This week in the sports world, Shaquille O'Neal retired, and Scottie Pippen argued that LeBron James was better than Michael Jordan. I think this is the perfect time then to break out a list I have been thinking about for some time. The concept comes from the annals of history. If you've never seen an athlete play live, you just hear stories and maybe some old footage but it's hard to truly understand their greatness. Thus sometimes legends are created, incredibly unique athletes who shaped their sports and whose place in history cannot be duplicated. This is an intangible quality immune to the inspection of statistics or tape, but instead are orally transmitted from one generation to the next. There was Babe Ruth, who once pointed to a flag pole during the World Series and then hit a home run there. Or Muhammad Ali, who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. In one game, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, Gale Sayers scored 6 touchdowns and Nolan Ryan didn't give up a hit, seven times. Wayne Gretzky notched more assists in the NHL than the next player has points. And Michael Jordan, well he won an NCAA title, 2 gold medals, 2 slam dunk championships, 6 NBA Finals MVPs and defeated the Nerdlucks in Space Jam.
Legendary athletes are often the best athletes, but as you will see I think other characteristics, unusual ones that make a player unique, serve to truly create an unbelievable image. Some great but not too exciting stars, including Derek Jeter, Roger Federer, Albert Pujols, and Steve Nash, do not make the list. I also only considered athletes whose prime occurred at least partially after 2000.
So who will the next generation only be able to marvel at (or watch youtube highlights of)?
10) Tim Duncan
The NBA has had a few absolutely dominant big men over the years. One look at Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem or Shaq and you could probably guess that they were beasts. But if you saw this mild mannered, gentle-looking Virgin Islander with a degree in Psychology, you might actually mistake him for an ordinary guy, albeit an extremely tall one. Duncan's life story is rather fascinating - again he came from St. Croix, the US Virgin Islands which has produced all of 3 NBA players and dreamt of being an Olympic swimmer (imagine a 7 foot swimmer in the Olympics!). A hurricane destroyed the only Olympic siz
ed pool on the island and he started basketball. Only Wake Forest really noticed him and there he went and there he dominated. He is the last #1 overall pick to play 4 years of college, an achievement I think will last, and from interviews his intelligence easily comes off. He even plays like a nice, humble smart guy with the least flashy go-to move ever, a fall away bank shot that gave him the nickname the Big Fundamental. Intimidating. Teamed with David Robinson, another smart 4 yearcollege grad, in a fluky NBA Draft, the two centers dominated and won 2 titles together. With an international crew of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, he won another 2 more. He was a ferocious shot blocker, rebounder and so technically sound offensively. He also only won championships on odd years.
9) Randy Moss
If you could create an opposite of Tim Duncan and have that man still be good at sports, you might end up with someone like Randy Moss. For most of his career, Moss played and acted without a trace of humbleness or selflessness. He was extreme off the field, getting his scholarship revoked by Notre Dame and kicked out of Florida State, getting in trouble with the law from every misdemeanor imaginable. He was extreme on the field, being faster, taller and better in the air than everyone else. The way he caught deep balls was almost unfair and he may go down as the most dangerous deep threat of all time. He scored 17 touchdowns as a rookie and 23 in the magical 16-0 Patriots season. Of the two most productive offenses in NFL history, the 1998 Vikings (556 points) and the 2007 Patriots (589 points), Randy Moss was the centerpiece of BOTH of them. His lack of effort though may be even more legendary as he has played his way out of 4 teams and will retire with an inexcusably up and down statistical career. I will always remember him running past 3 Jets defenders in the first game of the '07 season and hauling in a pass that Brady would never throw to anyone else, catching 4 TDs in a half against Buffalo, and then dropping a sure fire record breaking touchdown pass against the NY Giants, before running a deep route on the very next play and catching the record breaking score.
