om3ga
It's good to be the king...
Got to agree on "Sir" David Beckham...over rated? Definitely...and the USA are welcome to him....
Most Over-Rated Athlete
- Thread starter ChefChiTown
- Start date
Got to agree on "Sir" David Beckham...over rated? Definitely...and the USA are welcome to him....
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Steve Young a glorified running back? C'mon.....you've got to be kidding! The guy could definitely run but he also had almost 2,700 completions, threw for over 33,000 yds. with 232 TDs and a 64.3% completion percentage. He was named to the Pro Bowl 7 times. Not bad for a "glorified running back"!!!
I'm no Niners fan (**** 'em in fact) but Steve Young was an awesome QB and if he hadn't played in the immediate aftermath of Joe Montana he would have received a lot more accolades than he did.
Iamforever
Banned
man those 9er teams were loaded with talent on all positions. had steve young played for the nfl team that drafted him (the yucks) what would his career had been? yes, he is better than a glorified qb. okay ill admit it. but he had a much better supporting cast than montana did. its a shame that dallas got in the way.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I agree with almost everything you say but McGwire will be forever dogged by the fact (or allegation) that he took steroids. Had he not, who knows what his batting stats would have been.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
man those 9er teams were loaded with talent on all positions. had steve young played for the nfl team that drafted him (the yucks) what would his career had been? yes, he is better than a glorified qb. okay ill admit it. but he had a much better supporting cast than montana did. its a shame that dallas got in the way.
You can't downgrade a QB because he had a strong supporting cast. Using that logic, Peyton Manning is over-rated. I also have to take issue with your assertion that Young had a "much better supporting cast" than Montana did. Jerry Rice and John Taylor were about as good a pair of wideouts as any QB ever had and played with both Montana and Young. Plus, Roger Craig was one of the best pass-catching RBs in NFL history. Does that make Montana over-rated as well? Good discussion....
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
With football season approaching, I'm going to bring up an NFL player that I have always felt has been over-rated.
Joey Porter, LB
Throughout his 8 year career (as of now) he has been less than impressive. His career HIGHS are average at best and his career averages are sad, when you consider his hype.
Highs: 89 Tackles, 10.5 Sacks, 4 Interceptions, 4 ****** Fumbles
Averages: 58.4 Tackles, 7.5 Sacks, 1.25 Interceptions, 2.25 ****** Fumbles
Somehow, Joey Porter has managed 3 Pro Bowl selections which, to this day, still amazes me. There are NFL Linebackers that put out numbers like this during their rookie seasons and fans are voting in Joey Porter to the Pro Bowl...for what?..."The Boot?"
Joey Porter, in my opinion, is an average LB at best.
Joey Porter, LB
Throughout his 8 year career (as of now) he has been less than impressive. His career HIGHS are average at best and his career averages are sad, when you consider his hype.
Highs: 89 Tackles, 10.5 Sacks, 4 Interceptions, 4 ****** Fumbles
Averages: 58.4 Tackles, 7.5 Sacks, 1.25 Interceptions, 2.25 ****** Fumbles
Somehow, Joey Porter has managed 3 Pro Bowl selections which, to this day, still amazes me. There are NFL Linebackers that put out numbers like this during their rookie seasons and fans are voting in Joey Porter to the Pro Bowl...for what?..."The Boot?"
Joey Porter, in my opinion, is an average LB at best.
Iamforever
Banned
i dont mean just the skill positions. that team that young won the superbowl with had legitimate probowlers at every position. offense and defense. take a look at this roster. :eek:
http://home.earthlink.net/~seifertsite/29.html
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Iamforever
Banned
ken norton, deion sanders, tim mcdonald, eric davis, merton hanks, ricky jackson, dana stubblefield. basically their defense. before you say, well the 49ers blasted the broncos, elway by his own admission said that was one of the worst games he has ever played in his life. both teams were great, both dominated everybody. this is one of those debates that will go on for all eternity.
Iamforever
Banned
athlete? :rofl:
icerfan
Nikkala made me do it!
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
I agree to a point with Alex Rodriguez. The combination of hype and his huuuuuge contract make him, in most peoples eyes, a very over-rated ball player.
