Dynasty Over??? I Think Not ESPN!

So I recently read an article on ESPN's website,http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/columns/story?columnist=bryant_howard&id=4728559, and I was disappointed with all I heard. Has the championship window of opportunity passed for the New England Patriots? I find this extremely hard to believe!

Shouldn't we know by now that a team featuring Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will always have a chance at championship glory?? The nation is in a state of amnesia due to a few minor flops in a season in which the Patriots are still contenders. The defense is struggling, but the offense is very good, granted not as good as it was during the 18-1 season, but no offense will ever be that good, sorry Saints fans'. So if the Patriots make the playoffs, which they will, am I to believe that no one is worrying about them winning it all?? The Saints and Dolphins beat the Pats 2x in a row, this is true, but is it also forgotten that New England was a yard short of beating the undefeated Colts? That yard is looking huge right about now, but it was in fact only a yard...The Patriots make that and we aren't questioning this dynasty anymore are we?

I'm sorry but I don't believe this dynasty is ending or will end anytime soon. Receivers, Defensive players and Coordinators may change, but the Patriots should never be counted out.



Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Sportsman of The Year, Can you say no-brainer?

So Derek Jeter is the Sportsman of the Year... is anyone really surprised? First off it's Derek Friggen Jeter. Secondly this guy had a monster year at the age of 35, while leading his team to their fifth championship under his guidance. Also he just happened to break the record for hits by a Yankee, which is kind of a big deal especially considering the credentials and history involved with being a part of this franchise. He is one of the faces of Major League Baseball and has been ever since he's been in the league. He's got class and swagger without being a loudmouth and without being arrogant, even though he has every right to be considering he does have 5 rings. He is a role model and one of the few players in professional sports that still is "cool" without being a jackass...

Oh and did I forget to mention... he's Derek Friggen Jeter?!

Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Iverson has a Case

I can honestly say I feel bad for Allen Iverson… This guy was an incredible, dynamic, scoring machine with ankle breaking speed and the strength of a lion. Some people don't even realize how short he really was (5' 11"), though this had no affect whatsoever on his stature on the court. According to the media it seems like he has been plummeting over the last few years, I feel lost though because he had one off year in Detroit and now everyone talks of his progressive decline. What?!? What years of A.I. did I miss? I look at his stats from Denver and I’m just not seeing it? He still had quite a bit of juice left in that tank.

Iverson’s Denver Years:
Year Ppg. Asts. Rebs Stls
06’-07’ 28.0 7.2 3.0 2.0
07’-08’ 26.4 7.1 3.0 2.0

I don’t know what you may gather from this information, but I can certainly not see any decline in production that would lead me to believe that this player should retire or take a secondary role. Maybe I’m wrong… but I doubt it. Now this brings us to last year with Detroit. His numbers were dramatically lower, but he did face injury and was never faced with any certainty when it came to job security and this would make anyone play differently. He averaged 17.5 points, 5 assists and 1.5 steals a game which is very low for Allen Iverson standards but still pretty good considering what he was dealing with. No year before that was he ever below 22 points per game! So all of a sudden he’s a no talent hack that doesn’t deserve to be playing or starting on an NBA team? It’s common knowledge that he’s not a team player as well, though everyone he’s ever played with thinks he’s a great teammate ...hmmm that’s interesting. I feel like the media is picking on Allen Iverson, making him the scapegoat for all of Detroit’s problems last year and portraying him as some greedy player that won’t accept his diminishing role in the league. If I were in his shoes and had a track record like he did, I wouldn’t be very accepting of some bench role either. The craziest thing to fathom is the fact that so many teams in this league could use a player of his caliber and very few teams can say that their shooting guard position is a lock. A team like New York or New Jersey could certainly use him, and even a team like the Magic could use him as their starter over players like Vince Carter.

According to recent speculation Iverson may return soon. This would be great for the league that once adored everything he touched. Apparently some of his old coaches have been talking with him, telling him not to retire and now he has begun talking with the 76er’s. Having him back in Philly where his legacy began would be the perfect ending for the career of Allen Iverson. He may not get that championship, but he is still undoubtedly one of the 50 greatest players to play this game and will be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer.
So if there is any team out there looking for an answer, “The Answer” is on the market and ready to be in your starting lineup, NBA GMs are fools!