8) Kobayashi
Without a trace of sarcasm in my voice, I can honestly say that Kobayashi is one the most impressive athletes of this generation. Seriously, have you ever eaten a hot dog? 2? Did they make you full? Have you ever tried eating 6 and feeling so stuffed you didn't want to walk? Takeru Kobayashi can eat over 60 in 12 minutes, which I simply cannot fathom. The fluky body makeup that grants him this gluttonous excellence is comparable to the freak athleticism that makes Randy Moss such a force, even if athleticism is valued by our culture and eating immense amounts of food, not so much. What more, Kobayashi revolutionized this sport more than any other modern athlete revolutionized theirs. In 2001, as a 23 year old kid from Japan, he came over to Coney Island on July 4th and doubled the Hot Dog Eating Contest record from 25 to 50, a shattering so unexpected that the organizers didn't have high enough numbers to announce his count. The amount with which he raised the bar is just like Babe Ruth raising the home run record from 27 to 54. People simply didn't know that it was humanly possible to eat that many hot dogs. What more, the previous trend in competitive eating was to have huge competitors, cause fat, large people eat more right? Kobayashi showed that a small fit person could eat faster and store even more food. His techniques - expanding his stomach by chugging water, breaking the hot dogs in half and dipping his buns in water and swallowing, and even strength training - took the world of competitive eating by the throat. The Kobayashi shuffle has even entered pop lexicon has a means of swallowing a shot. After dominating the Hot Dog Eating contest for 6 years, Kobayashi was finally beaten by the larger Joey Chestnut and has since failed to dethrone him. Nevertheless, I can confidently say that without Kobayashi, there is no Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi turned Competitive Eating from a silly, gross challenge for fat people to a real competitive sport that gets plenty of SportsCenter airtime.
6) Usain Bolt
5) Michael Vick
3) LeBron James
If you're wondering why LeBron is on this list, well you probably haven't been watching much basketball lately. He is a prodigy, a freak, a diva and a villain all in one. Though he came out in an era where the spotlight on high school basketball stars was enormous, it was still surprising at the time and may shock future generations that he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior. I remember watching him play for St. Vincent-St. Mary as a senior in nationally televised games and realizing then that he was the real deal. He was 6'8" 240 then, which is just not fair, and he's listed at 6'8" 250 now. His ridiculous body suggests though that he may be closer to 270, and I think it's safe to say that there has never been a 6'8" 270 lb man with the athleticism of LeBron James. He can truly overpower just about any small forward and burn by any power forward. His best natural talent, besides his body, may be his court vision and his passing. To think that he averaged 8.6 assists/game with a Cleveland team that surrounded him with mediocre talent. He has become a great defender when he tries, completely shutting down Derrick Rose in this past conference finals. He spent many years in the NBA as a subpar outsider shooter, but now effortlessly strokes threes. In this year's playoffs against both Chicago and Boston, he pulled up late in the 4th quarter, right in front of his defender, and drained 3 pointers, redefining the word unguardable. His "Decision" last summer will also go down in history, as a vain, foolish and even unprecedented move. This guy who we'd been following as an athlete since high school showed us that he's perhaps not a great individual, lacking any sense of perspective. But the concept of gathering great free agents together had never been done to that extent simultaneously, and certainly led to a very compelling NBA season.
2) Tiger Woods
Legendary athletes are often the best athletes, but as you will see I think other characteristics, unusual ones that make a player unique, serve to truly create an unbelievable image. Some great but not too exciting stars, including Derek Jeter, Roger Federer, Albert Pujols, and Steve Nash, do not make the list. I also only considered athletes whose prime occurred at least partially after 2000.
So who will the next generation only be able to marvel at (or watch youtube highlights of)?
10) Tim Duncan
The NBA has had a few absolutely dominant big men over the years. One look at Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem or Shaq and you could probably guess that they were beasts. But if you saw this mild mannered, gentle-looking Virgin Islander with a degree in Psychology, you might actually mistake him for an ordinary guy, albeit an extremely tall one. Duncan's life story is rather fascinating - again he came from St. Croix, the US Virgin Islands which has produced all of 3 NBA players and dreamt of being an Olympic swimmer (imagine a 7 foot swimmer in the Olympics!). A hurricane destroyed the only Olympic siz
ed pool on the island and he started basketball. Only Wake Forest really noticed him and there he went and there he dominated. He is the last #1 overall pick to play 4 years of college, an achievement I think will last, and from interviews his intelligence easily comes off. He even plays like a nice, humble smart guy with the least flashy go-to move ever, a fall away bank shot that gave him the nickname the Big Fundamental. Intimidating. Teamed with David Robinson, another smart 4 yearcollege grad, in a fluky NBA Draft, the two centers dominated and won 2 titles together. With an international crew of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, he won another 2 more. He was a ferocious shot blocker, rebounder and so technically sound offensively. He also only won championships on odd years.
