Don't count me out!

So I must extend a huge "THANK YOU" to a number of people who expressed their disappointment that I had not posted in some time.  Certainly not a conscious decision and I really appreciate the support.

So the question becomes...after 2 months away-what to write about.  Well, usual advice is to write about what you know.  So to stay within my comfort zone I'm going to go with sports.  And to keep my uniqueness in place-I will offer up a top 11 list to boot.  So with that I offer you my...

Top 11 Most Impactful/influential Athletes

This list is (in my opinion...the only one that counts for the next few minutes!) a compilation of those that-as the title might suggest-had the greatest impacts on their own sport, and beyond.  Please hold all applause until the end.

11.  Muhammed Ali-Boxing.  Hard to put a guy nicknamed "the greatest" at number 11-but hey...it's my list so there. Given the time in which he was coming up-an outspoken African-American was not exactly endearing to the general populace, yet he drew people in from all over.  He also had a tremendous impact outside the boxing ring relating to civil rights and with his outspokeness on the war of the time.  Not to mention he was a winner at every level that he fought: Golden Gloves, Olympics, and professionally.  He truly is 'the champ'.

10.  Mia Hamm-Soccer.  The lone female entry on my list.  A variety of reasons-not the least of which is because I...like a lot of the general public is not as exposed to female athletics as we are to those of men.  But Mia is arguably the greatest woman to ever play the sport and brought an awareness to not just soccer (which is a feat in and of itself in this country) but to WOMAN's soccer and woman's sports in general.

9.  Lawrence Taylor-Football.  Probably the most likely to be argued against on this list.  But realize that he was such an amazing threat that entirely new offenses were created simply to attempt to counter LT coming off that edge.  He is among the all time leaders in sacks and in his first NFL season that stat was not even tracked, so he'd likely be even higher.

8.  Jim Brown-Football.  Not unlike Ali above-Brown was influential beyond the sports world.  Also worth noting that while he is very well known for his success in pro football...it probably wasn't even his best sport.  Also an All-American Lacrosse player at Syracuse, he probably could have excelled at any sport he chose.  He left the game while still easily a dominant force, yet his stats still hold up to this day.  Very active in promoting African-American rights and equality-he has been involved in so much that some likely don't even realize that he is one of the greatest athletes ever.

7.  Wayne Gretzky-Hockey.  Y'all know I'm a huge hockey fan...so hard for me to put him this low.  But nonetheless...statistically he is light years ahead of the rest of the hockey world.  He isn't called 'The Great One' for nothing.  Scoring 1000 points in an NHL career is considered a very significant milestone.  And that is how many points ahead of 2nd place on the all time list Gretzky stands.  But as far as influence-he helped bring about a new-open aired style of play thru the 80's with his dynasty teams in Edmonton.  And then he helped popularize the sport in many non-traditional markets when he was traded to Los Angeles.

6.  Tiger Woods-Golf.  Yes he made some pretty poor choices for a guy that seemed to have it all.  But YOU ALL WATCHED.  And that is why he is on this list.  Even before 'slutty-waitress-gate' when he was still dominating the golf world tourney after tourney...many tuned in to see if he would lose.  If he did perform poorly-he still lead off the news broadcast.  And then when you throw in the marketing that he brought...like nobody in his sport before.

5.  Wilt Chamberlain-Basketball.  Wilt was a dominant human specimen.  He was just a beast.  Safe to say that if they have to change the rules of the game which you play because of you...you deserve to make a list like this.  No less than 4 rules were changed or implemented because of his dominance.  What more does one need to say.  Nothing really...but as for stats...he retired as the all time leading scorer, still the all time leading rebounder and hold multiple other records like say, most points in a game-100.

4.  Jim Thorpe-Everything!  He was an Olympic Gold Medalist (even though it had been taken from him) in the Pentathlon and Decathlon.  He was called after that triumph "the greatest athlete in the world".  He was a tremendous football player and a good baseball player too.  Not mention the fact that he was instrumental in the creation of the American Professional Football Association.  (Now known as a little entity called the NFL-perhaps you've heard of it?)

3.  George Herman "Babe" Ruth-Baseball.  I just like saying his whole name.  The game of baseball changed once Ruth started playing.  Statistically his impact is felt in a measure of how far he was separated from the rest of the field.  For a number of years early in his career, he hit more home runs that entire teams did.  He actually did that a lot.  But his impact was just as important in that he helped revive baseball after the 1919 'Black Sox' scandal and attracted celebrity-like followings.  He was larger than life (literally too...a hefty, overweight guy) in that his physical appearance was that of a normal human...but he was clearly superhuman.

2.  Michael Jordan-Basketball.  There are many 'best' lists that have MJ sitting at the peak looking down on the rest of the sports world.  And as much as I was not a fan at the time-those lists are hard to argue against.  he was nothing short of a Juggernaut on the court.  And according to the commercials...it must be the shoes but I think that we all know that it wasn't just the shoes.  But the shoes were what helped us all 'be like Mike'.  Well, not really...but the marketing machine that was the Nike 'Air' line was tremendous.  You were cool once you owned a pair of 'Air' Jordans.  Nike was a good company before Michael Jordan.  But with him...they became just as strong of a Juggernaut in the sports marketing world as MJ was on the basketball court.

1.  Jackie Robinson-Baseball.  To refer to Jackie Robinson as a 'baseball player' does him and what he accomplished a serious injustice.  Yes he was a tremendous baseball player-but in case you are completely ignorant of his doings-he was also the first 'colored' player to play professional baseball in the major leagues.  (I use that term to reflect his accomplishment being referred to as breaking the 'color' barrier.  Absolutely no derogatory intent at all.)  He forged through countless death threats, hatred from fellow players, and scrutiny of his play that was far greater than that of his white counterparts.  Yet he put all that aside to help make it so that we were able to see a number of the people on this list put upon display the talents that got them on this list in the first place.

So there you have it.  My list.  Now start your arguing and picking.  I can take it.

Thanks as always.

John