Posted on 05/15/2014 1:17:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
It’s difficult to judge an athlete’s true worth, even if on paper it’s clear they’re either a mega-loser or a mega-winner. But once you go beyond the stats and sabermetrics, and really take a look at what they’ve done, you inch a little closer to uncovering their true value.
In the cases of these five, we found a whole lot of nothing. These are some of the most overrated performers we’ve ever seen, and they should probably pay back all the money they’ve earned and go work at a Walgreens or something. Or CVS, if they prefer. We’re not picky.
5. Wilt Chamberlain
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Unfortunately, outside of a plethora of women’s phone numbers, he rarely won anything significant. In basketball, the ultimate team sport, Wilt was seen as a bad teammate, somebody who cared more about HIS shots and HIS stats than helping his team win rings. He won two titles, though given his gaudy numbers, plus the fact that his teams made the playoffs every single year he played save one, he really should’ve won more.
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4. Danica Patrick
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Here’s the issue: she’s never won. It’s not just that she’s never won a Sprint Cup — plenty of people have never done that. It’s more that, with the exception of ONE RACE back in 2008, she’s never won anything. She’s started over 230 races and won one. She rarely even finishes in the top ten. For somebody touted as a super-duper star, that’s pretty pathetic.
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3. Deion Sanders
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2. Dennis Rodman
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1. Alex Rodriguez
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(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
That and the thuggery factor.
McNabb was a guy with lots of physical talent but dumb as a stump on the mental side of things. When he finally gets to the Super Bowl he parties hardy the night before the game and gets so dehydrated that in the second half of the game he was so worn out he couldn't even run a two minute offense because he was sucking wind...
Not to take anything away from Russell, but he had a much better supporting cast than Wilt.
I don’t think he was overrated at all...are you seriously talking about his ‘85 to ‘89 prime?
Romo’s problem is his inconsistency, he looks great one game, then he throws 5 Ints the next. And every year the Cowboys play their final game with the Division title on the line and they come up short every time (although last season he was hurt for that final game).
Very, very good things come in small brunette packages, especially hot tempered ones. They are really, really good on short sprints but are not suited to long cruises.
Entire career. He beat a old Larry Holmes and a great lightheavyweight. That’s about it. Sure, his rape time took away his prime, but he folded against people who punched back.
BTW, Wilt was the only player I ever saw block Kareem's sky hook.
That sounds like the PHX Suns with Barkley. They’d stay up partying all night before playoff games, and sweat like pigs the entire first half until they shook off their hangovers.
Heck, they had to have the refs save them against the Lakers that one series.
You point out the fact that once Wilt was with the Lakers, his greatest attribute was the assists, he totally changed his game to adapt to the new surroundings.
More than just assists. He dominated on defense.
By that time he had put on a lot of muscle. I think he would have made Shaq cry.
I’ll add Joe Namath to the list
Plus 1 million. He has a many super bowl wins as Peyton Manning, but nowhere near the stats, and you would think he was his equal....
Who was the quarterback of the Eagles who threw up under pressure and RUSH used to say how the media cheered for him, which got RUSH kicked off ESPN.
Donovan McNabb
Romos supposed choking was the lead story because there’s a crowd of people in this world who always blame the QB and can’t be bothered with facts. All his big “chokes” last year were failure by the defense. He had losses last year with 28, 30, 36 and 48 points yet the pinhead crowd insists he choked. If the defense does a halfway decent job in any of those games the Cowboys are 12-4 and probably get a post season bye. Romo’s not a choker, he’s a whipping boy for the confused.
In baseball, I'd nominate a couple of HOFers: Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan. Mind you, I'm going with the idea that a good player can be overrated, which I think is the case here. Rose gave you a lot of hits but little speed or power. Nolan Ryan could be absolutely unhittable in one start and then very ordinary in the next start. His teams often had to struggle to win his starts which was not the case with a lot of other great pitchers of his era. In his career, Ryan averaged 14 wins and 13 losses a year.
I guess he should’ve passed it off to Lou Groza. ;)
Nolan Ryan overrated?
Them’s fightin’ words.
There's a wonderful youtube site devoted to (mostly) Wilt.
Oscar is probably the nicest, most intelligent guy you'll ever hear. Some "journalist" asked him if Wilt could play today ...
"This interview is over. You don't know s**t about basketball!"
I would like to have Ryan on my team. However, if I needed to win one game, I would much rather have Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, Ferguson Jenkins, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, or Randy Johnson ready to go. (Ryan's not exactly being squeezed out by garbage here.)
Ryan was erratic until he got to Houston. After that, he was great.
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