9) Randy Moss
If you could create an opposite of Tim Duncan and have that man still be good at sports, you might end up with someone like Randy Moss. For most of his career, Moss played and acted without a trace of humbleness or selflessness. He was extreme off the field, getting his scholarship revoked by Notre Dame and kicked out of Florida State, getting in trouble with the law from every misdemeanor imaginable. He was extreme on the field, being faster, taller and better in the air than everyone else. The way he caught deep balls was almost unfair and he may go down as the most dangerous deep threat of all time. He scored 17 touchdowns as a rookie and 23 in the magical 16-0 Patriots season. Of the two most productive offenses in NFL history, the 1998 Vikings (556 points) and the 2007 Patriots (589 points), Randy Moss was the centerpiece of BOTH of them. His lack of effort though may be even more legendary as he has played his way out of 4 teams and will retire with an inexcusably up and down statistical career. I will always remember him running past 3 Jets defenders in the first game of the '07 season and hauling in a pass that Brady would never throw to anyone else, catching 4 TDs in a half against Buffalo, and then dropping a sure fire record breaking touchdown pass against the NY Giants, before running a deep route on the very next play and catching the record breaking score.
8) Kobayashi
Without a trace of sarcasm in my voice, I can honestly say that Kobayashi is one the most impressive athletes of this generation. Seriously, have you ever eaten a hot dog? 2? Did they make you full? Have you ever tried eating 6 and feeling so stuffed you didn't want to walk? Takeru Kobayashi can eat over 60 in 12 minutes, which I simply cannot fathom. The fluky body makeup that grants him this gluttonous excellence is comparable to the freak athleticism that makes Randy Moss such a force, even if athleticism is valued by our culture and eating immense amounts of food, not so much. What more, Kobayashi revolutionized this sport more than any other modern athlete revolutionized theirs. In 2001, as a 23 year old kid from Japan, he came over to Coney Island on July 4th and doubled the Hot Dog Eating Contest record from 25 to 50, a shattering so unexpected that the organizers didn't have high enough numbers to announce his count. The amount with which he raised the bar is just like Babe Ruth raising the home run record from 27 to 54. People simply didn't know that it was humanly possible to eat that many hot dogs. What more, the previous trend in competitive eating was to have huge competitors, cause fat, large people eat more right? Kobayashi showed that a small fit person could eat faster and store even more food. His techniques - expanding his stomach by chugging water, breaking the hot dogs in half and dipping his buns in water and swallowing, and even strength training - took the world of competitive eating by the throat. The Kobayashi shuffle has even entered pop lexicon has a means of swallowing a shot. After dominating the Hot Dog Eating contest for 6 years, Kobayashi was finally beaten by the larger Joey Chestnut and has since failed to dethrone him. Nevertheless, I can confidently say that without Kobayashi, there is no Joey Chestnut. Kobayashi turned Competitive Eating from a silly, gross challenge for fat people to a real competitive sport that gets plenty of SportsCenter airtime.
7) Peyton Manning
It pains me very much to have Peyton Manning on here and leave Brady off, but I think that while history will love Brady and his underdog golden boy story more, they'll be more intrigued by Manning. If you could manufacture a human being to play quarterback in the NFL, you would create Peyton Manning. The son of a NFL quarterback, Peyton was clearly raised from day 1 to throw the pigskin. He can make every throw he needs to but his understanding of the game and signature audibles will be his legend. In his prime from '03-'08, it seemed that no matter what defense you threw at him he would dissect it and find the open receiver. He turned ordinary or fine receivers like Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne into absolutely terrifying names to opposing fans, myself included. Though Brady and the Patriots got the better of him many times, and I have plenty of memories of Manning throwing interceptions, it still chills me to see him leading a drive. For a long time, he was the gaudy numbers QB who played great in regular season games but choked in playoff pressure situations, but he has since adequately proven his clutch abilities with a Super Bowl win. The man seemed to live and breathe football and may go down with a ton of all time records and make the Brady-Manning debate one of the most classic of sports bar arguments.