All-Time NBA Teams

The NBA is by far my favorite professional sports league and although commissioner David Stern is seemingly a tool, its still my sport of choice when all is said and done. That being said, I can admit to the fact that I am an "NBA nerd" and facts and stats go through my mind on a daily basis. During the last occurance of this random NBA thought, I began to consider the greatest players in the sport from a statistical point-of-view, a popularity point-of-view and an athletic point of view and the three lists generated were quite different. To make it easy I created hypothetical lineups as if they were all-star teams and this is what I came up with.


All-Athlete Squad
Pg. Magic Johnson
Sg. Michael Jordan
Sf. Dominique Wilkins
Pf. Karl Malone
C. David Robinson
Bench
1. Lebron James
2. Vince Carter
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Patrick Ewing
6. Dennis Rodman


All-Popularity Team
Pg. Magic Johnson
Sg. Michael Jordan
Sf. Julius Erving
Pf. Larry Bird
C. Shaquille O'Neal
1.Allen Iverson
2.Kobe Bryant
3.Charles Barkely
4.Vince Carter
5.Lebron James
6.Scottie Pippen

All-Stats Team
Pg. Oscar Robertson
Sg. Michael Jordan
Sf. Lebron James
Pf. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Yes I know out of position but had to be a starter
C. Wilt Chamberlin
Bench
1.Karl Malone
2.Larry Bird
3.Magic Johnson
4.Kobe Bryant
5.Allen Iverson
6.Shaquille O'neal

These are my creations for your enjoyment, say what you will about them. If there is anyone I might have forgotten and you have a reason why, let it be heard and reply on my comment section.

A "Growing" Issue for the Magnificent Seven

Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. All seven of these men were sure-fire, no doubt, first ballot Hall-of-Famers, now there is a chance that none of them will make it to Cooperstown. Yes I know, they all are guilty of taking some sort of "performance enhancing" drug, well at least in the minds of the fans that is. Now the question is, do they really deserve all of this persecution? I'm sorry people but I am no longer a part of the steroids crusade.

For a while I was at the same point most are at now about this topic and felt that those who took some sort of substance should in fact be judged and condemned by the baseball world. Now I think differently. Not only has this long and drawn out witch-hunt disappointed me, but it has also made me question what's really the big deal. Now before you get on that high horse of yours and rant about the purity of the sport and how steroids have tainted everything and how these athletes are despicable cheaters, why don't we put this whole incident into some persepective?

First off, most of these players weren't doing anything illegal. They were taking a substance to increase performance, like you or I would take whey protein or creatine or any other muscle building substance, just these substances were given to them by trainers or doctors and were not disallowed by baseball as of 2003. People on the 2003 list were tested in order for Major League Baseball to conclude if there should be testing. These substances were taken by the athletes to get an edge, to play better, to last longer, and to gain more muscle. So like every athlete in the world these players took something to help out, yes it has its side effects and its bad rep, but its just a substance. I've always felt that steroids make you hit better like energy drinks make me test better, sure it helps, but its still my skill on display.

Now you might be saying well these drugs are illegal and people shouldn't take them, and yes I agree with you there, but I do not feel right in condemning these athletes any further, because in all honesty I feel that if I were under that pressure I'd do the same thing. Athletes take many anabolic,"natural", and synthetic materials everyday, and if anything they are taking now becomes illegal in the future, well they are toast. There have been many athletes from the past that have even come forward and said they would have taken them. You can't tell me right now that Babe Ruth wouldn't have taken something to keep himself going if it were around then. We are judging these players wrongly and insensitively. Taking drugs that are illegal is wrong from a legal standpoint, taking a substance to help you perform better in a sport, is just the way of the world. If you play sports and want to make it big in this day and age, not the fuddy-duddy days, then you're going to take performing enhancing substances in some way shape or form, and fans, I only ask you to get over yourself.

One of These Things is not like the Others!

What does it mean to be a hall-of-famer in a professional sport? Does it mean you put up Hall-of-fame worthy numbers? Do you have to be an innovater of your sport? What does it actually take to be considered one of the best ever to play your sport? When I think of players that don't belong, one man comes to mind immediately and I have been saying it for years. Why is Joe Namath in the Hall of Fame? Sure his name is famous, people know who he is, but does he belong?? What if he never called that improbable superbowl win over the Colts? Would he have made it, I think not.

