Manufactured Content - Favorite Non WI Pro Player

Walter Payton / Earl Campbell

Larry Joe Bird

Jose Altuve

NFL: Patrick Willis

MLB: Ken Griffey Jr. 

NBA: Shaq Diesel

MLB- John Kruk was a very colorful guy.

NFL- Dick Butkus was a player that has left a mark.

NBA-Wilt Chamberlain-dominating.

Pro Wrestling- Ric Flair-  WOOWWWW!

Wrestling...Dick the Bruiser (although he was a Packer) and the Crusher.

NFL: Jerry Rice

MLB: Randy Johnson (Im also a lefty so yes, I am biased). 

NBA: Michael Jordan. 

Wrestling: Hulk Hogan. Grew up watching him. What wasn't to like in the 1980's? As an adult, I realize his cheesy ass leg move was all kinds of stupid, but from a PR standpoint? He was a key reason wrestling became what it did. 

Paul Krause

Bob Gibson

Bill Russell

packerboi posted:

....

MLB: Randy Johnson (Im also a lefty so yes, I am biased). 

 

Did you ever kill a pigeon in flight?   

bvan posted:

packerboi posted:

....

MLB: Randy Johnson (Im also a lefty so yes, I am biased). 

 

Did you ever kill a pigeon in flight?   

That is still one of the best highlights ever. Damn. 

Kirby Pucket

Chris Mullin

Herman Moore

George the Animal Steele

Ryne Sandburg 

Larry Bird

Cal Ripken (just did everything right and did it every day) or Kirby Puckett (the joy)

MJ (duh)

Gale Sayers (old days), Barry Sanders 

Joe Montana 

Cal Ripken Jr

Pistol Pete maravich

Real wrestler- Kyle snyder from osu 

Gale Sayers

Pete Maravich

Unsure, probably Ted Williams

Phaedrus....

Pretty good Netflix documentary on Williams....He's always fascinated me. Lost 5? years to 2 wars....otherwise, he'd be considered the GOAT by many. Real SOB of a person.

My list:

DiMaggio - Elegance and grace. Nobody glided better than him (Yelich kinda does it like him) And he got to boink Marilyn Monroe.

Jim Brown -Best football player...ever...hands down

Maravich- His college scoring is incomprehensible.

Randy Johnson. His pitching to John Kruk in the All-Star game was the funniest thing ever in baseball.

Ken Stabler.  His many comeback victories are fantastic. 

Hard to pick a NBA player because I seldom watch it.

Randy "Macho Man"  Savage.   OH YEAH!!!!!!  But for a real wrestler, Rulon Gardner

Also a great Ted Williams documentary on the PBS series," American Masters".

BK,

Thanks. 

Williams did mellow some in his later years.  I am also mindful of the fact he lost so many years of his prime.  Yeah, his hitting records would have been off the charts.

Maravich.  I think he was kind of maligned.  He also played on some really lousy teams.  Given better circumstances, I think he may have gone down as the greatest offensive player of all time.  Finally, he dies so young and the autopsy showed he had a serious congenital heart ailment.  Incredible.

Thankfully, in his final years, he had found peace.  He was content.

Ronnie Lott

Larry Bird

Dale Murphy

Zach Parise

Bo Jackson

Julius Erving

Sandy Koufax

LeRoy Kelly - I was too young to have seen Jim Brown play, but I became an NFL fan watching Kelly's virtuoso performance one rainy Sunday afternoon.

Lew Alcindor (Kareem) - His sky hook was a thing of beauty.  And watching Kareem and Wilt going head to head made me aspire to new heights.  (Seriously, I really wanted to be taller.)

Rod Carew - With no baseball in Brewtown in my formative years, I was a Twins fan.  Loved Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew too, but there was something about the sweet swing of Carew that drew me in.  Unfortunately for me and the twins, the Oakland Athletics were the dominant team in the AL.

'Rowdy' Roddy Piper - Especially when the young man ran out of chewing gum.  (RIP Roddy.)

NFL Deacon Jones

NBA Jerry West

MLB Willie Mays

NHL Gordie Howe

I'm going to choose motorsports instead of rasslin'.
John Andretti.
NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, Indy Cars; he could drive 'em all and had success at each one. And a great guy off-track, too!

NFL Any time the Raidaahs and Chefs went at it! Buck Bucannon, Willie Lanier, Bobby, Bell Pete Banazack (SP) Jim Otto, Ben Davidson

Celtics Tonm "Satch Sanders, "Dave The Redhead" Cowens

Baseball Horace Clarke Ronnie Blonberg ( The first DH Ever)

Rastling Chief White Owl,Luis Martinez Ivan Putski

NBA: Clyde "The Glide" Drexler of the Portland Trailblazers. 

NFL: My favorites are all Packers. Other than a Packer player, I'll say Otis Taylor of the KC Chiefs. I loved how the Chiefs used him as an End but also by having him stand under the crossbar and then jump up to try to block FGs and PATs.

