Sunday, January 07, 2007

Favorite Athletes

I was attempting to type a post listing my 10 favorite athletes of all-time, but was having great difficulty. As it turns out, very few athletes have won my heart. Dominik Hasek is probably the athlete that has provided me with the most entertainment. I don't know that I've ever seen a player dominate like Dom did. But in the end, he demanded a trade from my beloved Sabres and tainted my memories. I have been a loyal Bill Elliott (Nascar) supporter through the years, but his victories have been few and very far between. I like clutch performers and so David Ortiz is among my favorites, but alas, I don't really 'love' baseball. I do love football, but strangely enough, I can't really think of any football players that I'm a passionate fan of. Thus, nobody on this list is loved, but below you'll find my top 10 athletes:

Top 10 athletes
Dominik Hasek (NHL)
Bill Elliott (Nascar)
David Ortiz (MLB)
Pat Lafontaine (NHL)
Jeff Bagwell (MLB)
Larry Bird (NBA)
Roger Clemens (MLB)
Carmello Anthony (NCAA/NBA)
Barry Sanders (NFL)
Henrik Tallinder (NHL)

3 comments:

Aaron Perry said...

Roger Clemens? Matt, I must say...this is severely disappointing. He is a tremendous athlete, but after the incidents (esp. throwing at his head) with Piazza, I can barely stomach the man.

Here's my list, in no particular order:

Doug Gilmour
Wendel Clark
Curtis Joseph (although his end with the Leafs is kind of like Dom's with Buffalo)
Joe Carter
Kelly Gruber
Jerome Bettis
Greg Lloyd
Mats Sundin
Roberto Alomar
Hines Ward

matthew said...

What can I say, I don't mind jerks as athletes. My reason for liking Roger is purely based on talent. He might be the most consistent athelete I kow. No matter what age, he's still a top 5 pitcher in the league.

Gilmour was kinda a jerk during his short stint in Buffalo.

Looks like long term consistency is a pretty big deal for you, too, since you don't have any young athletes on your list. Or maybe young athletes aren't giving us reasons to favor them?

Also, I think it's interesting that no NBA players made your list considering the NBA markets players instead of teams whereas the NFL markets teams over players.

Aaron Perry said...

basically i listed the people who came to mind that i wanted to be as a kid and that i got the most joy out of watching. the youngness might say more about the leafs' tendency to get older players!

no NBA because i don't watch it.