Which Athlete Broke Your Heart?

We were running late getting our fantasy draft done that year, and we wound up doing it that day, the first day of the season. Finished up right before the first games started, beers all around, and then the biggest dick in our newsroom starting crowing long and loud about taking Cunningham with the first overall pick, and how his team was gonna shred everyone else's team all season long, yada yada yada ...

Only a few minutes later, Cunningham's knee was shredded instead, the newsroom dick was wailing, and we were laughing our asses off.

I loved Randall Cunningham, and that was a sad day for his career, but man we still laugh about how that draft pick blew up right away.

 

Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. He gambled just like every player in the earliest days. Just put it on the plaque. Do the same with Joe Jackson.

Armstrong won on a level playing field. Of course he was doping, just like everyone else anywhere near the front of the peloton. LeMond and Indurain doped, too. LeMond is full of shit, and the Spanish don't care.
The only memento I really have from my days as a newspaper man is I have a picture of me interviewing Armstrong hanging on the wall here at the house.

 

Disagree on Rose. He got into professional baseball long after the Black Sox scandal. From the day he walked into his first minor league clubhouse and probably before, he knew that the big leagues didn't want players involved in gambling of any kind, and that the single biggest high holy rule of MLB was not to gamble on baseball. He not only did that, he bet on his own team when he was a manager and controlled the lineup.

Fuck Pete Rose. He'd be my entry in this thread. I hated the sumbitch because he was so damn consistently good. He beat teams I was pulling for too many times. He was one of the best baseball players I ever saw. I admired and respected his skills and the way he played the game. He poured all that down a rathole. I hope he dies with his nose still pressed against the glass outside of Cooperstown.

 

It didn't quite break my heart because I have long ago stopped being a fanboy but finding out Bobby Orr supported Trump was very disappointing. He was my favourite hockey player growing up and actually interviewed him a few years ago when I was still in the business.

 

David Duval.

 

Mid-80s Dodgers was just Tom Niedenfuer just giving up fat assed home runs at horrible times.

 

Clark's wasn't even the first walkoff Niedenfuer gave up in the '85 NLCS.

Moments after the graphic said Ozzie Smith had never hit a left-handed homer ...

 

Jordan taking two prime years away.

 

Tyson losing his edge too soon.

Don King for ruining boxing… and whomever else had a hand in it.

Whoever destroyed Sportscenter.

 

He and the team also squandered a ton of goodwill when they severely overmarketed his return. “He’s Back, Scrambling!” was on shirts, hats, billboards, everywhere. It was straight out of Spaceballs.

And, I’ll never forget Randall, The Candy Bar, complete with “scrambled” peanuts:

 

I first thought of LeBron when he took his talents to South Beach, but when Modell moved the Browns in 95 it really made me realize how unimportant sports was. I'll watch but I really don't care about the outcome, except for my Division III alma mater.

 

Aaron Boone