Some Sports Ideas

I was thinking about a list of the top five tennis players ever, for some reason. I decided to look up a list of the subject, and found that their numbers 3-5 were the same as mine, only in a different order.

It seems that 1 and 2 are as close to a consensus as can be at this point in sports history.

1) Federer;
2) Sampras.

I feel lucky to have been able to watch both during their times of dominance.

The other three on my list are in whatever order you want to put them: Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, and Nadal. I thought those five would be pretty safe; Raj, Rafa, Rod, Pete and the bear.

Bjorn Borg has a pretty cool name--literally "bear fortress".

Finding such consensus on in any kind of list like this is always an elusive thing. Take baseball. Let's say name the five best non-pitchers in the game:

1) Ruth;
2) Mays;
3) Aaron;
4) Ted Williams;
5) Oscar Charleston.

Really? The Hammer? Oscar, the center-fielder from the Negro leagues? What the hell kind of list can you have with no Honus Wagner or Ty Cobb? No Mickey Mantle or Joe D?

Consensus is tougher there. It helps that the game is a team sport, and has been more popular than tennis for a longer time. The amount of players around to populate lists is vast and colorful.

Honus Wagner dominated the game in a more drastic fashion than Ted Williams ever did, but the difference in the game the two played can't be ignored.

Babe Ruth and Willie Mays would probably show up on any list, and I personally think Hank Aaron is undervalued and under-appreciated.

What about Rickey Henderson?

Another pair of questions: Is Sammy Baugh the best NFL player ever? Do any current NFL players know who Sammy Baugh was?

"Slingin'" Sammy Baugh was the first quarterback to use the forward pass as an offensive weapon, set records for quarterbacks that still stand today, sixty years after they were set, set records for punting that still stand today, was the first defensive back to make four interceptions in a game, and single-handedly created the fanaticism associated with the fans of the Redskins.

I'd like to do a post on Sammy anyway...this guy is the only player in NFL history to have four touchdown passes in the same game as four interceptions.

4 TDs and 4 INTs in the same game. In 1943 he led the league in passing, punting, and interceptions. All from a guy who'd much rather have been on his ranch in Texas than playing anything.

Basketball? Is Peja a Hall of Famer?

Stream of sports consciousness...

Cavani, the key player on Napoli (my new favorite European soccer team), is from Uruguay, like one of my other soccer guys (now with Inter Milan) Diego Forlan. I learned just today that Juventus is from Piedmont (the location of my family's Italian heritage).

Random bits...rambling random bits...