Athletes That Are Universally Respected And Liked (2 Viewers)

[rockaction]

May not be well known beyond diehard NHL fans, but HOF defenseman Brian Leetch was one of the nicest guys to ever lace up a pair of skates and was highly respected throughout the hockey community. 

Leetch went to high school about twenty-five minutes from where I grew up and I actually got to play in a high school game with his brother, who was a pretty good football player for CT at the time. (CT is not big for football.)

 

[zamboni]

Leetch went to high school about twenty-five minutes from where I grew up and I actually got to play in a high school game with his brother, who was a pretty good football player for CT at the time. (CT is not big for football.)

From what I recall, Brian was a really good baseball player, too.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

How about some reliever that will be entering Cooperstown on Sunday?

Enter Sandman.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Recent guys - Mike Trout and Mookie Betts

 

[belljr]

Thome

 

[Tom Servo]

For me it's Joe Thomas(LT)CLE.

Before he was even drafted as a top 3 pick he seemed to have his head on straight. Heard the news he was drafted by CLE in 2007 while he was out on a boat fishing with his old man on Lake Michigan.

Started at LT for the Browns as a rookie and played the next 10,363 snaps in a row pretty much at a sustained All-Pro level. Only a torn triceps pried him out of the lineup in 2017. Think about that for a second. He played for a DECADE for the CLEVELAND BROWNS and never missed ONE SNAP. On a CLE team that won 10 games his rookie season and never reached .500 thereafter he never rotated out at the end of yet another abysmal season playing outdoors in NOV/DEC in CLE. To the best of my knowledge he never held out, never demanded a trade to a better team(could you find a worse one?). He just played like an All-Pro.... every down...... every SEASON. That is just a level of sustained excellence in the face of adversity I'm not sure that I've ever seen, and we may never see again.

On top of all that it seems that now that he's retired he's giving more interviews and he sounds exactly like the same type of guy that would go fishing with his father during the first round of the NFL draft. He just seems like a guy that gets it. It's a shame that millions of characters have been typed with regards to a guy like Josh Gordon and maybe 1/1000th of the media attention has been spent on a guy like Joe Thomas. 

I'm sure @Good Posting Judge has the goods to shoot this good guy act down.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

Recent guys - Mike Trout 

Scared of the big stage. Zero interest in playing for a winner.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

Doug Glanville was beloved by both fans and media when he played for the Phillies. Excellent dude, they all reported. 

I never liked his dad.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

Jon Jones?

 

[SWC]

Manny's political stances make him a no go for me. 

Ripken was the embodiment of the selfish athlete.

How do you figure?  Because he never wanted to sit?  If he didn't deserve to be in the lineup that is on the coach not him. 

not just because of that he would also take way more than half of the ice cream and he licked cookies to make sure no one else got to eat em totally jagbag imo take that to the bank brohans 

 

[zamboni]

Jon Jones?

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

 

[Godsbrother]

MANY people loved him, but with his muslim conversion, draft controversy/prison, and brash/charismatic personality - many also disliked him.  He was one of my heroes. 

When I was a kid I disliked Ali and so did almost all of my friends.   It wasn't his religion or refusal to go to Vietnam as much as his big mouth.  He just wouldn't shut up.  We were all rooting for Joe Frazier in a big way.

As I grew older I came to like and respect the man and how he made a stand against bigotry, racism, the war, etc.    

 

[zamboni]

Bumping this for legendary New York Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist, whose number is being retired as we speak.

Not sure if he was mentioned upthread, but certainly applies here.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Johnny Bench

Tony Perez

 

[zamboni]

Johnny Bench

Seemed pretty rough on those kids in The Baseball Bunch.

 

[Jackstraw]

Freddie Freeman right now seems like one of the truly good guys in baseball. 

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Bumping this for legendary New York Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist, whose number is being retired as we speak.

Not sure if he was mentioned upthread, but certainly applies here.

I worked for teemu selanne for 8 years. Hockey players are freaking awesome. 

 

[ChiefD]

I worked for teemu selanne for 8 years. Hockey players are freaking awesome. 

As a father of two hockey kids, I agree.

The hockey culture is solid.