With the exception of his defensive play at SS, his stats will tell you differently though.
Beckham. he's rubbish.
When he played SS Rodriguez was an average defender. Money is also not that big of a deal with the Yankees. If this was a sport where there was revenue sharing and a salary cap his salary might be held against him, but usually I don't even do that since teams usually decide to pay players that amount and most good players will eventually make big bucks anyhow. If somebody that was a lock for the Hall of Fame said he would only take a million dollars a year for the entirety of his career when his last contract ended and he was in his prime so the team could go out and get a bunch of superstars with the extra money, I might give him a big bonus for that. I have also never seen anything like that happen...ever.
I didn't take into account whether McGwire did steroids just performance on the field. It wasn't against the rules at the time, and if we go through all the scenarios where one person has an advantage over people of another era everybody that has ever played would have a asterisk next to their name Examples in baseball of this would be:
Until the latter part of the 19th century pitchers weren't allowed to throw over handed.
They allowed the spitball until about the 1920.
At one time fielders weren't allowed to use gloves and when they did start they were a lot smaller than today.
Blacks weren't allowed to play form 1880 until Jackie Robinson.
Baseball was the dominant sport in America until the 1960s when football took over and the best athletes went there and also went into basketball later on
They didn't have top of the line legal supplements until about the 1960s forward and people before that didn't have nutritionist, expert physical trainers, and the modern gyms like they do now.
The people in the first half of the 20th century didn't have steroids to help them.
They didn't have motion analysis and video a long time ago to help analyze yourself and members of another team.
Ballparks are smaller now.
In the deadball era balls didn't have as much bounce to them and they let the pitchers mound be a mile high.
The best non-American Latino players didn't get into the game until the latter half of the 20th century.
There is medical advancement like Tommy John surgery that can bring players back from injury that would have ended careers before hand.
As you can see almost all players have both advantages and disadvantages over almost every other baseball player in another era.
That's just with baseball, with football the rule changes throughout time make it a lot worse in comparing across eras.
I did go back and found somebody that might be better at first base (depending on if you want to count him as a first baseman or not) than Mark McGwire. Frank Thomas best years match up pretty good with McGwire's and you could make a rational argument that he was better, again depending on if you classify him as a first baseman.
Eddie Murray lifetime OBP is .359. His best year was .414. For a first baseman that not only isn't good it's borderline bad. His lifetime .474 slugging percent also isn't something to write home about for a first baseman. His defensive contributions are mitigated by the fact he played the least important defensive position on the field.
Iamforever
Banned
you say eddie murray was bad because of his on base percentage? about the bold. remember, murray wasnt juicing. eddie murray was one of the best pure hitters of his generation or any generation.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
I know that Frank Thomas is "technically" a first basemen, but to me, he is more of a DH. More than half of his games during his career have been played as a DH. On the other hand, I don't think anyone can discount his fielding skills though. When he does/did play 1B, he has a fielding percentage of .991 and has made good digs time and time again through his career. The only reason that he was put at DH more times than not was because of his sloooow speed.
He has always been my favorite baseball player of all-time. I've met him a ton of times through MLB try outs and in the locker room before/after his games and he is one of the coolest people I've ever met. I still have the bat he gave me hanging above my bed...it'll be hanging there until I die...or my apartment catches on fire and I lose it, either way.
The only negative thing I can say about Frank Thomas is that he has been somewhat injury prone during his later years. Other than that, he is a future Hall of Famer.
Most over-rated athlete??
It's got to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. Despite his great fan support, the record shows he has only won 17 races, since his Nextel Cup career began, in 1999. Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart & Jeff Gordon have won more. He also has not won a Nextel Cup title. Johnson, Stewart and Gordon have.
Your got to wonder, how popular he would be, if is name was not Earnhardt.
On well, maybe he will get better, now that he is with Hendricks Motorsports.
It's got to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. Despite his great fan support, the record shows he has only won 17 races, since his Nextel Cup career began, in 1999. Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart & Jeff Gordon have won more. He also has not won a Nextel Cup title. Johnson, Stewart and Gordon have.
Your got to wonder, how popular he would be, if is name was not Earnhardt.
On well, maybe he will get better, now that he is with Hendricks Motorsports.
