Your Favourite Player

[VerbalPuke]

I stay loyal to Michigan/Detroit players mostly. Probably Barry Sanders and Ben Wallace for me. Sanders was obviously dynamite to watch, and stayed pretty humble. On the other hand, Ben Wallace was endearing because of how he became successful. Undrafted out of a small school and made a pretty good name for himself through defense and rebounding prowess. I also like Rasheed Wallace and Chris Speilman a lot. 

[DMN in the House]

NFL - Howie Long. Howie is the dude I wanted to be as a little kid. I even had a flat top because of Howie Long.

 MLB - Rickey Henderson. Rickey the best baseball player ever, Rickey can run, Rickey can hit, Rickey steals bases, Rickey plays his position, Rickey played for years, all of it in the third person. I fucking love Rickey Henderson. I'm going to cheat and shout-out Gary Sheffield here for always twitching his bat like a big cat about to strike, too, love that dude.

NHL - Marty McSorley. Everyone else loves Luc (and I do too), and Wayne Gretzky was The Great One, but I love myself an enforcer, and Marty was the King's enforcer for much of my early period getting into hockey.

NBA - Nick Van Exel. I mean, Magic, Kobe, Shaq, sure, but Nick the Quick was my dude in middle school.

NCAAF - Skip Hicks. He never really did anything in the NFL, but he was the bellcow for some really good UCLA teams in the mid-late 90s.

[GhostMachine]

NFL - Emmitt Smith.

MLB - Johnny Bench. Yes, I'm old. I watched him play and host The Baseball Bunch on tv.  (Since I can only list one, i went with my favorite position player, not pitcher.)

NBA - Magic Johnson. (My only answer to this I didn't even have to think about.)

NASCAR - Rusty Wallace. 

American Ninja Warrior - Daniel Gil. (Ninja Warrior should be an Olympic Sport. Seriously. Its more of a sport than several events already in, so why not?)

I don't watch Golf, Hockey or Soccer.

 

 

[Pooker]

7 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

American Ninja Warrior - Daniel Gil. (Ninja Warrior should be an Olympic Sport. Seriously. Its more of a sport than several events already in, so why not?)

 

 

Agreed. American Ninja Warrior is awesome. Barclay Stockett is my favorite.

[OctoberRaven]

Completely biased viewpoint because he was an ace for the Strikers and probably unknown for most of you because of the same, but Darnell King.

[Malenko]

Isiah Thomas and Diego Maradona were both at the top of their careers when I was about 6 and being a very short kid myself I liked how they were still able to dominate most games they played. Well Isiah was short for a basketball player anyway. Maradona was just short. Also, in both cases a lot of people around me preferred others and looked down on them which as a little kid I couldn't comprehend and made me like them more. I'd say I started playing both sports because of them.  

The argument above also works in other sports. I'm not a big F1 fan. In fact I don't remember the last race I watched, but as a kid I did watch plenty and I became a fan of Alain Prost just because everyone around me seemed to hate him and love Ayrton Senna instead.

Later on I became a big fan of Jaromir Jagr (hockey) and Pedro Martínez (baseball).

Nowadays I see sports in a different way. I don't really have any idols in sports anymore so regardless of what happens I don't think I'll ever like any other players the way I liked those 4 growing up.

[DavidMarrio]

Football:

Gerrard for me. I grew up with him as a kid with him being this local lad in the team who became captain of the team who could grab a game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. 

Olympiakos at Anfield (Gerrrrrarrrrdddddd ohhhhhhhh youuuuuu beautttyyyyyy)

West Ham in the FA Cup

Istanbul 05 won't ever be topped for me. That Liverpool team had no right to be coming from behind against an AC Milan team who's starting XI had quality in every position and Gerrard helped turn that around. 

3 games in a similar period of time but as a 12/13/14 year old they would have a big impression on a lot of kids. 

Boxing:

Ricky Hatton. Again I think it's the time period that plays a big part as I started to get into boxing around 2004/2005 and I remember watching the Kostya Tszyu fight and being amazed and i couldn't wait for the Mayweather fight which ended up being a step too far 

MMA:

Shogun Rua. I remmeber when he broke out in PRIDE and he was just dismantling people so I was excited when he came to the UFC. Started off rocky against Forest Griffin but he worked his way to a title shot, got beat by Machida controversially and got awarded another title shot and was decisive in the 2nd fight. At the back end of his career but he has put on some entertaining fights against Dan Henderson twice and Rogerio Nogueira. 

[The Lusophone]

Ryan Giggs. Just an amazing player at his peak and when he transitioned into a more central role he remained an elite level player. 

[MDK]

2 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

Gerrard for me. I grew up with him as a kid with him being this local lad in the team who became captain of the team who could grab a game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. 

Olympiakos at Anfield (Gerrrrrarrrrdddddd ohhhhhhhh youuuuuu beautttyyyyyy)

West Ham in the FA Cup

Istanbul 05 won't ever be topped for me. That Liverpool team had no right to be coming from behind against an AC Milan team who's starting XI had quality in every position and Gerrard helped turn that around.  

3 games in a similar period of time but as a 12/13/14 year old they would have a big impression on a lot of kids. 

Jerzy Dudek can probably still get a free pint in Liverpool

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, MDK said:

Jerzy Dudek can probably still get a free pint in Liverpool

He's got free entry to Popworld for life.

