Most Memorable Athletes of My Lifetime by Number

By Danny Boyce

 

There are a lot of these types of lists going on, so I figured I would contribute mine.  My caveats:

 

1. They have to have played a considerable amount of time while I was alive and at least a bit while I was aware of the outside world. Emphasis on the “I” part of it.  In other words, Jim Brown played his last game about six years before my parents met.  He’s out.  Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski both played their last games when I was six years old.  Girls were still icky at that age.  They’re out.  Get it? Good.
2. All sports matter – Baseball, NASCAR, Formula I, Indy Car, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer, name it. If I miss one in your opinion (for argument’s sake, use 1985 and later as your reference) let me know.
3. “Memorable” does not necessarily mean “Good”.
4. I’m going from numbers 0 through 99 (including 00).
5. It’s just my list, and has much more to do with memorable as best.

 

Number 00

The Winner:  Robert Parrish

The Chief was the first truly plain faced star I remember.  Dunk on him?  No emotional reaction.  Cheap shot foul?  No emotional reaction.  Murder his family right in front of him?  No emotional reaction.  Though his greatest moment was an emotional reaction.  In Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals Bill Laimbeer had worn out his welcome in Boston.  Shortly before the half he pushed Parrish too far.  He flat out clocked Laimbeer.  Whistles blew.  Officials stepped in.  Somehow, some way, Parrish was not ejected.  If I remember correctly he wasn’t even charged with a foul.  He was suspended for Game 6, though.  Simply amazing.

 

Honorable Mentions:  None.  Do you remember anyone else wearing 00?

 

Number 0

The Winner:  Russell Westbrook

Westbrook’s quest for matching Oscar Robertson’s feat of averaging a triple double for a season was about as polarizing a season as any player has had in recent memory.  For old school basketball fans he was a numbers hound.  For the modern kids this was something they had never seen before and was truly incredible.  Westbrook clearly felt that after Durant left for the Bay Area he had to carry the load by himself.  In any event, he did win the MVP.

 

Honorable Mention:  Al Oliver was a solid line drive hitter whose final moment for us to witness was unfortunately of him fuming in the dugout after being pinch hit for while Dan Quisenberry finished off the Blue Jays in the 1985 ALCS.

 

Number 1

The Winner:  Ozzie Smith

The Wizard won 13 Gold Gloves in his amazing career, finished second in the 1987 NL MVP voting, won over a few casual fans by doing back flips on his way to short during All-Star and postseason games.  My first memory of him was in the 1985 NLCS when he homered in Game 5.  The amazing thing about his fielding is that regardless of how you look at it – basic metrics, advanced metrics, just watching him – he was simply the best defensive shortstop ever to play the game.  And even if he was foolish enough to go into the bottomless pit in Springfield, it looks like he got a couple of good pictures for the family album. (This won’t be the last time the Simpsons are mentioned)

 

Honorable Mentions:  Warren Moon, Sean Burke, Kurt Busch, Penny Hardaway.  I will always remember the Whalers, Mr. Burke.

 

Number 2

The Winner:  Derek Jeter

You can hate the Yankees all you want, but you cannot deny Jeter’s place in history.  He’s one of the few athletes ever who was overrated and underrated at the same time.  The guy won five Gold Gloves and frankly didn’t deserve any of them.  He never won the MVP and frankly should have had a couple of them.  His postseason career as compared to his regular season shows the same steady performance with the bigger moments magnified because of the spotlight.  Besides all of that he was a class act off the field, always seemed to get what it meant to be a professional athlete in the world’s most famous city, and seemed to always perform at his best when the lights were at their brightest.  Tough to top.

 

Honorable Mentions:    Moses Malone, Rusty Wallace, Brian Leetch.  If there is a book all about what college basketball programs did to try to get Moses Malone (and I’ve already read “Loose Balls”) please let me know.  That would be a fantastic read.

 

Number 3

The Winner:  Dale Murphy

If you grew up with cable in the 1980’s the two people you saw the most were Ric Flair and Dale Murphy, both on WTBS.  Every night in the summer we tuned in hoping Murph would deliver us a homerun.  And a lot of times he did.  In 1985 he was the All-Star Game’s leading vote getter.  He won back-to-back MVP’s right after Mike Schmidt won his.  He and Schmidt top the NL leaderboard in the 1980’s in most offensive categories.  His back gave out too soon and he was done after 1987.  There was not a more admirable superstar of the decade.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Ken Daneyko, Craig Ehlo, Allen Iverson.  More people I have known over the years have told me that the biggest reason they watched NASCAR was because of Earnhardt; I think that deserves a mention considering how his death effected the sports world.  Daneyko had played in every New Jersey Devils playoff game in team history up to the point of his retirement, Iverson was a vampire. And Ehlo, well, I try to remember that he also hit the layup that put the Cavs ahead to begin with.

 

Number 4

The Winner:  Brett Favre

The good ole boy, western gunslinger, call him what you want, even if you only remember him being in “There’s Something About Mary”, you still remember him.  He would throw into double and triple coverage, late back across the middle, deep even though no one was there, but somehow one of his guys would come down with it.  Add in John Madden saying his name so often it gave birth to Frank Caliendo (thanks a lot, John), and there are few people in sports more memorable regardless of the number.

 

Honorable Mention:  Scott Stevens.  Another New Jersey Devil, a hard hitting defenseman who helped bring the state of New Jersey their own championships.

 

Number 5

The Winner:  Albert Pujols

Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS.  Two on, two out, down two.  Albert Pujols vs. Brad Lidge.  The Houston crowd is as loud as can possibly, expecting the first pennant in franchise history and first ever World Series appearance.  Lidge hung one.  Pujols launched it into orbit.  The fans were silenced so quickly it was as if someone in Minute Maid Park hit the mute button.  The Cardinals won the game to send the series back to St. Louis.  Pujols hit the ball so hard and so far that on the flight back to St. Louis Astros’ catcher Brad Ausmus joking announced to his teammates, “And if you look over on your left you can actually see the ball that Pujols hit off of Lidge!”  He did stuff like this all the time for the Cardinals.  In 2011 he homered three times in one World Series game, equaling the feats of Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson.  He won three MVP Awards.  He left as the second greatest Cardinal of all time, behind only Stan the Man.  For 11 years he was absolutely awesome.

 

Honorable Mentions:  George Brett, Jason Kidd.  I wrote about Brett in a previous post, but Jason Kidd has got to be the worst shooting great point guard ever.  Simply amazing how he could pull that off.

 

Number 6

The Winner: Julius Erving

The Winnerings were slim, but even as an eight year old, I knew of Dr. J.  Yes, a lot of it was legend at that point, but he still had moments of greatness that would capture your imagination.  The best one, was late in the 1986 season.  Playing the hated Celtics, the 76ers were basically settled into the third seed, but don’t tell anyone involved that the game didn’t matter.  It was a typical Philly/Boston game – physical, intense, and down to the wire.  With three seconds left and the Sixers trailing by two there was a jump ball on Philly’s offensive end.  Charles Barkley won the jump by tipping it the Doctor, who caught it, turned, and tossed in a game winning three over Danny Ainge’s outstretched arms.  As a nine-year old you didn’t doubt it.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Seriously, do you really want me to mention Bubby Brister because I remember him swearing on the air after the Steelers beat the Oilers in Houston in the wild card game?  I didn’t think so.

 

Number 7

The Winner:  John Elway

If you’re over 40 and live in the Cleveland area you have no choice but to know about John Elway.  The number one overall pick out of Stanford, traded by the Colts to the Broncos (and no, Elway was not saving the Colts in Baltimore OR Indianapolis; you still need more than just a QB in football), Elway became a lovable old timer by the time the Broncos finally got over the hump (big thanks to Terrell Davis), he will forever be remembered by my generation and those older for . . .

 

You know what?  I’m harsh enough on Browns fans.  I’ll spare them.  Times are rough enough.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Christiano Ronaldo, Chris Chelios, Don Majkowski, Colin Kaepernick.  Just go to YouTube and watch Ronaldo, you won’t regret it.  Don Majkowski had his own “Starting Lineup” action figure for crying out loud.  Chris Chelios was another hard hitting defenseman in an era where every playoff series was intense and he always stood out in the Norris Division Semis and Finals.  And as for Kaepernick, you don’t have to like why he’s memorable for him to be memorable.  I’ll leave it at that.

 

Number 8

The Winner:  Kobe Bryant

This one was tough.  He was far from my favorite player.  He was selfish.  He was a narcissist.  He was exactly what the older generation hated about the generation entering the league at that time.  But at the same time, damn he could be fun to watch.  He could put up 60 on any given night, and you could tell that it was his goal to do just that.  Unlike a LeBron or Jordan performance, the road crowds didn’t embrace the moments Kobe provided us.  And maybe a part of why he sticks out is because of his tragic death a few months ago, but he stands out from the late 90’s to early 2000’s.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Alex Ovechkin, Cal Ripken, Steve Young, Teemu Selanne.  What I said about Ronaldo, do the same with Alexander the Great.  Ripken, you can’t deny the impact the streak had on baseball.  Steve Young once compared Derek Anderson’s accuracy to Tom Brady’s and meant it as a compliment, so I believe that the concussions have had a negative effect, but a few of his runs with the 49ers are worth a view.  And Teemu, well, he kept coming back, and back, and back.  As a hockey fan it became a ritual.