Lets look at strictly stats right now. Some people say Namath was a winner...not true, his overall record as a starting quarterback, 63-63-4, a .500 record? Doesn't look Hall-of-Fame worthy, but ok he must have had some nice stats though right? Once again, not true. He threw for 173 touchdowns in his career, not a horrible amount, but compared to the 220 interceptions he threw, not impressive at all. Does a quarterback that threw more interceptions than TD's deserve to be in the HOF? Just for kicks let me also say that his career passer rating is 65.5 and completion percentage is just 50.1% Hmmm...NFL Fans, still think he belongs?

Let's do some playful comparisons, Drew Bledsoe, a quarterback many have considered average? His record 98-95, TD's 251, yards 44,611 (sorry I forgot to mention Namath didn't even throw for 28,000 yards). Bledsoe also has a career passer rating of 77.1. By Namath's standards, Bledsoe should be a Hall-of-Famer without question, but is he by yours? Jeff George, Tim Couch, and Jeff Garcia all have higher career passer ratings than Namath. Are they Hall-of-Famers? If you believe they are then maybe my argument here is flawed and I apologize for throwing this man under the bus.

If he lost that superbowl, is he a Hall-of-Famer?

Image Courtesy of AllPosters.com

What if the Expos Weren't Struck Out?

Ken Griffey Jr. probably summed up the 1994 season the best when he said " We picked a bad season to have a good year" Nobody felt this pain any worse than the Montreal Expos. Currently at the time of the strike they had the best record in the majors at 74-40 and were on pace for 105 wins, the best record in franchise history and before this they had only made it to the postseason one other time and that was in 1981.

The team was stacked with talent, players like Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Marquis Grissom, Jeff Fassero, were all hitting their primes and playing well. They were 6 games ahead of the Braves and most baseball writers were on the bandwagon picking them to go to the World Series.

But as this blog of mine has clearly shown, things don't always go the way we think they should or the way we hope they will. The final 47 games of the year were cancelled along with the postseason and World Series. The great effort put forth by the Expos was forgotten because nothing became of it. Would this have saved this dying franchise? Would it have given them a fanbase to put them back on the map again? This strike severley dampened the notion to get a new stadium in Montreal and local ownership groups decided not to invest enough for the team to retain its best players.

Some may say that winning a World Series might not have done a whole lot for the already diminishing franchise in Canada, but I think otherwise. Winning does a lot more than you think. With a new stadium and high interest sprung back on the team because of their success, I think it would have only made sense for ownership to have invested in the team and keep the stars. Who knows, Pedro could have been a 3 time NL Cy Young award winner and Moises Alou and Larry Walker would have provided plenty of punch in the lineup. The Expos could still be around today.

Just as another little side note about the 1994 season though this is slightly off topic from the Expos, this season was looking quite astounding for all statistics. People don't normally remember but Matt Williams was actually on pace to top Roger Maris' record of 61 homeruns he had 43 at the time of the strike. Also Tony Gwynn was batting .394 and had a legitimate shot at being the first man since Ted Williams to top an average .400.

Picture Courtesy of Major League Baseball

To have been or not to have been, that is the question...

All this lovely talk about Alex Rodriguez and steroids made me think to myself, what if A-Rod was traded to the Red Sox in 2003 for Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra. To some this may seem like I just made this "what if" up, but in actuality this trade was going to happen and could have if the players union allowed A-rod to take less money which he was willing to do. What would have become of this deal? Alex Rodriguez a Boston Red Sox Shortstop! Yikes... I'm sure any Red Sox fan must cringe at the thought that this could've been.

Now from a straight up stats perspective, which I always like to take in these opinons of mine. Fenway Park would have been a great place for A-Rod and I am quite sure he would have excelled as a regular season batter like he always seems to do. Manny and Nomar on the otherhand would have actually given the Texas Rangers a very large boost to their lineup especially considering in 03' Nomar hit .301 with 28 HRS and 105 RBIs and Manny went .325 with 37 HRS and 104 RBIs. Playing in Texas those stats could have actually seen an increase. The potential for a David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez 3-4 in the lineup would have been just as comparable to the Ramirez, Ortiz duo and the loss of Nomar in 2003 would have been crucial. The Red Sox offense would still be very effective and they would have still made the playoffs.

