Sports and numbers, 2 things that go together. When thinking about what to write about I thought, why not do another series. Let's talk about what person you think of when you hear a #. When I say 23, you know who you think about, 42 a certain player comes to mind. I'm not going to pick necessarly the best player to wear each number, instead it will be my favorite or something that comes to mind. Could be a real athlete, a movie character, an event, a record, anything that's a number. We'll start at 0 and go to 99, who knows maybe I'll do a couple over 100. Tonight we start at 0 and we'll get to 10, so 11 different things to talk about.
00 Willie Mayes Hayes: You may run like Mayes but you hit like shit. Willie Mayes Hayes is the best all around player on the Cleveland Indians in the movie franchise Major League. He can steal bases at will, play great defense in Centerfield and in the 2nd movie he adds a little pop to his bat. Played by Wesley Snipes we all love Willie.
1 Braylon Edwards/David Terrell: There are lots of great players who wore #1, but to me these 2 are my favorites. They both dominated at Michigan as Wide Receivers. They both went top 10 in the draft, and they both disappointed for the most part. Braylon had a couple good years in Cleveland but nothing great. I loved watching both of these guys catch passes at Michigan, they were so damn in college. They wanted to start a WR legacy and the #1 but I don't think that happened.
2 Rusty Wallace/Charles Woodson: I couldn't pick just one. Rusty Wallace was my favorite driver for early life until he retired following the 2005 season. His car was black and gold in my younger days and I thought it was the coolest, plus it was MGD which my dad drank so as a kid I thought that was right. He was a good driver, who eventually made the Hall of Fame, and if it weren't Dale Senior he might have a few more championships. Charles Woodson wore 2 at Michigan, he was AWESOME. The only predominantly defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy, though he did play some receiver and returned punts. He was another level at Michigan, helping lead the Wolverines to 12-0 and a share of a National Title in 1997.
3 The Triplets: When the Giants won 3 titles in 5 years that was about the peak of my sports fandom. The sheer luck of it all happening, plus them not being the Yankees and dominating the sport that way was incredible. Sure they missed the postseason the 2 off years but it only made the titles even more special. The 2010 one exercised the demons, 2012 they fought back from the brink, twice, and of course 2014 they had no business winning but MadBum wouldn't let them lose. I think people don't give them enough credit but I'll never forget those 3 nights and where I was when the titles were won.
4 Chris Webber: Man did I love C-Webb, I even have a school picture day when I wore his Warriors jersey to school, I'll assume I had no idea it was picture day and I just wore it. He was awesome at Michigan leading the Fab Five to back to back title games, while also changing the look of sports. The baggy shorts changed my entire style. I was looking for shorts that came past my knees and honestly still have that preference in my shorts. Those 2 years solidified my status as a Michigan fan as a young man, something I held onto for a while as you can see by this list.
5 Timmy DeVoe: Timmy was a good friend of mine as a kid. He was another reason I like Rusty Wallace. Timmy was #5 for the Juda baseball team, and he was a very good shortstop. He died tragically in the summer between his sophomore and junior years. He wore his #5 baseball jersey in the casket for his visitation and funeral. I miss Timmy when I play ball and I often think about him especially on a pop up when he would tap his glove on his leg twice before reaching up to catch it.
6 Robby Thompson: There is no other answer. I wear 6 to honor Robby, I love that number. 6 is a part of me, it's my favorite number, it can't be topped. Robby was awesome, gave me my Giants fandom, I owe everything for my love of baseball to Robby Thompson and I'll never be able to repay him, so instead I cherish his jersey number.
7 Marvin McNutt: When I converted to Iowa for my college football rooting interests, there was guy on the Hawkeyes who seemed to make every huge play. That guy was Marvin McNutt. He held a lot of the school records for receivers when he left college. He was so sure handed and made all the tough catches. He has one of the most TDs in Iowa history, a last second grab against Michigan State, a play known as 7 got 6.
8 Cal Ripken Jr.: We named our son after this guy, he changed the game of baseball. Out were the days of the glove only Shortstop, in was the big body shortstop. The guy who could field the position and hit in the middle of the line up. Without Ripken we don't get A-Rod, Jeter, Correa, or Lindor.
9 Roger Maris: I didn't know a lot about Roger Maris until I watched 61*, a brilliant movie that Billy Crystal made in 2001. It chronicles the home run race between Micky Mantle and Roger Maris as they chase down Babe Ruth's 60 home runs. A record so cherished that they put an asterisk by Maris name because he had more games to do it. Barry Pepper played Maris and you couldn't tell them apart in the pictures. The movie is very good and I kind of need to watch it again.
10 Robert Griffin III/Tom Brady: When I wrote about 2012 I wrote my love letter to RG, and when I wrote about the 2012 draft I wrote it again. I loved that dude for that season and I'm still bitter at that stupid field. Tom Brady wore #10 at Michigan, and I loved Tom Brady at Michigan. I thought they screwed the pooch letting Drew Henson share time with Brady their two seasons together. Brady wasn't amazing at Michigan but he was pretty damn good, and he had a few weapons, if they had just let him play I think they would've been better those 2 years coming off the National Championship.
That's the first round, I'll get some more done in the coming weeks and will probably post more than once a week for this series. Should be fun, let me know some of your favorite numbers (0-10) I don't want to ruin the next few of these.
No comments:
Post a Comment