 

Number 9

The Winner:  Drew Brees

Drew Brees wins this not because of the numbers he has put up in New Orleans, but because of the way he embraced the city after Hurricane Katrina.  Remember the condition the community was in afterwards.  He signed with the Saints, became the face not just of the franchise, but of the community.  The team rallied around the city and the city rallied around them.  The Super Bowl win capped a wonderful story and one of the few times I appreciated what a QB did.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Steve McNair, Mike Madano.  McNair had a memorable Super Bowl performance, won an MVP, and was murdered in a sad story.  Mike Madano was memorable not just because of his play in Minnesota and then Dallas, but also for his appearance in “The Mighty Ducks”, later leading to a new NHL franchise (trust me, it’s true!).

 

Number 10

The Winner: Landon Donovan

The first two games of the 2010 World Cup for Team USA were both draws and they needed a win in order to advance to the Round of 16.  Their third game was against an Algeria team that basically sat back in the second half hoping for a draw.  As extra time began US goalie Tim Howard caught a routine save and launched a long pass to Donovan.  Donovan then passed off to Jozi Altidore.  Altidore centered a pass to Clint Dempsey who was stuffed by the Algerian goalie.  Donovan, though was following through on the play, and deposited it in the back of the net, assuring the US a win and a spot in the Round of 16.  The goal set off one of the greatest country wide celebrations ever experienced.  Honestly, you probably have to go back to 1980.  The scenes from NewYork, KansasCity, LosAngeles, name it, were fantastic.  What make sports special are the moments that unite us.  Landon Donovan united the country that day.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Chipper Jones, Pavel Bure, Eli Manning.  Chipper is the only switch hitter in baseball history with a .300/.400/.500 slash line and is the only one to hit .300 from both sides of the plate.  The Russian Rocket dash to put the Canucks in the second round with an upset over the second seeded Flames started their run to the Cup Finals.  And Eli, what more can I say than “Little Brothers”?

 

Number 11

The Winner:  Mark Messier

I wanted to put Isaiah Thomas here for his Game 6 performance against the Lakers in 1988, but in the end, what is better than guaranteeing a win and delivering the win?  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Game6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.  That morning on the front of the New York papers was Messier’s quote “WE WILL WIN”.  The Devils had taken Game 5 for a 3-2 series lead heading across the state line for Game 6.  It looked like a fool’s prediction when the Devils jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead.  But the Rangers got a goal late in the second from Alexei Kovalev to make it a one goal game going to the third.  Early on Messier shot a backhander past Martin Brodeur to tie the game.  With under eight minutes to play Messier takes a Kovalev rebound and shoots it past Brodeur and now it’s 3-2 Rangers.  And then the Devils pulled Brodeur for an extra skater in an attempt to tie it up with less than two minutes to play.  After the face off, Messier intercepted a centering pass and sent it down the ice.  Dead center of the net.  Not only did he guarantee a victory, not only did he deliver a victory, he added a hat trick for good measure.  A few weeks later the Rangers would win their first Stanley Cup in 54 years and still their last one since.

 

Honorable Mention:  Isaiah Thomas.  I mean, what more can you say about his performance in the Forum?

 

Number 12

The Winner:  Tom Brady

The one that will always stand out to me is The Tuck Rule.  It was a Saturday night in January of 2002 and I was bartending that night.  As the initial call was ruled a fumble my buddy Tom said “this game’s over.”  I answered, “This is the NFL they’ll find a way to give the ball back to the Patriots.”  Even then I was cynical about the Joke of a League.  Sure enough they ruled it in favor of New England, they were able to tie the game and win in overtime.  Do I believe that the Patriots get every break?  Nope.  Do I believe they are lucky?  At times yes, but so is every champion.  I give credit where it’s due; the Patriots have been great.  But inane rules like the tuck rule are a part of why I’m sick of the League of Jokes.

 

Honorable Mention:  Jerome Iginla was an amazing player and ambassador for the game and the province of Alberta in his time with the Flames.  An all time great.

 

Number 13

The Winner:  Steve Nash

March, 1993.  It was springtime in my sophomore year at Lake Catholic.  Since it was a Catholic school midway through that Monday after Selection Sunday Mr. Ward was on the school air waves warning us about entering any pools (gambling, duh) and the consequences that would come with entering them.  Being who I was I blatantly ignored the warning, filled out my bracket, handed my buddy my five bucks (again, only freshman, not exactly overwhelmed with cash), and that Thursday night watched my bracket get busted as the second seeded Arizona Wildcats lost to the Santa Clara Broncos.  Lesson learned as my dad laughed at me the following night.  A key component in that loss?  A Canadian point guard who would later lead the Mavericks and then Suns to some fun playoff runs in the NBA.  Yep, Steve Nash.

 

Honorable Mention:  Dan Marino.  He played in his only Super Bowl just before I turned eight.  He was known for his quick release.  But mostly I remember him for his Isatoner Gloves commercials every Christmas time, and you can’t forget his performance in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”.  It’s amazingly sad on my part, but I remember that he threw for a lot of yards, but mostly he was reduced to NFL Primetime highlights.

 

Number 14

The Winner:  Pete Rose

September 11, 1985, Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio.  The Cincinnati Reds are hosting the defending National League Champion San Diego Padres.  Bottom of the first inning, one out, nobody on, Pete Rose at the plate.  Rose hits a single into left-center field.  It is Rose’s 4,192nd career hit, officially passing Ty Cobb on the all-time list (though truly he passed up Cobb a couple of days earlier in Chicago; read up on the 1910 batting race for more details).  There’s a huge celebration for Rose as the pitcher Eric Show sulks on the mound.  After the game Graig Nettles jokes about Show (a member of the John Birch Society), saying that he had better make sure the Society didn’t find out that he made a Red famous.  But the night is about Pete and his successful quest for immortality.  He’s on the Wheaties box (my brother still has the poster).  He’s on top of the world.

 

March 20, 1989.  Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth announces that Pete Rose is under investigation for “serious allegations.”

 

March 21, 1989.  Sports Illustrated releases their report on Rose’s baseball gambling ties.

 

August 23, 1989.  Pete Rose is officially suspended from baseball permanently.  He hasn’t quite hit rock bottom, but he’s descending quicker than gravity accelerates.

 

How does this guy not get the nod?  Ever since then he has been the most polarizing person in sports.  Whether I like the guy or not, there is no one who has left a bigger imprint.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Dan Fouts, Tony Stewart.  I actually watched more games with Fouts than Marino.  And Stewart, well, let’s just say that he really should have been watching where he was driving that fateful night in 2014.

 

Number 15

The Winner:  Carlos Beltran

In the 2004 postseason Beltran hit .435/.536/1.022 for a 1.577 OPS all 12 of Houston’s games with eight homeruns, and nine walks.  The Astros lost to the Cardinals in seven (Scott Rolen’s homerun off of Roger Clemens in Game 7 proved to be the difference), so Beltran’s heroics went by the wayside until the Mets signed him.  In 2006 he famously buckled as Adam Wainwright froze him to finish the NLCS and sent the 83 win Cardinals to the World Series and the first place Mets home for the winter.  Most recently he was fired before even managing a game for the Red Sox because of his role in the Astros sign-stealing scandal.

 

Honorable Mention:  Jim Edmonds.  He fantastic catch was with the Angels (and a different uniform number), but he had some big moments with the Cardinals, including a Game 6 walk off homerun in the same 2004 series Beltran excelled in.

 

Number 16

The Winner:  Joe Montana

I believe most people would have figured this one out.  And yes, there’s the famous Super Bowl drive against the Bengals, his career QB Rating over 100.0 in those four games (his lowest was 100.0 in SB XVI), his 11/0 TD/Int ratio in the Super Bowl, The Catch, the famous TD celebration (arms up, then the fist punch).  But his time on Saturday Night Live will be what I remember most.  Who would have expected him to say “I’ll be upstairs masturbating”?  Exactly

 

Honorable Mention:  Brett Hull.  Like his father, the guy could light the lamp with the very best of them.

 

Number 17

The Winner:  Todd Helton

The first star the Rockies developed on their own, famously the University of Tennessee quarterback who got injured and opened the door for Peyton Manning, and who also homered in his final game at Coors Field.  He spent his entire career in the Rocky Mountains, flirted with .400 one year, and was a class act the whole time.  Hopefully he will get his day in Cooperstown.

 

Honorable Mention:  Chris Mullin.  Any fan of 1980’s basketball was a fan of the Run TMC Warriors.

 

Number 18

The Winner:  Peyton Manning

Some of these were a lot easier than others.  I mean, we have seen more of him off the field than on.  He is an SNL Hall of Fame host.  His United Way sketch is an all time classic.  He holds who knows how many records.  He changed the whole culture of the Indianapolis Colts.

 

Honorable Mention:  Darryl Strawberry.  Who can forget the “DAAAARYL!! DAAAARYL!!” chants Bart and Lisa shout, forging a tear from Strawberry’s eye?  And how much of a team leader he was for Mr. Burns’ Springfield squad?  Some guys had a real attitude problem and showed a lack of heart and hustle, but Strawberry wasn’t one of them.

