another sports list

Tonight on ESPN classic they had the most overrated players/events/awards/moments of the last twenty five years. They listed 20.

Anna Kournikova was #1 on the list. Having never won a professional tennis tournament with all of the hoopla surrounding her, that is a pretty safe pick, I guess. I don't particularly like it because I think the winner has to come from a more major sport than women's tennis. And sticking Keyshaun Johnson up high - I think he was #3 - was nice.

Bill Buckner's error was on the list, but it should have been higher. People talk about Buckner's error as if it cost the Sox the Series in '86. But the game was already tied. The play was likely to be a hit anyway as the pitcher was slow covering first, and so best case scenario for the Red Sox is that there are runners on first and third, two down, game tied 5-5. Maybe they win that game, but they are underdogs at that moment already.

But what stunned me the most was the two NBA players that I think should have led the list. Where art thou, Shaq and KG?

Garnett signed the contract that changed the entire rules of basketball contracts. The owners and the players agreed his contract was simply ridiculous. And what has he done to justify this all-time silly contract? One trip out of the first round of the play-offs? They missed the play-offs this season when he was healthy enough to play? I mean, in football, success on virtually every play requires coordination of every player. In baseball, you only get to grab a bat every ninth time, or take the ball every fifth day, or just in the ninth inning. But in the NBA, you can take 40% of the shots. There is no excuse but one for the team missing the play-offs with a player of his profile - he simply doesn't have the advertised talent. Period. The end. Throw in the fact that he is a god-awful teammate, has broken a teammate's nose in practice with a cheap shot, has run any number of good players out of town. How can you have any list of overrated athletes that doesn't have him right at the top?

Shaq is supposedly the greatest player ever. The most dominating force in the history of the league. How many nicknames has he given himself?

Now, he has been good. A no-brainer first ballot hall of famer. But he is nowhere close to as good as what the media has crowned him. The three titles are nice - but does he win a championship without Phil or Kobe? The Spurs made them look silly bad in 1999 before Phil arrived. Granted, that was before Kobe hit his prime. His teams have been swept out of the play-offs by Indiana, Houston, Chicago, and San Antonio. He has one MVP award, and he has never been jobbed out of getting one he deserved. (Say what you will about Steve Nash last year, but going into the season, most experts had Phoenix out of the playoffs again or a marginal team at best, and they finished with the best record in all of the NBA. Every player on the team had a career year, and that can be traced to D'Antoni's system and Nash's playmaking.) Jordan won however many MVP's and should have won awards that went to Barkley and Malone.

And yet people still think of him in the same breath as the titans who have played the game. He is nowhere close to the legacy of Jordan, Russell, Chamberlain, Magic, Bird, and yes, I am throwing in Duncan. (How many HOF caliber players have won an NBA championship, had all other 11 players on the team change, and won another NBA championship? Two. Russell and Duncan.)

Surely we can place these two on the list somewhere. I mean, if you have room for Nomar and the Ryder Cup, Mike Holmgren and Mike Keenan (huh?), surely you have room for the Big Ticket and the Big Aristotle.