Transcending Sports

As we draw close to Jackie Robinson Day I decided to take time in my blog to reflect upon those athletes who, like Jackie Robinson, transcended sports. But before I get to all of that I have to get something off my chest which has been bothering me the last few days as I watch the nit-wits on ESPN pontificate upon the subject of Don Imis and the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team. To start with it is obvious that Don Imis is a racist, a bigot and someone who enjoys saying such things for shock value. The thing that has bothered me however is the fact that everyone on ESPN keeps saying "the Rutger's Team has come off looking good in all of this by proving that they aren't 'nappy headed ho's' by showing that they get good grades and are well spoken valedictorians." Do you see what bothers me? Let me continue to clarify. Last time I checked in the United States you are innocent until proven guilty, yet the way the pundits on ESPN talk you would think all women must prove that they are not what Don Imis said. The statement is so utterly racist and bigoted you should not have to provide documents proving that you are a valedictorian to discredit Don Imis' aspersions upon your character.

Now, back to my original reason for writing this article: athletes who transcended sports. In my mind the athletes who transcended sports are as follows:

Muhammad Ali

For obvious reasons Muhammad Ali transcended sports when he refused induction into the US Army. This is the reason I think that Ali is most loved and hated for, some to this day have a problem with Ali refusing to serve but as he said at the time "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong no Vietcong ever called me nigger." and who can argue with that. In 1996 Sports Illustrated did a poll of the world to find out who was the most recognizable figure in sports and over 20 years after the day he retired from boxing he was still the most recognizable figure getting over 65% of the vote and Michael Jordan who after all was wining his 6Th championship got less then 25% of the vote. Muhammad Ali was not just a sports figure he was a world figure.

Pelé

O Rei Pelé or The King Pelé. Pelé is hailed as a national hero in Brazil and is a hero to all the poor of the world. Pelé was officially declared the football ambassador of the world by FIFA and a national treasure by the Brazilian government. Pelé was not just one of the best soccer players of all time he was a player who did and does his best to make the world a better place to live. When a war was going on in South America both sides decided that they would stop fighting to watch Pelé play. This has turned in to the saying " soccer stops wars" but if the saying was true it would be "O Rei Pelé stops wars"

Jesse Owens

Owens was the grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper. He was often sick with what his mother reportedly called "the devil's cold". He was given the name Jesse by a teacher in Cleveland who did not understand his accent when the young boy said he was called J.C. Owens first came to national attention when, as a student of East Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio, he tied the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash and long-jumped 24 feet 9 1/2 inches (7.56 m) at the 1933 National High School Championship in Chicago. What made Jesse Owens the man that was loved by the world was not that he could run fast or jump far but that he did it at Adolf Hitler's Berlin Olympics and that Adolf Hitler had to sit and watch as Owens won every event that he entered over the German athletes all of whom were of the Aryan race that Hitler believed to be superior. The look on Hitlers face when Jesse won transcended sports.

The Best There Ever Was Or Ever Will Be

It's April and I'm ready for some football but as I don't have a game to turn on I'll have to just talk about it and hope September comes fast this year. So the other day in my blog I talked about the best players of all time in the NBA and I had a list 1 to 10 and this got me thinking, if I had to do the same for the NFL how would my list go? Now after I thought about this for some time it came to me that it's not the same as in the NBA. In the NBA the players all try to do the same thing and therefore are comparable to one another but in the NFL it is far more divided into specific positions . Who can say who is the better player Jerry Rice or Joe Montana? I wouldn't like to say. So after some more thought it came to me that the best way to do this was to say who the best players where at the positions they played. So this is the blog of the Running Back.

Coming in at number Ten is a guy who helped make being a Running Back cool and had the best run in the history of the Super Bowl, Marcus Allen. He ran 3,022 times for 12,243 yards, 123 tds and a 4.1 average. He added 587 receptions for 5,411 yards and 21 tds.

When you think about doing it all and doing it in the big games the next guy is the name that comes to mind, Marshall Faulk. With 12279 Rushing and 6875 yards Receiving he is one of the all time best.

At 8 you have the guy who is now known for some bad things but he was a great RB, and the first to break the 2,000 yard mark for a season. That's right OJ Simpson.

7 You have the guy who one day could be the best to ever play in LaDainian Tomlinson. With 9176 yards rushing and 2900 receiving to go with a 111 TD's in just six years he could just end all the talk on who the best is.

6 Eric Dickerson. In 12 seasons with the Rams, Colts, Raiders and Falcons he ran 2,996 times for 13,259 yards and 90 tds for a 4.4 average. Added 281 catches for 2,137 yards and 6 tds.

5 Earl Campbell- Ive never seen such a big man run so fast. He was used up by Bum Phillips with the Oilers and Saints or he would have had a longer more productive career. In 9 seasons he had 2,187 attempts for 9,407 yards, 74 tds and a 4.3 average.

4 Emmitt Smith-In 226 games he rushed for 18,355 yards on 4,409 carries, 164 tds and a 4.2 average. He added 515 catches for 3,224 yards and 11 tds.

3 Jim Brown- Some would say he is the best of all time, but with lots of little guys in the NFL back then for him to run over, it wasn't as hard as in todays NFL. I can not see Brown having the same runs in today's NFL. He had 2,359 rushes for 12,312 yards, 106 tds and an amazing 5.2 yard per rush average

Coming in at number 2, the man so sweet it was his name, the one- the only-Walter Payton. They called him Sweetness and when you talk about the best of all time it's hard to think he is ever going to move down this list much. We lost him way too soon when he died, It's far less good a world without Sweetness. He was man who stood for everything that is right in and outside of the game. In the game he had 3,838 rushes for 16,726 yards, 110 tds and a 4.4 average per carry. He added 492 receptions for 4,538 yards and 15 TDs. All this while playing on some really bad Bears teams most of his career.

The The Best There Ever Was Or Ever Will Be- Barry Sanders. Every move beautiful, poetry in motion. Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman wrote of Sanders by saying, "It doesn't matter where the play is blocked; he'll find his own soft spot...The scheme doesn't matter with Sanders. He can run from any alignment. While other people are stuck with joints, he seems to have ball bearings in his legs that give him a mechanical advantage...Sanders' finest runs often occur when he takes the handoff and, with a couple of moves, turns the line of scrimmage into a broken field...Nobody has ever created such turmoil at the point of attack as Sanders has...Knock on wood, he seems indestructible..." The Pro Bowl safety John Lynch said of playing against Sanders, "It's like you're on an ice skating rink and he's the only one with a pair of skates". The late great Reggie White said "tackling Sanders is like trying to drink coffee with a fork".