 

Number 19

The Pick:  Ayrton Senna

No way can you call this a winner.  When I was a kid on Sundays the morning ESPN would show the Formula I race, followed by NFL Game Day.  The most common names mentioned during the race were Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.  Senna was a three time Formula I champion.  On May 1, 1994 Senna was leading the San Marino Grand Prix when he lost control and hit a concrete barrier.  The crash killed him.  The day before during qualifying Roland Ratzenberger also died in a crash on the race course.  As a result of those two fatal crashes and several others, Formula I drastically revamped their safety measures.  I watched that crash.  I don’t know how racers do it, and I don’t know how fans continue to watch without any fear of the worst.  I cringe at every crash.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Bernie Kosar, Tony Gwynn, Robin Yount, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman.  I’ll leave Bernie to Cleveland fans – they all have a list of them.  I remember Tony Gwynn’s 3000th; it was in the same place Pete Rose got his 4000th.  Robin Yount’s 3000th came against the Indians; he ended up with one more career hit than Gwynn.  It seems appropriate that they both are right next to each other on the all time list.  Both wore the same number, both stayed with the same team their entire careers, and both are easily the best players in their franchise’s history.  Sakic and Yzerman both are Hall of Famers and their teams gave us one of sport’s best rivalries from 1996 through 2003.

 

Number 20

The Winner:  Barry Sanders

Arguably the best running back of that entire generation.  No one made a four yard gain more exciting.  You watched Lions games because you never knew when he would break one.  It was usually after a couple of losses.  Then all of a sudden he was gone for 70.

 

Honorable Mention:  Luc Robitaille, Mike Schmidt.  Robitaille was a goal machine for a lowly Kings team until the Great One arrived, and then finally got the attention he deserved.  Mike Schmidt is the greatest third baseman ever, but his last great moment came in 1987.  Two on, two out, top of the ninth and down a run, Perfect time for his 500th homerun.  Not bad for the old timer.

 

Number 21

The Winner:  Eric Metcalf

There was this day against Pittsburgh.  There was this return against the Bills in the playoffs.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Deion Sanders, Tim Duncan, Roger Clemens.  The Rocket’s TWO 20 strikeout games and throwing the bat at Piazza would have worked for just about every other number on this list.  And what can you say about Tim Duncan?  Actually, what can’t you say?  And Prime Time. Prime Time. Prime Time.

 

Number 22

The Winner:  Will Clark

He’ll be remembered for his intensity and his scowl as he raised his index finger.  His Game 1 of the 1989 NLCS against Greg Maddux and the Cubs is one of the greatest individual performances of all time.  His first career at bat was pretty good, too.  It’s a shame he retired early, but he will remain one of my all time favorite players.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Clayton Kershaw, Mike Bossy.  Clayton Kershaw’s postseasons will be discussed at nausea, but last year was the first year he did not lower his career ERA, which is an amazing fact.  And Mike Bossy is simply one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of hockey.  If he was around the net, he was putting the puck in the back of it.

 

Number 23

The Winner:  LeBron James

Look, I got to see a Cleveland team win a championship and he’s the biggest reason.  I have never seen another player in my life who glided to triple doubles.  I specifically remember him in his last year in Cleveland.  My buddy and I were at the Q and midway through the first quarter James had not even attempted a shot.  Now, he had four assists and six rebounds, but hadn’t even shot yet.  He was just short of the feat by halftime.  Never did you even sense he was putting an extra effort towards any facet of his game.  Simply amazing.  Oh, and his performance in 2015 and 2016 are on par with the all time greats.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Michael Jordan, Kirk Gibson.  I mean, it’s MJ.  How much time do you have?  The Shot, the Flu Game, the Push Off, etc.  He was in his own league.  And Kirk Gibson hit two of the biggest World Series homeruns off of two Hall of Fame closers.  Need I say more?

 

Number 24

The Winner:  Rickey Henderson

The most famous Rickey story is not even true.  As the story goes Rickey ran into Jon Olerud after signing with the Mariners and said that there was a guy in New York whom he played with that also wore a batting helmet on the field.  Olerud supposedly followed that up with “Yeah, that we me.  Last year.”  The story is complete bullshit.  But the best part is that as Rickey debunked the story he added that he had seen Olerud all the time because Olerud played first and Rickey “was always on base.”

 

My favorite Rickey moment came in 2001 when he was with the Padres.  They were in New York to face the Mets and the crowd was particularly angry with Rickey and his exit from Flushing.  The night before he had an 0 for 4 night and the crowd wanted that streak to continue.  Leading off the game, with the crowd booing and shouting every obscenity humanly – and inhumanly – possible at him, Rickey launched Glendon Rusch’s 1-0 pitch over the wall in left-center field for his 285th career homerun, 80th to lead off the game for his team.  But that’s not why I remember it.  I remember it because Rickey took his grand old time circling the bases.  And as the crowd got louder he trotted slower.  By the time he got to third base he was practically walking home, soaking in everything.  That was Rickey.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey, Jr.  Besides the homeruns Manny was a fantastic sitcom character.  And Junior had the sweetest swing any of us have ever seen.

 

Number 25

The Winner:  Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds put up video game numbers at the beginning of this century.  From 2001 through 2004 averaged .349/.559/.809, 52 HR, 110 RBI, 122 R, 189 BB, 60 SO, 256 OPS+.  Ted Williams had the highest single season OBP at .553 in 1941; Bonds averaged higher than that for four years.  Oh, then there are all of the PED allegations.  Oh, and he was a massive jerk.  But you flat out cannot write the story of 21st century baseball without mentioning Barry Bonds.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Jim Thome, Mark McGwire, Mark Price.  If we could create a home run derby where the minimum distance was 500 feet, Thome and Big Mac would be the finalists without any doubt whatsoever.  And Mark Price, well, he was the first player I ever remember seeing stop at the top of the three point arc and shoot on a fast break.  Now everyone shoots from the corner and guys like the Splash Brothers shoot from beyond the arc on the break all the time.  Price was a rarity.

 

Number 26

The Winner:  Wade Boggs

“Pitt The Elder!”

 

“LORD PALMERSTON!”

 

No matter where Boggs goes he hears those names more than even Margo Adams and this “Simpsons” episode, “Homer at the Bat”, is nearly 30 years old.  Of all the guys Burns lost before that game, this incident was easily my favorite.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Rod Woodson, Peter Stastny.  Rod Woodson had that odd way of catching kicks, with his hands over his head, basically daring the ball to hit him in the facemask.  And Peter Stastny, well, I loved 1980’s hockey, and I now have sweaters for all five of the Adams Division teams, including the late Quebec Nordiques.

 

Number 27

The Winner:  Jeremy Roenick

The greatest player in the history of video games is Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl.  The second greatest player is Jeremy Roenick in NHL ’94.  Every week or so I would set up a Stanley Cup Playoff within the game, and every other of those weeks I would be in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Blackhawks.  Every game in which you played the Blackhawks was just like watching Wayne Gretzky in his magical 1981-82 season (the one in which he scored a ridiculous 92 goals).  Moreover, it was like watching Gretzky’s game where he scored five goals to get to 50 in only 39 games.  It was that ridiculous.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Mike Trout, Vlad Guerrero, Ron Hextall.  Ron Hextall, after scoring an empty net goal:  “Before any of you ask I was aiming for that corner.”  Mike Trout might just be the greatest player ever, just get over it, old timers.  And Vlad was one of the funnest athletes ever to watch.  Whether he was uncorking a throw from right field – and who knows where the ball was going – or swinging from his heals (and connecting) on a pitch down and away in the dirt, something amazing was going to happen.

 

Number 28

The Winner:  Cory Snyder

He was the next great thing coming through the Indians farm system, a player who was going to give us hope for the future.  He came up in mid June and tripled in his second at bat off of Bert Blyleven.  By the end of the year he hit 24 homeruns in 103 games  (good power numbers for those days and in that cavernous ballpark), but there were a couple of other stats that a nine year old didn’t know about that the 43-year old me now does.  He walked only 16 times that season, and the number of players who had good to great careers homering more than they walked is um, well, it might not be the worst thing.  But when you also strike out over 100 times more than you walk (he struck out 123 times that year), you could be in trouble.  Overall he had a career .291 OBP and 226 career walks (Bonds walked 232 times in 2004).  But there was that day in 1988.  He was coming to Euclid High School to hit a few out of the ballpark and talk to the kids for a bit.  Well, the Indians were coming in from the west coast the previous night and the flight was delayed.  Cory arrived late, was clearly exhausted, but stuck it out, spoke to us for a little, went up to the plate, hit a few out.  Most memorably he took a belt high fastball, which all of us “oooohed” over, causing him to turn to us with a “c’mon, cut me a little slack here, I’m beat!” look.  Then he signed everything for everyone there.  Class act.

 

Honorable Mention:  Bert Blyleven.  A true character, but I remember his battle to finally earn induction into the Hall of Fame.

 

Number 29

The Winner:  Eric Dickerson

He was the exact opposite of Barry Sanders.  Nobody made it look so effortless.  When he joined the Rams head coach John Robinson complained to Dickerson that he wasn’t running hard.  Dickerson simply responded, “Catch me.”  They didn’t.

