Author Topic: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play  (Read 8968 times)

Offline jokabofe

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #15 on: September 20, 2004, 06:18 PM »
Just about every player that's been on the Yankees since the late 70's/early 80's - Dave Winfield, Ricky Henderson, Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson... if they were on the team, I saw them play. And that's not even counting who the Yanks played against - George Brett, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr., Wade Boggs...

As for Hockey: Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic/Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Mark Messier, Tony Amonte, Segei Federov, Mike Modano, Brian Leetch....

As for Football: not too many, as I'm not a Giants/Jets fan, so I don't go to many games. However, I did go to a few Jets games back in the Shea Stadium days, to see guys like Wesley Walker, Freeman McNeil, Mark Gastineau, and Joe Klecko.

Basketball - went to 1 Knicks game in my entire life - don't know who was on the team at the time, but they did play the Bulls, so I got to see Jordan and Pippen.

Offline CorranHorn

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #16 on: September 20, 2004, 07:29 PM »
Ok I'll try this as those athletes I've seen live..

Baseball: Carlton Fisk (White Sox), Andre Dawson (Cubs)

Football: Brett Favre (Packers, ugh)

Hockey: Denis Savard, Steve Larmer, Jeremy Roenick, Ed Belfour (Blackhawks), Mike Modano (Stars), Brett Hull (Blues)

Basketball: Michael Jordan and the 1996 & 1997 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls

Wrestling (yes I dared to say it): Ricky Steamboat (1992 WCW), Steve Austin (WCW/1997 WWF), Chris Benoit (WWF), Kurt Angle (WWF)
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Offline paploo

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2004, 11:48 PM »
basketball - jordan ( i was a knicks fan in high school and jordan would drive me nuts)
baseball - curt schilling ( this guy is a gamer)
hockey - hasek (he was a goalie)
football - emmitt smith (jets fan but still he was silly good)
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #18 on: September 22, 2004, 12:25 AM »
Tons upon TONS of Hockey Players I've seen and met personally.  Just absolutely tons, but...

Mario Lemieux, without a doubt, is the greatest player I've seen out of any sport.  He makes hockey more than just the greatest sport alive, he makes it a form of art to boot.  Great One who?  Pffft...

That said, I've seen Gretzky, Oates, Yzerman, Roy, etc...

Though I'd say the 2nd favorite player I've seen from hockey behind Lemieux is Ron Francis, another long-time Penguin.  Francis is the epitome of the "perfect" hockey player.  While Lemieux's everything you could want in a forward, and he's an intelligent player overall, Francis is the most well-rounded, gentlemanly, honest, caring, NICE guy in the game.  He gives you 100% every game, he never falters, he never cries about anything...  He's just a great player, and if I had to say there's one guy I miss from the Pen's height, it's Ronnie Francis. 

And he still burns us when he's back in town, but boy is he fun to watch play.  He's a forward that, when I was a defenseman, I actually modeled my style after his.  That's a well-rounded player.
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Offline Matt Carroll

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #19 on: September 22, 2004, 01:10 AM »
I'll stick to who I've seen in person:

Hockey: Patrick Roy. I never caught the Great One, nor have I seen Mario in person. It was amazing how he could take over a game.

Baseball: Barry Bonds. I didn't go to a major league game until the '90's, so I'm really limited on who I've seen. Great hitter, though.

Football: John Elway. My favorite athlete of all time. For years, he carried the Broncos on his back without much support (until TD came along)

Basketball: Magic. I never saw Jordan live.  :'(

I will mention this additional bit - I've been extremely lucky to see the last 3 Heisman winners in person here in Boulder (Crouch in '01, Palmer in '02, White in '03).  ;D
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Offline SPIDERLEGS

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #20 on: September 22, 2004, 02:07 AM »
Baseball: Cal Ripken, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Pudge Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Joe Clark, Mark McGwire, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez...too many to think of. I know I'll have to amend this list.

Basketball: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Dirk Nowitski, Michael Finley, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, more when I remember.