In the long run though, without Manny and with A-Rod. I don't see the 86 year drought coming to an end. For all the garbage Red Sox fans gave Manny for being himself, he was very clutch and ended up being the first World Series MVP for the Red Sox since 1918. A-Rod would not have been able to replace that kind of production come playoff time.

This trade would have been quite detrimental to Boston, much more than it seemed at the time. Red Sox fans everywhere should thank the players union every chance they get because without them, Boston would still be screaming for the head of Bill Buckner.

Picture Courtesy of the Boston Globe

What if David Tyree Wasn't Helped by Divine Intervention?! HAH!

Ok so this is probably the most biased topic I have spoken about so far, but regardless its interesting to ponder. Snapshot time, the New England Patriots are squaring off against the New York Giants in the Superbowl. New England is 18-0 and having the greatest season ever put together by a team in sports history, New York on the other hand surprised everyone by even making it to the Superbowl. It was David vs Goliath, except this Goliath was on steroids! The Patriots looked unbeatable in every sense and seemed like the team of destiny, but not everything works out the way we want it to. David Tyree, an unknown reciever normally caught fighting for playing time, made quite possibly the greatest catch in superbowl history. It started with a great escape from the blitz by Eli Manning, then the flustered quarterback threw a high pass that Tyree reached for and pulled against his helmet, holding on to for dear life as he hit the ground. This extended the final scoring drive for the Giants when it seemed like the game was going to be all over and shattered all the New England confidence. The Giants went on to win 17-14 in one of the greatest upsets ever.

Now what if Tyree drops this pass? It was 3rd down and woul have brought up an extremely difficult 4th and 5 for the Giants to try to convert. Also the momentum was all on the Patriots side so another stop would have been highly likely. The 14-10 win would have made the Patriots 19-0, the greatest season in sports history would have been completed. No debates about the greatest team in team sports history should even taken place after this win. The total domination in a league chock-full of great talent at the time made the Patriots season look that much more unbelievable. Now though, with this one defeat, the one time they did not bring it all to the table, they go down as just another team. Not winning a championship ruined an otherwise extraordinary season and its very disappointing. Though it did make some 3rd world countries quite happy, with all the 19-0 t-shirts being sent to them. We'll always rememeber the greatest team ever to not win a title.

Picture Courtesy of Newsday

The Greatest Basketball Player of All-Time, a Blazer?

NBA teams can only win a championship if they have a great big-man. This notion used to be widely believed throughout the league without a doubt and teams would always do whatever they could to get a great big-man in order to compete for a title. For the most part this was true though, the great Celtics had Bill Russell, the Lakers had Kareem, the 76er's had Moses Malone, the Blazers had Bill Walton, championships seemed to have a direct correlation to All-star Center. This concept is usually the number one reason most people do not fault the Portland Trailblazers in 1984 for taking Sam Bowie, the big man from Kentucky, second overall in the draft over Michael Jordan. Obviously looking back upon it we can see that it was one of the most incredible missed opportunities in team sports history, but what can you do.

This brings up the question though, what if the Blazers did select Michael Jordan? Where would it have brought their franchise and would he have had as much success?

Well first of all drafting him wouldn't really have made the most sense, since in the 83'-84' season Portland was already grooming a rookie shooting guard/forward by the name of Clyde Drexler. If anything the drafting of Jordan could have very likely pushed back the development of Drexler more than anything. The starting shooting guard, Jim Paxson was a 20 point scorer and could play small forward. Also Michael Jordan was a much more capable and productive rookie than Drexler and would have pushed back his playing time. Though the common fan might drool over the thought of a Jordan, Drexler combination on the floor for the Blazers during the late 80's and early 90's, it was much more likely that Drexler would have been traded for a big man. Jordan would have basically been in the same type of situation he was in throughout his career in Chicago, though he would not have had Scottie Pippen.

So Jordan with the Blazers... 6 championships? 5 MVP awards? 10 Scoring titles? The championship total would have been likely to drop, though the MVP years and Scoring titles would have probably gone up since he would have been asked to do a lot more without the presence of another top 50 NBA player. I'm a statistics junkie as you may noticed through my other posts, so for Jordan could not resist playing some what could have been. I came up with a 33.2 ppg, 5.6 asts, 6.2 rbds, for his career. Number player of all-time still, oh yes...