I think Carl Lewis was the last sprint champion to grasp the world's attention. After his splendid career, Lewis lowered the 100m world record to 9.86 seconds. For two decades, no other sprinter became a household name, besides perhaps Michael Johnson. Those who set records and made a name for themselves, such as Tim Montgomery and Maurice Greene, were soon stricken from the books and our memories when they tested positive for steroids. Into this picture popped Usain Bolt, who ran a World Record 9.72 before the 2008 Olympics, though generally stayed under the radar. Then in the Olympics, he blew up and ran a 9.69 while unforgettably celebrating before the finish line, and also broke Michael Johnson's
200 m run. The competition was laughably far behind. A few months later, Bolt shattered both records with a 9.58 and a 19.19, simply unimaginable numbers and proving that lightning does indeed strike twice. He has never tested positive for steroids, and his fun-loving lackadaisical personality makes me inclined to believe that he is just a freak talent and not a cheater. At 6'5" he is taller than any other elite sprinter. With his Jamaican reggae celebration moves he is more charismatic, has a signature move "To Di World", and his last name is Bolt for goodness sakes. People has speculated whether he could cross over to American football (he would dominate), or rugby, but he'd rather play cricket. He hasn't done much since 2008, and I would personally like to see what he can do in 400m competition, but Bolt has already left his mark.
5) Michael Vick
Football used to be dominated by halfbacks and fullbacks. Then came the quarterback, then the passing quarterback, and then the running quarterback. And then came Michael Vick. Previous successful running quarterbacks had some speed, but never were they the fastest man on the field. His quarterback scrambles as an Atlanta Falcon formed the best highlight reel of any athlete of this decade. He was a good enough player to win his team games and justify the hype, but with enough flaws to give commentators, fans, coaches and NFL management plenty to think about. He became the first quarterback to go into Green Bay during the playoffs and win a game, and his career seemed to be going fine, before his dogfighting ring was discovered. This practice, little known to much of America, turned out to be his undoing and resulted in a 2 year prison sentence. Most of us never thought he'd be good again. After a year of not really doing anything for the Eagles, he went from 3rd string to 1st string one half into the season and made the most of his opportunity, creating an unbelievable comeback story. His highlight reel now included picture perfect spiral passes as well as creative runs. Finishing his best season as an MVP runner up, he revitalized his image, perhaps cemented his legacy as the best running quarterback ever (arguable), and definitely established himself as the best former convict ever. He may or may not be a Hall of Famer, but he's definitely a legend.
4) Ichiro
One-named Japanese stars seem to be the stuff of legends. You can even throw Toshiba and Godzilla on with Ichiro and Kobayashi. Now Hideki Nomo started a migration of baseball talent from Japan into the Major Leagues in the early 90's, and quality pitchers followed him. Nomo-mania and Japanese baseball captured the American mind, but it wasn't until Ichiro, the first position player came that the public went "wow." Nobody had really ever seen a player like Ichiro Suzuki before. Who was this skinny left handed batter, weighing in at 170, with the cocky batting stance spraying baseballs all over the park? How was he so fast, getting from the batter's box to first base in the blink of an eye? How did he have so much power, knocking out pitch after pitch in batting practice? And how did he also happen to have a cannon arm and be a terrific fielder? Had we not seen Ichiro, we would not have believed that such a person could exist. After an amazing career in the Nippon League, Ichiro came to Seattle in 2001 as a rookie and batted .350, stole 56 bases, won the Gold Glove and even slugged .457. He won Rookie of the Year and MVP, sparking a huge debate about whether he should have been counted as a Rookie (he shouldn't have been). That 2001 team set a MLB record with 116 regular season wins. He also led Japan on its 2 gold medal winning teams in the 2 World Baseball Classics that have so far occurred. He will go down as the ultimate "hits" guy, a player who sacrificed power for efficiency more than anyone else and never had a bad season. Though aloof from the media, he also proved himself to be a man of value when he chose to stick with the Mariners, though they never gave him a chance for the World Series. If he had chosen to sign with another team, like the Red Sox, he would have a ring now. Still he will go down as a one named legend.
4) Ichiro
One-named Japanese stars seem to be the stuff of legends. You can even throw Toshiba and Godzilla on with Ichiro and Kobayashi. Now Hideki Nomo started a migration of baseball talent from Japan into the Major Leagues in the early 90's, and quality pitchers followed him. Nomo-mania and Japanese baseball captured the American mind, but it wasn't until Ichiro, the first position player came that the public went "wow." Nobody had really ever seen a player like Ichiro Suzuki before. Who was this skinny left handed batter, weighing in at 170, with the cocky batting stance spraying baseballs all over the park? How was he so fast, getting from the batter's box to first base in the blink of an eye? How did he have so much power, knocking out pitch after pitch in batting practice? And how did he also happen to have a cannon arm and be a terrific fielder? Had we not seen Ichiro, we would not have believed that such a person could exist. After an amazing career in the Nippon League, Ichiro came to Seattle in 2001 as a rookie and batted .350, stole 56 bases, won the Gold Glove and even slugged .457. He won Rookie of the Year and MVP, sparking a huge debate about whether he should have been counted as a Rookie (he shouldn't have been). That 2001 team set a MLB record with 116 regular season wins. He also led Japan on its 2 gold medal winning teams in the 2 World Baseball Classics that have so far occurred. He will go down as the ultimate "hits" guy, a player who sacrificed power for efficiency more than anyone else and never had a bad season. Though aloof from the media, he also proved himself to be a man of value when he chose to stick with the Mariners, though they never gave him a chance for the World Series. If he had chosen to sign with another team, like the Red Sox, he would have a ring now. Still he will go down as a one named legend.
