Northern Reflections – The Luckiest Generation of Sports Fans?

It was proposed that I write a blog about my top-10 sports moments, live or televised. Not the top 10, my top 10. As I started listing memorable moments, I ran into a problem: after about five, it started turning into a list of athletes, rather than a list of moments. That got me thinking about some of the athletes I’ve been lucky enough to witness, and it’s a staggering list of talent.

I’m 35. I missed out on Ali and Frazier. I didn’t get to see Bobby Orr and Terry Sawchuk. Or the Steelers of the 70s. Even Dr. J was a bit before my time. But I wouldn’t trade that list of legends for the guys I’ve gotten to watch.

Sport by sport, here’s who I saw (or am seeing) in their prime (in roughly chronological order – I’m not getting into the hassle of ranking these guys). I don’t think this list can be topped by any generation of fandom in the history of sports.

NFL
Quarterbacks
Joe Montana
Dan Marino
John Elway
Jim Kelly
Warren Moon
Steve Young
Troy Aikman
Brett Favre
Kurt Warner
Peyton Manning
Tom Brady

Running Backs
Walter Payton
Bo Jackson
Marcus Allen
Barry Sanders
Emmitt Smith
Thurman Thomas
Terrell Davis
Priest Holmes
Marshall Faulk
LaDainian Tomlinson
Chris Johnson

Wide Receivers
Art Monk
Jerry Rice
Michael Irvin
James Lofton
Chris Carter
Tim Brown
Sterling Sharpe
Andre Reed
Marvin Harrison
Isaac Bruce
Randy Moss
Terrell Owens
Reggie Wayne
Andre Johnson
Larry Fitzgerald
Hines Ward
Wes Welker

Tight Ends
Jay Novacek
Mark Bavaro
Ben Coates
Frank Wychek
Bubba Frank
Shannon Sharpe
Tony Gonzalez
Antonio Gates
Jason Witten
Todd Heap
Alge Crumpler
Dallas Clark

Defense
Howie Long
Reggie White
Ronnie Lott
Lawrence Taylor
Charles Haley
Deion Sanders
Kevin Greene
Junior Seau
Rod Woodson
Bruce Smith
Ray Lewis
John Randle
Michael Strahan
Derrick Thomas
Ed Reed
Champ Bailey
Troy Polamalu
Warren Sapp
Brian Urlacher
Julius Peppers


So yeah, that’s just the NFL, and I know I left a ton of worthy guys off the list, but it’s my list. With the exceptions of pitchers and goalies, I’m not going position-by-position for the other three major sports. I’m just going to list the amazing talent that comes to mind.


NBA
Larry Bird
Robert Parrish
Kevin McHale
Magic Johnson
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
James Worthy
Michael Jordan
Scottie Pippen
Dominique Wilkins
Isaiah Thomas
Clyde Drexler
Charles Barkley
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing
John Starks
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Gary Payton
Shawn Kemp
David Robinson
Tim Duncan
Dennis Rodman
Dikembe Mutombo
Allen Iverson
Shaquille O’Neal
Kobe Bryant
Jason Kidd
Steve Nash
Dirk Nowitski
Kevin Garnett
Paul Pierce
Ray Allen
Dwyane Wade
LeBron James

I know I left most of the current guys off the list, but I don’t follow basketball at all anymore, so I have no idea how good the current crop are.


MLB
Hitters
Cal Ripken Jr.
Tony Gwynn
Mike Schmidt
Rickey Henderson
Kirby Puckett
Eddie Murray
Ryne Sandberg
Ken Griffey Jr.
Mark McGwire
Sammy Sosa
Barry Bonds
Roberto Alomar Jr.
Albert Pujols
Alex Rodriguez
Ichiro Suzuki


Pitchers
Nolan Ryan
Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
Pedro Martinez
Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson
Curt Schilling
Mariano Rivera

I know there are a ton more, and I’m sure I’ll catch hell for forgetting some major names. Like Ozzie Smith. Damn. Just came to me now. Anyway, I was never a huge baseball fan, but that’s still an impressive group of guys.


NHL
Skaters
Wayne Gretzky
Mark Messier
Esa Tikkanen
Mike Bossey
Paul Coffey
Brett Hull
Adam Oates
Cam Neely
Ray Bourque
Mario Lemieux
Jaromir Jagr
Chris Chelios
Steve Yzerman
Sergei Fedorov
Teemu Selanne
Petr Bondra
Joe Sakic
Peter Forsberg
Mike Modano
Brian Leetch
Eric Lindros
Mats Sundin
Scott Niedermayer
Scott Stevens
Jarome Iginla
Zdeno Chara
Danny Alfredsson
Vincent Lecavalier
Martin St. Louis
The Sedin twins
Ilya Kovalchuk
Niklas Lidstrom
Alexander Ovechkin
Sidney Crosby
Steven Stamkos

Goalies
Grant Fuhr
Bill Ranford
Patrick Roy
Eddie Belfour
Martin Brodeur
Dominik Hasek
Mike Richter
Ryan Miller
Henrik Lundqvist
Roberto Luongo

So that’s that. The only other sport I feel the need to mention here is tennis: the Williams sisters on the women’s side, and Agassi/Sampras/Nadal/Federer/Djokovic for the men. (Truth be told, it was Djokovic’s 2011 season that made me shift gears from “moments” to “athletes”. That has to be one of the greatest single seasons in the history of sports.)

As I mentioned, this is my list. These are the guys I watched do amazing things. Some of the inclusions and omissions might seem odd, but these are the guys who awed me. There’s no scientific way to say who the best ever were, which is one of the great things about sports. I can tell you this, though: if I had to win a game, here’s who I want:

Football: Montana
Baseball: Schilling
Basketball: Jordan
Hockey: Gretzky

Clutch counts for a lot in my book.

Finally, just because I can’t justify putting these guys on the real list, but I equally can’t justify not naming them somewhere: Boomer Esiason, John LeClair. My two all-time favourite athletes.

Your turn. Let me know who I left out. Let me know why someone’s inclusion is ludicrous. Most of all, though, try to tell me there was a better 30-year span in the history of sports. I dare you.