Skywalker's Top 40 (31-35)

Well, it’s a little late, but it’s here none the less. I got behind on my studies, so I had to pick up on those this past weekend. Ha. If you believe that, more power to you. I almost made my goal of three posts in a week, but fell just a bit short. So, we’re going to put that in the past, right with the Byner fumble (Ha, and if you believe that even more power to you), and continue on. This post has numbers 35-31 for your reading enjoyment. Enjoy.

#35 - Victor Martinez
VIC-TOR!! My first baseball player, and more importantly, my first Cleveland Indian to make the list. Of all the figures on the list, I think I know the least about Victor. I don’t know why I like him the most of any of the current Indians. I don’t know where he came from. I just don’t know.

I do know that I love saying the name “Victor.” Is that weird? Will people look at me funny now because they know this? Once again, I don’t know. Usually this is how little children pick a favorite athlete, they love the name. In this case, a 20 year old likes Victor Martinez because his first name is Victor and he loves going “VIC-TOR.” Behold the beauty of sports.

The Cleveland Indians were downright awful for a lengthy period of time. The last time the Tribe made it to the playoffs was back in 2001. That was a good five years ago. Juan Gonzalez was batting in the middle of the order then. Wonder what Juan is doing now? He is probably sitting at his computer wondering when his name will show up on this list. Keep reading Juan Gone, and keep dreaming. So, when Cleveland finally started to show signs of life, I had to pick a player, and his name was Victor.

Victor made it to the All-Star Game in 2004. He won the Silver Sluggers Award for catchers that year as well. Last season he struggled early to a .207 pace, but then decided after the all-star break to catch fire and finished with a .305 average. Oh yeah, by the way, he had the best average in baseball after the break. It was above .380. Not too shabby.

Victor is young, he will be playing baseball and hopefully with the Indians for a long time. He is one of the best hitting catchers in the big leagues without a doubt. The more he hits, the more I yell “VIC-TOR,” and the higher he will climb on this list in future years. Why? I don’t know.

#34 - Kirk Hinrich
If I would have made this list maybe two weeks ago, you would not have found this guy here. But, with a strong showing down the stretch, and one single play in the playoffs, Kirk Hinrich shows up here at #34. First of all, he plays for my favorite team in the NBA, which helps. He also wears number 12, which just happens to be my favorite number; it was just meant to be.

Hinrich played his college ball for the University of Kansas. He was a pretty good player, teaming up with Nick Collison to make it to the NCAA finals, only to lose to Syracuse. I’ve been following the Bulls for a long time, as you will find out later, and when the draft came up, I was hoping for T.J. Ford. The Bulls had the 7th pick in the 2003 draft, and T.J was available. Did the Bulls pick him? Nope, went with Hinrich. Awesome. What did Ford end up doing? Played in 50+ games, then got injured which forced him to miss the entire upcoming season. For once, I was proved wrong. Hinrich, on the other hand, is the real deal.

With Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni, and Hinrich, the Bulls have returned to the playoffs for two consecutive years. Hinrich is the catalyst behind that effort. I want the ball in his hand, I want him directing traffic, and I want him shooting the last shot. A couple of weeks ago, I would have wanted Gordon, but with one play, it changed to Hinrich.

The Bulls recently lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. It wasn’t a big surprise. They weren’t supposed to win anyways. However, one play in Game Two made me a Hinrich fan. Dwayne Wade and Hinrich had been going at it all series. No argument here that Wade is the better athlete; that is not where I am going. Wade had just blocked one of Hinrich’s shots, and was dribbling it down the floor. Hinrich got in his face, made a clean steal, and went in for a lay-up. That simple play, the hustle and who he stole it from all made him a candidate for the list. Another plus, is that Hinrich is young (25) like Victor (27), and will be around for quite some time. Hopefully with the “#12 Bulls” on the front of his jersey.

#33 - Charles Barkley
“Sir Charles.” Barkley is a product of his broadcasting career outshining his playing career for me. Don’t get me wrong, Barkley could play. He was named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players of all time. He is 13th in the history of the league for points scored. He was good. However, his mouth and his best friend put him on this list.

I don’t have too many memories of Sir Charles playing. He was a member of the greatest basketball team ever, aka the 1992 Dream Team. He made it to the NBA Finals in 1993, but lost to the Bulls. After retiring, he became a broadcast analyst for TNT. A few months later he published a book titled, “I May Be Wrong, but I Doubt It.” Who doesn’t like that title? If you are mad about it, it’s only because you wish you would have thought about it. That may be the best title for a book, ever. I might be wrong, but I doubt it.

