After doing 4 of these I feel like I'm going to have to do another batch just of honorable mention guys. There are so many I would've loved to add to the list, but they just had bad numbers. I couldn't talk about Davey Allison at 28 because there were already 2 guys. Muggsy Bogues should get a mention for #1, I could go on but I won't. This one has some special numbers in it, let's see what the next 10 have.
41 Glen Rice: This is the first time I'm putting someone on this list solely for their prowess in a video game. We played NBA Live 98 a lot in high school and we always put Glen Rice on our team to shoot 3's, pairing him with Mitch Richmond made you unstoppable against the computer. We would shoot 3 after 3. I never watched Glen Rice the actual player, but on that video game he was deadly from deep.
42 Jackie Robinson: I don't think there is a number more synonymous with a name than 42. 42 is Jackie Robinson and Jackie Robinson is 42. Obviously Jackie is remembered for breaking the color barrier in baseball, but he was also pretty damn good. He made his Major League debut at age 28 giving away at least 4 years of his career. He could've reached 2,000 hits with those years, and he probably would have 100 more stolen bases for his career with those years. I love how we've recently celebrated Jackie more than ever before, but the state of baseball for American black players is slowly going back to before his time.
43 Josey Jewell: I've been to one Iowa football game, Josey Jewell got tossed in the 1st quarter for a targeting call while blocking on a punt return. There is nothing more memorable than that. The starting MLB gets the boot on a punt return, that's some shit. Josey was a tackling machine at Iowa, the 2nd best players on the defense in 2015 he made so many plays. He played so hard and really made himself better. I've recently learned he read comments from people on twitter who questioned his play and that made him play harder. That's kins of crazy but Josey is that dude. He also made this video which is badass.
44 Dallas Clark: Granted I wasn't an Iowa fan when Dallas Clark was at Iowa, and I never really like the Colts, but he was the exception on those teams. He was absolute beast on the Colts with Peyton Manning. He averaged over 10 yards a catch, scored double digit TDs a couple times. The dude was just really good, and he blocked pretty tough.
45 Adam Steinmann: There is something special about your high school best friend. Mine was Adam, we did a lot together. Some nights it was party till I puked, other nights it was Mt. Dew, chips and the Playstation, we would road trip just us two and talk about everything. Adam wore 45 in football. There are so many stories I could share about us but my favorite will always be the 2 winters we coached basketball together, he was the 8th grade coach and I was the 7th grade coach. The league we coached in the games were always Saturday. Well 1 Friday night we had a party, and we slept in. We were supposed to meet the kids at the school at 9 or something, this league you didn't take a bus so we would have a caravan of parents driving to the games. The players came and woke us up with a garbage can full of beer cans in the doorway, luckily no parents followed them in. We eventually got up and got going but we were in rough shape, and that's when hangovers didn't last more than a couple hours. I love Adam like a brother and though we talk less these days we still have those times when we shoot each other a message. I'll never forget the good times we had.
46 George Kittle: I'm sure you know who George Kittle is. He's the best Tight End in the NFL right now. When he was at Iowa he was a Touchdown machine. He made so many huge touchdown catches in 2015. He was CJ Beathard's safety valve inside the red zone. Kittle has an infectious attitude and just loves to have fun and play the game. George seems like a good dude and I can't wait to see him get paid when he gets that 2nd contract.
47 Rod Beck: The Giants have had a lot of closers in my time. Rod Beck is probably my favorite. Brian Wilson has the ring, Rob Nen was probably the best, but Beck is the most iconic. Him looking in for the signs with his arm dangling there, just loose, plus that horseshoe mustache, he was intimidating on the mound. Beck was huge part of those Giants teams in the mid 90's that weren't the best but they were in the race a lot, and he was fun to watch and imitate.
48 Pablo Sandoval: You hit 3 home runs in a World Series game for my favorite team you'll always be one of my favorites. The Panda did just that in 2012 when he started off the eventual sweep of the Tigers with 3 homers in Game 1. He also caught the foul pop up to clinch the 2014 World Series championship. That's 2 huge moments in 3 championship runs. He's had his issues with the team, mainly leaving after 2014, but all has been forgiven and he's back with the Giants to finish off his career being appreciated as he should.
49 Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson debut: In 1949 the New York Giants debuted their first 2 African American Players, Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson (who was actually playing for his 2nd ML team). Irvin had played in the Negro Leagues for 9 years before joining the Giants, he eventually got enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
50 Neon Boudeaux: He's probably the greatest college basketball player ever. He was an underrecruited high school player from the bayou in Louisiana. Coach Pete Bell watched him play in a pick up game and for some reason gave him a car so he would attend Western University. Neon was an absolute force in his game against #1 Indiana, a game the Dolphins go on to win, but Pete Bell can't stomach the fact he cheated to win so he outs himself and quits. Neon eventually found his way to the NBA.
This one was full of Hawkeyes and Giants, but hey sometimes that's how it goes. The 50's will be full of linebackers so prepare yourself now. Feel free to let me know who you like in these numbers, again it's been a ton of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment