Is Sidney Crosby the Most Hated Athlete in Philadelphia? It’s been an interesting week on the Philly sports front. The Flyers are one game away from sweeping their cross-state rivals from Pittsburgh in what we’ll call an “interesting” series, the Sixers are barely clinging to a playoff spot (as The20’s @GonzoCSN writes), the Phillies are playing too late for many to watch and the Eagles are busy preparing for their just-released 2012 schedule.

But back to Crosby. There’s no debating his incredible talent as one of the best hockey players in the world. But in the past week, he’s gotten under the skin of many Flyers, fans and the NHL by being just a bit of a pain. As so eloquently described by former Flyers defenseman Chris Therien on the Flyers radio broadcast, Crosby was in the middle of — or started — nearly every skirmish that occurred in Game 3.

Today, the front page of the Philadelphia Daily News compares Crosby to the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz (to which Crosby responded Wednesday, “I’ve been called worse”).Even the Flyers are handing out shirts to all fans tonight poking fun at Sidney.

So it got us to wondering…has Crosby passed those other guys we as Philadelphia sports fans love to hate? In basketball, that would be Kobe Bryant, in baseball, David Wright, and in football, Tony Romo and Eli Manning. Is Crosby now public enemy No. 1? (If our informal Facebook poll today is any indication, the answer is yes.)

Weigh in below.

-LD

[@GonzoCSN, CSNPhilly.com, Crossing Broad, Philadelphia Daily News]

Photo: Getty Images