3) LeBron James
If you're wondering why LeBron is on this list, well you probably haven't been watching much basketball lately. He is a prodigy, a freak, a diva and a villain all in one. Though he came out in an era where the spotlight on high school basketball stars was enormous, it was still surprising at the time and may shock future generations that he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior. I remember watching him play for St. Vincent-St. Mary as a senior in nationally televised games and realizing then that he was the real deal. He was 6'8" 240 then, which is just not fair, and he's listed at 6'8" 250 now. His ridiculous body suggests though that he may be closer to 270, and I think it's safe to say that there has never been a 6'8" 270 lb man with the athleticism of LeBron James. He can truly overpower just about any small forward and burn by any power forward. His best natural talent, besides his body, may be his court vision and his passing. To think that he averaged 8.6 assists/game with a Cleveland team that surrounded him with mediocre talent. He has become a great defender when he tries, completely shutting down Derrick Rose in this past conference finals. He spent many years in the NBA as a subpar outsider shooter, but now effortlessly strokes threes. In this year's playoffs against both Chicago and Boston, he pulled up late in the 4th quarter, right in front of his defender, and drained 3 pointers, redefining the word unguardable. His "Decision" last summer will also go down in history, as a vain, foolish and even unprecedented move. This guy who we'd been following as an athlete since high school showed us that he's perhaps not a great individual, lacking any sense of perspective. But the concept of gathering great free agents together had never been done to that extent simultaneously, and certainly led to a very compelling NBA season.
There's been quite some debate during these playoffs over LeBron's place in history; the words "best ever" have even been mentioned. Erroneously, I may add. It's difficult to compare him to Wilt and Russell because of the differences in era and position, but I am very willing to compare him to Michael Jordan right now. Yes he's a better rebounder and passer than Jordan, virtue of natural gifts. With Jordan as a better shooter, scorer and defender, their gameplay is actually pretty close to equal. However, everyone always said that Jordan's greatest attribute was his competitiveness - he just hated to lose. You can talk about how great Scottie Pippen or Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman was, but Jordan willed his Bulls teams to 6 championships. He would get into crunch time and simply refuse to lose. He had so many great moments, from his 6 three pointers against the Blazers and shrugging in the Finals, switching hands layup against the Lakers in the Finals, shooting over Byron Russell against the Jazz in the Finals, dunking over Ewing and beating the buzzer of Ehlo - those are all ICONIC. LeBron has 0 iconic moments so far, and one iconic game (scoring 28 of his team's last 29 points against the Pistons to get into the NBA Finals). Jordan wanted to win and worked every summer to get markedly better. He transformed his greatest weakness, outside shooting, into a legitimate strength. LeBron's obviously gotten better, but if he truly cared about winning he'd have developed a post game and improved his free throw shooting. Yes he's a legend but Jordan is the best ever. Even if LeBron gets 6 rings I don't think I'd rank him over MJ. Right now with 0 rings, not a chance.
2) Tiger Woods
Where do you start with Tiger? How about at age 2, when the rest of us barely walk, when Tiger Woods made his first appearance on national TV, putting against Bob Hope? Woods was a true prodigy, more so than any other athlete on this list and perhaps one of the greatest prodigies of this generation across all fields. The highlights from his early life include shooting a 48 over 9 holes at age 3, becoming the youngest Junior Amateur champion at 15 and won the NCAA Individual Champion at Stanford. His skin color drew much attention immediately, as he is to date the only black golfer to win a major, but his true racial history (1/4 Thai, 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Black, 1/8 Native American, 1/8 Dutch) make him even more compelling. He is probably
actually racially closer to me than he is to most African Americans. So anyways, here's this good-looking dark multiracial kid demolishing the ball on drives and beating everybody in a white man's game. He won his first major by a mind-blowing 12 strokes, at Augusta no less, the exclusive club in the deep south that had only begun accepting black members six years earlier. As he was finishing up his victory, black kitchen staff members memorably rushed out of the clubhouse to watch. He then completed the incredible Tiger Slam in 1999-2000, winning 4 straight majors and had a stretch of six consecutive tournament victories. Then in another 14 major stretch from 2005 to 2008, Tiger won six times, finished 2nd four times, 3rd once and 4th once. The 2008 US Open may have been his most impressive win ever, with him winning an 18-hole playoff on a fractured knee.