Image Courtesy of NBA.com

Enough of the Basketball Already! What If Major League Baseball continued to look away?

In 1998, 2 men single-handedly brought extreme popularity back to baseball. The Major Leagues were losing in their struggle against the NFL in popularity and were even in jeopardy of falling behind the NBA. That's when two brave men went on to have one of the most epic battles in sports history. Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa, from the St.Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs respectively, made history. They started a campaign of monstrous homeruns that brought the baseball world to its feet. Night after night baseball fans across the country cheered on these two goliaths as they jacked baseballs out of the park like they were tennis balls and now these 2 men that brought so much joy during those seasons have been scrutinized and slammed for taking steroids and human growth hormones that apparently "loaded" their stats. Besides the fact that I don't agree with all of this scrutiny, which is a topic for blogging all in itself, I ponder the question, what if Major League Baseball never did anything about steroids and continued to turn the other cheek?

Would their be any question at all whether Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Mark Mcgwire or Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. They would all of been first ballot HoFer's without hesitation before the steroid allegations.(It's also important to remember that at the time the substances were not illegal,but thats besides the point as well...) The case for Bonds being the greatest player to ever play game would also be hard to ever oppose.

What would baseball be looking like right now, a professional sport ravaged and tainted by drug use? Or is that not what it already is? When Sosa and Mcgwire were cranking dingers left and right, where were these allegations? It seems the human way though, to cheer for heros when we need them, then immediately jump on any flaws they may have when we're done with them. Sadly we won't know what would have happened if we just looked the other direction, now congress has made it a big deal, the MLB has made it a bigger deal, but its not going anywhere, athletes will always try to make themselves better by whatever means necessary and if asked to vote today, I would vote in Sosa, Mcgwire, Bonds and Palmeiro. Especially Sosa and Mcgwire, I was one of the young baseball fans screaming out " Go Slammin' Sammy" and I still cheer for that man today. We're all human, and maybe just maybe if congress worried about more important things we'd all be better off.

Thank You Danny Ainge...

It's June 2007, the Boston Celtics just completed a horrid season with a record of 24-58. This gives them the second worst record in the NBA and a great chance at getting either the number one or two pick in the draft. Celtics fans are in desperate need of another superstar to make Paul Pierce stay and with both of the top 2 picks looking like sure-fire studs, Celtics Nation gets excited once again, but then the unimaginable happens, though the Celtics had a great probability of getting a high pick, the odds go against them and they end up with the number 5 pick... once again the curse of Len Bias strikes, thrusting a dagger into the hearts of those who bleed green. This 5th pick could not do anything to immediately help the drowning franchise and Paul Pierce would have surely wanted out. At this point though Danny Ainge made a bunch of moves that sent Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston and led to the creation of an instant powerhouse. 66 wins later the Celtics win banner 17 and order is restored in the NBA.

But what if everything went like it was expected too? Finishing with the second worst record in the league, usually gets you the 2nd pick in the draft. For the Celtics this would have been Kevin Durant out of the University of Texas. The lineup hypothetically would have looked like this: West,Durant,Pierce,Jefferson,Perkins. Which on paper isn't really all that bad. Durant ends up being a 20 point scorer and takes some of the load off of Pierce and Jefferson is able to come into his own after averaging a double-double all of last season. Though this team would not have been an immediate contender the potential would have been incredible. This team could have very well finished with 41-50 wins and made the playoffs.

Where would this have left the rest of the league? Well at the time of the draft, Kevin Garnett was likely going to be moved to another Western conference team and it was looking like he would go to either LA or Phoenix. Due to Kobe Bryant's intense requests, LA likely would have been the most probable spot and Garnett and Bryant would be teammates instead of Gasol and Bryant. This combination would have undoubtedly put the Lakers in position for a 15th championship and LA would have had a dynamic duo for several years to come.

Poor Ray Allen would've just been in Oklahoma City rotting away as another all-time great, without a ring...

Isn't it wonderful how things worked out instead?

Jordan, Kukoc, Harper, Longley, Kemp?? The Trade That Could Have Been...