 

Honorable Mentions:  John Smoltz, Dan Quisenberry.  Every year at the trade deadline Tigers fans moan as the various networks show “Notable Deadline Deals”.  Inevitably “Braves deal Doyle Alexander to Tigers for John Smoltz” comes up and they are reminded that a couple of months in 1987 led to nearly 20 years of terrible teams.  And Quiz?  Well, the submariner with the quick wit and the impeccable control may someday get his due in Cooperstown as we gain better respect and understanding of value of relief aces.

 

Number 30

The Winner:  Joe Carter

“TOUCH’ EM ALL, JOE!!  YOU’LL NEVER HIT A BIGGER HOMERUN IN YOUR LIFE!!”

 

Honorable Mention:  Martin Brodeur.  Became a star in 1994, when the Devils had the second best record in the league and took the eventual Cup Champion Rangers to double overtime in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.  The next year the Devils won the Cup and Brodeur was a household name among NHL fans.  The Devils would win two more Cups and get to within an eyelash of winning a fourth one (and back-to-back at that) in 2001.  As a hockey fan, you tend to remember goaltenders that frustrate the living hell out of your team.

 

Number 31

The Winner:  Reggie Miller

Reggie vs. the Knicks (and Spike Lee) is the biggest reason for him being the top one here.  The basketball at the time was ugly, but no one can say it wasn’t competitive or interesting.  It was the competitiveness and interesting parts that kept the league relevant until players like LeBron and Steph came into their own.  I believe Reggie would have fit into the offensive side of modern basketball, but as he stood out back then, he would be in the hodgepodge that is the modern player.  I’m glad he was around back then.

 

Honorable Mention:  Bret Saberhagen.  “Nine million dollars and he needs my money!”

 

Number 32

The Winner:  Christian Laettner

As a freshman in 1989 he led the Blue Devils to the Final Four, beating the second ranked Georgetown Hoyas and Alonzo Mourning along the way.  In 1990 the sophomore drilled a buzzer beater in the regional final, beating the fourth ranked UConn Huskies.  He would lead the Blue Devils to the NCAA Championship Game, a blow out at the hands of UNLV.  The next season Laettner exacted his revenge on the Runnin’ Rebels, hitting the game winning free throws in the national semi-final on the way to their first national championship.  The next season Duke started the season at #1 in the AP Poll and stayed there all year long.  In the regional final Laettner had one of the greatest individual games in the history of sports:  10 of 10 from the floor (1 of 1 from three), 10 of 10 from the line, 31 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and one of the most memorable shots in the history of the NCAA Tournament.*  In all he played in 23 NCAA Tournament games in a time when the most you could play in was 24.  He has not one, but two buzzer beaters to put his team in the Final Four.  He has all of the collegiate accolades one could ask for.  And he was hated the whole time.  I think that’s why I love the guy.

 

Honorable Mention:  Magic Johnson.  The smile, they style, the fact that he lined up at center as a rookie in the NBA Finals to fill in for the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (so it’s not like he was replacing Chris Dudley in the lineup) and puts up a 42-15-7 in 47 minutes, the HIV, the bad TV job.  Oh, and for all the talk about Bird or Jordan, Magic led his team to the NBA Finals in 1980 (as a rookie, neither of the other two did), 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1991.  The Lakers won in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988.  That’s nine finals appearances in 12 years and five championships going against the likes of Moses Malone and Dr. J (twice), Bird (three times) and Isaiah Thomas (twice).  Jordan’s Bulls had six in 12 years (I did not count his 17-game regular season in 1995; if you want to make it 13 seasons go ahead, but I decided not to) and yes, they won all six.  Bird’s Celtics reached five finals in 12 years (I discounted his 1988-89 season in which he only played six games) and won three titles.  I love all three of them, but if you really want to base things on accomplishments, I don’t get why Magic seems to be the third wheel in a lot of discussions.

 

SIDETRACKED!!!!

 

OK, the Laettner shot reminded me of a quick list I want to throw together right here:  The greatest calls of my lifetime.  Why the Laettner shot?  Because Vern Lundquist has three fantastic calls in three different sports!!

 

“Jackie Smith!! Bless his heart, he’s got to be the sickest man in America!” – Super Bowl XIII, January, 1979

 

“Maybe . . .  YES SIR!!!” – Jack Nicklaus’ putt on 17 at the Masters, 1986

 

“There’s the pass to Laettner.  Puts it up . . . YESSS!!!!” – Laettner’s shot against Kentucky, 1992.

 

So to go along with those three I’ll list the other ones in random order except for one; the best one will be last.  Now, these don’t have to be in my full memory bank – if they aren’t fully there, they are definitely on YouTube.  Also, I’ll let all of you figure out who said them, though I’m willing to bet many of you know where they are from. . .

 

“THE GLASS SLIPPER FITS!”

 

“One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five.  Six.  Seven.  He’s not gonna get up!”

 

“MATTEAU!!  MATTEAU!!  MATTEAU!!”

 

“THERE’S A LONG FLY BALL INTO RIGHT FIELD, SHE IS GONE!!!”

 

“UNBELIEVABLE!! THE DODGERS WIN THE GAME!! I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!”

 

“GO CRAZY, FOLKS!! GO CRAZY!!”

 

“A little roller up along first.  BEHIND THE BAG!! IT GETS THROUGH BUCKNER!! KNIGHT COMES AROUND TO SCORE AND THE METS WIN IT!!”

 

“AND IT’S A LOOPER HIT INTO RIGHT FIELD FOR A BASE HIT CONCEPCION SCORES! HERE COMES SUNDBERG! HERE’S THE THROW! HE SCORES!! WE GO TO A SEVENTH!!”

 

“Montana looking, looking, throwing in the end zone. . .  CLARK CAUGHT IT!!  DWIGHT CLARK . . .(after 26 seconds of silence) IT’S A MADHOUSE AT CANDLESTICK!  WITH 51 SECONDS LEFT.  DWIGHT CLARK IS SIX FOUR, HE STANDS TEN FEET TALL IN THIS CROWD’S ESTIMATION!”

 

“I’M GONNA BE SICK!”

 

“THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WATCHING THAT DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BLUE LINE AND A CLOTHES LINE.”

 

“DOUBLE 12 FOR HISTORY!! HISTORY!!  HISTORY!!”

 

“Montana. . . TOUCHDOWN!! JOHN TAYLOR!!”

 

“WE WILL SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT!!” (This is times two)

 

“HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?”

 

“SWINGING, AND A GROUND BALL INTO CENTER FIELD!  IN COMES KNIGHT, IT IS NOW 8-5 METS, AND JOE, YOU JUST LOST YOUR HOUSE!”

 

“And Dorsey, under pressure, throws for the end zone . . .  The Buckeyes win it!”

 

“TOUCH ‘EM ALL JOE!! YOU’LL NEVER HIT A BIGGER HOMERUN IN YOUR LIFE!!”

 

“The infield is up, they give Gibson the left field foul line, Brown is in left . . . AND THERE IT GOES!!!!”

 

“Flutie flushed.  Throws it down . . . CAUGHT BY BOSTON COLLEGE!! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!”

 

“THEY GO FOR THE BALLGAME!  TOUCHDOWN!!  TOUCHDOWN!! MICHAEL JENKINS!  CRAIG KRENZEL STRIKES!  HOLY BUCKEYE!!”

 

I’ve always loved this sequence:

 

“I myself would let Rodney hit here.  I’d let him try let him pull the ball if I could.  I think they’ll be going for some big runs here because you don’t know what your pitcher’s actually going to have during the ballgame and you don’t know if one run will make it or if you’ll need more.”

 

“I hate to argue this early into the game boy I’ll tell you what but if I’m the California pitcher I would love to see that one run on the board, and of course I know your theory is better to have two or three, but it’s nice to have that early lead.”

 

“Brian Brennan . . . HE’S GOT IT!!”

 

“I think you’d like two or three better than one.”

 

“THIS IMPOSSIBLE DREAM COMES TRUE!!”

 

And finally,

 

“DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?!?!  YES!!!”

 

OK, that was fun.  Back to the original list . . .

 

Number 33

The Winner:  Larry Bird

He was cocky.  He could shoot.  He could flat out play.  He and Magic were the ship David Stern captained to unbelievable heights.  There was the night at All-Star Weekend he walked into the locker room and told everyone in the Three Point Shootout they were playing for second place, then went out, didn’t even take his warm up jacket off, and won it.  His style of play was contagious.  And let’s face it, he was a hero to middle aged white people everywhere.

 

Honorable Mention:  Patrick Roy, Larry Walker, Kareem.  Kareem had the most unstoppable shot in the history of basketball (the sky hook). I mean, Plastic Man couldn’t block his shot.  I watched Patrick Roy murder the hopes of some of my Bruins teams, then win two Cups with some rather blasé Canadiens teams (along with reaching a third final).  After he was traded to the new Colorado Avalanche – a move that would never have happened if the Avalanche were still in Quebec like they were the season before – and play brilliantly again, capturing two more Cups and helping fuel one of the greatest rivalries sports has ever had.  And Larry Walker, besides the stories about his time in Montreal, there was his show at the 1997 All-Star Game, the time he forgot how many outs there were, and finally becoming the first Rockies player to get inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Number 34

The Winner:  Bo Jackson

The greatest video game athlete of all time.  As Chuck Klostermann has said, he is probably the last true “legendary” person.  Nowadays YouTube and social media has changed everything for us; we all see everything almost in real time.  If someone told you that they saw Bo jump a car, you would believe that at least it was possible, though you just might believe it.  If someone said they saw Bo catch a cheetah, you probably wouldn’t believe it, but you wouldn’t doubt it, either.  Whether he was running up the wall in left center or running over the next great linebacker, Bo made us believe he could do pretty much anything.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Nolan Ryan, Thurman Thomas, Charles Barkley, David Ortiz.  The Ryan Express threw two no-hitters in my sports viewing lifetime, both after 40 years old.  Thomas famously lost his helmet during the Super Bowl, but should be known for a lot more than that.  Sir Charles is still one of my favorite personalities of all time.  And besides his postseason heroics, his “THIS IS OUR F—— CITY!” was the rallying point for the city after the Marathon bombing.

