Let's do a media survey/poll

[mrbio]

off the top of your head...

Most intelligent athletes you have encountered/interviewed: Tom Glavine. Ivan Ljubicic. Roger Federer. Rafa Nadal. Klitschko. John McEnroe. Vera Zvonareva - she is studying to be a diplomat and is top 5 in the world in tennis. Very well spoken and could be an excellent TV commentator right now, even in English which is her second language.

Coolest: Guillermo Vilas - if you ever get the chance to, interview Vilas. Pacquiao. Wozniacki. Jeter.

Funniest: Andy Van Slyke. He jokingly said his baseball hero was Herman Munster. "Did you ever see him hit a baseball?" lol. Francesca Schiavone also.

Oddest/Most eccentric: Rodman. Mid interview he got up and started brushing his teeth in the washroom at MSG, and turned on the shower, presumably because he didn't want his Spurs teammates to hear his answers to the questions. But a cool guy.
Ricky Williams wore his helmet during our interview, that was odd.

 

[rtse11]

Scariest: Albert Belle. With a bat in his hands.

 

[mrbio]

Most intimidating: Jim Brown but he turned out to be a super nice guy, a lot nicer than you might expect.

Albert Belle lol. Good call. He was a real bad ass with a disdainful attitude for the media.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Strangest: Carl Lewis. Dude is from another planet, which is why he can't run for office in New Jersey.
Nicest: Greg Louganis/Mary Lou Retton.

 

[OrangeGrad]

Funniest I ever dealt with was a pitcher from Purdue, Andy Groves. He loved to tell the story about when he was in Little League and his father, the coach, called him in from the outfield to pitch. Andy took off sprinting toward the mound. As he got close, he slid into the mound. He said his father almost killed him.

 

[rmanfredi]

I wound up playing in a "Media vs. Celebrities" game at halftime of the Anaheim Splash indoor soccer team when I was at the Register - I wound up turning it into a column for the Anaheim weekly because the whole thing was so ridiculous. However, after the match I wound up hanging out in one of the suites with some of the "stars", and by far the coolest was Ivory Sully, the former Rams DB. He was just a very, very cool guy who had some funny stories and was personable as hell.

Vince Ferragamo, the other hand...

 

[Ace]

Most boring: Herschel Walker. He would gladly talk for days and not say anything.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Most boring: Herschel Walker. He would gladly talk for days and not say anything.

You were probably talking to the boring personality.

 

[mrbio]

Good stuff, these are enjoyable to read.

 

[rmanfredi]

P.S. - You don't have my permission to use this for a story.

 

[GBNF]

Nicest: Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Andy Benes, Maurice Jones-Drew, Jake Delhomme
Funniest: Shaq, Nate Robinson, Ron Artest (unintentionally), Nick Swisher, Gus Frerotte
Smoothest: Jeter, Lisa Leslie, Tom Brady
Worst: Andre Ethier, Reggie Bush, Andre Ethier and probably Reggie Bush.

 

[bumpy mcgee]

Heywood Jablome is always a solid quote.

 

[mrbio]

Did I say this was for a story?

No.

 

[ShiptoShore]

Most polite: Vernon Gholston and Tony Richardson (tie)
Most difficult to understand: Zdeno Chara
Tallest: Zdeno Chara
Most coachspeak: College hockey players
Most open and easy going: College lacrosse players

 

[Shaggy]

Nicest: Paul Byrd

Funniest: Vermont coach Tom Brennan; Bob Knight had his moments, too.

Oddest: Charlie Coles (in a good way) or Mike Leach

Frendliest: Bill Self or, believe it or not, Charlie Manuel. Many college baseball players could go here too.

Surliest: Albert Pujols pregame, Augie Garrido after a loss.

Biggest ****: Ben Howland

Most difficult to understand: Tony Pena

Best quote: Honest to god, a high school kid I covered my first year in sportswriting. He was amazing.

Worst quote: I covered college football for a while. Take your pick.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Shaggy's right on Paul Byrd. Archie Manning, former Saints teammate Jim Wilks live in the same neighborhood.

We'll agree to disagree on Bob Knight. He's about as funny as Mussolini on a bender in Boys Town.

Thread starter mrbio is right on Joey Belle.

(Albert? Uh, yeah, whatever dude.)

I'll add this category:

Biggest tool box: Ditka, Mike.

It's a freakin' Home Depot.

Good call, Bumpy McGee.

 

[Shaggy]

Knight did make the monotonous bore of press conferences--particularly in the postseason when there were a lot of them--entertaining at least with his arrogance.

I'll never forget a young kid asking after a win how so and so was motivated to get more rebounds, and Knight deadpanned that the coaching staff unanimously agreed to shoot the player if he failed to grab more boards in that game. The kid wasn't sure if he was serious.

I would never want to deal with him day to day, but his pressers were a relieving dose of humor in an otherwise boring aspect of the job.

 

[Writer33]

Nicest — Sean Elliott

 

[JackReacher]

Nicest -- Jim Larranaga
Classiest -- Jim Larranaga
Most polite -- Jim Larranaga
Most sincere -- Jim Larranaga
Most inspiring -- Jim Larranaga
Best quote -- Jim Larranaga
Most honest -- Jim Larranaga

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Most intelligent: Good call on McEnroe.

Coolest: Chad Johnson. This was pre Ochocinco when he was better liked than he is now. I talked to him for an hour and it seemed like 10 minutes. I asked him about how he goes into every opposing team conference call with a script that barely changes week-to-week and he said, "Yeah, and you guys have been falling for it for about five years."

Funniest: Barkley.

Oddest: Barry Bonds. I got extremely lucky and got Bonds to talk with me for about 10-15 minutes. I was wearing a college World Series T-shirt and he said, "Hey, I played in that." and somehow we started talking about Oddibe McDowell and Dave Magadan. It was very, very strange.

Biggest asshole: Jeff Kent, Hal Mumme, Bill Snyder, Tom Asbury.