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I was watching ESPN the other day while eating lunch. I saw a familiar Sportscenter face standing in front of a green screen. Behind him was Mount Rushmore and, considering my lack of speedy service, I found myself intrigued by the silent man on the flat screen. He wasn’t silent so much as muted. I was sitting next to my girlfriend, and felt the need to show how sports savvy I thought I was. So I spouted out the first four names that came to mind. Then the faces started appearing on the screen.
It took me by surprise that the first two guys were from NY teams, but by the end I was making a scene. The final face they threw up on the screen in place of Lincoln was Joe Namath. My hands went up in protest so quickly that I scattered my newly arrived basket of fries everywhere. That didn’t stop my girlfriend from taking the opportunity to rub in the fact that I only got one player right. I was in a sour mood for the next few days.
That was until I saw another one of the Rushmore segments. Apparently I had missed the fact that each one was about a city. The obvious NY bias appeared to be necessary considering that was the city they were covering that day. My bad.
However, it did get me thinking about the possibilities of an all-time Rushmore. So a few days later, while on a 6 hour road trip up to Raleigh to see one of my best friends, I brought the thought up to the car load of guys. Debate ensued.
We all agreed that there should be a representative from each of the three big American sports. My justification for this being that Rushmore is a pretty American thing: defacing a mountain side… or… facing a mountain side… whatever. Anyways, we excluded soccer from an automatic bid. Thus giving our Rushmore a spot for the face of football, basketball, baseball, and other. The Rock Wall of Fame, if you will.
Football’s candidates: Pop Warner, Vince Lombardi, and Dick Butkus
Baseball’s candidates: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Nolan Ryan
Basketball’s candidates: Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Miscellaneous candidates: Michael Phelps, Muhammad Ali, and Tiger Woods
We argued the hell out of it, screaming and crying about how our guy deserved it over that other bum. (Yes, I called Michael Jordan a bum at one point. So shoot me.) But we finally came to a consensus.
Vince Lombardi- He was the face of the sport in the pre Superbowl years, and even the first few years. He is arguably the greatest coach of his generation and the trophy handed out to the best team in the league every year is named after him. We couldn’t think of one single player that rose to the top of the heap the same way Lombardi does, so we gave him the nod.
Babe Ruth- This one was a little more heated when it came to debating. Some of us felt like the other two guys could compete in today’s game, and others thought that Babe was overrated. In the end we finally decided that considering how important he was to the most recognizable franchise in the sport and the fact that their stadium was once called “The House that Ruth Built” qualified
Michael Jordan- This one hurts. I understand that Jordan is considered by most to be a god, but I simply don’t think enough people give Wilt Chamberlain the respect he deserves. The man held every conceivable record for ages. He scored 100 points in a game, for goodness sake. He completely changed the game… but as a group we decided on Jordan. It’s a good thing this is MY blog, though.
Muhammad Ali- Another highly contested spot on the Wall. Phelps, though an incredible Olympian, was in a distant third on this vote. Self proclaimed greatest boxer ever or the possible greatest golfer ever? We ended up going with the former simply because Tiger hasn’t finished his career yet. Ali was electric, active outside the ring, an incredible lyricist, and the quickest heavyweight the world has ever seen.
I’d love to see what athletes some of you guys that read this stinker would put on your own wall. Let’s hear it.
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