Athlete of the Week

[BooCocky]

This is an idea i took from Shadowmancer and Justin. This is an athlete of the week thread. I will pick great sports players, ranging from baseball, football, hockey, basketball. I will also do coaches from those sports. I will try and get athletes that are still playing, to athletes and coaches that are retired. Now the idea of this is thread is to tell me what you think of the athlete or coach i have chosen.

Alright first up is Jerry Rice.

Now about the man, Jerry Rice was a first round pick out of Mississippi Valley State in 1985. Some of his accomplishments and records. In his career he has had 1,549 receptions that totaled 22,895 yds, and he has a total of 209 touchdowns.

Jerry Rice had 17 seasons with atleast 50 catches.
4 seasons with at least 100 catches.
Rice has 23,540 all purpose yards.
Most games played by a wide receiver (303).


Now some records.
Career reception~ 1,549
Toucdown receptions~197
Pro Bowls at Wide Receiver~13
Rushing yds by a wide receiver~645
Consecutive games with a receiving touchdown~13
Career yds = 13 and 3/8 mile

those were only some of his accomplishments throughout his long career.

Now my take.

Jerry Rice is the greatest receiver to ever play the game, he is an exceptional route runner, he had great hands, he was a clutch performer in the playoffs, and was stellar in the superbowl. IMO some of his records will never be touched, such as his receiving yards, catches, and consecutive games with a reception. He has dominated basically every receiving statistic, and it isn't bad for a man who was clocked running the 40 yd dash in 4.7 seconds.

 

[Lil Wes]

Great thread Brian.

Can't say enough about Jerry Rice. There's really no better way to start the thread than with the greatest wide-out of all-time and up there as the greatest player to step on a field. The all-purpose yards stat is ridiculous. The man made defensive coordinators lives a living hell. The only real problem with me is he stayed in the league to long but meh, he has a hell of a record book some like you have said will never be broken.

 

[Freedom 35]

yeah like Wes said the only blotch on his near perfect carreer was not retiring soon enough. Jerry Rice was great he put up great numbers in every stat category and also like Wes said ruined your week just preparing for him. great choice for your first week of this Brian and can I make a suggestion for next week I say da coach Mike Ditka

 

[BooCocky]

Alright,I am here to do a new one. This one is really not an athlete, but is a College Basketball coach.

The coach is none other than Bobby Knight

Robert Montgomery Knight is currently coaching the Texas Tech Red Raiders, his coaching career began in 1965, at the age of 24, he became the coach of Army. After six years at Army, he became the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers, and that is where his career began to take off. In his second season at Indiana he took the Hoosiers to the final four where they finished in 3rd. Knight has a large amount of accomplishments in his years as a head basketball coach..

NCAA Division I Tournament Championship (1976, 1981, 1987)
NIT Championship (1979)
Big Ten Regular Season Championship (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993)
Awards
Henry Iba Award (1975, 1989)
Naismith College Coach of the Year (1987)
Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award (2002)
Big Ten Coach of the Year (1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1989)
Knight has 901 wins, and has career winning percentage 0f .709​

My take on the General

In my opinion Bobby Knight is the greatest coach to ever coach in any sport. He has won numerous national titles. He never coached many stars and his most recognizable player is Isiah Thomas. Knights players have a very high graduation rate, so Knight is more than a coach IMO, he is a mentor, a father figure, and a head coach. Knight has always used the same offense, called the triangle or the motion offense. Knight has coached that offense throughout his career, how it can be effective for over 20+ years is beyond me, but apparently it shows how great of a coach he is.

Your take?

 

[Shadowmancer]

Coaching the same system for whatever amount of time it is works for college basketball due to yearly Personnel rotation. Nothing special there as certain plays work better with certain players where others can't work them as well therefore it can work however pro level is a different story all together. As for Bobby Knight great coach great tantrum thrower as well. I love how much shit the US media gives him for non-consequential things really. Tapping the kid on the chin to get him to look up, nothing much but the media had a field day greatly funny on my part.

 

[BooCocky]

Coaching the same system for whatever amount of time it is works for college basketball due to yearly Personnel rotation. Nothing special there as certain plays work better with certain players where others can't work them as well therefore it can work however pro level is a different story all together. As for Bobby Knight great coach great tantrum thrower as well. I love how much shit the US media gives him for non-consequential things really. Tapping the kid on the chin to get him to look up, nothing much but the media had a field day greatly funny on my part.

I know the triangle offense revolves around unselfish play, and players being able to set screens. I know Knight is a great coach, but I can't believe people have not caught on to his offense... Knight has never really coached the star, outside of Thomas, and maybe a few others. I guess it has something to do with the offense, and the stars are usually selfish and cant work well with a team until they got to in the pro's. In college one great player can basically win a championship, with solid or decent players surrounding him. Knight gets so much crap from the media it is ridiculous, he gets media attention when he taps a player, or when he yells at them....

