The “nice guys” of sports
Posted on August 27th, 2008 – 11:01 AMBy Michael Rand
As Stu noted in the previous thread (and my, my, weren’t we chatty on that one?), Dennis Northcutt is [allegedly] in quite a bit of trouble for [allegedly] being a pretty terrible human being. For discussion, though, is the opposite side of the coin: the “nice guys” of sports. Specifically, those athletes you look at and know absolutely nothing about but still think, “hey, that’s a nice guy right there.” So: Who’s on your list?
(Aside: Recent allegations do not change the fact that Northcutt absolutely dominated a Cleveland Browns training camp practice we attended in 2003, thus causing us to draft him in fantasy that year).
24 Responses to "The “nice guys” of sports"
M&M Boys would definetly be on the list.
KG always seemed nice enough.
Joey Harrington
Mark Madsen
Tony Richardson
Julio Franco
Janel McCarville
Specifically, those athletes you look at and know absolutely nothing about but still think, “hey, that’s a nice guy right there.”
The revelations about the personal life of the late Kirby Puckett has made it more of a “God, he seems like a nice guy, I hope he’s not a dink” equation for me.
That said, I would love to have Ron Gardenhire as a neighbor. I bet he always has beer in the fridge and steaks in the freezer, and will tell you about the time Corey Koskie froze all of David Ortiz’s underwear on that one road trip.
Agreed on the Gardy, Stu. That would be a great bowling team to sub on. Hey, we should come up with a dream… nevermind.
I think Mark Parrish is a nice guy, but seems like a jerk. (Well, he does play ho-ckey.)
very nice link, dead end alley.
Fred McGriff- No one that wears a hat that high on their head can be anything but nice.
Until ‘95, OJ Simpson would have been #1 on my list. I mean, c’mon, who could hate Nordberg?
Nordbert -> Zoidberg -> Harlem Globetrotters. Anyone who plays for the Harlem Globetrotters has to be on this list. But then, they’re not really competing, so maybe they don’t count.
I’ve always been a big Cuddyer fan, I have heard he is a good guy.
I think in order to achieve a “nice guy” title, you have to be at least reasonably cool too. For instance, Jim Thome: pretty much every game he’s in, someone says, “and here you have one of the nicest guys in the game.” But really, could he have gotten there without being cool? Because if you’re nice and a dork, nobody would really want to say that you’re that nice. They’d just say you’re a dork.
so, then Craig Counsill; seems like a nice guy, but not cool. So I guess he’s a dork?
Dikembe Mutombo is the Mother Teresa of professional sports. I would wave the #1 foam finger for him, which coincidentally is the same size as his actual index finger.
I have placed a reminder on my Outlook Calendar to return to this post in 5 years and tally the percentage of athletes mentioned who have been involved with an assault, steroids, terroism, treason, animal porn, or the Yankees.
Craig Counsell = weird stance = dork.
Luis Gonzalez
Paul Shirley
Doug Petersen
Tony Gwynn
JR Rider
Also, living on the left coast rarely has had a negative impact on my ability to participate with the RandBallers. This morning was an exception. By the time I made my way to the blog, the English First post was already burning out of control. Good thing I had nothing to add. 104 posts? Jeez Louise.
Latte: as a New Ulm native, when did they transition you from German to English?
I bet young latte looked cute in a pair of lederhosen.
Speaking of New Ulm, Stu, have you ever done a Hunt Down on Terry Steinbach?
Denard Span is a super nice guy right now, but he may be a douche if he ever gets famous for real; we’ll have to see.
re: Terry Steinbach - he is not very hard to find, as he lives in Corcoran in a gated neighborhood and I am friends with his daughter at the U.
Paul Shirley x100000000. Good call, Latte.
Stu: I escaped my sauerkraut oppressors by relocating to Mankato. They don’t speak English there.
I am friends with his daughter at the U.
At least it’s UofM2010 saying this and not Joker.
Terry’s Steiny-sense would have been tingling…
