure, I wasn’t a fan of any of them but as I read the list and remembered their names, I was left more with a reflection on what the rivalry meant to me growing up when baseball meant everything to me.

More than religion.

More than food.

More than girls.

I didn’t hate nary a one of them, I realized.

In fact, if anything, I pined for the feeling I had for the game in 1976; at least, as compared to 2020.

It was the morning after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays played Game 1 of the World Series, but I’ve found myself growing away from professional sports.

So who did I hate when I was 10?

Like a blind-side linebacker hit, the answer came at me almost immediately.

Now starting for the Dallas Cowboys, at quarterback, out of Navy, No. 12 … Roger Staubach.

Oh how I hated Roger Staubach when I was 10 years old.

Sure, he was an American hero who served four years of duty, including in Vietnam, after his college football days were over and before he joined the National Football League.

But he was the thorn in the proverbial side of my Minnesota Vikings and, yes, I hated him when I was 10.

With a passion.

I dare say I hated the Cowboys more than I hated the Yankees back then.

Though it was really close.

If anything, the reason I hated Dallas back when was because they truly were America’s team and they would be on television every single week.

They like to keep that nickname, but let’s face it … the Cowboys are nothing but a middling NFL team right now playing in a gorgeous stadium owned by a filthy-rich, invasive owner.

They’re nothing like the Death Star Cowboys of the 1970s.

My hatred for Staubach and the Cowboys reached its peak in 1975 during an NFL playoff game in Minnesota.

The Vikings led 14-10 with 32 seconds to play, but the Cowboys had the fall just inside their half of the 50-yard line.

Staubach was in the shot gun and sent a receiver named Drew Pearson long and deep.

There was a snap, a fake and then a deep throw toward the right end of the end zone.

The Vikings defense was there, all over Pearson, who caught the ball on his left hip and twisted into the end zone.

Touchdown, Dallas.

Asked after the game about the play, Staubach said he threw the ball “and said a Hail Mary.”

Thus a new football term was born, one we are stuck with even today.

The Vikings and their fans (read: me) were left heartbroken.

The Vikings would do that a lot to me back in the day, going oh-for-four in Super Bowls.

But, being a Red Sox fan, I was used to that.

So, yes, I can say with little to no doubt that in 1976 when I was but a 10-year-old boy, Roger Staubach was my most-hated athlete.

Rob Adams at Exit 55? The ball is in your court.

ESPN wants to know.

And so do I.