The List: Five most overhyped athletes
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:31 pm
Going into this weekend, I didn't know much about mixed martial arts. After sitting through Saturday night's CBS broadcast of Elite XC, I still don't know a lot about the sport, other than I'm pretty sure Don Zimmer might be able to knock out Kimbo Slice. For a guy who was reputed to be one of the toughest men on earth and had even scored an ESPN The Magazine cover, it must have been disappointing to get knocked down by a half-punch delivered off one foot by a guy nobody had ever heard of. Mr. Slice now joins a long list of the most-hyped athletes to bite the dust. Here's our list of the top five most overhyped athletes ...
1. Tony Mandarich: After a stellar college career at Michigan State, Mandarich made just 47 starts in the NFL and never came close to scratching the surface of the potential he'd shown. Mandarich recently admitted that he'd used steroids in college. Shocking.
2. Sam Bowie: A high school hoops phenom, Bowie was injured throughout his time at the University of Kentucky, but the Portland Trail Blazers still selected him second overall in the 1984 NBA Draft, just ahead of some guy named Michael Jordan. Bowie's leg injuries continued throughout his NBA tenure, while Jordan became arguably the greatest athlete in team sports history.
3. Anna Kournikova: Some might argue the hype was understandable, considering she looks like this in a bikini. Still, though she cracked the top ten in the women's rankings, Anna was never able to win the big one.
4. Butterbean: The other night on ESPN Classic I caught a "Best Of Butterbean" special, which featured a series of fights starring Eric Esch, a boxer shaped like a butterbean who got a lot of attention but never was an actual contender. Recently, he's competed in MMA events -- can someone line up a Kimbo-Butterbean match?
5. Darko Milicic: Drafted ahead of guys like Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, Detroit stuck Darko on the bench before eventually trading him. He's now with the Grizzlies, nearly as anonymous as the franchise.
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/for_t ... osts/11542
1. Tony Mandarich: After a stellar college career at Michigan State, Mandarich made just 47 starts in the NFL and never came close to scratching the surface of the potential he'd shown. Mandarich recently admitted that he'd used steroids in college. Shocking.
2. Sam Bowie: A high school hoops phenom, Bowie was injured throughout his time at the University of Kentucky, but the Portland Trail Blazers still selected him second overall in the 1984 NBA Draft, just ahead of some guy named Michael Jordan. Bowie's leg injuries continued throughout his NBA tenure, while Jordan became arguably the greatest athlete in team sports history.
3. Anna Kournikova: Some might argue the hype was understandable, considering she looks like this in a bikini. Still, though she cracked the top ten in the women's rankings, Anna was never able to win the big one.
4. Butterbean: The other night on ESPN Classic I caught a "Best Of Butterbean" special, which featured a series of fights starring Eric Esch, a boxer shaped like a butterbean who got a lot of attention but never was an actual contender. Recently, he's competed in MMA events -- can someone line up a Kimbo-Butterbean match?
5. Darko Milicic: Drafted ahead of guys like Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, Detroit stuck Darko on the bench before eventually trading him. He's now with the Grizzlies, nearly as anonymous as the franchise.
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/for_t ... osts/11542
