With inspiration from the inaugural class and all the conjecture surrounding "iffy" Hall of Fame prospects, this list is the second induction to my personal "Hall of Famous".
One Half: lame excuse to start sports banter and discussion, One Half: Reason to make red links that I can tempt others (and occaionally myself) to change to blue links, One Third: personal log of my who I think are the best athletes in sports history and 9/10ths reason to make odd and unique labels that will help draw a broad range of traffic to AGM...
Introducing the Class of 2008!
Manny Stiles' Hall of Famous comes bi-annually in waves of approximately 100 inductees at a time. This class is a little heavier in the "other" department, but that's how it goes sometimes...
The rules are simple: You had to be better than VERY, VERY, VERY good. You have to be All-Time Great Good... DOMINANT in your sport or ridiculously famous for your talents... if I missed you, my bad! (I might make a few additions as long as the argument is REAL compelling) Otherwise, wait until 2010...
So the unveiling of the second class of 2008, The next 100 inductees are... (all listed in alphabetical order by sport)
Manny Stiles' Hall of Famous Class of 2008
Baseball
- Hank Aaron
- Pete Alexander
- Hiram Bithorn
- Steve Carlton
- Roger Clemens
- Martin Dihigo
- Joe DiMaggio
- Bob Feller
- Jimmie Foxx
- Josh Gibson
- Randy Johnson
- Mickey Mantle
- Sadaharu Oh
- Frank Robinson
- Honus Wagner
Basketball
- Rick Barry
- Bob Cousy
- George Gervin
- Moses Malone
- Hakeem Olajuwon
- Shaquille O'Neal
- Bob Pettit
- John Stockton
Football
- Marcus Allen
- Dick Butkus
- Earl Campbell
- Eric Dickerson
- Tony Dorsett
- Ray Guy
- Deacon Jones
- Dick Lane
- Ronnie Lott
- Peyton Manning
- Bruce Matthews
- Anthony Munoz
- Mike Singletary
- Lawrence Taylor
Hockey
- Martin Brodeur
- Paul Coffey
- Marcel Dionne
- Phil Esposito
- Dominik Hasek
- Guy LaFleur
- Mark Messier
- Patrick Roy
- Terry Sawchuk
- Eddie Shore
Olympics (Summer)
- Roger Bannister
- Dick Fosbury
- Michael Johnson
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
- Edwin Moses
- Al Oerter
Olympics (winter)
- Bjoern Daehlie
- Peggy Fleming
Boxing
- Julio Caesar Chavez
- Roberto Duran
- Joe Frazier
- Roy Jones Jr.
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Gene Tunney
Auto Racing
- John Force
- A.J. Foyt
- Don Garlits
- Shirley Muldowney
- Michael Schumacher
- Ayrton Senna
Golf
- Patti Berg
- Gary Player
- Annika Sorenstam
- Lee Trevino
- Tom Watson
- Kathy Whitworth
- Mickey Wright
Tennis
- Bjorn Borg
- Margaret Court-Smith
- Roger Federer
- Ivan Lendl
- John McEnroe
Other
- Earl Anthony - Bowling
- Terry Bollea - "Hulk Hogan" - Pro Wrestling
- Sir Donald Broadman - Cricket
- Doyle Brunson - Poker
- Joey Chestnut - Competitive eating
- Eddie Feigner - "The King" - Softball
- Allison Fisher - Pool
- Dan Gable - Wrestling
- Gary Gait - Lacrosse
- Chip Hanauer - Powerboating
- Duke Kohonomoku - Olympics, swimming, surfing
- Diego Maradona - Feetball
- Lee McFarlin - Noodling
- Jeremy McGrath - "The King" - Motocross
- Ty Murray - Pro Rodeo
- Laffit Pincay Jr. - Jockey
- Andre Roussimoff - "André the Giant" - Pro Wrestling
- Kelly Slater - Surfing
- Rick Swenson - Iditarod
- Phil Talyor - "The Power" - Darts
- Rudolph Wanderone Jr. - "Minnesota Fats" - Pool Shark
Don't worry
I have reasons for each individual's addition to my Hall of Famous. And I'm prepared to explain my head off. I know that Roger Bannister never won an Olympic medal and that Minnesota Fats never won a major pool tournament and that Pro Wrestling is "fake".
Feel free to criticize and attack, even agree with some or commend my ability to recognize greatness in Sport if you want! Please don't bitch about missing people until you've ensured that they weren't inducted in the inaugural class first!!! And rest assured that I have a longer list of athletes that just missed the cut on this round. 2010 will be the first class with "Non-Athletes" (coaches, managers and contributors to sport, as well as owners, organizers and supporters)... possibly even journalists! (There's no way in Hell, McCarver. So don't bother getting your hopes up!)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Manny Stiles' Hall of Famous Class of 2008!!
{standing applause for the inductees}