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Anderson Silva - Brazilian MMA fighter
Michael Jordan - American NBA legend
Tom Brady - American NFL QB
Jerry Rice - American NFL WR
Adrian Peterson - American NFL RB
Usain Bolt - Jamaican sprinter
Johnny 'Bones' Jones - American MMA fighter
George St. Pierre - Canadian MMA fighter
Joe Montana - American NFL QB
Mariano Rivera - Panamanian MLB reliever
Sandy Koufax
Lou Groza
Wilt Chamberlain
Stan Musial
Sonny Jurgensen
Paul Hornung
Pete Maravich
Frank Ryan
Oscar Robertson
Rocky Colavito
This was harder than I thought.
I never saw Koufax throw, but statistically, in my book, he's the best pitcher that ever threw a baseball. I don't use the normal metrics of career stats, though; instead I make that judgment based on the fact that he's the only guy ever to win the pitching triple crown three times. To win the triple crown means that you are statistically *the best* - undisputed. When a guy wins a Cy Young, that's often debatable. Triple Crowns aren't debatable. They're proof of absolute dominance. Koufax was the absolute most dominant player three times. He was probably arguably better in several other seasons - debatably so.
John McEnroe
Will Clark
Terry Bradshaw
Jack Lambert
Jerome Bettis
Willie Mays
Magic Johnson
Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras
Mike Tyson (Only as a boxer, not personally. Used to pay hoping the fight would end within 30 seconds, haha.)
Hmm, good question ... my list will have the ones who had the most impact on my life/who I loved the most, and that means that some will be from sports I don't care for any longer. I once loved and watched all sports, but I now find baseball mind numbingly boring and unwatchable and don't care for basketball either. That being said, my all time top 10:
1. Roberto Baggio - such a beautiful, sublime player and he introduced me to a new sport and ingrained it as my favorite.
2. Michael Jordan - what can I say, I'm from Chicago and the dude was beast. So much fun watching him over the years.
3. Mike Singletary - see #2.
4. Don Mattingly - my first great baseball hero.
5. Jerry Rice
6. Mike Tyson - I don't like what he became, and he devolved and lost his game quickly at one point, but for a period he was so massive, unbeatable and iconic.
7. Jeff Bagwell/Craig Biggio - as a long time Houston native, this pair were linked and awesome to watch.
8. Dennis Bergkamp
9. Francesco Totti
10. Genaro Gatusso or Hakeem Olajuwon, hard to choose between the two.
Honorable mentions to Jack Nicklaus (golf), Charles Barkley (basketball), Chase Utley (baseball), and Secretariat (horse racing)
I own biographies of Erving, Andretti, Nicklaus, and Secretariat. (Actually, I recently bought 2 biographies of Secretariat and a third book focused on Secretariat's primary 3-year old rival, the very, very underrated Sham. Sham probably wins the Triple Crown in 1973 if Secretariat, who probably was the greatest horse of all-time when that horse was "on", is born some other year besides 1970.)
In no particular order
Tony Sheridan (Football)
Paul McGrath (Football)
Valentino Rossi (MotoGP)
Martin Finnegan (MotoGP)
Wayne McCullough (Boxing)
Ian Rush (Football)
Steve Collins (Boxing)
Marco VanBasten (Football)
Jean Pierre Papin (Football)
Brian O’Driscoll (Rugby)
Could change at any time too ... lol
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