- Dallas - (choices revealed 8/15)
- Los Angeles (8/16)
- Chicago - (8/17)
- Boston - (8/18)
- New York - (8/19)
Thoughts in order...
- Dallas - there are a bunch of golfers here, none of whom I really think of as being Texas guys...I'm also surprised that there aren't many Rangers on here...Nolan Ryan was an automatic for me because he's just so damn Texas, but then I realized he didn't spend much time in Dallas...if it were for Texas hall of fame, probably - Dallas, no...Jimmy Johnson's out because he's as much Miami as Dallas...Jerry Jones is an interesting nomination but far too polarizing to get the nod...Ernie Banks isn't Dallas, I don't care where he went to high school - he's Chicago...My Choices - Lance Armstrong (automatic, easy, greatest cyclist ever)...Tom Landry (the face of the Cowboys, practically created the team)...Emmit Smith (one of the three or four greatest RB ever, spent his whole pro career in Dallas, record for most career yards)...Ben Hogan (best golfer of his era)...tough call for #5 but went with Roger Staubach...didn't want to put Blackmon in over Dirk (when he retires he takes Staubach's spot easily because we need a basketball player somewhere)...didn't want Aikman with Smith (too many from one team, one era)...I could be swayed to Bob Lilly for the 5th spot
- Los Angeles - tough to leave Elgin Baylor off the team, but there are two greater Lakers...Gretzky isn't an Angelino - he's Edmonton...Phil Jackon is more Chicago than Los Angeles...Billie Jean King isn't Los Angeles - she's of the world...same with Sampras...Koufax's peak was too short and Drysdale wasn't Koufax...it's unfair, but Cheryl Miller is cursed with playing in women's leagues which just aren't popular enough...Pat Riley's records are lesser than Phil's, and if Phil isn't in, Pat isn't...Jackie Robinson's greatest accomplishments didn't come in LA...Joyner-Kersey & Evans get help as women but as Olympic women, but the summer games are too infrequent to keep their names in the headlines long & frequent enough...My choices - John Wooden (lock, greatest coach in any sport ever)...Chick Hearn (more than any player, he was the Lakers)...Magic Johnson (personified the glitz that was Hollywood / Showtime)...Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (even if some of his greatness was in Milwaukee, he's UCLA and Laker royalty and one of the five or so greatest players ever)...Marcus Allen (with all the football and baseball history of LA, it would be a crime to go all basketball, and Allen wins almost by default - greater as a football player than any single LA Dodger as a baseballer)
- Chicago - Frank Thomas mashed but faded too quickly...Gale Sayers went like Thomas... Santo/Williams/Sandberg suffer from being Cubs and being excellent for short times but very good for long times...Scottie Pippen may be the greatest second banana ever, but that's not good enough here...Harry Caray's a tough no, but he's not the greatest non-player on this list...Red Grange's UIllinois career is almost enough, but he wasn't the same pro as he was in college...Phil Jackson is a man without a country here, not Chicago enough to be on this list or LA enough to be on the other...Ditka and Butkus were really tough outs as they seem to personify the Windy City for me, a working, hard-knuckle city if ever there was one...My choices - Michael Jordan (automatic)...Walter Payton (my choice for greatest RB ever, all Chicago career)...Ernie Banks (the greatest Cub, Mr Cub)...Bobby Hull (it felt like a crime not to have a Blackhawk, and Bobby Hull is the greatest of those)...George Halas (Chicago football for sixty years, a league forefather)
- Boston - Yastrzemski suffers in comparison to his predecessor...Jim Rice is a debatable Hall of Famer, that's not a vote getter here...Orr and Neeley aren't the greatest Bruins ever, so they don't make the cut...Johnny Kelley is a sentimental choice and might earn it as being too Boston to avoid...Pedro's time here was too brief...Clemens left and became a carpet bagger...Marciano's a tough one to knockout of the competition and might deserve a spot higher... Heinsohn's tough to not choose as a great player, a coach, and a local legend broadcaster...Hannah's a lineman - not enough glory...hondo & cousy had greater teammates...Agganis's career listed is three years long...Flutie would be a sentimental choice, but Kelley and Heinsohn are the better ones of those...My choices - Red Auerbach (built the greatest professional dynasty ever)...Bill Russel (second greatest basketball player ever, racial pioneer)...Larry Bird (sadly, he's the last choice and could be knocked out for Heinsohn even though he's one of the seven or eight greatest players ever, he's more Indiana than Boston, especially having come back to the Pacers - Brady takes this spot when he retires)...Ray Borque (the Bruins had to have somebody, right?)...Ted Williams (greatest hitter in history - other than maybe the Babe)
- New York - legends are gonna ride the pine here...there's just no way around it...Mike Tyson got too weird...Casey Stengel might've been the greatest manager ever, but I might've been with the talent he had...ditto for Joe McCarthy...Seaver left town...Steinbrenner is a crook...Willis Reed would be a sentimental choice for game 7 alone but he's just not good enough (how did Patrick Ewing not get a nomination?)...Joe Namath was more sizzle than steak...Mark Messier was greater in Edmonton...Willie Mays went west...Walt Frazier was steak but didn't make the cut for me...Berra, Gehrig, and Mathewson were really tough last cuts but didn't make the cut...My choices - Babe Ruth (greatest baseball player ever)...Jackie Robinson (for the cultural impact he beats out Berra, Gehrig, and Matthewson - if we went on just playing career, he'd barely be behind, but he wins because he's important)...Lawrence Taylor (otherwise we're all baseball in NYC which seems wrong - he's the greatest of the non-baseballers, and he was a FORCE)...Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio (I could be convinced toward Matthewson or Berra, maybe, but there's no shame in these two, and I think they were a little better)
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