Hockey: Eddie Belfour, Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg, Chris Chelios, Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, and more when I look through my stubs.

football: Walter Payton (playoff game), Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Barry Sanders (MNF), Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, Brett Favre (playoff), John Elway, Fran Tarkenton (NFC Championship), Steve Largent, Eric Dickerson (playoff when he was a Ram), Earl Campbell, OJ Simpson (as a 49er), Joe Montana (as a Chief), Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Art Monk, Darryl Green, Joe Theisman (lots of times, but '79 final game, we kicked his BUTT), Phil Simms, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Harvey Martin, Randy White, Lee Roy Jordan, Cliff Harris, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Dan Marino, Bob Griese, Archie Manning, Dan Fouts, Dieon Sanders, Larry Allen, and many more. I have had season tickets to the Cowboys in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995. So, I've seen most of the great players in those two eras at Texas Stadium.

Offline Tracy

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #21 on: August 19, 2005, 11:16 AM »
In person:

Baseball:  Cal Rikpen, Jr. (saw him tie Lou Gehrig's record at O's Stadiim), Nolan Ryan, Brady Anderson

Football:  John Riggins, Emmit Smith (hate Dallas though), Darrell Green, John Elway

Racing:Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon

Figure Skating:  Scott Hamilton (yes, he's an athelete :P)



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Offline Skyhoucker

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #22 on: December 5, 2005, 11:37 PM »
The list of seeing people play on TV would be too long, but some of the players I've seen live are:

Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal
Tracy McGrady
Vince Carter
Derek Jeter
A-Rod
Roger Clemens
Doug Flutie (oh hell yeah)
Hines Ward
Jerome Bettis
Jim Kelly
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #23 on: December 5, 2005, 11:55 PM »
I'm gonna say it right now, but Sidney Crosby I'd tentatively put on that list.  He's really just amazing to watch.

Now if everyone else would get it together!
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Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #24 on: December 7, 2005, 11:56 AM »
Well my live stuff is limited to the Cubs, Cardinals, Bulls games. 

Baseball: I will go with Ozzie Smith and Ryne Sandberg....I went to several Cub/Cardinal games when I was a kid and these two had some insane defensive stops that wowed the crowds.  It was a real treat to watch those 2 play against each other for 3 hours in the summertime. 

But I will also go with McGwire and Sosa....despite the steroids.  Those guys were a lot of fun.  One day McGwire would hit 2 and Sosa 1.  The next day it was Sosa 2 and then McGwire 1.  LOL! 

Football - I actually saw John Elway play the Bears at Soldier Field...when he was like a rookie.  LOL!  So, here I go with Walter Peyton and Mike Singletary.  I can't say enough about how cool it was to see Peyton running the ball and Singletary killing everyone he'd hit.  God that was great.  I wish I would have enjoyed it more at the time since I assumed they would win the Super Bowl for 4 years straight.  LOL! 

Basketball - Yeah, Jordan.  Nothing comes close that I have seen live.  Then again I have only been to a handful of NBA games in my life.

Offline Clone On Fire

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #25 on: December 19, 2005, 02:27 PM »
Michael Jordan, hands down.
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Offline Neal

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #26 on: January 9, 2006, 09:03 AM »
I've seen Jordan live and on TV (obviously), so he's my answer for both.

Offline jadesfire

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #27 on: January 16, 2006, 06:43 PM »
Players I've seen live:

Baseball:  Ken Griffey Jr. and John Smoltz

Basketball:  Michael Jordan

Football:  Brett Favre (it hurts just to type that), Barry Sanders, Billy Sims, Roger Staubach and Harvey Martin.  I suppose I should add Reggie White to that list also...even if he was a Packer when I saw him.

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Offline Rob

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Re: Greatest Athletes that You Saw Play
« Reply #28 on: January 17, 2006, 10:43 PM »
I got to watch Brett Farve get picked off 4 times by the Bucs en route to a 21-7 loss a few years ago...  I haven't seen many greats in live though.