FOTP Friday List for … June 9

Top Ten Overrated Sports Figures

Maybe it was yesterday’s Kaepernick post that got me thinking about what it is about sports that we love and admire, leading, inexorably, to what it is about sports figures we love and admire. I still think Seinfeld had it right — that, essentially, we’re all just rooting for laundry.

With that I give you these.

1. Joe Namath. Nobody liked him, wanted to be him, or have his kind of orthopedic surgery more than I; still, I must confess, after being harangued by people who know the game better than my own self, I have regrettably come to the conclusion they’re right. Take away Super Bowl III, and most of the time he broke Jets fans’ hearts and left us with Al Woodall (And now I actually have a bad knee).
2. Phil Jackson. Look, I know about the 11 titles, but as Jeff Van Gundy once said (and I’m paraphrasing) about Jackson and the triangle offense and the Zen Buddhism, “Okay, sure, but take away the best player(s) in the universe and I don’t know how important all that other stuff is.” Plus, I give you his reign in New York.
3. Lynn Swann. This has nothing to do with his GOP conversion — okay, maybe a little — but his press was better than his stats.
4. Terry Bradshaw. Speaking of, I know, I know, 4 Super Bowl Rings, but Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have one, too, and Dan Marino doesn’t have any. Plus, Bradshaw has a 1–1 TD/Int ration and a pretty pedestrian QB rating.
5. Danica Patrick. She’s the Joe Namath of motor racing.
6. Nolan Ryan. Take away the heat, the marquee fastball, the no-hitters, and the pummeling of Robin Ventura and you’ve got a pretty mediocre pitcher.
7. O.J. Simpson. Long before he was a murderer, he was a pretty average professional football running back
8. Jimmy Johnson. When Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl in Dallas and Johnson couldn’t get a playoff win in Miami, you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Johnson played the media like a substitute teacher and maybe — just maybe — Jerry Jones wasn’t so stupid after all.
9. Anna Kournikova. She was once rated #4 by the ATP and had never won a professional tournament. Still hasn’t.
10. Marvin Lewis. 0–7 W-L in the playoffs and still has a job?