Most deserving athletes

[OldRightHander]

The other day on ESPN radio there was a discussion of which teams most deserve a championship and that got me to thinking about which athletes are most deserving of a championship. I'm not talking about teams here, but about individual athletes that you would like see get a championship. Who are those, whatever the sport, who have not won one yet but you think deserve to win one? Here's my list. There might be some hometown bias with at least a couple of my selections.

1. Willie Anderson: Loyalty and long suffering should be rewarded. He is one of those hard working athletes that you never seem to hear anything negative about. Plus he's never running his mouth. I respect that about him, as well as the fact that he was here through all of the bad years when he could have gone to a winning team earlier.

2. Griffey: It would be a nice ending to a HOF career, but I don't know what his odds are of getting one here.

3. Brian Grant: Just personal reasons here. I knew him growing up and played ball with him briefly. I've always pulled for him ever since the start of his NBA career, even though I don't care much for the NBA as a whole.

4. Peyton Manning: Will he be the Dan Marino of our generation?

Ok, there are a few others that come to mind, but dispatch just called me with another run, so I've got to go. Who else comes to mind and what are your reasons?

[vaticanplum]

I always felt that way about Cal Ripken and Don Mattingly. Little late for those though.

[Chip R]

I always felt that way about Cal Ripken and Don Mattingly. Little late for those though.

You shouldn't feel bad about Cal cause the O's won it in 1983 with him on the team.

[vaticanplum]

You shouldn't feel bad about Cal cause the O's won it in 1983 with him on the team.

Oh, whoops. That was before my time (The first WS I remember is 1986.)

My memories of him are more 1997-ish. You knew he was near the end, and they came close, and then...

Dang, to state the obvious, that dude was around a long time.

[Chip R]

Oh, whoops. That was before my time (The first WS I remember is 1986.)

Ouch.

My memories of him are more 1997-ish. You knew he was near the end, and they came close, and then...

Dang, to state the obvious, that dude was around a long time.

Indeed. Were you rooting for the Os over your precious Yankees?

[vaticanplum]

Indeed. Were you rooting for the Os over your precious Yankees?

I was not a Yankees fan then. I was rooting for the Os because of my one true love, Eric Davis.

[dougdirt]

My list has to go something like this:

1. Ken Griffey Jr
2. Peyton Manning (in a few years after the Bengals have taken 4 straight and just take the year off to make it fair for everyone else)
3. Bob Huggins....not an athlete, but he had the team to do it when Kenyon Martin broke his leg. He probably wont get one at K-State, but he deserves one.

I would say Willie Anderson, but I have faith that he will get his sometime in the next few years.

[justincredible]

1. Ken Griffey Jr
2. Curtis Martin

[WMR]

1. KGJ.

I wish no one would win any of the sports championships if they weren't being won by my teams. (Bengals, Reds, UK bball)

Like Peyton? Sort of like Marino in my mind. I never wanted Marino to win one. It's like, you got enough, buddy. Same with Peyton. If he deserves it, he'll win the big one, but I'm sure not going to root for him or think he 'deserves' it.

[BuckWoody]

Junior would top my list as well...what with me being a giant homer and all. I'd also like to add Brian Simmons to the list alongside Willie Anderson; same story, same reasons.

My non-homer picks would be Biggio and Bagwell. I've always liked those guys. I wouldn't mind seeing Peyton Manning win one after the Bengals reel off a few in a row.

[SeeinRed]

I'll throw a little Nascar your way. Yes Nascar is a sport until proven otherwise. Mark Martin deserves one. He has been a great driver for years, and I would have loved to see him win the first one for Roush Racing, but that can't happen now. Mark is an extremely nice guy with a great career behind him. He lacks only one thing. A championship. There is the one year he should have one, not sure which off the top of my head, but he was penalized 25 points on a very questionable decision by Nascar. He ended up losing the Championship to Earnhardt Sr. by less than that margin. Yeah, I'm a little bitter about that.

Griffey is definately up there along with Anderson and Simmons. I like Huggins, but winning a championship in the NCAA is not like it is in professional sports. A lot of great coaches go without winning one in the NCAA. The run he had at UC should staisfy him enough. Biggio, Bagwell are also up there.

[Blimpie]

Baseball
Ken Griffey, Jr
Jeff Bagwell

Basketball
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Charles Barkley

Football
Dan Marino
Willie Anderson

[vaticanplum]

Oh! Michelle Kwan!

[Rojo]

Julio Franco

[Caveat Emperor]

I think you'd have to go with Jim Kelly. All the man did was make it to the championship game in 4 consecutive seasons, each time coming up just a little short at the end.

To get that close that many times but never win the big one? Man, that's gotta gnaw away at you for the rest of your life. Especially for a player as gifted as he was.