[PantherFan22]

American Football - Current: Luke Kuechly - I have a borderline man-crush on him, and my 'claim to Keek fame' is that I might have been the first, if not only Australian to buy a Kuechly jersey. All-Time: Troy Polamalu - For the reasons that were mentioned above.

Aussie Rules Football - Current: Jeremy McGovern - Just a gun player for my Eagles. All-Time: Doug Hawkins. Came from the same suburb of Melbourne as myself, and we even attended the same high school, and had the same history and geography teacher, albeit at different times.

Basketball - Current: Serge Ibaka - No real reason, but whenever I played NBA2k games, I tended to sign him, though I don't have to now, as he plays for the Raptors. All-Time: Tyrone 'Muggsy' Bogues - Someone his size having a reasonably successful career in the NBA gave short guys everywhere hope and he was in Space Jam.

Cricket - Current: Kane Williamson - I think he's the best batsman in the world quite honestly, but he doesn't seem to get the recognition because he doesn't play for Australia, England or India. All-Time: Mervyn Gregory Hughes - He was fun to watch with both ball and bat, and had a charisma that not a lot of Aussie cricketers had in his day.

Tennis - Current: Eugenie Bouchard - For... reasons. All-Time:  Martina Hingis - Aside from having a crush on her, she was a good player and I remember her winning an Aussie Open ('97), and most of my cricket teammates being pissed off for it for some reason, which amused me.

 

 

[Kyle]

Duncan Ferguson, on the basis of him being the first Everton player that kid Troy ever knew of, and him being a hard bastard.  

[PantherFan22]

 

after so many test matches, some impressions... one has to ask... did I really have a bowling action?

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

MLB - Roy Halladay (though Jose Bautista is a close second)

NHL - Mats Sundin

NBA - Vince Carter

Premier League - Mo Salah

 

[Pooker]

1 hour ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

 

NBA - Vince Carter

 

For some odd reason, it makes me so happy that he is still playing. I would love for him to sign with the Jazz this summer and finish off his career here. 

[Arjen Robben]

Football / Juninho. Obvious really. Dunno how we ever got him in the first place tbh, but he's still beloved here, and seems to have had genuine affection for us ever since he first signed for us all :*) His 96-97 season for us is probably my favourite season of any player we've ever had. "During his time with Middlesbrough, Juninho lived in Levendale and Ingleby Barwick with his parents. He was known for playing football with school children on the streets and is still considered one of the greatest players to have played for Middlesbrough in the modern era."  Currently, as an active player, Messi, cause he's just the best ever really isn't he, by miles.

Tennis / Rafael Nadal. Just love his focus and drive, and how relentless he is really. Can think of few players more intense and focused when they're playing. Dying for him to somehow match Federer's Grand Slam count, or at the very least not be overtaken by Djokovic. I know people who just hate him for reasons I can't understand really. I think he's exciting as fuck to watch, and don't get how anyone can think otherwise. Genuinely think I get second hand adrenaline rush when he hits one of his forehands on the run down the line.

MMA / Carlos Condit. Absolutely no idea. Just really like him. Feels like he hasn't won for absolute ages as well, but oh well. I say "feels like", he literally hasn't. Last won in 2015 

NFL / Aaron Rodgers. Not the most die-hard NFL fan but when I first got in to about 5 years ago I just randomly picked Green Bay as 'my' team just from playing as them on Madden, and by extension Rodgers became my favourite player. Also, thankfully, seems a decent bloke in real life and supported Kaepernick and other players protesting the national anthem. Always nice when someone you like also reveals them self to not be a dickhead.

[Adam]

Suppose I best answer my own question.

NFL: Larry Fitzgerald. The reason I'm a Cardinals fan, pretty much. I was mesmerised by his display in Super Bowl 43 and became a proper fan of the sport after that, he's a brilliant player and one of the nicest guys around. Going to be a very, very sad day when he hangs up his cleats. And I'm gutted he never won a ring because he absolutely deserves one.

F1: Mark Webber. Another gentleman, a largely under-rated driver and another who deserved a world title but agonisingly missed out. It should have been his in 2010 but alas, not to be. Plugged away for a long time in the midfield but proved when he had a competitive car that he had excellent ability and could give any of the biggest names a run for their money on his day.

Tennis: Andy Murray. Sorry, but it has to be. Following his career has been a mighty rollercoaster but he has given me some of the greatest moments in sport I could ever hope to see and that Wimbledon victory will live long, long in the memory. He's basically achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport and for a British player to do that, in an era competing against three of the best to ever play the game, is so impressive.

Football: James Coppinger. Over 600 games for Doncaster Rovers, key goals in almost all of our big successes over the past 15 years and once again, a complete gentleman. Class personified, he is irreplaceable and seemingly evergreen. The single greatest moment I've experienced as a sports fan to date was his last-ditch goal to win us the title at Brentford in 2013.

[DanishmadePunk]

Football: Dennis Bergkamp. I'm not even dutch, but to me he is the personification about what i like about team sports. 

NBA (of those i have seen in my lifetime not named MJ): I always had a soft spot for Steve Nash. How the Suns screwed up a potential dynasty built around him is one of the bigger tragedies in sports

NHL: Bergeron. I like the Bruins. But Marchand can be a bit too much and Tim Thomas was a nutter. Chara have his critics, and i can see why

NFL: As much as i like Ray Lewis (for his on field stuff obviously), i have always liked Maurice Jones Drew. Can't pinpoint any exact moment though

MLB: Just gotten into it over the past few years and so (thanks OOTP). But Bryan Pena seemed to be fun when he was around.