And then his life blew up, one Thanksgiving night, unexpectedly and unimaginably fast. What began as a mysterious car accident ballooned into an infidelity scandal encompassing over 20 women, resulting in a swift divorce. His career has not recovered since then. Without a doubt his behavior has deprived him of much sleep and confidence and reduced him to a laughingstock at times. An arthritic knee currently sidelining him has not helped either.
You can already argue that he's the greatest golfer ever. He's created the greatest golf highlight ever, no doubt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLKXvGE6kN8. He's definitely been his sport's most transcendent star ever, becoming the highest paid American athlete and raising the worldwide profile of golf to new heights. He's won 14 Majors. Next best is Phil Mickelson with 4. It's way too early to tell but he may be dethroned by golf's latest wunderkind, Rory McIlroy. As he approaches 40, it's becoming quite possible that he may never catch Jack Nicholson's record of 18 major championships. Nonetheless, he is a legend, and you should never count a legend out.
1) Shaquille O'Neal
1) Shaquille O'Neal
I don't think I could explain this man to a generation that never saw him play. Most people in our generation will remember him as the 7'1", 350 pound center who led the Lakers to a threepeat. His size was insurmountable. There were other 7 footers in the league of course, but nearly all of them were twigs in comparison. Main rivals included David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and later Yao Ming and Dwight Howard, who all kinda held their own. But all stars like Dikembe Mutombo at 7'2" 265 and Shawn Bradley at 7'6" 275 rarely stood a chance against an additional 60 pounds of muscle. I don't think the world had ever seen somebody so huge, truly a modern day goliath. He was an above average shot blocker and rebounder, but on offense he could just corral the ball with one hand, turn, lower his shoulder and voila, he'd dunk the ball with incredible force. During his peak run with the Lakers, the only strategy was to get him to commit an offensive foul, or in turn foul him (the Hack-a-Shaq strategy). He was a miserable foul shooter, owing mainly to his oversized hands. Most casual fans would watch him and just think the game was unfair. He was dominant just because he was huge. These fans didn't realize how good of a ball handler he was for a big man, or how skilled he actually was around the basket, or what an insane athlete he was. If you don't know these things, you must watch the following clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br3AaISFc-A
Shaq was INSANE. Seriously, the person blocking the shot, running the floor like a guard and throwing the ball down is the same guy against whom Patrick Ewing would be afraid to post up. How is that physically possible? Career-wise though, I definitely think Shaq underachieved. Sure he won the 3 championships with the Lakers, Finals MVP each time, and another one with Dwyane Wade and the Heat. He made 15 all star teams, won 2 scoring titles and is in the top 10 in NBA history in points, field goals and blocks. But he amazingly only won 1 NBA MVP, and definitely ate himself out of further success. Buckets just came too easy for him, and the motivation to stay fit and practice hard came and went, but mostly went. Some of the injuries that sped up his career decline likely could have been prevented if he had been closer to his high school shape. Instead he was more interested in life outside basketball.
And that's where Shaq's legend really picks up. The man with the rhyming name and the great nickname was eager to capitalize on his marketability, and never shy of publicity. He gave himself over a dozen well-documented nicknames such as the Big Aristotle, the Diesel, Shaq Fu, the Real Deal, and team-specific names such as the Big Shamrock as a Celtic and the Big Cactus as a Sun. He also said he was the Pythagorean Theorem, because no one could figure him out - Shaq evidently never studied proofs. Anyways he built a huge media profile including ventures into Hollywood (who can forget Kazaam?), rap (who can remember Shaq Diesel?) and reality TV, as well as video games (there's a real game called Shaq Fu). He is a sworn in Miami-Dade police officer and getting his PhD in Leadership and Education. Just recently retired, this is far from the last we'll ever hear from him.
Regrettably I could not include Lance Armstrong, Tom Brady, Allen Iverson, Michael Phelps, Alex Ovechkin and Brett Favre.
