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A New challenge


Mr Barguzin

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This one is quite simple really....

 

Who is your greatest Sporting Hero and why?

 

Now, you may list as many as you like.... but there must be ONE that stands out as your all time favourite.

 

Personally I have a feeling that I may be able to guess the Main one.... or the name that will appear most often... but methinks this will be a very interesting little exercise for the range of answers that just might be very enlightening.

 

Sir Donald Bradman

To play 52 Tests on uncovered wickets and retire with an average of 99.94 per innings sums up why this main is an Australian Sporting Icon. Played well before my time, but his deeds are well remembered in the Cricketing Nations of the world.

 

Dennis Keith Lillee

Best fast bowler ever, bar NONE!! To effectively break his back and then come back and acheive the world record (for that time) of 355 test wickets and that excludes World Series Cricket and the Series that brought him to prominence against a World Eleven, D K Lillee still looks like he could send down an unplayable ball if he so desired. Instead, he trains and mentors fast bowlers whenever they request his aid.

 

Rod Laver

Definitely the greatest Leftie ever... Maybe I shoulda played left handed And still the only person to have won TWO Grand Slams the right way: in the SAME calender year.

 

BUT NUMERO UNO

ALI

Without doubt, the GREATEST! And it is only with the passing of time that I realise just how good he was. There may have been boxers with faster hands, or feet or mouth, but not in the one package. Nor in the Heavyweight Division when it actually meant something. I remember seeing a "special" where a computer compared Ali with Gracianno and Rocky won. Well, would have liked to have seen Rocky V Frasier or Norton cause Ali toughed them out after time off. If you can, get a copy of the video/VD "Rumble in the Jungle". Will open your eyes to a true hero.

 

*sitting back and waiting for the criticisms to roll in... and they will*

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The very first movie I played for a paying audience at my current job was When We Were Kings... The story of Muhammed Ali, culminating with "The Rumble in the Jungle".

 

When I was a kid in Grade School, Ali was cool! I grew up in a white middle class neighborhood and school in the '70s but nobody seemed to notice that he was a black man.

 

I think few, if any, of today's sports figures could outclass Ali.

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Jesse Owens for all the reasons everyone ever said good about him.

 

Oscar Robertson for transforming Basketball.

 

Roger Banister for the four minute mile. Track hasn't been the same since.

 

and

 

All those Greek Olympians who started it all.

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Because it's 'your sporting heros' all mine shall be recent as I'm only a whippersnapper. So...

 

Michael Johnson (athletics)

Sheer domination, total professionalism and a nice guy to boot.

 

Steffi Graf (tennis)

Elegance and power combined.

 

Tiger Woods (golf)

Made the game accessible to millions of kids.

 

Martin Johnson (rugby)

A lesson on how to be a leader.

 

Phil Taylor (darts)

Look, I like darts, ok?

 

But the winner...

 

Shane Warne (cricket)

Because it seems that this man can do *anything* with the ball. Despite being English I actually felt distraught for him ending up on the losing side in the Ashes this summer having played as well as he did. Likewise, I was rooting for him to get that maiden ton even though it could have meant curtains for England. And it's those qualities that make him extra special.

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A E J Collins. He was a school boy who played in a cricket match and scored 625 not out. Not long after he died in the trenches during the first world war. What a sad demise for someone who could have been the best ever cricket player.

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You bugger Piotr...you knew Id have to respond to this. I wont argue though. But there can be just one for me.

 

A.P.McCoy .........behold for we will never see his like again. World record holding jockey and still young, and in Steeplechasing.

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SIR TREVOR BROOKING,

 

Fortunately I was lucky enough to see the last couple of seasons he played as i sat atop a bar on the North bank terrace at upton park. A footballer and a gentleman and a virtual rarity in the modern game a 1 club man.

 

For that header to beat Arsenal in the 1980 FA cup final

 

For being a true gentleman and ambassador of my club and country

 

For mentioning West Ham United during every co-comentary he ever did

 

For always sitting on the fence during commentary and most of all

 

For not being Mark Lawrenson

 

 

Honurable mentions in other sports

 

Phil Tufnell for still managing to wind up Ricky Ponting long after you have retired

 

Ronnie Lott for being the greatest saftey ever in American Football and Jerry Rice for making it all look so smooth

 

John Stockton and Karl Malone for the pick and roll, so smooth, so many seasons

 

Sid "Thats the gretest comback since Lazarus" Waddell for being the most entertaining commentator on the planet

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AP MCoy had his front teeth smashed up onto his head and half an hour later rode a winner at Cheltenham two weeks ago, without medical attention. If you have the stretcher in racing you cant ride in the next race. Somehow (hey mods...is it okay for me to argue with other Brits just this once? I know they wont get upset?). You NEVER see a jockey writhing in "agony"...EVER.

