Sometimes you just need to sit back and say “Wow”. I’ve been thinking a lot about how lucky we are to have seen some of the greatest players ever to play their sport. Jason and I are in our mid 20′s and I have to say that we’ve seen the best group of athletes that any era has to offer. Like any normal young boy I was obsessed with sports. How could a kid my age not be? I had the cream of the crop of athletic role models and all time greats. The class of the sporting world. We grew up watching some of the best. We watched Jordan dominate the court, “The Drive” from Elway, Cal Ripken Jr. never miss a day at the office and “The Great One” take hockey to a whole new level. It pained us to watch Lemieux, Magic and Barry Sanders leave their games too soon. Dan Marino, Nolan Ryan, Larry Bird, Jerry Rice… We had it made.
Our teenage years continued to amaze viewers. Emmitt Smith made the Cowboys “America’s Team”, Terrell Davis rushes for 2,000 yards, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s home run race brought America’s past time back from the strike and into our hearts. Randy Johnson will probably be the last 300 game winner baseball ever sees. We saw that go down. Mike Tyson even bit a guy’s ear off.
There’s no shortage of Hall of Fame athletes here. With retirement looming for Mariano Rivera, Brett Favre, Shaquille O’neal, there’s still plenty of time left on our television sets for the next batch. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have taken the QB rivalry to the extreme, Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols continue to define baseball, and Kobe’s fist full of rings will run the court until he hangs em up. But who’s next? Don’t worry, the future looks very bright. The group of young talent around today has the potential to surpass any player I’ve mentioned here. The Akron Hammer, Lebron James has already caught more attention than anyone to touch the floor. Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby actually make me kind of pay attention to hockey. Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald and Ben Roethlisberger are already claiming their spots among football greats, and Chase Utley, Tim Lincecum and Joe Mauer are changing baseball every pitch. If there was ever a dark age of sports it’s definitely behind us, because these kids are revolutionizing their games every day.
Mike Schmidt’s retirement is probably the most important sports moment for me. It was the first time I saw a truly human side from an athlete and watching as a young child it left a lasting impression on me. What’s your big sports memory?
The one sport I really care not to watch is basketball. The crazy thing is my childhood was all Michael Jordan. All I cared about was watching the chicago bulls. I joined my rec bball team every year and picked number 23. I am pretty sure more than 75 percent of kids my age are thinking the same thing. It was all Jordan in the mid 90s. To this day I hate seeing Lebron succeed cause I have that favoritism towards MJ. Lebron is a monster and I am glad to be a “Witness” but he will never be Jordan. Jordan was my life. I had posters all over the room and looked at him dunking the moon every night on my ceiling. When MJs dad died it was a tough two years. All I had was my other team the 49ers. Even the Jerry Rice is probably the greatest football player of all time and I respect him more than Jordan, my childhood will always be 23!
Growing up I didn’t watch many sports on the ‘tube, mostly because my old man didn’t really. This is despite the fact that I played 3 a year, every year. My favorite sports memory is far and away game 7 of the ALCS in 2004. I had been living in Boston for all of a month and a half, and tearing through the streets of my new town with burning hatred for the Yanks and a newfound appreciation for sports that changed me forever was one of the best moments of my entire life.
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above comment from an ESPN employee ^^^^^^^
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cal ripken and tony gwynn. kings among men. they dont make em like they used to. I hate that Ken Griffey Jr. didnt play his whole career in Seattle and Frank Thomas didn’t retire with the white sox.
I have always had the oddest ties and allegiances to players and teams. Growing up I loved the New Jersey Nets because I was born there. I loved Lemieux because he was the only player’s name I could remember when I played Blades of Steel on Nintendo. Frank Thomas was sick, only because I used to rock Reebok’s Big Hurts… by the way, best sports nickname. “The Big Hurt”
what mick said. when i was a kid, i could have named you maybe 5 football players. it was all baseball for me. i loved the big names of the day; gwynn out west, ripken in the east, thomas and thome in the central. however, as a tall, skinny center fielder, my all time favorite is ken griffey jr. he played 8, i played 8. he stole bases, i stole bases. he hit bombs, i wished i could hit bombs. this dude was the man. in 1998, the year of the race to roger maris, griffey, after dropping out of the race went on to hit a modest 56 homers with 20 steals and a gold glove at the end(his 9th in a row). if not for his myriad of injuries, he would have been elected to TWO all-century teams, and would be in the running for one of the greatest to ever play the game. griffey-thanks for being the man. lawson-great article. it was a great time to be a kid.
It’s really crazy trying to think of my favorite sports memory. All my favorite memories are times when I was with a legit crowd during something cool. I was at the Silverdome with my family Thanksgiving 1992 to watch Barry Sanders play. The Lions lost the game, Barry didn’t have a huge game or anything, but I can say I saw one of the greatest ever play. I saw the greatest Superbowl ever, when the Giants beat the Patriots. Nobody I watched the game with was either a Giants or Patriots fan, yet everybody there was so glued to the game, it was incredible. Even my girlfriend, who could care less about football, jumped up and down when Tyree made that catch. Every year, my family make it to a Cleveland Browns game. Every year, it’s amazing.
My favorite sports memories, hmmm I grew up a Braves fan. I loved the Atlanta Braves no matter how bad they were. I remember when Hank Aaron hit number 715 off Al Downing in 1974. That was the year the Braves also drafted the guy who would turn out to be my favorite player ever, Dale Murphy. I remember my daughter being born, the first article of clothing she ever owned was a powder blue sleeper (the Braves wore that color in 1980) with the number 3 on it for Dale. And oddly enough I still remember thinking in 1982 when my son was born that it was an omen that Dale Murphy won his first NL MVP, my son was going to be a great ball player. He was a pretty good ball player, although I always though he would have been better at football.
I remember all of the events that have been posted…some good memories.
One of my favorites was when my son won the Punt,Pass, & Kick competition in Troy, Michigan, When they announced his name as the winner I was a few feet away & saw his reaction. A huge smile came on his face and he turned around & said “where’s Dad”. I’ve been a sports fan all my life but that moment was one of the best.