 

Number 35

The Winner:  Christian Okoye

Nicknamed “The Nigerian Nightmare”, Okoye was a Marty Schottenheimer dream come true.  A big bruising back at a time when the running game truly mattered, Okoye lasted only six seasons in the NFL, partly because of the overuse he received in 1989 (370 carries and a league leading 1480 yards), but no NFL Primetime was complete without Berman referencing “THE NIGERIAN NIGHTMARE!!”.

 

Honorable Mention:  Phil Niekro.  Pretty slim pickings here as far as memories go for this number.  But Niekro, did win his 300^th game by throwing only two knuckleballs.  And he helped the Indians make history when he and Steve Carlton were teammates.  Both were 300-game winners at the time they were teammates in 1987 (at a combined 90 years old), and when Eddie Murray collected his 3000th hit in Minnesota as an Indian he and Dave Winfield were both teammates with 3000 hits.  The Indians are the only team in Major League history to have both sets of teammates.

 

Number 36

The Winner:  Joe Niekro

This project had some easy ones and what was easier than the time he tried to throw the nail file away while being investigated on the mound?  Remember when that was just funny?  Remember how he was just suspended because it was against the rules and we all felt OK?  I miss those days.

 

Honorable Mentions:  I’ve got nothing.  Not exactly the most memorable of numbers.

 

Number 37

The Winner:  Dave Stieb

What drove me nuts about the “Jack Morris for the Hall of Fame because he was the best pitcher in the 80’s” talk was that while Morris was good, he was never – and I mean NEVER – even one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball during the decade.  But Dave Stieb was.  But that’s not what makes him memorable.  His most memorable moment came at the end of the 1988 season.  In his next to last start he faced the Indians and shut them out, 1-0.  More than that, though, he had not surrendered a hit going into the ninth inning.  Then with two out, Julio Franco grounded a single up the middle, breaking up the no-no.  His next start (and last of the season) he faced the absolutely terrible Baltimore Orioles. This is a team that would end up with 107 losses despite Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken having Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken years.  This time with two out in the ninth Jim Traber (remember him?  Me neither.) blooped a single into shallow right field, ending another no-hit bid.  He’s the only pitcher in baseball history to lose a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth in back-to-back games.

 

Honorable Mentions:  I give up.  You’ll get a few of these as we go on.

 

Number 38

The Winner:  Curt Schilling

The bloody sock.  The three games in the 2001 World Series.  His 1993 postseason.  The guys should get inducted into Cooperstown next year.  His time is due.

 

Honorable Mentions:  See number 37

 

Number 39

The Winner:  Dave Parker

This number doesn’t exactly ring a whole lot of memories.  Not really any, to be honest.  But I do remember one of the cool things my dad got a little over 30 years ago was an autographed ball.  Among the names were Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Glenn Hubbard . . . and Dave Parker.  I know there a lot of other people out there who have their own memories of the Cobra and I implore you to consult them, because he was one helluva ballplayer.

 

Number 40

The Winner:  Bill Laimbeer

Robert Parrish clobbering Laimbeer is a lasting memory for a lifetime.  The bastard deserved it.

 

Honorable Mention:  Bartolo Colon.  His homerun at age 200 will last forever in baseball lore.

 

Number 41

The Winner:  Charles Nagy

I’ve written about Game 6 of the 1997 ALCS enough times.  But the starting pitcher for the Tribe that day?  Charles Nagy.  Somehow he kept the Orioles off the board.  He matched up with Randy Johnson two years earlier and kept the Indians in that game, too.  He was the annual winner of the Indian run, a spring training competition between all of the players.  He’s a sentimental pick, but aren’t all memories at least somewhat sentimental?

 

Honorable Mention:  See Number 37

 

Number 42

The Winner:  Mariano Rivera

Enter Sandman.  You knew the game was over.  He was as lights out as any closer could ever be.  And that final night at Yankee Stadium will remain one of the lasting memories I will have of the greatest sport ever invented.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Ronnie Lott, James Worthy.  How awesome was it to watch Big Game James on the break with that one handed jam?  He seemed to glide in the air for eight seconds.  And Ronnie Lott anchored the most underrated great defense of all time.  Don’t believe me?  Here are their defensive ranks in points and yards from 1981 (their first Super Bowl team) through 1990 (the last season with that core; Craig and Lott among several others would age and go elsewhere):

 

1981:  2nd in points, 2nd in yardage

1982:  23rd in points, 21st in yardage (strike year, only nine games played, a kicker won the MVP)

1983:  4th and 10th

1984:  1st and 10th

1985:  2nd and 14th

1986:  3rd and 6th

1987:  3rd and 1st

1988:  8th and 3rd

1989:  3rd and 4th

1990:  2nd and 3rd

 

I’ve got time.

 

Number 43

The Winner:  Dennis Eckersley

At the time he became the dominant closer of his day, it was common knowledge to me that Eckersley was a promising young arm who flamed out.  Then came 1988, his intense reactions after strikeouts, the homerun to Gibson, the “WOW!” reaction to Manny, and well, yeah, I left a few memories long after he was a “flameout”.

 

Honorable Mention:  Brad Daugherty.  Cleveland fans should remember that day in 1986 and be thankful that Wayne Embry wanted a franchise center and took Daugherty after trading Roy Hinson to Philly to move up to that first spot.  Len Bias went to the Celtics second and was considered by many the best player in the draft.  We all know how that ended.

 

Number 44

The Winner:  Reggie Jackson.

I’m trying to spare Cleveland fans a bit, but regardless of this number, Reggie Jackson in “The Naked Gun” is deserving here.  Great role.  Acted as stiff as he was on television with ABC.

 

Honorable Mention:  Earnest Byner.  I’ll leave it at that.

 

Number 45

The Winner:  Pedro Martinez

Simply amazing.  How could a guy that little hold up?  How could his pitches move like that?  I mean, I got Clemens and the Big Unit and a lot of the others.  But this guy wasn’t built like them.  And oh what he could’ve done here in Cleveland.

 

Honorable Mention:  Steve Rogers.  In case you haven’t noticed, I have a special affection for former franchises that no longer exist.  Rogers was the best pitcher in the history of the Montreal Expos.  It’s fitting that he and Pedro wore the same number.

 

Number 46

The Winner:  Andy Pettitte

A good but overrated pitcher.  He’s famous for sports networks talking about how great a postseason performer he was.  A 3.81 ERA in 276.2 innings should hardly get people talking about your heroics in Koufax and Gibson like terms.  But they would mention it every year, like clockwork.  But hey, we needed someone with that number.

 

Honorable Mention:  Why do you think Pettitte’s the winner here?

 

Number 47

The Winner:  Joaquin Andujar

For those too young to remember Andujar was mostly a likeable guy.  But he was also one of the biggest headcases in the history of mankind (and womankind, and childkind, and mammalkind for that matter).  A typical Joaquin Andujar season would go as such:  A couple of good starts, then a terrible one, then he would say something stupid, the press would get wind of it, his manager would send him to the bullpen to work out his kinks, it would make him even battier than normal, he would finish with a record around .500 and the manager would be frustrated as hell with him.  That is until he came to the Cardinals.  Whitey Herzog basically said, “Hey, he’s a bit nuts.  I’ll just pitch him every fifth day and see what happens.”  It worked.  If Andujar had a bad game and said or did something stupid, Herzog sent him back to the bump.  He’d throw a three hit shutout and everyone would say “Aw shucks!! Ain’t he a hoot!” or whatever Midwesterners say.   But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have any blowups with the Cardinals.  His two best came in the World Series.  First, in Game 7 of the 1982 Series, after the Cardinals took a 4-3 lead in the sixth, Andujar fielded Jim Gantner’s hot shot back up the box and threw to first for the out.  Gantner took exception to Andujar’s reaction and apparently said something (according to Tony Kubek it was probably “You hot dog!”; I’m willing to wager it was nowhere near that).  Andujar was never one to back down from anything and this occasion was not an exception to the rule.  Fortunately the home plate umpire Lee Weyer was alert and built like a backstop, so everything was cooled off before the flames expanded.

 

The second one was in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series.  The 1985 season was interesting for Andujar.  For the second straight season he won 20 games, but it wasn’t that joyous.  In mid June he was 12-1, and was 15-3 at the All-Star break.  He decided for some peculiar reason that he wouldn’t play in the All-Star Game.  He was 2-1 shortly after the break, but would go 4-8 the rest of the way, watching his season ERA go from 2.31 to 3.48.  But the real bombshell hit when he had to testify in front of a grand jury along with former teammates Lonnie Smith and Keith Hernandez in regards to the now infamous Pittsburgh drug dealings running in baseball.  It seemed certain that the players would receive lengthy suspensions and apparently this wreaked havoc on Andujar’s mind.  He pitched poorly in the NLCS (10 runs in 10.1 innings), then giving up four runs in four innings in his only World Series start.  But he made his last appearance memorable.