Somehow all the efforts and whingeing of footballers pale into insignificance.

 

Fortune and honour favour the brave.

 

AP certainly has a standing ovation among footballers every time he enters a room full of them because they recognise what he does is real sport not theatre.

 

Having said that, yes, mr Brooking is certainly a gentleman.

 

Buy if its a footballer.

There is only one....and thats from a welshman......the great hero.

 

 

"Theres people on the pitch....they think its all over.....IT IS NOW"

 

Hat trick. Germany defeated.

 

 

 

Sir Geoff.

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Sid "Thats the gretest comback since Lazarus" Waddell for being the most entertaining commentator on the planet

 

And for those of you not familiar with Mr Waddell's work, here's a small sample:

 

"Jockey Wilson . . . What an athlete."

 

"Even Hypotenuse would have trouble working out these angles"

 

"Steve Beaton - The adonis of darts, what poise, what elegance - a true roman gladiator with plenty of hair wax."

 

"Bristow reasons . . . Bristow quickens ... Aaah, Bristow."

 

"That was like throwing three pickled onions into a thimble!"

 

"He's about as predictable as a Wasp on speed"

 

"Look at the man go, its like trying to stop a waterbuffalo with pea-shooter"

 

"The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in, with a portion of chips.......you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them"

 

"Big Cliff Lazarenko's idea of exercise is sitting in a room with the windows open taking the lid off something cool and fizzy."

 

"It's like trying to pin down a kangaroo on a trampoline"

 

"Well as giraffes say, you don't get no leaves unless you stick your neck

out"

 

"His eyes are bulging like the belly of a hungry chaffinch"

 

"That's the greatest comeback since Lazarus."

 

"It's the nearest thing to public execution this side of Saudi Arabia."

 

"His physiognomy is that of a weeping Madonna."

 

"He's as cool as a prized marrow!"

 

"Under that heart of stone beat muscles of pure flint."

 

"He looks about as happy as a penguin in a microwave."

 

"The pendulum swinging back and forth like a metronome"

 

"His face is sagging with tension."

 

"The fans now, with their eyes pierced on the dart board."

 

"He's been burning the midnight oil at both ends."

 

"That's like giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank"

 

"As they say at the DHSS, we're getting the full benefit here."

 

"He is as slick as minestrone soup"

 

"There hasn't been this much excitement since the Romans fed the Christians to the Lions."

 

"The players are under so much duress, it's like duressic park out there!"

 

"This lad has more checkouts than Tescos."

 

"John Lowe is striding out like Alexander the Great conquering the Persians"

 

"When I see Steve Davis I see two letters... C S... Cue Sorceror"

 

"By the time of the final on Sunday he should be fit to burst!"

 

"There's only one word for that - magic darts!"

 

"Keith Deller's not just an underdog, he's an underpuppy!"

 

"I don't know what he's had for breakfast but Taylor knocked the Snap,

Crackle and Pop outta Bristow"

 

"If you're round your auntie's tonight, tell her to stop making the cookie's and come thru to the living room and watch these two amazing athletes beat the proverbial house out of each other"

 

"When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer..... Bristow's only 27."

 

"Eat your heart out Harold Pinter, we've got drama with a capital D in

Essex."

 

"If we'd had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they'd have gone home."

 

"He's playing out of his pie crust."

 

"They won't just have to play outta their skin to beat Phil Taylor. They'll have to play outta their essence!"

 

"Darts players are probably a lot fitter than most footballers in overall body strength."

 

"There's no one quicker than these two tungsten tossers...

 

"Look at him as he takes his stance, like he has been sculptured, whereas Bobby George, with his bad back, looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame."

 

"He's playing like Robin Hood in the Nottingham super league"

 

"Phil Taylor's got the consistency of a planet ... and he's in a darts

orbit!"

 

"The atmosphere is a cross between the Munich Beer Festival and the Coliseum when the Christians were on the menu."

 

"Jockey Wilson, he comes from the valleys and he's chuffing like choo-choo train!"

 

"He's like D'Artagnan at the scissor factory."

 

"Steve Beaton, he's not Adonis, he's THE donis"

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Ok Sir Geoff did the Hat-trick but for me he just isnt quite the graetest.

