Who was your favorite athlete? I loved Gary Carter of the Expos and Mark Messier of the Oilers.

[applegrove]

Lately it has been Steve Nash who is interesting to watch because I played basketball so I know some of the plays he is so good at.

[Bertha Venation]

1. all of them Angels, because they were (and are) my only true team love

Brian Downing, Nolan Ryan, Bob Boone, Frank Tanana, Devon White, David Eckstein, Bobby Grich, Bruce Bochte, David Schofield . . . so many more.

[driver8]

28. Nolan Ryan was one of my favorites, too.

Nolan was a bad ass on the mound...ask Robin Ventura!

[cherokeeprogressive]

38. They used to say NO ONE could equal the Koufax' four no-no's. Nolan Ryan DESTROYED that notion.

I never missed a chance to see him pitch, no matter who he was pitching for.

[Graybeard]

2. Yogi Berra

Told early on that he would never get into the big leagues he became a legend. 18 time All-Star, 3 time MVP, great clutch hitter and just an all around good guy.

[KamaAina]

3. That's funny. I was always partial to Mark Messier of the Rangers.

You don't suppose?...

[applegrove]

4. There's a moose on the loose!

[Myrina]

11. LOL, I thought the same thing!

Although my favorite Ranger was Ron DuGuay

[Capn Sunshine]

5. Ronnie Lott

because I played wide receiver I always had great respect for the cornerbacks and safeties.
?1329802417

[hifiguy]

13. Did any football player ever hit harder than

Ronnie Lott on a pound-for-pound basis? He took receivers out of their shoes a couple of times every game.

[Tikki]

6. Jimmy Plunkett, back when and Lance Franklin, now.

I really didn't understand football until I saw Jim Plunkett quarterback at Stanford.


An amazing athlete is Buddy Franklin of the AFL Hawthorn Hawks...

Tikki

[Puzzledtraveller]

7. Darrell Green

One of the best corner to play the game, Doug Williams close 2nd, those two are what caused me to fall in love with football, Art Monk and Gary Clark not far behind. Loved those guys.

[Burma Jones]

19. Oh for the days before the Snyderskins.........

The 'Skins used to have some really first class guys......Don't forget the Linemen.......The Hogs, Mann, Butz, Manley......

[driver8]

29. I have never been a Redskins' fan, but loved Art Monk and Darrell Green.

I liked Art Monk because he went to Syracuse, and loved Darrell Green because he played forever and never seemed to age! I read a story once about how a stewardess on the Redskins' team flight couldn't believe how old Darrell was when he told her. She thought he was twenty years younger.

[Pool Hall Ace]

8. Cal Ripken, Jr.

[OriginalGeek]

9. Nolan Ryan and Roger Staubach

I got to see Roger win in Dallas but I never got to see Nolan play (I mean live - I've seen them both on TV many times) as I was already long gone from Texas when he came up to the Rangers. But I've been a Nolan Ryan fan ever since I can remember.

I worked with a guy who named his kid Nolan Ryan and I was a little bit jealous because my wife wouldn't let me do the same.


Probably for the best though, my daughter has said she wouldn't have liked that.

[HERVEPA]

16. Double Yuck. Two right wing jerks.

[driver8]

30. I liked Nolan Ryan before I knew what a right wing jerk was...

He gets "grandfathered".

[OriginalGeek]

32. Same with Roger.

Both of them since I was a kid.


It's about their sport, not their politics.

[OriginalGeek]

33. Seems to me one needn't be

a right winger to be a jerk.

[Son of Gob]

10. The Hawk

[hifiguy]

12. Sandy Koufax

was my idol when I was a boy even though I was a right-handed goyim. Calm, quiet, the antithesis of a showboat. Oh, and the most dominating power pitcher of the last half of the 20th century (pace, Nolan Ryan fans, but Koufax had much better control and that devastating, knee-buckling 12-to-6 curve). Opposing hitters must have faced Koufax with tears in their eyes. He utterly humiliated the greatest batsmen of his generation.

