Sports Mount Rushmore

While watching Mike & Mike in the morning, on ESPN 2 yesterday they had an interesting segment. Who would be your sports Mount Rushmore, meaning from the 4 major sports, Football, Baseball, Hockey, and Basketball. Who would you classify as the four ultimate Icon or greatest players/figures from their respective sport. A fairly interesting thought so why not throw it out there. Also bonus points will be awarded for lack of homers. Lets start with the easy one: Baseball, Babe Ruth Your answer here has to be Babe Ruth, a man that not only transcended the game, but time which I feel is an even harder accomplishment. Not to mention he's second all time in home runs and won 94 games over his career as a starting pitcher, including one 24 win season. NO ONE will Ever be able to lay claim to the body of work that Babe does. A not so distant second would have to be Jackie revision however when you compare what they did as players your still left with Ruth. Next topic A less easy choice but still obvious: Hockey, Gordie Howe This guy played from 1945 until 1980, are you kidding me? It's a toss up here for me between him and Gretzky but I'll give the nod to the man who played for 35 years. Now the waters get muddy: Basketball, Michael Jordan Basketball has had so many changes in the game since it's inception. It is a far cry from it's beginnings in almost every aspect of the game. If I were to pick who I felt made the biggest change in the game I would say Wilt, but if I'm going one name, one face from the sport, it may be a reflection of my generation but I have to say Jordan. The definition of a great player is within their ability to make others around them better. Jordan was the best at this, with Jordan Tony Kukoc was able to score 20 a game, this player averaged about 5 per game playing with A.I who I feel is a top 50 player, but it is a small example that shows exactly who the king was and is. The best for last: Football, Jerry RIce Football is the hardest due to the nature of the game. It is truly a unit of 11 men who when moving correctly all together are successful. However the point of the game is to score touchdowns Jerry RIce scored more touchdowns than any other player to ever step on the field. He was able to dominate like no other at his position or any other position for that matter. He transcended the game by making a type of offense successful that is seen across the league now. This is the sport where I expect to see the largest spread, but how do you separate Joe Montana from Johnny Unitas, Jim Brown from Barry sanders, Lawrence Taylor from Reggie White. I do it by realizing none of them scored more touchdowns than Jerry.