Who you have been wrong about?

In watching one game I made 2 big predictions, it was in Tokyo an odd sked'd game the same weekend of the Heisman vote. I was working for ESPN. The game in question was OSU vs. Texas Tech, like 52-49.

Right...

Barry Sanders went wild. I saw it up close. Freaky. Made Reggie Bush's HS clips look like pop warner football. Guy was unbelievable....rushed for 100+ and receptions for 200+ and returns for 100+ (and most of his receptions were dump offs that could have been called handoffs)...he won the Heisman 12 hours earlier in NY, and this game was played Sunday morning Tokyo (broadcast late Sat. in US). The guy went out out and put on a show. It was crazy. He was untackable. If not for early retirement, the greatest ball carrier in NFL history. It was an honor to watch him that day in Japan. I think the Japanese crowd thought it was flag football as nobody could touch him. I thought, "best football player I ever saw."

Same game...WRONG

To score said approximate points, Texas Tech had Billy Jo Tolliver. What a name, what a deep ball. Barry Sanders would score and Tolliver would then drop back and toss deep.Probaby tossed for 500 yards that game. I think later in his first NFL action, some announcer said something like, "you possibly watching the start of an NFL HOF career" (meanwhile the guy on the Falcon bench that year, named Farve, would be the guy). And I agreed with the annoncer at the time. Man, he was lights out that day in Tokyo. I guess I was wrong about him.

 

Tolliver was on the local sports talker the other week during the Strahan-ESPN dustup. He went on like a 3-minute diatribe about the evils of women in the locker room. If you listened carefully, you could make out the sound of Cadet (justifiably) loading a deer rifle.

 

1A. Steve Stipanovich
1B. Eric Chenowith [ducking for inevitable, and deserved, ridicule]

2. Mateen Cleaves
3. Rod Grizzard

But what do I know about professional hoops?

 

What do you expect from a guy named Billy Joe?

Is he related to Bob Knepper? Or Dave Kingman?

 

I saw him play his last triple-A game before his first call up by the A's way back when, thought he was destined for greatness. Not so much.

 

Hey now, don't be too hard on Billy Joe, he won me a Super Bowl title in Madden once when I pulled him off the scrap heap after all three QB's on my roster got hurt.

 

Top 10 what, Australians?

 

Hell, I once thought Bob Tway would be one of the world's top players.

 

Hey, me too!! He came in for one play of one game and threw a bomb for a touchdown right before half. Nothing else. Ever.

He was dumb as a brick though. The TE called audibles for him. He was a great, great athlete though. Saw him butt heads with McNabb in the '97 Fiesta Bowl, and Bishop played way better. I thought he was a better running QB than Vick in college, and thought he would prove it in the NFL too, but wow, was I wrong there.

The clues were there. I just missed them. Somehow, I just thought being a total badass meant you didn't need a brain to be an NFL QB.

I never thought Eddie Kennison would do a damn thing in KC, but he's been a lot better than I expected.

I thought the Chiefs would have been smart to trade Larry Johnson for a bag of balls (to my credit, I think if someone had offered a bag of balls, they'd have jumped all over it).

I thought Zach Grienke would probably be named King of America by now.

I thought Sammy Sosa was a really nice, cool cat, while Mac was a big drugged-out a-hole ... ok, I was half wrong.

I thought (until two weeks ago) Jake Plummer was the answer.

I thought Chad May (from K-State, early 90s) was going to rule the NFL (my favorite story: He went up to a guy at the Senior Bowl or something, and said "Hey, have you ever touched a million dollars? Go ahead, feel my arm")

I thought Barry Sanders would set the rushing record.

Whew. It feels good to get that all off my chest.

 

I second on Larry Johnson -- I thought he was slow as can be coming out of Penn State and would be out of the league at this point.

On the other end, I thought the Redskins built a dynasty after drafting Desmond Howard, saw Erik Barkley in high school and thought he'd be one of the best point guards in college history and also believed that Marat Safin would be at Federer's level right now after he beat Sampras in the US Open.

 

Sirs, Madames,

I thought Alexei Morozov would be a huge NHL player (compared favorably with Iginla who was a year older at the world jrs). He coulda/shoulda been Malkinesque.

I was Leaf ahead of Manning. Admitted. A buddy who was a Div 3 QB and a good CFL player vouched for it.

Walter Berry is a classic in the category. Ye olde LSU Chris Jackson same deal, less extreme.

Re Bryan Berard ... I'd say he was one of the most physically talented juniors I ever saw (he busted up a CHL skills competition after not skating for two or three weeks and working out at neighbourhood watering holes), but he didn't have much hockey sense. A bit dopey.

I thought Em Smith would be a run-of-the-mill pro.

YHS, etc

 

OK, I'll come clean. I was one of the Colts fans who booed at the selection of Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams.