{"id":13611,"date":"2025-05-06T15:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T15:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/13611\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T15:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T15:19:10","slug":"greatest-revenge-games-in-sports-from-mikko-rantanens-game-7-to-brett-favre-to-luka-doncic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/13611\/","title":{"rendered":"Greatest revenge games in sports, from Mikko Rantanen\u2019s Game 7 to Brett Favre to Luka Don\u010di\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sean McIndoe<\/a>, Mike Jones<\/a>, Tyler Kepner<\/a> and Christian Clark<\/a><\/p>\n

We love a good revenge game, don\u2019t we folks?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an irresistible sports trope. A player leaves a team under murky circumstances \u2014 maybe against their will or maybe there\u2019s a footprint on their back as they head out the door \u2014 then, inevitably, they get to face their former team, and they teach them a lesson. And the lesson is: You done messed up.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t always work, but when it does, it\u2019s glorious. And if it comes with frequent shots of an owner or general manager looking miserable, even better.<\/p>\n

We saw a classic example over the weekend in the NHL, with the Dallas Stars\u2019 Mikko Rantanen breaking the hearts of his former team<\/a>, the Colorado Avalanche, in Game 7 of their playoff series. It wasn\u2019t his first game against the Avs \u2014 he\u2019d faced them once in the regular season back in March \u2014 but it was easily the most important meeting and the biggest opportunity for revenge. And let\u2019s just say he delivered.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Rantanen\u2019s performance, we assembled writers from a handful of sports, asking them to share the greatest revenge game they can remember.<\/p>\n

The list is subjective and not meant to be comprehensive. Have your own favorite? Feel free to share the memories in the comments section.<\/p>\n

Mikko Rantanen\u2019s Game 7 versus the Avalanche<\/p>\n

Call it taking the easy answer, or accuse me of recency bias, but I don\u2019t see how the NHL\u2019s answer for \u201cgreatest revenge game in the sport\u201d can be anything but Rantanen absolutely decimating the Avalanche late in Saturday\u2019s Game 7.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the scenario that just played out. Rantanen doesn\u2019t want to leave Colorado and is reportedly willing to take less than market value<\/a> to re-sign. He thinks he is close on a new contract. Then the team shocks him with a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he is unproductive and miserable, at which point he is flipped again to the Stars. Dallas then faces his former team in the best matchup of the first round, but with 15 minutes left in regulation, it looks like the story is going to end with a whimper. Colorado is up 2-0, about to steal Game 7 in Dallas and move on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Rantanen puts together quite possibly the greatest period in NHL postseason history<\/a>, scoring three times and adding an assist as Dallas completes the comeback and wins 4-2. Rantanen ends up leading the series in scoring. He has two four-point periods, something only Mario Lemieux had ever done twice in the playoffs in a career, except Rantanen did it twice in 48 hours. Oh, and he seems to have plunged his former team into a full-fledged existential crisis<\/a> of doubt and loathing.<\/p>\n

I mean, short of flying to Colorado and burning the arena to the ground, then going door to door to punch all their fans in the groin, I\u2019m not sure what else he could have done to drive the point home. I\u2019m going out on a limb, but I feel like the Avalanche might want a do-over here. \u2014 Sean McIndoe<\/p>\n

Brett Favre\u2019s first game against the Packers<\/p>\n

When it comes to revenge games, the NFL has certainly seen its fair share. But none proved more poetic than quarterback Brett Favre\u2019s first game against the Green Bay Packers after 16 legendary seasons as the face of the team.<\/p>\n

After one season with the New York Jets, Favre signed with the Packers\u2019 NFC North rivals, the Minnesota Vikings, in 2009. In Week 4 of the regular season, Favre and the Vikings welcomed the Packers and former Favre understudy Aaron Rodgers to Minneapolis, and No. 4 showed he still had something left in the tank, completing 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-23 victory. For good measure, Favre also bested the Packers in his return to Green Bay in Week 8, throwing four touchdown passes and for 244 yards in a 38-26 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brett Favre comes together with his former understudy, Aaron Rodgers, after a Week 8 Vikings win in 2009. (Jeff Hanisch \/ USA Today)<\/p>\n

