10. Tim Lincecum – Baseball
Lincecum won last year’s National League Cy Young Award at age 24. Lincecum had 265 strikeouts in 227 innings to go with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. That’s all very impressive, but perhaps Lincecum’s best statistic from last season was his 18-5 record for a San Francisco Giants team that finished with a 72-90 record for the year. Lincecum is currently the best pitcher in baseball and may continue to be for the next ten years.
9. Jimmie Johnson - NASCAR
Winning three consecutive NASCAR series titles from 2006-2008 and currently sitting second in the points standings for 2009 gets him on this list. Being a NASCAR driver who doesn’t necessarily win a lot of individual races and sitting in a car (meaning that saying he is an athlete is somewhat questionable) make him stay this low on the list.
8. Tom Brady – Football
So he hasn’t been in the news a whole lot lately other than for his marriage to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Doesn’t matter. Brady was injured almost all of last season, but had 50 touchdown passes and averaged over 300 yards per game in 2007. He’s only this low on the list because he missed almost the whole season last year. If his numbers are even close to what they were in 2007 he could easily be in the top five on this list.
7. Dwayne Wade – Basketball
Except for two guys who appear ahead of him on this list and both are known better by their first names, Kobe and LeBron, he would easily be the best player in the NBA. Wade has lead a team of nobodies and rookies to a 42-38 record as of Sunday – good for fifth in the Eastern Conference. Wade dropped 55 on the Knicks in a recent game and led the league averaging 30.2 points per game this season.
6. Rafael Nadal – Tennis
Nadal is the first male tennis player ever to hold Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces at the same time and is only the fourth player ever to even win titles on three different surfaces in his career. He has been the number one male tennis player in the world for the last eight months. Nadal was number two in the world to Roger Federer for 160 weeks in a row before taking over as number one.
5. Roger Federer – Tennis
Federer has fallen off slightly of late, but 13 Grand Slam titles and a streak of 19 consecutive semi-finals appearances and counting help him to this spot on the list above Nadal who is currently the top ranked player in the world. Federer has also won over 50 tournaments and holds the record for the most win on both grass and hard courts. Federer held the number one world ranking for 237 weeks before falling to second behind Nadal in August 2008.
4. Michael Phelps – Swimming
So he smoked pot. Whoop-de-doo and fa-la-la. How many other 23-year-olds smoke pot? (For those who don’t know – the answer is a lot.) And no other 23-year-old won eight, eight,gold medals in one Olympics. He won every event he entered, while dominating many of them. His rigorous schedule makes the feat even more impressive. Phelps’ 14 gold medals are the most by any Olympian ever. I hope he dominates every event he enters in the 2012 Olympics in London and shuts up the haters.
3. Kobe Bryant – Basketball
Many will argue that he should be higher than LeBron because he has won more. Go back in the archives and read my article about Kobe vs. LeBron to see why Kobe ranks behind LeBron even though he has won championships and LeBron thus far has not.
2. LeBron James – Basketball
If you read my blog regularly you already know that I think this guy is pretty good. I think he has a very good chance to win his first NBA Championship this year and that in the long run he may turn out to be even better than Michael Jordan.
1. Tiger Woods – Golf
He didn’t win the Masters last weekend and many were surprised. This one isn’t even a question. When people place bets on one guy versus the whole field to win a tournament you know that player is has transcended dominance and has nearly reached superhero status.
-Andrew Sagarin
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