pro: Wayne Gretzky, Ali, Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders

college: Barry Sanders, Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson

edit: gotta go homer with Brett Favre and Reggie Collier

andre agassi and pete sampras

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Alex English, Dan Issel, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Len Bias, Armon Gilliam, Bernard King, Richie
Allen, Hank Aaron, Steve Garvey, Al Wiggins, Kirby Puckett, Eric Dickerson, Jesse Tuggle, Barry Sanders, Randall Cunningham, Deion Sanders, Bobby Hebert, Ralph Sampson .

One of my favorite college athletes to watch was Dwayne Harris from ECU. Man that guy was good.

(02-17-2015 01:02 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Alex English, Dan Issel, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Len Bias, Armon Gilliam, Bernard King, Richie
Allen, Hank Aaron, Steve Garvey, Al Wiggins, Kirby Puckett, Eric Dickerson, Jesse Tuggle, Barry Sanders, Randall Cunningham, Deion Sanders, Bobby Hebert, Ralph Sampson .

that's a powerful list....so many names, so many memories to all you listed

was never a huge nba fan....it's b/c bird and magic haven't been equaled since....olojuwan and glide were phi slamma jamma....that was pretty cool during the college days

I did leave out Hank relative to mlb.....I got to see his 715th and 755th live on tv....it was emotional as a tyke that only knew baseball heroism at that point.....fyi, I'm from StL and baseball was the shite in my life at that point (it still is)....I bowed when they happened and had zero clue about the death threats at that time.....

nice list.....

College... my 2 favorite football players to watch were Brett Favre and Reggie Collier. Other greats that I saw in-person include Adalius Thomas, Jamie Collins, Patrick Surtain, Deion Sanders, Deangelo Williams, Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, Vinny Curry, Warrick Dunn, Peyton Manning, Alex Smith, Roddy White, David Garrard, Hanford Dixon, James Casey (very underrated).

Basketball players include Clarence Weatherspoon, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, Derrick Rose.

In high school, I played against Steve McNair (NFL), Antonio McDyess (NBA), and Erick Dampier(NBA).

Tom Watson and Serena Williams are the two who stand out.

I used to love watching Dustin Almond at USM. Nickey Seymour was another favorite... probably 5'8" and 160lbs, and he snatched a win away from UGA his senior year.

Finally, I loved Devery Henderson from that first tryout season with LSU on. When Devery was getting it done, so were the Saints, e.g. 2009.

I've only had a few people ever make me go wow in person. Mine is pretty baseball biased. Seeing Mike Trout play was awesome, I think he's gonna be the Micky Mantle for this generation. Seeing Aroldis Chapman touch 102 mph in St. Louis was crazy because that's just throwing a baseball stupid hard. The events that made me go wow was watching in person my Red Sox lose game 3 of the 2013 World Series on an obstruction call. Horrible way to end a game. And at my first game at Fenway Park in 2006, Carlos Pena hit a pinch hit walk off home run over Pesky Pole to win it against the White Sox. That was pretty awesome to have happen at my first home Red Sox game.

As for football the person who made me go wow and simultaneously kill my hopes and dreams of bowl eligibility was Colin Kaepernick. Damn that man and his 3rd and a mile scrambles! He could not be tackled.

Favorite Pros: Mark McGwire (lived 15 mins outside of STL during the '98 season. Talk about a great childhood memory), Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols, Aaron Rodgers, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Clayton Kershaw, Jordy Nelson
Pros that are amazing that I don't actually like: Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Yasiel Puig
College: Philip Rivers, TJ Warren, Russell Wilson, Mike Glennon, Taylor Heinicke, Calvin Johnson, Kent Bazemore, Mario Williams.

There are many others. Those are the players that immediately jump out for some reason.

Lee Arthur Smith from Castor pitch for the local American Legion Team in Minden, LA who was sponsored by Beacon Gas...

Yes, that Lee Smith who was THE MAN for the Chicago Cubs -

He was tall, big, burly and wild and the baseball looked like an aspirin in his hand even when he was 17 years old - he strucj utter fear in opposing batters

I actually got to see Two Belinikoff awar winners in Tory Edwards, Josh Reed, One Heisman winner in Johnny Manziel, a two time Ray Guy Award Winner in Ryan Allen which by the way, if you ever get the chance to see a truly great punter it is something you will never forget.

