Listen here DIPSH!T This ain't a debate, it's a question of who's your hero. He's mine. If you have a problem with that BUTT THE FXCK OUT. Who the hell asked you in the first place?
I agree with Ringo, shut your face cam! Heroes: Julio Cesar Chavez-Greatest boxer in the middleweight. Walter Payton-Greatest running back the NFL ever had. Mike Ditka-the man could coach the Fire to a championship! I loved his grit and blue-collar style of coaching. Exemplified what it is to be a Chicago Bear, Jordan-Greatest NBA player of all-time. Sammy Sosa-he's a funny guy! Harry Carry- not exactly a sports legend for playing, but was a great announcer on WGN. I don't like baseball, but Harry made me watch and I sort of become a fan while he was the announcer.
This is interesting, Doc, as it's not like Mac-in-row is from the working class. In fact, remembering his old man's behavior makes me think he (Mac the elder) would've been an ideal candidate for Upper Class Twit of the Year. If we had class distinctions in America, which of course we don't. Back to the topic: Baseball: Jim Sunburg (catcher with the Rangers and the Royals, multiple Gold-Glove winner, and my Little League coach during his college days) NFL: Mike Wagner. Occasional Pro-Bowl safety with the great Steeler teams of the 70s, and my older brother's next door neighbor during their college days.
When I was growing up, my heroes were... NFL - Walter Payton, for all the reasons mentioned before Rugby - Jonathan Davis (Welsh fly half) Tennis - Boris Becker That's about it, outside of soccer.
I think you mean Super Bowl rings. Before there was a Super Bowl their was the NFL championship. I am sure when you add those in both Star and Unitas won more championships than Aikman.
I think it's down to the fact he had a personality to go with the skills, although I can never be sure as he was at his peak around the time I was born. Tim hasn't the 'bottle' to win a major, despite being a pretty skillful player, so slowly but surely people are turning away from him. Almost as many people were cheering on Goran Ivenisavic when he played timid Tim in the semi-finals last year.
No, I meant exactly what I posted. I could have said Super Bowl rings, but the emphasis in my post was on World Championship. The pre-Super Bowl NFL and AFL titles are the equivalent of today's NFC and AFC titles without an additional game to determine a true champ. If we open this discussion to titles from the NFL and AFL (pre-Super Bowl) and their modern-day counterparts (the NFC and AFC), then we start talking about Jim Kelly, Fran Tarkenton, Elway's and Roger Staubach's other rings...you get the picture.
Than you picked the wrong people for your example. It is not their faults that they played most of their careers before the Super Bowl came around. A better example would be Jim Plunket who won 2 super bowls but is no way a hall of fameer. Another thing the NFL championship was the world championship for the longest time the AFL didn't come into existence until the 60's and the teams played a championship. I think the 56 NFl championship game between the Colts and Giants in which the Colts won in the first ever sudden game is considered by many the greatest game ever and the one that put the NFl on the map. Oh, ya Johnny Unitas was the winning QB that day.
There are several ideas being tossed about as to why Plunkett is the only QB with two Super Bowls under center who isn't in the Hall (Aikman will go), but that's for the Politics forum. The Hall of Fame has its issues. Mike Ditka got in as a player before John Mackey. Also- always wanted to know why Montana gets all the ink when Bradshaw had already done all this, in a shorter period of time, while calling his own plays.
Adam Graves: as much as I loved watching him play, it's the type of guy he is off the ice that Ranger fans miss.
NFL Walter Payton Baseball Ryne Sandberg To a boy growing up on the Northside of Chicago in the 70's and 80's there was no one else.
My list is: Linford Christie, the 1992 Olympic 100 metre's final is still one of my all-time favourite. Colin Jackson, greatest 110 metre sprinter ever. David Sole, last Scottish captain to win the Five nations trophy. If Mr.T counts , I'll add him as well.(does a Wrestlemania count as sporting event ?).
Growing up in New England, definately Carl Yastremski. He won the triple crown in 1967 and led the Red Sox to the Impossible Dream that same season. He stayed with the BoSox his entire career and he was always considered a role model. I also liked Carleton Fisk. He is a fellow New Hampshirite and was on the Red Sox when I was a kid before he went to Chitown.
Man, I have to say that of all the 80s cubs, the Hawk stands out in my mind the most...most terrifying baseball player ever, when he'd set those eyes on someone. And built like a damned comicbook superhero. too bad he came a year too late.
1.)Gilbert Perrault and the French connection. Laid the foundation for the sabres. 2.) Patty Lafontaine. 2nd greatest sabre. 3.) Saku Koivu. Its insulting and a crime that fat tennis chick got the comeback espy instead of him. He came back from cancer for Christ's sake!!! What did she come back from? Donuts?
Even though I don't like American Football, you couldn't match the excitment in Buffalo during the Bill's superbowl years (Kelly, Thomas, Reed, Smith)
Damn right about Saku. Capriati came back from a drug problem which she put upon herself. Saku didn't ask for cancer but he bitch slapped it away and led the Habs to one hell of a playoff run. As for Patty LaFontaine, he wasn't a Ranger for long but us Blueshirt fans loved him.
One writer in (I think?) the Trib last year put forth his Holy Trinity of Chicago sports, all three of which fit this category: Michael Jordan, Mike Ditka, and Bobby Hull.
Not the first time something like this happened. Micheal Jordan goes on an ego-induced vacation to play baseball (or to sit out a secret gambling suspension, if you believe the rumors) and he comes back to win it. Mario Lemieux sets out a season fighting cancer.... Yeah, that was fair, too.
When the hell did people start taking Espies seriously? Is my life empty because I don't have an Espy? Is either Lemieux or Koivu any less of a sportsman simply because he wasn't recognized by internet voters?