 

[MovieCriticMarvelfan]

Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant, despite losing a big player in Andrew Bynum the Lakers are on a ten game win streak and best record in West and cover is the definitely the man doing it. He's got 29 pts and second lead scorer in NBA.

 

[BooCocky]

my newest installment. Hopefully people will post in it.

The player is none other than the elusive back Barry Sanders

Barry Sanders; He went to Oklahoma State, and he was the third pick in the 1989 draft. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions. Sanders won awards on both levels of football.

he was the 1989 Heisman Trophy Winner.

10 time pro bowler.

10 time all pro running back.

1997- co-NFL MVP

1989 NFL Rookie of the year

2 time Bert Bell award winner

he was a two time NFL offensive player of the year.

In Sanders' 10 year career he had 15,269 yds rushing while averaging 5 yards per carry.

had 99 touchdowns.

As a receiver, Sanders had 352 receptions for 2,921 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Detroit Lions.

Sanders led the NFL in rushing 4 times during his 10 year career.

Sanders, rushed for over 1,500 yards in a season for an NFL record five times.

During the final 14 games of the 1997 season Sanders rushed for exactly 2000 yards on 310 carries (6.5 yd./carry).

Over his professional career, he rushed for at least 100 yards in 76 games, just short of Walter Payton's 77 games and Emmitt Smith's 78 games.

On January 31, 2004, he was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sanders also holds the NFL record for the most carries for negative yardage. According to the SI Book of Football, these numbers totaled 336 Carries for -952 Yards.

those were just some of his career accomplishments.^^^

My Take: Barry Sanders is one of if not the greatest running back to ever step on the gridiron. To bad he played for the lonely Lions. there isn't a doubt in my mind if he played only a couple more years he would have went out as the greatest running back in NFL history. If he had played another year, more than likely he would be the all time leading rusher. Some stats that stick out to me are, his negative yards, his 100 yd games, his total yds from scrimmage, and his pro bowls in ten consecutive years. He went out of the NFL rather young, he retired on top of his game and in striking distance of Paytons rushing record at the time ( now held by Smith).

I could go on forever, but i want to hear your opinions on the man.​

 

[Slyfox696]

In my opinion Bobby Knight is the greatest coach to ever coach in any sport.

He's one of the best. Hard to put him ahead of John Wooden in college basketball.

He has won numerous national titles.

3

He never coached many stars

Maybe not NBA stars, but his talent was very very good. Steve Alford, Isiah Thomas, Quinn Buckner, Walk Bellamy, Scott May, Calbert Chaney, Jay Edwards, Kent Benson and others were All-Americans.

Knights players have a very high graduation rate

I think in his entire time as coach, he's had less than 5 players not graduate.

Knight has always used the same offense, called the triangle or the motion offense. Knight has coached that offense throughout his career, how it can be effective for over 20+ years is beyond me, but apparently it shows how great of a coach he is.

Well, it's effective because it's not a patterned offense. We run the same offense at our school. You teach kids movements, cuts, and screens, and but there's no set pattern to it. So, opponents can't scout you ahead of time, because even your own team doesn't know what it's going to do on offense. It's a great offense to play, if you can get kids to understand it, and keep moving in it.

Your take?

Bob Knight deserves another week. That's how great he is.

 

[Slim Pickns]

My Take: Barry Sanders is one of if not the greatest running back to ever step on the gridiron. To bad he played for the lonely Lions. there isn't a doubt in my mind if he played only a couple more years he would have went out as the greatest running back in NFL history. If he had played another year, more than likely he would be the all time leading rusher. Some stats that stick out to me are, his negative yards, his 100 yd games, his total yds from scrimmage, and his pro bowls in ten consecutive years. He went out of the NFL rather young, he retired on top of his game and in striking distance of Paytons rushing record at the time ( now held by Smith).

I could go on forever, but i want to hear your opinions on the man.[/CENTER]

The reason Barry Sanders sticks out so much from the other backs that make up the top all time rushers, is because unlike them, he did it virtually on his own. The Lions, year after year had great lineman available in free agency and the draft, yet steadily refused to provide blocking for their all star back. Barry's "magic", the moves he made once past the first layer of the defense, are what he will be remember for forever.

The only thing I don't like to hear from Sander's fans is that he should be refered to as the record holder since he retired in his prime and could have beaten the record. Bottom line, Emmit Smith ran for those yards while Sander's watched from home.

You should definately do a follow up with Smith and Walter Payton. Throw some video clips of Payton for the younglings to see.

 

[pookie]

Agreed... Barry Sanders was phenomonal, possibly best ever back? Idk w/ Jim Brown,Walter Payton, or Grange? I honestly think he was the best PLAYER during the 90's though... Yes above Young/Rice/Carter/Irvin/Aikman/McNair etc...