 

The previous night’s first base umpire Don Denkinger was behind the plate for Game 7, and the Cardinals were already upset with Denkinger after his blown call in the ninth inning of Game 6 (we’ll ignore the complete Cardinals implosion for the sake of this story).  The Royals got an early homerun from Darryl Motley off of John Tudor and when Tudor couldn’t find the plate he was gone in the third.  After a relatively quiet fourth, the Cardinals again imploded.  Relievers Jeff Lahti and Ricky Horton couldn’t finish off anyone and in came Joaquin Andujar with the game virtually over as Kansas City led 9-0.  He came in with the count on Frank White already 2-0, but got Frank White to foul a bunch of pitches off before White softly lined one into left for an RBI single.  Then came the fun.  He thought he got Sundberg to swing on a 2-2 pitch but Denkinger said no.  Andujar threw his arm up in disgust, approached the plate and called Denkinger out.  Third baseman Terry Pendleton got in between the two and then Herzog was tossed (looked like he wanted to be), then Andujar wouldn’t stop jawing.  They finally got him on the mound and calmed him down enough to throw one more pitch.  He threw another pitch inside, it was called a ball, Andujar again threw his arms up in disgust, Denkinger ejected him, and it took the Cardinals infield to hold him back.  As Tim McCarver said as Andujar kicked his way through the dugout into the clubhouse, “He may never recover from the second half of this season.”  It’s a shame, but too true.  I always believed that when he died it had to be of a heart attack he had as he was throwing cold soup at an aid in an old folks home.

 

Honorable Mention:  Jesse Orosco.  He’s living proof that for the longest time if you could throw a ball left handed and find the plate baseball find a job for you.  Maybe the new rule change will also change that (I’m all for it).

 

Number 48

The Winner:  Moose Johnston

“I’ll keep it short because Moose Johnston did all my s—.” – Jeff Ross at Emmitt Smith’s roast.  Need I say more.

 

Honorable Mention:  Jimmie Johnson.  Seven championships is an amazing accomplishment, they would mean more to me, but I hate the “playoff” system in NASCAR.  But that’s just me.

 

Number 49

The Winner:  Tom Candiotti

Former Indian, classy guy, and played Hoyt Wilhelm in “61*”.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough.  Funny how I found three knuckleballers with the same number, isn’t it?

 

Number 50

The Winner:  Mike Singletary

Seriously, what football fan has NOT seen a clip of Singletary at his middle linebacker spot and those eyes staring down everything?  He anchored one of the greatest defenses we will ever see.  He dropped his pants at a press conference.  I can’t imagine why he’s not a head coach anymore.

 

Honorable Mention:  Adam Wainwright.  Solely for making Carlos Beltran freeze in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS.

 

Number 51

The Winner:  Randy Johnson

He and Ron Karkovice make up the battery of the TalkBackFans All Ugly Team.  Besides the 300 wins and 4000 strikeouts, the Cy Young Awards, the World Series MVP, there will always be the complete destruction of a bird at 100 miles per hour.  That is simply awesome.

 

Honorable Mention:  Ichiro.  When he first came over to the States I never thought he would hit Major League pitching.  He hit it successfully 3089 times.  I took the time to project if he could have surpassed Pete Rose and figured that he could have had 4589 hits.  Now, I also figured that we can’t factor in how a 19-year old coming to America with no grasp of English and basically isolated would react and how the residual effects would take their toll on his career.  Regardless of whether he would have passed up Charlie Hustle or not, I was never more wrong about a player in my life, regardless of the sport.

 

Number 52

The Winner:  CC Sabathia

He came up as a 20-year old and I remember the Rob Neyer article that came out the next day on the Telepathy Network’s website.  It was in regards to pitchers making 20 or more starts before their 21st birthday.  He found it to be a very grim list.  I think it is safe to say that Carsten Charles beat the odds.  He may get inducted into the Hall of Fame someday (my HOFR has him at 59.80), but regardless, he cleared 3000 career strikeouts, a list that is very fewer than 300 wins, 3000 hits, or 500 homeruns.

 

Honorable Mention:  If you can name another athlete to wear 52 that did anything memorable, be my guest.

 

Number 53

The Winner:  Bobby Abreu

Well, he has been labeled as “The Most Boring Player in Baseball”.  This number is pretty slim.

 

Honorable Mention:  See Number 52

 

Number 54

The Winner:  Aroldis Chapman

The guy’s got a 100+ mile per hour fastball and has given up to very memorable postseason homeruns.  Sorry about the slim pickings, but we’re in the realm of offensive lineman and journeymen linebackers with these numbers.

 

Number 55

The Winner:  Orel Hershiser

The Bulldog wins for his 1988 season (267.0 IP, 2.26 ERA, 15 CG, 8 ShO, record for consecutive scoreless innings, NL Cy Young Award, NLCS MVP, and World Series MVP) as well as his 1995 season in Cleveland (1995 ALCS MVP).

 

Honorable Mention:  Tim Lincecum.  A Mitch Kramer lookalike.  Cool delivery, two time Cy Young winner.  Flamed out too quickly.

 

Number 56

The Winner:  Lawrence Taylor

Probably the most dominant defensive player of my lifetime to wear the pads.  Teams looked to plan their offensive schemes around stopping him, only they couldn’t.  He is one of only two defensive players to ever win the AP MVP Award (Alan Page is the other).  And we know the stories about the blow and the prostitutes and everything else.  Doesn’t matter.  I have never seen another defensive player completely dominant a game the way LT did in his prime.

 

Honorable Mention:  Mark Buehrle.  He threw a perfect game and on Opening Day the one year had that through the legs play that Konerko made even cooler by bare handing it.

 

Number 57

The Winner:  Clay Mathews, Sr.

A guy who left everything on the field when it was over, two plays stick out to me both over a span of three weeks starting on Christmas Eve, 1989.  That night the Browns played the Oilers (remember them, anyone?) in the Astrodome, the winner won the AFC Central (remember that division?).  Midway through the fourth quarter Houston was driving when Mathews intercepted a Warren Moon pass, but during the return he was turned around and thought it was a good idea to lateral it back to a teammate.  It’s unclear which teammate it was since it wasn’t particularly close to anyone in a white jersey and the Oilers recovered.  They proceeded to take the lead a couple of plays later.  The Browns did come back to win the game on a late Kevin Mack touchdown and save Mathews’ hide, as a loss would have eliminated the Browns from the playoff chase.

 

The second came in the divisional playoff game against the Bills.  It was a down year in the AFC as only the Broncos managed to win 10 games, so the Browns by virtue of a tie against the Chiefs were the second seed in the AFC and hosted the Bills.  The game was back and forth throughout, and a missed extra point by the Bills proved costly as they trailed 34-30 with one final drive left.  Buffalo marched down the field and then almost got the win when a ball went through Ronnie Harmon’s hands in the end zone.  A couple of plays later Jim Kelly forced a ball in the middle where Clay Mathews was standing.  He picked it and fell right there.  At the one yard line.  It forced Kosar to take the ball and dive forward to kill the final second of the game.  While everyone was shouting as he picked it off to “JUST FALL DOWN!! DON’T LATERAL!!” I was the only one who thought it would be a good idea to get the ball out to oh, say the four yard line.  But that was just me.

 

Honorable Mention:  Steve Howe.  The poster child for the drug troubles of the 1980’s.  He could never keep his nose clean, and it ultimately cost him his career, then his life.

 

Number 58

The Winner:  Carl Banks

A teammate of LT’s in his prime, still managed to give Belichick enough for one last playoff run in Cleveland.

 

Honorable Mention:  Take your pick I’ve got nothing.

 

Number 59

The Winner:  Carlos Carrasco

Gets the nod for what he has turned himself into since coming over in the Cliff Lee trade, his battle with cancer, and for earning his U.S. citizenship during 2015.

 

Honorable Mention:  Mike Johnson.  I remember him, but honestly I don’t remember anything he did of note on the field.

 

Number 60

The Winner:  Chan Ho Park

As some of these guys have proven you don’t have to do something good to be memorable.  On April 23, 1999, Park was starting for the Dodgers against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Staked to a 2-0 lead going into the third, Park gave up a single to Darren Bragg, hit Edgar Renteria, and gave up a single to slugger Mark McGwire, loading the bases.  Up came Fernando Tatis, who crushed a 2-0 fastball over the left field fence for a grand slam and a 4-2 lead.  It went downhill from there as he stayed in the inning (yes, inning) long enough to face Tatis with the bases loaded again.  This time it was a 3-2 pitch that Tatis unloaded on.  On the list of unbreakable records, this one is near the top.  Who will be in the game long enough to give up three grand slams in one inning TO THE SAME GUY?!?!?!?

 

Honorable Mention:  Really?  How do you get anywhere close to that?

