The 15 Most Anticipated Revenge Games in Recent Sports History

On Saturday night, Lane Kiffin will return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium less than a year after abruptly leaving Ole Miss for LSU amid College Football Playoff preparations.

The Oxford police are calling in reinforcements from neighboring states in preparation for the hostile environment awaiting one of the most anticipated revenge games in recent sports history.

But is it No. 1 on that list? Not even close.

In honor of Kiffin's return to Ole Miss, we've taken a stroll through the last quarter-century to find the 15 most anticipated revenge matchups across all sports.

The focus here was the anticipation, not necessarily the vitriol or the in-game performance. Tom Brady suiting up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Foxborough drew as many cheers as boos, but it was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated in recent years.

Jack Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, spent six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. He tallied 337 points in 354 games over his first five full seasons and looked like a franchise cornerstone, as evidenced by his being a team captain in each of his final three years in Buffalo.

However, the relationship between team and player soured when Eichel suffered a herniated disc in his neck in March 2021. The Sabres recommended fusion surgery, while he preferred disc replacement. When neither side budged, he was stripped of his captaincy after failing his physical and was placed on injured reserve before eventually being traded to Las Vegas.

His return to KeyBank Center drew a chorus of boos, but his postgame comments are what earned this one a spot on the list.

"It was the loudest I've heard this place ever," Eichel told reporters . "Really. It only took seven years and me leaving for them to get into the game. ... They must just [have been] booing because they wish I was still here."

Kawhi Leonard steadily climbed from being a role player on an established contender to the best player on the Spurs roster during his seven seasons in San Antonio, winning the 2014 Finals MVP and two Defensive Player of the Year awards.

However, he played only nine games during the 2017-18 season because of a mysterious right quad tendon injury. He was cleared to play by the team doctors, but his own camp disagreed and he stayed out of action, creating a fracture between Leonard and the organization.

He was shipped to the Raptors that summer in exchange for a package built around DeMar DeRozan. His return to San Antonio brought chants of "traitor!" and "quitter!" while the Raptors lost in a 125-107 blowout. The icing on the cake was DeRozan recording his first career triple-double in the game.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez might have been the stars of the 2004 Boston Red Sox squad that broke the Curse of the Bambino, but Johnny Damon was the face of that team and the unofficial leader of the self-proclaimed "Idiots" that endeared that franchise to the city.

When he reached free agency after the 2005 season, he publicly stated that the New York Yankees were the one team he would not sign with. He made it clear he would love a reunion with the Red Sox. However, a four-year, $52 million deal from Boston's bitter rivals was enough to change his mind.

The hero-to-villain turn was swift. Damon showed up at Fenway Park for his return in May, looking like a different person, with his signature long hair and beard trimmed to meet the Yankees' team policy.

Signs calling him "Judas Damon" littered the stands. The rivalry hop still stands as one of the biggest betrayals in Boston sports history.

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Saquon Barkley burst onto the scene to win 2018 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. The next five years brought ups and downs, including a torn ACL and some terrible Giants teams in general, but he still tallied 7,311 all-purpose yards and 47 touchdowns across his six seasons in New York.

After Barkley played the 2023 season on a franchise tag and logged 962 rushing yards in 14 games, the Giants opted to let him test the free-agent market without a standing offer. Fans got to watch his departure firsthand on HBO's Hard Knocks: Offseason .

He ended up landing with the rival Philadelphia Eagles on a three-year, $37.75 million deal, as the jersey burning was underway . Boos rained down in his return to New York. He torched the Giants for 176 yards and a touchdown on his way to a 2,005-yard rushing season and Offensive Player of the Year honors.

"It's kind of hard not to hear that," he told reporters after the game. "I think I kind of, I didn't help myself when I said earlier in the week, I didn't think I was going to get booed, but they're booing for a reason. It's a compliment at the end of the day. That's how I took it."

Alex Rodriguez spent the first seven seasons of his career in Seattle. He reached free agency for the first time coming off an age-24 season in which he logged an AL-leading 10.4 WAR.

Rodriquez's departure from the Mariners seemed likely, but the narrative shifted when his publicly declared desire to play for a contender was undermined by him signing a massive 10-year, $252 million deal with a Texas Rangers team coming off a 91-loss season.