I thought it would be fitting to include some quotes from Sir Charles, seeing how they got him on the list.
- At the dunk contest, as Josh Smith put a piece of tape down a ridiculous distance away from the hoop and the guys thought he was trying to jump from that point, Charles says: "That's impossible... that's like Dick Cheney trying to find another hunting partner."
- Reggie Miller: "Gonzaga. That's my dark horse."Charles: "They ain't that dark."
- "When you play for the Wizards, [Gilbert Arenas] is like Michael Jackson. He's playin with a lot of Tito Jacksons."
- After Kenny agrees with Charles about a statement during Andre Igoudala's dunk - Kenny: "I think that's the first time we agreed on anything"Charles: "We both think you're ugly"
- Kevin: "Iguodala was on fire!"Charles: "He wasn't on fire. He was just excited he got to shoot in a game."
- After Nate Richardson kept missing dunks at All Star Weekend: "He can't get depressed, he plays for the Knicks."
- Kenny Smith: "The Knicks beat Detroit the other day."Barkley: "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

There are a ton more I could put on there, but that just gives you a glimpse of what Charles is all about. You can’t go wrong with “The Round Mound of Rebound” on the list.

#32 - Rick Mirer
I love Notre Dame. I didn’t have a choice. I rooted for all the teams my dad did. He didn’t watch the NBA, so I got a free pick there (which meant I went with Tony). Besides that, it was follow the leader with my dad. So expect a couple other Notre Dame athletes to appear on here. I start with quarterback Rick Mirer. Don’t laugh.

I’ll start with the bad, because that is what most of you are probably familiar with. He was the second pick overall in the 1993 draft. The Seattle Seahawks took him. Mirer never really panned out. He was traded four years later. Any guesses on how many teams he has played for in his 10 year career? I’ll give you a second. Okay, that’s long enough. The correct answer is 7. In order: Seattle, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, San Francisco, Oakland, and finally Detroit. Mirer is the equivalent to the NBA’s Jimmy Jackson. In fact, that is probably a fairly accurate comparison. Both were excellent college athletes, who were good enough to last in the pros, but not good enough to shine.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I’ll continue to the good. Mirer was a four time letterman winner for the Irish. He backed up the great Tony Rice his freshman year, and then started as a sophomore in 1990. My most vivid memory from Mirer’s career, dates back to 1992, when as a senior, Mirer led the Irish to a come from behind win over Penn State. The score was 16-15, Penn State leading. With 20 seconds left, Mirer successfully fired a two point conversion pass giving the 8th ranked Irish a 17-16 win. I can still remember my dad getting pretty excited about that one. And once again, with one simple play, I was hooked. When I was 10, Mirer was probably number 3 on my list. Over the years he has dropped, but he did enough early to hold on to his #32 spot.

#31 - Steve Nash
He’s a two-time NBA MVP. He’s short. He isn’t fast. He’s white. He’s from Canada. He’s Steve Nash and he is good at basketball. Nash was recently named the 2006 NBA MVP for the 2nd straight year, joining only Magic Johnson as point guards to win that title in consecutive years. That’s not bad company to be with. Did you know that Steve Nash wasn’t born in Canada? Yep, he was born in South Africa, and has the tan to prove it.

My first memory of Steve Nash wasn’t a good one. At least it wasn’t a good one at the time. Back in 1993, Steve Nash was a freshman for Santa Clara. They were the 15th seed in the tournament. They were playing Arizona, a two seed. Santa Clara beat Arizona, the very first time a 15 seed had knocked off a 2. I had Arizona winning it all. Damn you Steve Nash. I forgive you. If my 8 year old self could see what I just did, forgiving Nash, he would come back and kick my ass. He’d have a good shot too. Anyways.

I am a basketball fan at heart. More so than football, baseball, and tennis. I am a basketball fan first. That is why basketball represents over a quarter of this list. I like good basketball players. Steve Nash is a very good player. For some strange reason, I have always rooted for teams that Nash has played for. The main reason is because they typically run a lot, and score a lot of points. Nash is the source for all of that offense. He played for Dallas for 6 years, and now is back with Phoenix. He makes basketball fun to watch, and that is why he is here.

Okay, that does it for this edition. Kind of long, but you all are accustomed to that by now, or at least I would think so. There might not have been any surprises in this post, but I GUARANTEE a BIG surprise in the next one. Should be out there maybe even tomorrow if I feel productive.

Before I leave, I need to give a shout-out to seeing Joe this past weekend. Not long enough, but … Opening Day buddy, let’s make it happen. If you haven’t read Barnes blog, check it out at mattbarnes.blogspot.com. It’s not too bad. Also, Cool Runnings lost, but we have one more game to enjoy. It’s been a great season, even better than basketball. Lastly, but certainly not least, let’s do it to it Josh. He’s playing in the Sectional tennis tournament tomorrow. He can make a district bid possible. All he has to do is, “Read it, Roll it, Hole it.”