TMQ smears Walter Payton

I've never bought the whole two-sport argument when touting an athlete. Hell, Danny Ainge played two sports professionally.

 

Brown lettered in basketball at SU as well.

He changed the fucking rules of lax. They had to change the game because he so damn good at it.

Jim Brown. Burt Sugar convinced me years ago.

 

Jim Brown was the greatest running back of all time. It's not debatable except by children. Walter Payton was one of the 10 best football players ever, which is pretty freakin good in my opinion. The idea that Brown was less of a player because he retired in his prime is incomprehensible.
5.2 yards a carry for his career. That's the number that counts in this discussion.

 

Danny Ainge was never anything more than a hack third baseman. A borderline basketball all-star.

Bo had Hall of Fame caliber talent in both sports, and if it wasn't for that damn hip injury, he'd already be in Canton and be wrapping up a HOF baseball career as a DH. He'd probably have 650 home runs by now, at least.

 

Is Koufax the greatest pitcher of all-time?

Just for arguement...

1 - Number of games won by Walter as the starting qb. Imfuckingpressive.

 

Ummm ... no.

1987 24 KCR AL 116 396 46 93 17 2 22 53 10 4 30 158 .235 .296 .455 94 180 1 2 0 5 3
1988 25 KCR AL 124 439 63 108 16 4 25 68 27 6 25 146 .246 .287 .472 108 207 1 2 6 1 6
1989 26 KCR AL 135 515 86 132 15 6 32 105 26 9 39 172 .256 .310 .495 124 255 0 4 8 3 10 MVP-10,AS
1990 27 KCR AL 111 405 74 110 16 1 28 78 15 9 44 128 .272 .342 .523 142 212 0 5 2 2 10

He never hit higher than .272 and never hit more than 32 homers. He was 27 in his last full major-league season. How much better was he going to get?

 

If he juiced like Bonds/Sosa/McGwire and the rest of them, plenty.

 

True, he wouldn't have come close to 650 home runs.

But. . .

His average, slugging and OBP increased sizeably in each of his first four seasons. Home runs per game played increased in each season as well.

Hit 28 jacks in just 111 games his last full season.

And keep in mind that 30 home runs then is what 40 home runs is today.

 

He'd still be playing today.

In his first four seasons, Bo had 107 home runs.

He'd likely have been an effective hitter at least until 40. Say he averaged 30 home runs per season for 13 seasons (1991-2003), that's 390 -- add that to the aforementioned 107, and that'd put him at about 500.

With three or four more good years (he's 44 now) and some extra pop in the bat, 650 would not be far off.

My point remains: He had Hall of Fame caliber talent.

 

Brown never had a problem with Payton breaking his record. He did have a problem with Harris, who was just hanging on in 1984. Brown also took a swipe at him for running out of bounds to avoid contact too much.

In fact, Brown even hinted at making a comeback to retake the record if Harris broke it. Supposedly, he was in talks with the Raiders. I think there was even a picture somewhere of him in a Raiders uniform, though I'm not sure if he was ever serious about it.

I hope Brown sees this and sets the record straight.

 

Would Bo also be leaping tall buildings?

 

Franco Harris was ahead of his time in running out of bounds. John Madden was actually first football person to criticise Harris style.

In today's game going down after first hit is preferred. Thinking is that players risk injury and fumbles when they try to get that extra 2 yards on every run.

Even John Madden now subscribes to this way of thinking. A few Monday's ago he talked about his paradigm shift in depth.