The "Pay-Rod" moniker was born. On his return to Safeco Field, fans showered the field with boos and Monopoly money to further drive the point home.

Rodriguez slugged an AL-leading 52 home runs in his Rangers debut in 2001, while the Mariners won a franchise-record 116 games in their first year without him.

"If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here." That's what Kyrie Irving told a Boston crowd at a fan event outside TD Garden on Oct. 4, 2018. But after an ugly 2018-19 season where team chemistry eroded with Irving at the center of the splintering, he signed a four-year, $141 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets.

Celtics fans didn't forget that promise. They didn't forget his sage-burning stunt in his first preseason game back in Boston in December 2020, either.

They held onto their resentment and vitriol until his first trip back to TD Garden in front of a full-sized, post-COVID crowd during the first round of the 2021 playoffs.

Constant boos and chants of "Kyrie sucks!" filled the stadium throughout Game 3. It was far from a one-off night of anger, though.

In Game 4, he intentionally stomped on the Celtics logo at mid-court. He also flipped off the crowd behind his back when the boos continued the following year.

Not surprisingly, the boos continue each time he steps onto the floor in Boston.

Ole Miss was coming off a 4-8 season and four straight years without a bowl appearance when Lane Kiffin took over as head coach after a three-year stint at Florida Atlantic. By his second year, he had built them into a 10-win team.

In 2025, he had them sitting at 11-1 and preparing for a College Football Playoff run when he shocked the college football world by packing up and accepting a massive contract from SEC rival LSU. The Rebels were left to navigate the CFP under interim coach Pete Golding, though they managed to win two games to advance to the semifinals.

With Oxford PD deploying its 150-person force alongside out-of-state mounted patrol units from Mobile and New Orleans, the environment at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday is expected to be intense. The fact that it will be No. 7 LSU vs. No. 8 Ole Miss only further fans the flames in what is expected to be one of the defining games of the 2026 season.

8. Shaquille O'Neal vs. Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers built a dynasty around Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, but the two superstars could no longer coexist during a contentious 2003-04 season that ended in a surprising loss to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals.

Faced with a choice, the Lakers shipped O'Neal to the Miami Heat in exchange for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first-round pick. The NBA schedule-makers jumped at the opportunity to put Shaq's first return to L.A. front and center on Christmas Day.

An icy pregame greeting between Shaq and Kobe Bryant helped set the tone. The game was a thriller, with Bryant dropping 42 points as the Heat escaped with a 104-102 overtime win.

The crowd provided a mix of cheers and boos upon Shaq's return, as the page was turned on a legendary era of Lakers history.

John Tavares spent nine seasons with the Islanders, delivering on the expectations of being the No. 1 overall pick in 2009 to develop into the face of the franchise. He spent five seasons as team captain and scored 621 points in his time with the organization.

He repeatedly assured the Islanders that he wanted to stay with them, only to turn around and sign a seven-year, $77 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency. To make matters worse, he celebrated the signing by tweeting a picture of himself as a child sleeping under a Maple Leafs bedspread with the caption: "Not every day you can live a childhood dream."

The fans were merciless in his return to Nassau Coliseum, burning his jerseys in the parking lot, hurling plastic snakes at him during warmups and drowning out a video tribute with boos. The peak of the night came during the third period, when chants of "It's your bedtime!" and "Where's your jammies?" helped close out a 6-1 Islanders rout.

6. Terrell Owens vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Terrell Owens could do no wrong in his first season with the Eagles in 2004, hauling in 77 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns to transform the offense. He then returned from a fractured fibula to play in the Super Bowl, where he had nine receptions for 122 yards.

With the first season of his seven-year, $49 million contract in the books, T.O. then torpedoed all of that goodwill by demanding his contract be renegotiated . Public criticism of quarterback Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia organization led head coach Andy Reid to suspend him indefinitely . The chaos reached its peak with his iconic driveway interview , where he did shirtless sit-ups for reporters.

The Eagles ended up cutting ties with Owens by releasing him in March 2006 . He twisted the knife further by signing a three-year, $25 million contract with the rival Dallas Cowboys.

When he returned to Philadelphia in October, the crowd provided exactly what you would expect from a Philly crowd. Owens was held to three catches for 45 yards while allowing an interception on a pass that deflected off his hands in a 38-24 Eagles win.