 

Number 61

The Winner:  Rick Nash

Here is what I wrote back when I was doing power rankings for the site:

 

The Blue Jackets came into NHL existence in 2000 as the league was rapidly expanding.  Two years later in the Entry Draft they took a teenager from Brampton, Ontario named Rick Nash.  It didn’t take long for him to have an impact as he scored 27:35 into his debut as the Blue Jackets won their 2002 opener 2-1 over the Blackhawks.  That season he finished third in the Calder Trophy voting (Rookie of the Year).  The next season he made his first All-Star team.  It took a few seasons, but in 2009 the Blue Jackets finally reached the playoffs.  It would be the only time they reached the postseason with him as he was traded after the 2012 season to the New York Rangers.  In 2014 he helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years.  But injuries – most notably concussions – started to mount up.  On St. Patrick’s Day of last year he took a shot to the head and his regular season was done.  He came back in the playoffs but registered just five points in 12 games for the Bruins.  He hadn’t played at all this season, citing lingering concussion symptoms.  On Thursday Nash retired, deciding not to risk further injury or brain damage.

 

This has been a Columbus-centric column this week, but in a way it needs to be.  With two current players holding a bulk of the team’s postseason hopes in their hands, it’s important to remember that Rick Nash was the Blue Jackets first star, the guy who gave the franchise credibility.  He hasn’t played for the Blue Jackets in seven years, but remains the franchise’s all-time leader in Games, Goals (Total, Even Strength, Power Play, and Short Handed for that matter), Assists, Points, Goals Created, Game Winners, and is second in Point Shares.  After he was traded it took three years to replace him as captain.

 

The Blue Jackets are only 19 years old with future playoff success hopefully on the horizon.  But a moment like this needs to be remembered.  It’s a safe bet that Rick Nash’s #61 will be the first hanging for a Blue Jackets’ player at Nationwide Arena.  He was the stability the fledgling franchise needed in its early years and it’s a shame to see the young man leaving the sport at the age of 34.

 

Number 62

The Winner:  The Holtz Family

The reasons for this are really simple.  One, I can’t think of one pro or collegiate player who wore that number worth remembering.  And two, for the better part of a decade only one last name wore number 62 for the Lake Catholic Cougars.  It started with Dave who wore it from 1988 through 1990.  After that his brother Bryan wore it during our state championship runs.  Then it was handed to his brother Kevin for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.  I specifically remember a study hall that seemed to consist of all siblings.  My brother and I were in it as were Bryan and Kevin Holtz, and Mike and Kelly Plickert.  Also in there were Sean O’Donnell (older brother Scott) and Mike DePerro (older brother Jon).  What made it even stranger is that I don’t think there were even 20 students in the study hall.  Don’t ask me why I’m remembering this.  Let’s just move on.

 

Honorable Mention:  Again, if you have one, fire away.

 

Number 63

The Winner:  Cody Risien

While all of those Browns songs were certainly terrible, they were also certainly memorable.  I needed a #63 and “Cody and Baab” did their best to keep the blitz at bay.  Again, this isn’t always easy.

 

Honorable Mention:  . . .

 

Number 64:  Jim Burt

A nose tackle for the Giants and 49ers.  Burt put a massive blow on Joe Montana in January of 1987 against the 49ers.  Joe Montana was seeing stars for days afterwards, I’m sure.  Hell, he probably still feels pain from the hit when he gets out of bed in the morning.  It felt odd seeing them as teammates three years later celebrating a Super Bowl championship.

 

Honorable Mention:  Again, I’ve got nothing.  Sorry, linemen just have not been that memorable in my lifetime.

 

Number 65

The Winner:  Gary Zimmerman

A Hall of Fame offensive line.  Had to fill the spot somehow and I have heard of him.

 

Honorable Mention:  Take a shot.  I’ve got blanks with this one.

 

Number 66

The Winner:  Mario Lemieux

He had the cool nickname (Super Mario).  He and Wayne Gretzky have the top 13 single season point totals.  Just those two.  He guided the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991-92.  When the Penguins were bankrupt he bought them and saved the franchise.  Name another great that did that.

 

Honorable Mention:  Yasiel Puig.  He’s a character, that’s for sure.

 

Number 67

The Winner:  Max Pacioretty

He wins because he was a part of the Cinderella story Vegas Golden Knights.  Otherwise, I’ve got nothing.

 

Honorable Mention:  Otherwise . . .

 

Number 68

The Winner:  Jaromir Jagr

Super Mario’s teammate, along with just about every NHL player this century as he bounced around.  Spent some time back overseas, came back, and at last check has only not played for the Bruins and Canadiens (probably a few others, but it’s currently 4:44 am on Easter Sunday morning, so just roll with it).  Awesome mullet, he is the closest to Wayne Gretzky on the all-time scoring list.

 

Honorable Mention:  Again, linemen and journeymen . . .

 

Number 69

The Winner:  Tim Krumrie

I was too young to remember Joe Theismann’s injury.  But I remember Krumrie’s injury in Super Bowl XXIII. I won’t get into the details, but I really thought his career was over after that.  Fortunately he played six more years, five of them as a starter.

 

Honorable Mention:  I’ve got nothing.

 

Number 70

The Winner:  Braden Holtby

The reason he makes this list is because after years of being criticized he got to hoist the Cup, which for you football fans is pretty much like when you guys criticize quarterbacks until their team wins a Super Bowl.

 

Honorable Mention:  I think I should mention how I really came up with the list.  I named as many moments as I could and who were prominent in those moments.  Then if I didn’t know their number right away I looked them up.  After that I had to go through the other numbers I had blank and fill those in.  That’s the biggest reason Braden Holtby is here and no one else.

 

Number 71

The Winner:  Evgeni Malkin

A former Hart Trophy winner and three time Cup champion, has helped keep the Penguins among the league’s elite.

 

Honorable Mention:  Got nothing.

 

Number 72

The Winner:  William “The Refrigerator” Perry

The Fridge was an All-American at Clemson then came to the Bears and became a household name.  Then in Wrestlemania II he was in the battle royal at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago (Wrestlemania II took place at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, and the Forum in Los Angeles).  He was eliminated by Big John Studd, but conned Studd into shaking his hand and he pulled him over the top to eliminate the future WWE Hall of Famer.  He’s dealing with a lot of health issues now, but he will tell you to this day, those days were the best time of his life.

 

Honorable Mention:  Carlton Fisk.  Let’s say a catcher was in his mid 30’s and was second in the league in homeruns.  Let’s say the league leader was seven months older than the catcher.  Doesn’t seem like there was a big deal back then, but I could be wrong (I was eight; if there wasn’t a box score or a cartoon attached to the words I probably wasn’t reading that much).  Today it would be huge.  It’s amazing how cynical we’ve become.

 

Number 73

The Winner:  Joe Thomas

He will have his bust in Canton and it is well deserved.  It’s a shame he couldn’t have played for a real organization.  He deserved better.

 

Honorable Mention:  I’ve got nothing.

 

Number 74

The Winner:  Larry Allen.  Actually the best compliment you can say about Larry Allen is that I don’t remember a whole lot about him.  Emmitt Smith just ran and ran.  You didn’t hear about Larry Allen because he did his job.  Unless Madden covered the game; then you heard Larry Allen’s name for 15 consecutive plays followed by zero talk about him, then a shot of him on the sideline followed by more gushing takes by Madden.  It probably only happened twice that I truly remember, but I heard Madden say his name in those two games approximately 2,567,174,942 times.  Give or take (It’s now 5:59 am)

 

Honorable Mention:  Kenley Jansen.  An electrifying reliever for a few years.  Seems to be falling to reality over the last couple of years, but still effective.

 

Number 75

The Winner:  Jonathan Ogden

The first pick the Real Browns made when they moved to Baltimore.  Give Ozzie credit, he was fantastic at his job.

 

Honorable Mention:  Barry Zito.  His contract with the Giants was so fantastically bad that teams actually learned from it.

 

Number 76

The Winner:  Orlando Pace

Honestly should have won the Heisman Trophy in 1996, but the Trophy is of a player with a ball in his hand, so there you have that.  He anchored the line that led The Greatest Show on Turf.

 

Honorable Mention:  And again, not a whole lot of options here, either.

 

Number 77

The Winner:  Ray Bourque

My favorite player on my favorite team.  When he first came up the Bruins gave him #7 to follow in the great Phil Esposito’s footsteps.  In 1987 the Bruins held a retirement ceremony for Esposito and the #7 was lifted up to the rafters of the Boston Garden.  As a part of the ceremony Ray Bourque skated out and handed Esposito a #7 Esposito sweater, then pulled off his #7 sweater to reveal a #77 Bourque sweater.  It’s one of the coolest moments I’ve ever gotten to witness as a sports fan.

 

Honorable Mention:  Paul Coffey.  Another scoring defenseman.  The 80’s were fun.

 

Number 78

The Winner:  Bruce Smith

The best player to come out of Virginia Tech.  A force for the Buffalo defense through their best years in the NFL.  If only the Bills could have gotten just one of those Super Bowls . . .

 

Honorable Mention:  Anthony Munoz.  Arguably the greatest left tackle of all time.

 

Number 79

The Winner:  Bob Golic

He was a local kid who played for the local team at a time when the team was going well.  But most importantly we will always remember him as Mike Rogers on “Saved by the Bell:  The College Years”.

 

Honorable Mention:  Pick someone.  I’ve got nothing.

