They did this on ESPN, and Illinois won. ESPN chose: -Lance Armstrong -Tom Landry -Earl Campbell -Nolan Ryan Mine would be the same except replace Armstrong with Dream.
Looks good to me. Hakeem is probably the first one left out there, but it's hard to disagree with any of those picks.
If I'm 'immadrummer' i'm filing a lawsuit for copyright infri.... or whatever you lawyers call it. he came up with this first in the NFL/beisbol/wnba forum. Damn the e**n empire!
We've done this thread before, maybe twice. Mine: Jack Johnson Babe Zaharias Nolan Ryan Hakeem Olajuwon
Michael Jordan wasn't born in Illinois but he made their mountain. The point of the whole thing was to honor those who impacted sports in each state and was not limited to just the natives.
I was about to post something similar. Dream spent a good 20 years or so in Houston at UH and with the Rockets. Another one of my runners up is Vince Young.
None of Illinois' "faces" are natives. Ditka is from Pennsylvania, Walter Payton is from Mississippi, and Ernie Banks is from TEXAS! They put Jordan in both North Carolina and Illinois. Mississippi got credit for Payton as well. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to selecting people. Page 2 did a Mt. Rushmore for each NBA Team. The Rockets were: Moses, Calvin, Rudy T, and Hakeem Clyde was on Portland's.
Although I think being a native should count for something though. If Hakeem was a native Texan, I'd definitely think he could be up there. Then again, this is a football state...
It don't matter, the man is ugly too, but he has 4 rings. 3.5 is kinda like saying the Rockets have 0 rings cause Jordan was retired.
I'd actually give them 2 -- taking away the Tim Donaughy year and then also the strike-shortened year. ...and Vince Young? Are you serious? It takes more than 1 good year in college to make the list.
the only one that is beyond criticism is nolan ryan. i think the rest could all be replaced by others. what about carl lewis?
He was born in New Jersey, moved to Germany at 6 (father was in the Army), and went to HS for 3 years in San Antonio. I don't think those 3 years qualify him as a Texan. Besides, Hakeem would still make it before him.