Brett Favre spent 16 seasons with the Packers before a tearful retirement following the 2007 season. But when he changed his mind a few months later and wanted to return to Green Bay, his job was no longer waiting for him. Aaron Rodgers was firmly entrenched as the new starting quarterback.

A standoff ensued, with Packers general manager Ted Thompson offering Favre a $20 million marketing contract to stay retired, but he refused and was eventually traded to the New York Jets. His late-career narrative then took an even more surprising turn when he inked a two-year, $25 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings the following offseason, joining a longtime rival.

Favre threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 4 victory over the Packers in Minnesota, but the true revenge game moment came in Week 8 when he returned to Lambeau Field. The beloved franchise quarterback was booed relentlessly, while " Traitor 4-Ever " shirts lined the stands, but he responded with 244 yards and four touchdown passes in a 38-26 win.

4. Kevin Durant vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

A homegrown superstar who helped usher in the franchise's move from Seattle to Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant was as beloved by his city as any athlete in recent memory during his time with the Thunder.

Playing alongside Russell Westbrook, he led the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals in 2016, building a 3-1 lead against a 73-win Warriors team before suffering three heartbreaking losses in a row. Rather than running it back with a legitimate contender in OKC, he jumped ship and joined that very same Warriors team in free agency that summer, inking a two-year, $54.3 million max contract.

He was jeered as a "cupcake" by fans on his return, a nod to an Instagram post from Westbrook after Durant's departure and former teammate Kendrick Perkins' preferred term for a player he deemed soft.

The boos erupted throughout warmups and every time Durant touched the ball. Things got particularly heated when he and Westbrook yelled back and forth at one another during a third-quarter timeout.

In the end, Durant was largely unfazed. He dropped 34 points in a 130-114 Warriors victory.

"When Figo jogged across to take a corner in the 72nd minute, debris rained down. Among the coins and bottles settled a suckling pig's head, a cochinillo. The game was delayed for 12 minutes as referee Luis Medina Cantalejo and his assistants tried to restore order."

That's just a snapshot of the scene, courtesy of Sky Sports , when Luis Figo returned to Camp Nou for what was actually his second match back in front of the Barcelona fans following his surprising move to join rival Real Madrid.

His transfer stemmed from an agreement his agent had signed with Real Madrid presidential candidate Florentino Pérez, who made signing Figo a centerpiece of his campaign. Pérez was not expected to win, but when he did, backing out of the agreement would have triggered a massive financial penalty. He ultimately departed for Real Madrid with a then-record buyout clause of roughly $56 million.

The crowd noise was deafening at his first match back in 2000, but the pig's head two years later marked the climax of what still stands as one of the biggest betrayals in sports history.

After 20 seasons, six Super Bowl titles, four Super Bowl MVP awards and three league MVP awards in New England, Tom Brady hit the free-agent market in 2020 after growing tension with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick over roster construction, his contract situation and a lack of offensive weapons led to an eventual split.

Brady inked a fully guaranteed two-year, $50 million contract with the Buccaneers and immediately led them to a Super Bowl title, throwing for 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns in his age-43 season.

The following year, he retu rned to Gillette Stadium in Week 4 on Sunday Night Football. The crowd cheered him as he took the field for warmups but booed him on Tampa Bay's opening drive. A fair divide between legacy and fandom.

To add to the highly anticipated game, Brady overtook Drew Brees as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards midway through the game. Despite not throwing a touchdown pass, Brady came away with a 19-17 victory.

LeBron James completely reshaped Cleveland's sports landscape when the Cavaliers selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft. He led them to the 2007 NBA Finals and earned two MVP awards in his first seven seasons with the team.

His first trip to free agency was one of the biggest storylines in recent sports history. He turned it into a media circus with "The Decision," which is when he announced live on ESPN that he would be "taking his talents to South Beach" and joining the Heat.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert published an infamous letter in response, referring to the move as a " cowardly betrayal " and galvanizing the city against its former hero.

The venom in the stands for his return to Quicken Loans Arena was on another level. He responded by torching the Cavs for 38 points on 15-of-25 shooting over three quarters as the Heat won 118-90.

LeBron eventually returned to the Cavs in 2014 and delivered a title two years later. But immediately following his departure, there was not a more hated man in the state of Ohio.