- The most exciting athlete ever begins and ends with Bo Jackson.
- Emmit Smith was an excellent RB, but he was able to run behind one of the greatest, if not the greatest offensive lines ever. If Barry Sanders ran behind that line, he would have set records that would silly (I.e. See Barry Sanders college stats).
- Nolan Ryan pitching for the Angles was downright scary and it seemed like he got extra pumped up playing against my team, the Red Sox. Having said that, why he didn’t work on dialing back and adding change of pace for control was just not smart pitching and selfish.
"Nolan Ryan was — and this in the trait that would mark his career — out there alone, pitching to the catcher with the hitter at the plate a mere inconvenience." What a wonderful sentence!
Looking at the Sanders video - I think my favorite is number 5, where he is 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, 25 yards from the end zone, and probably has 10 of the 11 defenders in front of him after juking the guy that got penetration, and QB Rodney Peete puts his hands up in the touchdown signal.
Joe, you totally hit this one on the head. There were better pitchers than Ryan, but no one, game in game out, year in year out, was such a force of nature. His games were an event.
Correction Joe: Being the greatest pitcher and most unhittable ARE similar...but they are not the same.
A couple of issues:
- The most exciting athlete ever begins and ends with Bo Jackson.
- Emmit Smith was an excellent RB, but he was able to run behind one of the greatest, if not the greatest offensive lines ever. If Barry Sanders ran behind that line, he would have set records that would silly (I.e. See Barry Sanders college stats).
- Nolan Ryan pitching for the Angles was downright scary and it seemed like he got extra pumped up playing against my team, the Red Sox. Having said that, why he didn’t work on dialing back and adding change of pace for control was just not smart pitching and selfish.
"Nolan Ryan was — and this in the trait that would mark his career — out there alone, pitching to the catcher with the hitter at the plate a mere inconvenience." What a wonderful sentence!
Looking at the Sanders video - I think my favorite is number 5, where he is 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, 25 yards from the end zone, and probably has 10 of the 11 defenders in front of him after juking the guy that got penetration, and QB Rodney Peete puts his hands up in the touchdown signal.
"But there was also something supernatural about all of them. I mean, I delivered newspapers too."
This is one of my favorite lines you've ever written, Joe.
Brilliant: “..a curveball that ran away like an angry child...”
Happy Independence Day everyone!
Joe, you totally hit this one on the head. There were better pitchers than Ryan, but no one, game in game out, year in year out, was such a force of nature. His games were an event.