After reading the 2004 Sports Illustrated article “The Pros the Pros would pay to see” Sports Illustrated asked around 600 professional athletes in baseball, football, and basketball which professional athletes they would pay to see. The top 5 athletes chosen were: Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Vick, and Serena Williams. Since this article is 5 years old, the results now would be obviously be a little different, especially with what has been going on and off the field of play lately. Barry Bonds has all the steroid allegations. Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison for dog fighting. These two athletes would most likely be left off this list, if the list were done this year. Shaquille O’Neal probably wouldn’t be on the list anymore with the emergence of all the talented young stars in the NBA such as: Lebron, Kobe, D-Wade, and the new “superman” Dwight Howard.
If there were a new list this year I believe the competition for the top 5 would be pretty interesting. When it comes to the NFL players like Adrian Peterson, Tom Brady, or Payton Manning would definitely be in the mix. In MLB there is Albert Puljols, who would have to be on the list. Tiger Woods would still be up there along with Serena Williams. Saying all this I will let you know what my own personal top 5 would be.
1. Omar Vizquel- My Childhood Idol. The most fun thing I could do would be either hitting ground balls to Omar or turning a double play with him, both of those are dreams of mine.
2. LeBron James- I have seen him plenty of times in High School. It would be an honor to watch him as a pro.
3. Albert Puljols- Hands down the BEST baseball player on the planet.
4. Kobe Bryant- I would love to watch him as he has more of a killer instinct than anyone in sports in my mind.
5. Tiger Woods- I’m not a huge golf fan, but I can appreciate someone wanting to win as much as Tiger Woods does.
This is an interesting list and I can probably agree with it, especially since you include two Cleveland guys at the top. I would still have to include Serena somewhere on that list.
ReplyDeleteLike you my childhood hero was Dan Marino and I would love to catch a pass from him. I did get to see him play one time but really I was to young to understand how great he was.
ReplyDeleteI would also love to see LeBron play sometime soon.