The heartbreaker: when Michael Jordan was winning championships, he gave opposing fans the easiest reason to hate him: he was good.

In his first two NBA incarnations with the Bulls, Michael Jordan was, at once, the most adored and reviled athlete in the history of pro sports. That was his reward for winning six championships in the 1990s. His ineptitude in baseball during the first of two retirements was of little solace to the basketball fans he tortured. Jordan hit enough game-winning shots to be an enemy in virtually every NBA city. We've narrowed it down to three. But it's not just fans who loved to hate Jordan. He made plenty of enemies on the court, too.

CITIES

1. NEW YORK. Jordan's Bulls were 39-14 against the Knicks in the regular season--the then-hapless Bucks were the only team he beat more--but his dominance didn't end there. He stopped the Knicks in the playoffs in 1989, '91, '92, '93 and '96, posting a 5-0 series record against them. More than in any other city, New York set aside its admiration for Jordan long enough to root against him.

2. Cleveland. Back when Cleveland cared about the Cavaliers, Jordan tormented Cavs fans. He scored 42 or more points 17 times against Cleveland, including his career-high 69-point game in 1990. The basket he defeated the Cavaliers with in the first round of the 1989 playoffs--one of four playoff series in which be vanquished the Cavs--is known as "The Shot." What Jordan was known as in Cleveland in the early 1990s is unprintable.

* Salt Lake City. Jordan's titles ran through the Lakers, Suns and Sonics before he won two--his last two--against Utah. As Jordan got older, there was reason to believe he and the Bulls could be had, which made losing to him even harder for Jazz fans.

PLAYERS

1. Bryon Russell. Imagine if your entire career was summed up in a mere snapshot of someone else's. That's Russell's fate. Nobody remembers Jordan's push-off before hitting the championship-winning shot in 1998, though everybody--save the ref whose job it was to call it--saw it.