PROMO: 10 Teammates Who Could Have Used Marriage Counseling

Image via Complex Original

The new USA Network series Common Law, premiering tomorrow night, centers around two cops, played by Michael Ealy and Warren Kole, who despise each other so much that their captain sends them to couples therapy. Of course, when it comes to sports, everyone not getting along doesn't always spell disaster, and titles have been won by dudes who hated each other.

Nonetheless, harmony is something to strive for, so we herewith present ten pairs of sports stars—players, coaches, and even an owner—whose lives could have been improved by a little time on the couch.

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant

The Big Aristotle and the Black Mamba won three NBA titles together, and Shaq was the Finals MVP each time. Perhaps that's why he famously freestyled that Kobe couldn't win a championship without him, going on to inquire of Kobe, "tell me how my ass taste." Kobe did prove Shaq wrong about the championship thing, winning two more all on his own (or at least without the Diesel), but it's hard to gauge if even that has settled the score. While the two now dismiss their feud, you don't get the sense there's any love lost.

Carlos Zambrano and Derrek Lee

Carlos Zambrano definitely had (and we'll say probably still has) some anger issues. During a 2010 inter-league game against the White Sox, the Cubs pitcher went bananas on his first baseman, Derrek Lee. Zambrano went all UFC in the dugout after an inning in which he gave up four runs; Zambrano was apparently mad that Lee hadn't gone all out on a grounder. And this is when the Cubs were sort of good (for the Cubs).

You have to give Zambrano credit for taking on the 6'5" Lee—maybe there was real beef there. After the incident, who was Zambrano's biggest defender? Naturally, that was then White Sox manager and fellow tempermental nutjob Ozzie Guillen.

Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner

These two classic baseball characters, now both deceased, still loom large over the game, and their rocky professional relationship is the stuff of legends. Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, fired and rehird manager Martin five different times. Somewhere in there, Martin coached the Yankees to the 1977 World Series title. Both of these individuals where defined by their tempers; you would not want to be that therapist.

Don Sutton and Steve Garvey

These dudes disliked each other so much, they wouldn't take a picture together (or, at least, not on this day). These two were teammates when the Dodgers lost the 1977 World Series to Billy Martin's Yankees, but the issues really came out in the 1978 season, when Sutton put Garvey on blast in the Washington Post. Garvey confronted him, the two fought, but apprently there was nothing more than scratches. Well done, gents.

Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards

You might think that the time for two race car drivers who don't like each other to battle it out would be when they're, well, in their cars. But for a moment in 2007, trading paint wasn't enough for Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, and they decided to go hand to hand (on camera, no less). Now, apparently, it's all good, and that time Edwards tried to take Kenseth's head off, and Kenseth tried to make the world believe Edwards was a bi-polar thug is long forgotten.

Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent

Neither of these guys would exactly be labeled "team first," and with what's come out about Bonds since his retirement, should we wonder that he had a little pent up aggression? The two had been trading barbs for some time when everything came to a head in 2002's "Slugout in the Dugout," which was really just a lot of cursing and shoving. After the public incident, Kent admitted that it happened all the time. What did they fight about? Who knows? Maybe who rocked a more awesome 'stache?

Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini

Bill Belichick isn't exactly known for being warm and fuzzy, but he is a winner, and he seems to inspire gratitude from his players and staff. So it came as a shock to the sports world when, in 2007, Eric Mangini, a former assistant on three Super Bowl winning teams coached by Belichick, leaked that Bill would videotape opposing teams in an attempt to decipher signals, which is illegal under NFL rules.

As a result, the Patriots were fined and lost a first round draft pick in 2008. Mangini must have been teased a lot or something—maybe he refused to cut the sleeves off his hoodie, and Bill never let it go. Mangini has since said he wishes he could take "Spygate" back; no comment on the hoodie.

Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson

These two were night and day, with Reggie bringing the flash and Thurman the grind-it-out heart, and they really didn't like each other. Apparently, Thurman wasn't the most open-minded dude, but he had no tolerance for Jackson's showboating (and refusing to run in practice).

Billy Martin also hated Jackson, so it was probably all just Reggie being Reggie. This threeway anger-fest did not stop the Yankees from winning the World Series in 1977, making them easily one of the most successful dysfunctional teams in sports history.

Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens

This one is actually a little bittersweet, since this quarterback-wide receiver relationship had serious promise. Neither T.O. nor Donovan ever played better than when they shared the field during the 2005 season, making it all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV, Owens playing in the game in spite of a serious injury.

After they lost to the Patriots, though, T.O. started trash-talking his quarterback, and the feud escalated until T.O. was suspended and then released by the Eagles. T.O. next went to the Cowboys, making him Tony Romo's problem.

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan

The 1992 Winter Olympics saw several excellent woman figure skaters don the red, white and blue, two of them being bronze-medalist Nancy Kerrigan and fourth place finisher Tonya Harding. Then in January 1994, Tonya's ex-husband and her bodyguard hired a goon to attack Nancy with a police baton. Whoops.

The thug just missed taking out Kerrigan's knee, but she had to back out of an upcoming competition that Harding then won, qualifying her for the 1994 Olympics, where she would once again be teammates with Kerrigan. While Harding maintained that she had nothing to do with the attack, it's safe to say that was a tense locker room.