In 1994 the NBA looked very strange. The game had lost a very familiar face in superstar Michael Jordan and this meant one thing for the rest of the league, time for a new champion. The Chicago Bulls had won the last three championships and before "Air" Jordan's retirement they looked fully capable of continuing their winning ways throughout the greater part of the decade.

Jordan did retire though and the Bulls would become ordinary. They still had some very good players, but they were unsure if the pieces would be able to lead to another championship without Jordan as the anchor.

A trade was proposed during the off-season of 1994. A trade that would have dramatically changed the way the Bulls played and could have severly affected their chances of winning the 3 more championships from 96'-98' when Jordan came back. The Seattle Supersonics were looking to add a superstar and at the time were having some contractual issues with their own star so a possible swap was in order. The Supersonics wanted to trade Shawn Kemp for Scottie Pippen. The deal was done in principle, but the Seattle General Manager backed out at the last moment.

If this deal had gone through, things would have been extremely different for the Bulls when Jordan came back. Pippen, one of the NBA's fifty greatest players, might have been the piece that pushed Seattle over the edge. Considering Seattle did make the NBA finals in 1996, though they did lose to the Bulls. How far would the Bulls have gone without the Pippen and Jordan combo. 72 wins would have been highly unlikely. Kemp was a good player in his prime, but was never the player Scottie Pippen was. That being said, Toni Kukoc would have become a starter instead of the 6th man and the lineup of Harper,Jordan,Kukoc, Kemp and Longley would have been very high scoring.

The concept of Pippen not with the Bulls is unfathomable and Shawn Kemp playing alongside Jordan would have been very interesting. Obviously this deal could have changed a lot in both franchises futures, but luckily it never went through and the Bulls went on the have the greatest season in NBA history

The Greatest Athlete Ever? What Could Have Been for Bo Jackson...

In order to be a professional athlete it takes work, dedication and an extraordinary amount of talent. You must be willing to give every ounce of strength in order to excel and push your body to the next tier of performance. It takes relentless hours of practicing that one sport and becoming a master of it. In one very interesting and particular case, one man mastered two sports in a way that no one else has ever done. His name was Bo Jackson, and he was one of the most gifted athletes to ever step on a baseball field or a football field. You may ask yourself, why a person that incredible is not as well known as he should be and the sad answer is...injury.

His credentials before his career altering injury, A Heisman Trophy, a Pro Bowl Selection and an MLB All-Star Selection. He was selected as the first overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft and drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round of the MLB amateur draft. He holds the record for most yards recorded during a Monday Night Football game with 221 in 1987 and was the MLB All-Star game MVP in 1989.

During his best year as an NFL player he rushed for 698 yards on 125 carries averaging an incredible 5.6 yards per carry in only 10 games and as a backup.

During his best year as a MLB player he finished 1oth in the MVP voting and hit 32 homeruns with 105 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He was 26 and wasn't even being as utilized as much as he could have been due to his dueling careers.

Now hypothetically, taking an in-depth look at Bo Jackson before the injury that ended his career in 1990 as a football player and 1993 as a baseball player I have come up with a view on what could have been. In the NFL he was just beginning to bloom as a star, he was taken down in the prime of his career and was averaging over 5 yards per carry, just to put that in perspective a little, Barry Sanders averaged 5.0 and Emmit Smith, 4.2. If he had just stayed on pace with his minimalist numbers he could have reached 14,000 yards very easily, but based on his style of play it would have been much more likely for him to have reached 16,000. Ending his career with total like that, would have made him a Hall of Fame player without a doubt.

In the Major Leagues he was not known for his batting average, but for his speed and power. He wasn't utilized in the ways he could have been due to his two-sport career, but he was on pace for Hall of Famer numbers as a baseball player too! Before his injury he was averaging 33 homeruns and 100 RBIs per 162 games. Of course this is all hypothetical, but a career like that would have led to about 400+ homeruns, 400+ steals and about 1350 RBIs. And that would have been only as a part-timer considering he never played more than 125 games.

All in all it’s a tragedy that one of the greatest athletes to ever participate in professional sports was never able to complete the career that could have been the most incredible thing any one had ever seen. Unimaginable things happen, leading us to only ponder... what could have been for Mr. Bo Jackson.