I agree, as far as accomplishments, and international name recognition, there's no way that you can say that 10 people from Houston should be higher than him....maybe they saw the ESPN 30 for 30 "9.79" and they think he's dirty....
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Jose Cruz, Jeff Bagwell, McGrady, Drexler, Fred Couples, Carl Lewis. All worthy. Steve McNair and Eddie George also possible entries.
Yao Ming over Bagwell? Give me a freakin break!!!!! I would put (in no specific order) these individuals over Yao: Earl Pastorini Bethea Cedeno Ryan M. Scott Bagwell Biggio Oswalt Moses Hakeem Big E Rudy T Murphy
I would have no problem with Bagwell being on the list but.... 1. Who do you take off? Everyone on that list deserves it. And I would put Biggio over Bagwell. 2. Baseball was fully on the map in Houston, long before Bagwell came along. Jimmy Wynn, JR Richards, Glen Davis, Mike Scott, Nolan Ryan, Joe Morgan, Larry Dierker, Dave Smith, Joe Niekro, Terry Puhl, Jose Cruz, Rusty Staub, Cesar Cedeno. Many other great players prior to Bagwell coming along. Two of the most exciting Penant Series ever against the Phillies in 1980 and the Mets in 1986. Bagwell was a great player but in no way did he put baseball on the map in Houston.
Pastorini does not belong on the list.... Period. He was a good QB but at no time was he great. Dany's biggest claim to fame was wearing the flack jacket and handing off to Earl. He was traded for an over the hill Ken Stabler for a reason.
Any Houston list without Bagwell is meaningless. He should be in ahead of Yao, Murph, Dre, Nolan and Matthews. I love him, but Yao should be bumped off. This is a played in Houston pro list, so no Carl Lewis
1 -Hakeem Olajuwan: 2 NBA Championships, arguably the greatest center of all time. HoF 2 - Earl Cambell: the most dominant running back of all time... Period. He put the Oilers on the map and made that team relevant. Oil Cambell and the Houston Earlers. HoF 3 - Carl Lewis - greatest Athlete ever, period. Too many Olympic Golds to count. 4 - Moses Malone - multiple MVPs, best center in the game when he was in Houston, top 5 greatest center of all time. HoF The rest in no perticularly order: Robert Brazil -7 time pro bowler, Dr Doom should be in the Hall of Fame. I don't understand his omission Nolan Ryan - his best years were with the Angels not the Astros and he wasnt always the best pitcher on the team (JR and Mike Scott) but he was still great. Elvin Hayes - combined time with Cougars and Rockets make him an easy choice. JR Richards - not as good as Nolan was in his prime but he was better than Nolan for the very short amount of time that they were on the Astros. Craig Biggio - arguably the greatest Astro of all-time. He never won an MVP but he was an All-star at multiple positions. He is arguably both of the greatest catcher and 2nd baseman in team history with all due respect to Joe Morgan and Bill Doran. Mike Scott - Split Finger, Cy Young, 1986 play-offs. Enough said. Omissions: Larry Dierker - the list is for greatest athlete not greatest sports person so I'm not including what he did as a coach. If you include how great he was as both as a player and coach then he makes the list as top 6 easy. Rudy Tomjonovich - see Larry Dierker. Yao Ming - he could probably replace Robert Brazil but I put I feel Brazil is grossly underrated and people just forget how good he was. I love Yao, he's one of my favorite athletes of all time, but I'm not putting him above anyone on that list. JJ Watt - he is easily the best Texan of all time.... Period. Sorry Andre. He is arguably the best defensive player in the NFL. I just need to see it a couple of more years before I let him push Dr Doom off of the list. Andre Johnson - he's had some great seasons but he's had some down years too because of health. He has a legit argument to be on the list though. I don't put him as high as JJ Watt though. Jeff Bagwell - MVP player, made it to a World Series, he has a legit case to be on the list. Glenn Davis - 2nd Greatest Homerun hitter in the teams history IMO, only behind Bagwell. I would have loved to have seen Davis hit the ball in the his prime during the 90s and 00s when the ball seemed to fly out of the park for lots of hitters. He would have had as many homers or more than Bagwell had he been apart of that era. Elvin Bethea - he has an argument but I always thought Robert Brazil was better plus I think Curley Culp was the best player on the Oilers defensive line in the 70s. Curley Culp - probley deserves to be on the list but I view as much of a Kansas City Chief as I do an Oiler.