MLB: Willie Mays. The Say Hey Kid. Probably the best all around baseball player ever. My pick for pitcher would go to either Greg Maddux or Pedro Martinez.

NHL: Bobby Hull. Faster than fast and tough as nails. He kept many a dentist in business. 

AWA: Mad Dog Vachon.  He was missing teeth and would bite like a rabid dog. He spit on me once. My favorite wrestler, by far.

Roddy Piper. This video is bananas  

Hey guys, can’t forget the women......Lindsey Vonn, Bonnie Blair, Simone Biles, Billy Jean King,  Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Goldie posted:

Hey guys, can’t forget the women......Lindsey Vonn, Bonnie Blair, Simone Biles, Billy Jean King,  Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

my favs

baseball  Bob Gibson

football  Bo Jackson

nba  Larry Bird

wrasslin  I used to love Saturday mornings  the Iron Sheik, vs Sergent Slaughter

Lynn Swann.  Poetry and toughness in motion. He's why I wore 88 in my day. Though I would credit Lofton for wanting to be a WR.

Mariano.  I watched little baseball other than the 82 crew.  But Mariano always got it done.

MJ.  I watched little BB but who didn't want to be 23 in the 80/90's?

Pro Wrestling: they pay people to do that?

Good thread, Russ.

From Ohio, I’ll stick with Ohio and nicknames...

The Assassin

Hondo

Eric the Red

 And, nationally, 

Broadway Joe

Dr. J

Yaz

Carli Lloyd, Pele, Lindsey Whalen, Martina Navratilova, Picabo Street

NFL: OJ

NBA: Clyde Drexler

NHL: Patrick Roy

Soccer: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

MLB: J. R. Richard

Racing: Juan Fangio

Tennis: John McEnroe

Boxing: Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns

NFL, Earl

MLB, Nolan

NBA, Larry

NFL:  Joe Montana.  He was so damn cool

MLB:  Nolan Ryan

NBA:  Larry Bird

I only have one-Mark Buehrle, pitcher for the White Sox.

A pitcher in Maddux mold. Didn't have great stuff (probably never threw a 90 mph fastball). Pitched to contact.  He'd never make the bigs today.

But in 16 seasons threw 214 wins with a 3.81 era (all but 1 season in the AL). Mostly on crappy teams but did win a World Series game in 2005. Threw a no hitter. Threw a perfect game. 4 time All star. 4 time Gold Glove including a number of hilite reel plays. Even hit a home run during interleague play (against the Brewers, no less).

But his numbers don't describe how he played. Every time you began to think "He's just a guy on his way out of the league", he'd do something to WOW you. He got in trouble with White Sox management for leading a tarp slide during a rain delay.

The league might have to institute a pitch clock to slow down the game if everyone threw like Buehrle. Catch-Look-Nod-Throw. I remember one game against King Felix in Seattle that went 2:08 start to finish.

Most amazing to me: In 14 consecutive years he threw at least 200 innings. That's an absurd number in the modern era. And in his last season, he threw 198.

His is the only jersey I've ever bought or worn.

2 hour and 8 minute MLB game?  I remember when baseball played that briskly and I miss it.

One MLB player I alway was a fan of was Ken Griffey Jr.  He played the game with so much fun and he looked so effortless at what he did.  Even though he did it against the Brewers I did get to see him hit a HR his rookie year.

Maddux is one pitcher I always marvelled at.  He looked like a high school math teacher but man was he something to watch on the mound.

Randy Johnson was a pitcher I always wondered how anyone hit his pitches.  I saw him pitch up close and by the time he threw the ball he was probably 5 feet closer than other other pitchers.

Blair Kiel posted:

 

DiMaggio

The transcendence of DiMaggio is amazing. How could something like this happen with no ESPN or TMZ back in those days ?  The legend of the early Yankee's and their players is stunning to me.

Please don't take this as a slight to your selection(its not and you can chose whoever you want) but I'm guessing DiMaggio retired from baseball 10 years before you were even born, yet he is one of our favorite players.  Impressive. Legendary !!! 

I attended a Brewers v. Cubs Kerry Wood.

5 hits and 3 walks in the entire game. 1 Cubs HR. Brewers lose 1-0 in 1:57 minutes. Brewers had 2 pitching changes, Cubs zero.

Game was middle to later May. Early 2000's. On the way in to Wrigley from Aurora sleet and hail fell so hard that I-88 was a sheet of ice. We figured no way a game was going to be played but made our way to the stadium anyways. all around was dark, rain, sleet but at the stadium, there was one small hole in the clouds and it was sunny the entire time.

I had to buy a hat.

NFL: Christian Okoye and Derrick Thomas

NBA: Jordan

MLB: Chipper Jones and Tim Wakefield

NASCAR: Rusty Wallace (he raced for beer!)

Rasslin': Ultimate Warrior and the Road Warriors

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NHL: Gordie