Favre wasn\u2019t the only quarterback to exact revenge against his former team. In 1994, Joe Montana made the 49ers pay for turning to Steve Young as their starter. The spurned Montana signed with the Kansas City Chiefs and in his only game against San Francisco passed for 203 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-17 victory.<\/p>\n

And who could forget Tom Brady\u2019s return to New England in 2021 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? A year earlier, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had concluded Brady\u2019s Super Bowl-winning days were behind him and let him leave in free agency. Brady signed with the Bucs and promptly led Tampa Bay that season to a Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, in Week 4 of the 2021 regular season, Brady made his return to Foxboro and directed the Bucs to a 19-17 victory to complete the revenge circle.\u00a0\u2014 Mike Jones<\/p>\n

Roger Clemens sticking it to the Red Sox<\/p>\n

How dominant was Roger Clemens for the Boston Red Sox? When the team let him go after the 1996 season, Clemens was tied for the franchise\u2019s career wins record \u2014 with Cy Young himself.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Blue Jays landed the Rocket with the richest pitching contract in baseball history \u2014 more than $8 million per season \u2014 and Dan Duquette, then the Red Sox GM, wished him well in the \u201ctwilight of his career.\u201d The comment was cutting but reasonable. In his last four seasons with Boston, Clemens made no All-Star teams, collected no votes for the Cy Young Award and went 40-39.<\/p>\n

With Toronto, though, Clemens embarked on a personal crusade to make the Red Sox regret their indifference. He returned to Fenway Park on July 12, 1997, with a revenge statement for the ages: eight innings, one run, no walks \u2014 and 16 strikeouts<\/a>, then a record for a Blue Jays pitcher, in a 3-1 Blue Jays victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came to make a point,\u201d Boston slugger Mo Vaughn said later, \u201cand he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans who had jeered Clemens before the game rose in appreciation after he fanned Vaughn to end the eighth. As he strutted off the mound toward the visitors dugout, Clemens glared at the Red Sox executive suite. His twilight would burn bright, with more Cy Young Awards after leaving Boston (four) than he had won with the Red Sox (three).<\/p>\n

Clemens\u2019 late-career surge would later be tainted by ties to steroids. But with the Yankees in 2003, as he reflected on his career <\/a>while approaching his 300th victory, Clemens still relished the moment he stuck it to Duquette and the Red Sox: \u201cI didn\u2019t need motivation. One guy made a decision. He made a wrong decision. He critiqued the wrong guy.\u201d \u2014 Tyler Kepner<\/p>\n

Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s return to Dallas<\/p>\n

In Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s return to Dallas, tears flowed, and so did the stepback 3s.<\/p>\n

On April 9, the Slovenian superstar got to play at American Airlines Center for the first time since the Dallas Mavericks surprisingly traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers more than two months earlier.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks welcomed Don\u010di\u0107 back with a tribute video that stirred up so much emotion, Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s eyes welled with tears as he sat on the Lakers\u2019 bench and watched it. When the ball finally tipped, Don\u010di\u0107 showed a side of himself that Mavericks fans knew well: the ruthless competitor. He scored 14 points in the first quarter, and he had 31 points by halftime.<\/p>\n

Every time Don\u010di\u0107 touched the ball, Mavericks fans cheered him. And almost every time a Mavericks player shot free throws, those same fans chanted \u201cFire Nico!\u201d Their ire was, of course, directed at Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who initiated the Don\u010di\u0107 trade talks with the Lakers and was watching his former star player\u2019s return from a tunnel near midcourt.<\/p>\n

Don\u010di\u0107 finished with 45 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis, the centerpiece of the package Dallas got back for Don\u010di\u0107, underwhelmed with 13 points. The Lakers beat the Mavericks 112-97, and Don\u010di\u0107 declared afterward that he was ready to turn the page on the trade that had upended his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fans,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said. \u201cI love this city. But it\u2019s time to move on.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Christian Clark<\/p>\n

(Photo: Richard Rodriguez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sean McIndoe, Mike Jones, Tyler Kepner and Christian Clark We love a good revenge game, don\u2019t we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,437,149,436,5496,150,5497,1203,6,9,1106],"class_list":{"0":"post-13611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-colorado-avalanche","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallas-stars","12":"tag-green-bay-packers","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-minnesota-vikings","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114461564578950946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}