 

Number 80

The Winner:  Jerry Rice

Quite possibly the greatest player ever to play football.  He had great hands, ran perfect routes, outworked everyone and eventually held about every receiving record.  This is a player who required TWO season ending injuries to finish his 1997 season.  He played in four Super Bowls and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIII.  His numbers will eventually be surpassed, but that is why records exist.  He’s the best I’ve ever seen.

 

Honorable Mention:  Steve Largent.  Pretty much every record Rice broke was Largent’s record.  This from a guy who played for a coach nicknamed “Ground Chuck”.  And there was that Sunday night when he cleaned the clock of the Broncos Mike Harden and won a few more hearts of fans everywhere, not just the Pacific Northwest.

.

 

Number 81

The Winner:  Terrell Owens

Say what you want his end zone celebrations were comical, he made his presence known everywhere he went and he always had something to say.

 

Honorable Mention:  Tim Brown.  Hard to forget one of only nine Heisman winners in the pro football Hall of Fame.

 

Number 82

The Winner:  Ozzie Newsome.

 

The answer seems obvious, doesn’t it?  Growing up in the mid 80’s every week was at least one mention of his consecutive games with a catch.  I was at the game when the streak snapped, against the Oilers in 1989.  By then it seemed to be just a token thing, a quick two yard dump pass to keep the streak going for the fans sake.  And nowadays it doesn’t involve the same difficulties as DiMaggio’s hitting streak.  He also was a fantastic executive for Baltimore.

 

Honorable Mention:  John Taylor.  He has one of the most memorable Super Bowl moments ever.  That will usually get you some votes in a poll like this. And he’s the only player with two 90+ TD receptions in the same game.

 

Number 83

The Winner:  Ricky Sanders

Super Bowl XXII was a game for a quarter.  The Broncos led at the end of the first 10-0.  The Redskins used the second quarter as a seven-on-seven drill as Doug Williams threw four TD passes, two of them to Sanders en route to a record 35 points and a laugher at halftime.  But the most famous catch Sanders had was later on as he ran a crossing route across the White House lawn, receiving a pass from President Reagan.

 

Honorable Mention:  Seriously, I had none.

 

Number 84

The Winner:  Webster Slaughter

The Browns true deep threat during that run. he had his TD catch in overtime to beat the Steelers in 1986, then in January had the big play against the Jets to set up the game tying field goal and force overtime.  There was the way he and Reggie Langhorn would come out with the leaping high five in the pregame introductions.  I’ll leave everything else alone.

 

Honorable Mention:  Haywood Jeffries.  The only reason is because as a teenager there was always the joke about what his middle name was.

 

Number 85

The Winner:  Tim McGee

He was the other receiver on the Bengals.  Again, slim pickings.

 

Honorable Mention:  Honestly, I’ve got nothing.

 

Number 86

The Winner:  Brian Brennan

If not for a 98-yard drive, Brennan would be on the short list of people who would never have to buy a drink in Cleveland.

 

Honorable Mention:  See above.  Again, this wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

 

Number 87:  Sidney Crosby

Sid the Kid came to the Penguins at a time they desperately needed him.  They had missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons and were coming out of bankruptcy.  In his second season – as a 19-year old no less – he led the team to a 47-point improvement in the standings.  The next year they were in the Stanley Cup Finals and in 2009 they won the Cup.  They have won two more since then, he’s won two MVP’s, two scoring titles, to playoff MVP’s, etc.  Besides that, as a hockey fan he’s just plain fun to watch on the ice.  He and Ovechkin created a fantastic rivalry that has constantly been seen in the playoffs and when it’s all said and done he will go down as one of the two greatest ever to don the Penguins sweater.

 

Honorable Mention:  If you’ve got one, I’ll listen.

 

Number 88

The Winner:  Eric Lindros

For non-hockey fans, remember the Eli Manning fiasco?  This was similar.  The Quebec Nordiques drafted him in 1991, but Lindros refused to sign.  He was concerned about the direction of the Nordiques franchise (which he was right about; four years later the team was in Denver).  The difference was that Lindros wasn’t dictating where he was going to play except that it wasn’t going to be in Quebec City.  The Nordiques actually made two deals for Lindros, and an arbitrator had to resolve the issue, eventually deciding that the Flyers had acquired Lindros’ rights.  The Nordiques benefited by getting the rights to Peter Forsberg, and the Flyers got their eventual captain.

 

Honorable Mention:  Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

A two-time Daytona 500 Champion, and five time series champion as an owner, his name became synonymous with the sport as it was reaching its peak in popularity earlier this century.  He’s just one of those personalities whom even the least knowledgeable fan knows about – at least they know who he is.

 

Number 89

The Winner:  Rae Caruth

Setting up a hit on your girlfriend is not the way someone should want to be remembered.  Unfortunately, Rae Caruth gets that distinction.  What a sad and sordid affair that was.

 

Honorable Mention:  Frank Wycheck.  Sorry for being the runner up, but the Music City Miracle – while memorable – just doesn’t stick like a murder plot.  Sad, but true.

 

Number 90

The Winner:  Julius Peppers

He’s a very recent pass rusher.  I really don’t have that many memories of that many defensive lineman.  Sorry.

 

Honorable Mention:  If you’ve got names, list them here.

 

Number 91:  Sergei Fedorov

He won the Hart Trophy (MVP) in 1994, won two Cups, had the horrible ESPN2 NHL commercial and has been romantically linked to Anna Kournikova and Tara Reid.  That’s pretty memorable, right?  It helps, too, that he was really, really good at hockey.

 

Honorable Mention:  Kevin Greene, Dennis Rodman.  Both of them are more known for their off the field antics; Rodman obviously, but Kevin Greene for his time in WCW.  Rodman would have rated higher, but he was 91 at the latter stages of his career and by then a lot of the shock value was gone.

 

Number 92

The Winner:  Reggie White

A stud, first in the USFL, then in the NFL with the Eagles, then went to Green Bay.  Died too young.  The Minister of Defense was a force his entire career and was an ambassador off the field as well.

 

Honorable Mentions:  Michael Strahan, Michael Dean Perry.  Strahan guided a defense that defeated the previously undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. That and he had that big gap in his teeth which you saw a lot of because he constantly smiled.  And who in Cleveland also remembers the MDP from McDonalds?  Is there any way possible that burger gets promoted in 2020?  I think the only guy they could get to promote it would be Ron Swanson.  In fact, let’s get on this.

 

Number 93

The Winner:  Doug Gilmour

He had 450 career goals, and was at the center of one of the most controversial postseason moments in the last 30 years of sports.  In Game 6 of the 1993 Campbell Conference Finals the game was in overtime when Gilmour was struck by a high stick from Wayne Gretzky.  In a scene straight out of the WWF, the officials missed this, and instead of being in the penalty box for five minutes, Gretzky scored the winning goal to force Game 7, which the Leafs lost.

 

Honorable Mention:  Give me your best selection.

 

Number 94

The Winner:  Charles Haley

The first player to win five Super Bowls.  A defensive force of nature for both the 49ers and Cowboys.

 

Honorable Mention:  Honestly, some of these are just tough.

 

Number 95

The Winner:  Richard Dent

The MVP of Super Bowl XX, and a force on the Bears 46 Defense.

 

Honorable Mention:  See Number 94

 

Number 96

The Winner:  Clyde Simmons

When the talk about underachieving teams comes up, how do the Eagles under Buddy Ryan never come up?  Simmons, White, Golic, Brown, etc.  That defense was loaded, but never seemed to get enough stops.  A shame.

 

Honorable Mention:  See Number 95

 

Number 97

The Winner:  Cornelius Bennett

Those 90’s Bills teams really got their start in 1988, when Bennett and Smith anchored a defense that clinched the AFC East in Week 12.  I know Bills fans still connect with that team, much like Browns fans still connect with that team of the late 80’s.  And I’ll remember Bennett as much as Smith when it comes to those days of the NFL.

 

Honorable Mention:  Connor McDavid.  It’s way too early to figure out where he’ll end up, but for the Edmonton Oilers it can only be encouraging.

 

Number 98

The Winner:  Tony Siragusa

He was a good defensive lineman and was a somewhat funny personality on TV.  Otherwise this is yet another tough number to find someone.

 

Honorable Mention:  None came to mind.

 

Number 99

The Winner:  Wayne Gretzky

The Great One.  He scored 92 goals in the 1981-82 season.  He scored 50 goals in his team’s first 39 games.  He owns 61 NHL records, or 62 if you want to give him the record for holding the most records.  When he was traded to the Kings in 1988 Los Angeles was an out of place hockey city.  Now you have teams in Anaheim, San Jose, Miami, Dallas, Tampa, Phoenix, Raliegh, and Nashville.  On top of that, Tampa, Dallas, Raliegh (Carolina), Anaheim, and Los Angeles have all won the Cup, and San Jose, Miami, and Nashville have reached the finals.  Part of the reason for that reach in popularity is the popularity of Gretzky and his going to LA.  To an even greater extent than Earnhardt Jr., Gretzky is someone who novices know about.  He’s Babe Ruth, Hulk Hogan, Tom Brady, LeBron, etc.

 

Honorable Mention:  Warren Sapp.  Probably my favorite defensive lineman, a disruptive force that turned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers around from laughing stock to Super Bowl champion.

 

Well, there you have it.  That was a lot of fun and hopefully you all enjoyed it, too.