I thought they would have had a better career...

Of course, I also expected big careers from Ki-Jana Carter and Ron Dayne, and I thought Peyton Manning would flop.

 

Joe Charboneau says hello, too.

 

Jack Morris.

ERA-Plus of 133 as a 24-year-old, then never topped it again. Ended his career as a slightly above-average compiler/innings eater with an ERA near 4 and a middling ERA-Plus of 105.

 

We're going back a few years here, but it seems the national GOP turned to the right (beginning with Reagan) about the time Thompson could have made some national noise. If memory serves, he was more of a "country club" Republican rather than true-believer/social issues guy.

I'm not trying to argue politics here ... just suggesting why Thompson's career peaked as governor of Illinois.

 

Speaking of Mets guys, the 90s had a bunch of them. Ryan Thompson, who they got from the Blue Jays along with Jeff Kent in the David Cone trade, and plus Alex Ochoa.

Both were considered big-time prospects with all the tools. Thompson hit 20-something homers one year and that was it. Ochoa did nothing with the Mets, then had a journeyman career with a couple of good season afterward.

Then there was Generation K, which was destroyed by injuries. Isringhausen had a great career as a closer after he left New York, but Pulsipher and Wilson did nothing.

 

Poor Sebastian Junger being thrown in! Obviously Perfect Storm became a phenomenon but from artistic perspective, the documentary Restrepo is outstanding and his latest book Tribe was very good.

(Bit off track, but I spoke with @typefitter a few times about whether writers have a shelf life. Deford talked about burning out on lengthy stories in middle age. Dan Jenkins did too. Think about Gay Talese, one of most famous nonfiction writers ever, but the first stories we think about are the ones from the 1960s, even though his career has gone on 50 more years. How many times were Reilly's early SI features thrown back at him in his latter years?)

In my junior college paper I said Derrick Coleman would be best power forward in NBA within two years and that didn't happen, so I guess D.C. is one of my guys. Definitely thought Reggie Bush would be what, say, Adrian Peterson became. As a Twins fan I was all in on David McCarty being the next big thing in the early 1990s. Danny Manning. Solid career, couple of All-Star games, but after that Kansas career I was picturing perennial all-NBA. Injuries obviously played a role there.

 

Just to throw a Molotov cocktail into this barn....

In the music world: The Gaslight Anthem, Ryan Adams, The Strokes, Oasis, Weezer, Wilco, Kings of Leon, Coldplay.

I thought all were well on their way to becoming my favorite band/artist when I heard their early stuff. They ended up with successful runs, but none quite became what I thought they could be.

Frustratingly successful is how I'd classify them. Probably not a coincidence they all were white-guy rock that ran into the de-emphasizing of the guitar in the mid to late 2000s.

 

I know it's stupid to say this about a Hall of Famer and former league MVP, but Eric Lindros.

 

We can put most USC skill position players from this century on this list: Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley, Mike Williams, LenDale White, Marqise Lee, Dwayne Jarrett

 

I thought Reggie Bush might be a more decisive Barry Sanders. Yeah, about that...

 

How many guitar bands have commercial runs that last longer than the run that Oasis, Weezer, Wilco, and KOL had, though?

The Stones? Green Day? Van Halen? Foo Fighters?

Outside of a few exceptions, there's a bit of a shelf life. And Wilco and Ryan Adams were never huge commercial radio successes, even before the de-emphasis of guitar. By the time that happened, they weren't exactly spring chickens any more.