Usually what happens is some self-appointed, vocal 'experts' start crying when a team signs a player they don't like because they've read bad things about him on the internet. After that, all it takes is an announcer slamming said player on TV for a bad play or 2 while showing the replay, and voila, whipping boy! If he's pointed out for a bad play in a couple games, BIG whipping boy... and yes, I do speak from experience.