 

I didnt include Sir Geoff, Martin Peters or Bobby Moore in my list purely because i am not old enough to have seen them play. But if I had to rate them then Bobby Moore will always come out on top. The greatest defender in the game bar none as said or words to that effect by Pele. The captain of his country. You must remember that it was Moore's vision to play the fantastic through ball for Hurst to round it all off.

 

Oh and for those out there unaware Martin Peters was also a West Ham player and he scored the other goal. Thus West Ham actually won the world Cup.

 

As much as i respect Sir Geoff, he just doesnt inspire you in the way Bobby did.

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I think the whole team deserve the legendary credit they are given actually. The German team too. It was the world cup final of all.

 

Football has never been quite the same since.

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ToS... and I am supposed to leave that alone???

 

I think the whole team deserve the legendary credit they are given actually. The German team too. It was the world cup final of all.

 

Football has never been quite the same since.

 

Maybe because England has failed to make the Final since?? WEG

 

(okay... soooooooooo in the intervening years, Oz has made a grand total of just one appearence but just you wait 'til June THIS YEAR.}

 

And Bob23.... Am still stunned.... a pom nominating Shane Warne?? HMmm you work for the "gutter press"?? *grin*

 

 

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I cant get my breath. Thats the funniest joke I have ever heard Piotr!!!!!!

 

 

ps Can you explain Aussie rules football Piotr? I understand about washing your hands after the bit with the sheep before you start, but the rest is a mystery to me.

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Well, ToS, we likes to let you poms have you hour in the sun.... I mean, t'is such a rare occurence, ain't it? Sunshine I mean.

 

In England.

 

For a continuous Hour.

 

And as for explaining Aussie Rules... hell man, even the umpires can't get it right.

 

You sure you ain't getting it mixed up with Sheepdog trialing? or Fox hunts?

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Whats the definition of a leisure centre in Merthyr tydfil?

A sheep tied to a lampost.

 

Seriously though......how does aussie rules football work?

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Mr Warne has come a long was since he arrived in England. When he first played for Hampshire, all you could hear was the crowd singing:

 

'One man and his sheep, went to bed with Shane Warne,

One man and his sheep, BAAA!

Went to bed with Shane Warne'

 

He now receives polite applause and the occasional stunned silence as we still can't believe quite how good he is.

 

The Socceroos aren't quite the same prospect though; I get the feeling that, like the Americans, the Aussies don't really take the sport seriously. It's going to be samba time when Ronaldinho faces them (he's one of my latter-day sporting heroes actually. You know all that fancy stuff he does in the Nike adverts? He actually does that in the middle of a game. Incredible. He also supports my theory that all men are equal; born with a face only a mother could love, this is compensated for by his immense talent. The same is true of Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Charlton and ZZ are folically-challenged for their efforts. And so the list goes on...)

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Dennis Keith Lillee

Best fast bowler ever, bar NONE!! To effectively break his back and then come back and acheive the world record (for that time) of 355 test wickets and that excludes World Series Cricket and the Series that brought him to prominence against a World Eleven, D K Lillee still looks like he could send down an unplayable ball if he so desired. Instead, he trains and mentors fast bowlers whenever they request his aid.

 

*sitting back and waiting for the criticisms to roll in... and they will*

 

 

I could BUT I Won't upset our antipodean breathern

 

Bob Willis 8-43

 

Well there goes my Big Toe

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Furelli,

 

One innings does not a legend make.

 

Hm then again... Sarfraz...... at Melbourne..... hmmmmmmmmmmm Nah.. Bob ain't no D K Lillee.... and fortunately neither was Dilley a Lillee

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Furelli,

 

One innings does not a legend make.

 

Hm then again... Sarfraz...... at Melbourne..... hmmmmmmmmmmm Nah.. Bob ain't no D K Lillee.... and fortunately neither was Dilley a Lillee

 

Quite right about Robert but apart from last year I was a wee lad the last time I saw the Aussies best so badley by England

 

& through your Rose tinted spectacles how can D**K Lillee be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of

 

Vanburn Holder

Mike Holding

Andy Roberts

Joel Garner

Malcolm Marshall

Curtley Ambrose

 

let alone be placed above them!!

 

SHAME ON YOU Mr B

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Quite easily.

 

Even they would acknowledge that DK was robbed of his prime due to the broken back. Not to furget the World Series thingy *grin*

 

Oh Ah is approaching his status, but DK is by far the best I have seen. The others all benefited from having an equal partner plus fallbacks. The 70's/80's West Indian attacks were outstanding, but it was as a whole, not as individuals that they will truly be remembered, cause if one failed, there were others to fall back on.

 

Hm Sounds a bit like Warnie, don't it? *grin*

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