Best highschooler I ever saw was Rueben Randle, kid was a freak, Brandon Dean was the best Basketball player in Highschool
Best College was Johnny Manziel ,you would have to have seen him in person to believe some of the crap he could do, I got to see play and meet Paul Milsap.
Best Pro- I saw Jose Canseco blast a HR 412 feet as a kid (WOW), Drew Brees throw a TD, Alphonso Soriano hit a triple, Arian Foster run for a TD, Kurt Warner, Issac Bruce,Torry Holt and Marshall Faulk smoke my Saints the year they won it all.

I also got to see Nolan Ryan get win #297 by striking out 12 Red Sox in 7 innings of work back in 1990. It was hot that day! Wade Boggs was on that Boston team.

I'm going to toss in Ray Guy.....idolized him when he was a Raider (I was a Cardinal fan before bidwell really screwed StL), never got to see his southern miss/youth abilities (which are legendary), but got to grow up playing golf with him as a teen....never thought it would evolve into a sharing passion towards southern miss......

I've posted my fave story too many times to reprint (search this site for 'hcc ray guy' if you're curious.....hell, google may work better)

this is why the thread premise is cool in my mind....it reminds me why we are/were a 'sports' fan at a point in time....

In person-
Football - - Terry Bradshaw at Tech and the Steelers
Baseball - Bobby Murcer with Yankees and prior to game Mickey Mantle in old timers game
Basketball - Malone at Tech

(02-18-2015 03:51 PM)DwayneW1 Wrote:  Lee Arthur Smith from Castor pitch for the local American Legion Team in Minden, LA who was sponsored by Beacon Gas...

Yes, that Lee Smith who was THE MAN for the Chicago Cubs -

He was tall, big, burly and wild and the baseball looked like an aspirin in his hand even when he was 17 years old - he strucj utter fear in opposing batters

Lee Smith was dominant as a closer for a long time. I think he played MLB 15+ years, leading the league in saves a few years, with a career ERA around 3.0 (I think). I thought, and still believe, the Cubs were the best team in MLB in 1984, even though they lost the NL series. I hated the Cubs let him get away to Boston, I think. Later, he was with the Cards, so the Cubs saw him in the wrong dugout 18 times a year. He was still a dominant closer. I think he saved 40+ games with St Louis one year. Saw him play in Wrigley many times, both as a Cub and a Card. I liked him much better in blue.

(02-17-2015 01:42 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(02-17-2015 01:02 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Alex English, Dan Issel, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Len Bias, Armon Gilliam, Bernard King, Richie
Allen, Hank Aaron, Steve Garvey, Al Wiggins, Kirby Puckett, Eric Dickerson, Jesse Tuggle, Barry Sanders, Randall Cunningham, Deion Sanders, Bobby Hebert, Ralph Sampson .

that's a powerful list....so many names, so many memories to all you listed

was never a huge nba fan....it's b/c bird and magic haven't been equaled since....olojuwan and glide were phi slamma jamma....that was pretty cool during the college days

I did leave out Hank relative to mlb.....I got to see his 715th and 755th live on tv....it was emotional as a tyke that only knew baseball heroism at that point.....fyi, I'm from StL and baseball was the shite in my life at that point (it still is)....I bowed when they happened and had zero clue about the death threats at that time.....

nice list.....

I appreciate that, "Stink", if I actually had the free time when I posted this list to reflect a little more, I might have come up with a few names I'd overlooked like Steve McNair and Tom Chambers

Staubach

Brett Favre
Tim Tebow
Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh Pirates)
AJ Burnett.

I'm a young pup compared to you (lucky) grizzled dogs.

(02-17-2015 08:35 AM)NTTHOR Wrote:  andre agassi and pete sampras

I got to see Sampras and John McEnroe play an exhibition. Lots of fun. Agassi was my favorite but I never saw him in person. What event(s) did you see them at?

Pro: (in person) Messi, Viali (soccer); Eli Manning, Justin Tuck, Mike Strahan (football), Roger Federer, Nadal, Jokovic, Del Potro (love his forehand bomb), Serena William, Kim Clijster (tennis - all at US Open)
College: Paul Milsap, Philip Livas, Ryan Moats, Cheryl Ford (Karl Malone's daughter)