Edited to add Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Poetry on a basketball court. They made me appreciate basketball.

[JonLP24]

14. Kevin Johnson

Adrian Wilson

[geardaddy]

15. here are a few of mine:

He's now a MN Supreme Court Justice

These two:

Fran Tarkenton and Chuck Foreman

And every kid's baseball hero in Minnesota when I was growing up:

Harmon Killebrew

[hifiguy]

23. Seeing that pic of snowy Met Stadium

reminded me of what the great Jim Marshall said about the terrifying Purple People Eaters, of which Alan Page was a member: "Our game plan is to arrive together at the quarterback in a bad frame of mind." Talk about understated menace!!

[geardaddy]

24. I loved those guys.

Alan Page, Carl Eller, who were the other two?

[hifiguy]

26. Jim Marshall and

the fourth People Eater was Gary Larsen who was replaced by Doug Sutherland.

The father of my best friend in law school played in the NFL for a few years and told me a great story of that era's Vikings. Frank (my friend's dad) was blocked into the back of Carl Eller's legs on a special teams play. Eller, who I have seen in person and he's a freaking giant, took exception and snarled at Frank "You'll be back out here later." Sure enough, Frank found himself lined up across from The Moose a few series later. Frank said the last thing he remembered was Eller's forearm coming up under his chin until they woke him up to walk him off the field. The Moose was a BAD man.

[geardaddy]

27. Ahh cool. Thanks.

Excellent story!

I've seen Carl Eller in person at the MOA with Chuck Foreman when they were doing some promotion. I miss those days of the Vikings.

[fishwax]

39. ha! -- great quote

I hadn't heard it before

[HappyMe]

17. Frank Thomas (White Sox)

Scotty Pippin, Michael Jordan (Bulls)
Carlton Fisk (White Sox)
Chris Chelios (Black Hawks)

There are a bunch of others.

[Burma Jones]

18. As a Youngster, Brooks Robinson, Ron Santo, Gale Sayers and John Unitas

Later, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripkin, John Riggins and The Hogs,

Now, well I just like going to Baseball Games to go see Strasburg, Pudge, Zimmerman and the rest of the Nats.......My Son likes the Ravens and I'm along for the ride...but the older I get (I'm 52 now), the more I prefer Baseball to Football.

[pokerfan]

20. Willie Mays

"There's a long drive waaay back in center field...waaay baaack, baaack, it is...caaaaaught by Wil-lie Mays! The runner on second, Doby, is able to tag and go to third; Willie Mays just brought this crowd to its feet...with a catch...which must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people. Boy! See where that 483 foot mark is in center field? The ball itself...Russ, you know this ballpark better than anyone else I know...had to go about 460, didn't it?""

[YankeyMCC]

21. Bobby Orr and Ray Borque

[BTennyson]

22. Classiest Ever

Dr. J

[bigwillq]

25. Don Mattingly (nt)

[MiddleFingerMom]

31. Pete Rose -- back when he embodied the spirit of every sandlot kid in America...

.
.
.
... and before he became a lying idiot doing all he could to avoid accountability and responsibility.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Where are the Charlie Hustles of yesteryear?
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

[AsahinaKimi]

34. Joe Montana

Will always be..

[provis99]

35. Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lee_%28left-handed_pitcher%29

I love that he figured his marijuana smoking made him immune to the bus fumes in Boston!

[cloudbase]

36. Roberto Clemente n/t

[opiate69]

37. Gerry Cheevers, Billy Smith, CuJo, Patrick Roy

I'm sensing a theme, lol...

[OhioChick]

40. MJ....Always will be

[fishwax]

41. Dale Murphy

Karl Mecklenburg


Steve Atwater

[Chan790]

42. Mo Vaughn.

What wasn't to like? The guy lived on fried food, drank to excess, could hit a baseball for miles and slept with strippers.

It was like my 13 year old self's fantasy life.