Off Topic SPORTING HEROES
- Thread starter littleDinosaurLuke
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5 successive Tours, exceptional physical prowess....the parallels are obvious. I'd say.
Banesto riders were suspected of being drugs cheats, but every successful team/rider has fallen under suspicion at some point.
None of the major classics on his palmares. No show at the cobbles.
No longer participating in grand tours when he knew he could be or was
beaten (Vuelta 1991, Giro 1994) .
Knowing what Merckx was all about means that only Hinault comes
remotely close enough to comparison in the modern age.
What a good idea!
Hang him in public and I would certainly be there in the crowd looking up at him.
Fantastic thread a thoroughly good close season read and so many sporting greats mentioned with the sort of affection that only hero worship can engender.
As a Gills fan my greatest heroes probably wouldn’t register much interest on the national scale, but here I go anyway.
I’ll only mention one Gills player ‘Super’ Bob Taylor. We signed Bob from Brentford for a club record fee of £500,000 in July 1998, Bob looked like a traditional centre forward he was tall and strong, and not particularly quick, he started the 1988 season looking a little over weight and massively off of the pace, and supporters were not exactly on his side for the 5/6 matches as he laboured to look like a good investment, then suddenly he scored the scruffiest goal you can imagine , but he was up and running and with confidence restored by that one fortuitous moment he went on a run that saw him score 39 goals in his next 57 matches including 5 at Burnley and 1 at Wembley in the 1999 play off final. He started with 1999 – 2000 in the form of his career the most purple patch I ever seen a player enjoy scoring 18 goals (with 2 hat tricks, 1 as a 2nd half sub) before November when he was sold to Man City for £1.5m, Bobs goals were of such a quality that I will never forget ‘super bob’.
In the mid 70s when I was young and impressionable and before I discovered the joys of the Gills, I had a dalliance with Dave Sextons QPR side, and in particular Stan Bowles and Gerry Francis, the 10 year old me worshipped them. Stan was one of those footballers who made the ball talk, at the time I thought he was an outrageous talent who’s touch was the touch of arrogance, and Stans autobiography remains my favourite sporting book, the tales he tells are just fantastic, and I thoroughly recommend it. Gerry was the driving force of the team and was also the England captain and his 2 goals for England v Scotland in 5-1 win in 1975 made him even more a hero to me.
As a Kent man who’s other love is cricket, I will mention a couple of Kents finest – Knotty has already rightly had a mention so I will go with his greatest wicket taking partner Deadly Derek Underwood, nominally a left arm spinner, but he bowled quicker than most spinners and on a slightly damp pitch he was completely unplayable he was also the nominated ‘night watchman’ for both Kent & England and was brave late order batsman. And finally Bob Woolmer, I first saw Bob as an all rounder who bowled fast medium and batted at 6 or 7, but his batting technique got better and better and he ended up a very accomplished opening bat for both Club and Country and then on to become an extremely innovative coach whose original ideas are now common place in the game.
As a Gills fan my greatest heroes probably wouldn’t register much interest on the national scale, but here I go anyway.
I’ll only mention one Gills player ‘Super’ Bob Taylor. We signed Bob from Brentford for a club record fee of £500,000 in July 1998, Bob looked like a traditional centre forward he was tall and strong, and not particularly quick, he started the 1988 season looking a little over weight and massively off of the pace, and supporters were not exactly on his side for the 5/6 matches as he laboured to look like a good investment, then suddenly he scored the scruffiest goal you can imagine , but he was up and running and with confidence restored by that one fortuitous moment he went on a run that saw him score 39 goals in his next 57 matches including 5 at Burnley and 1 at Wembley in the 1999 play off final. He started with 1999 – 2000 in the form of his career the most purple patch I ever seen a player enjoy scoring 18 goals (with 2 hat tricks, 1 as a 2nd half sub) before November when he was sold to Man City for £1.5m, Bobs goals were of such a quality that I will never forget ‘super bob’.
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In the mid 70s when I was young and impressionable and before I discovered the joys of the Gills, I had a dalliance with Dave Sextons QPR side, and in particular Stan Bowles and Gerry Francis, the 10 year old me worshipped them. Stan was one of those footballers who made the ball talk, at the time I thought he was an outrageous talent who’s touch was the touch of arrogance, and Stans autobiography remains my favourite sporting book, the tales he tells are just fantastic, and I thoroughly recommend it. Gerry was the driving force of the team and was also the England captain and his 2 goals for England v Scotland in 5-1 win in 1975 made him even more a hero to me.
As a Kent man who’s other love is cricket, I will mention a couple of Kents finest – Knotty has already rightly had a mention so I will go with his greatest wicket taking partner Deadly Derek Underwood, nominally a left arm spinner, but he bowled quicker than most spinners and on a slightly damp pitch he was completely unplayable he was also the nominated ‘night watchman’ for both Kent & England and was brave late order batsman. And finally Bob Woolmer, I first saw Bob as an all rounder who bowled fast medium and batted at 6 or 7, but his batting technique got better and better and he ended up a very accomplished opening bat for both Club and Country and then on to become an extremely innovative coach whose original ideas are now common place in the game.
Funny you later mentioned Knotty because when you talked about Bob Taylor I thought at first that you were going to talk about the great wicket keeper for England who would have played more games if it were not for the genius of Alan Knott.
Good post
In the bookies until 5 minutes before kick off and lived worse than John Robertson. Played for Cloughie's Forest side for just 19 games during the second European Cup winning season. That'd make a decent movie.
Frank Worthington losing a move to Liverpool as he had a dose of the clap
ah those were the days
BRYAN DANIELSON (or, as the normies call him, Daniel Bryan)
A very humble, likeable guy who just so happened to be the most gifted wrestler of his generation who made a name for himself by being just so damn good, before being picked up by WWE and not only becoming hugely popular with the crowd due to his obvious talent and genuine likeablility, but his popularity saw WWE scrap their micromanaged plans to allow him to rise to the top of the company due to the huge amount of crowd support.
LILIAN THURAM
So gifted a defender it should be illegal. For both Parma and Juventus he was a commanding centre back that a tactical nuke couldn;t get past, yet for France he was a superb right back with great attacking instincts.
HOLLY HOLM
While I can say that I genuinely couldn't give a tuppeny **** about MMA, the collective nervous breakdown of not just Ronda Rousey's fanboys but UFC's douchebag-in-chief Dana White when she utterly annihilated Rousey was glorious.
TEDDY SHERINGHAM
Let's be honest, barring a couple of borderline respectible seasons the 1990s were complete ****e for us. Yet even though we were stagnant on the pitch and off, and it felt like Alan Sugar was having a personal competition with Doug Ellis to see who could run a football club without putting their hand in their pocket the longest, Teddy was always a bright light amidst a sea of stodge, single-handedly dragging the team up above their level of ability most seasons, while complementing genuine talent such as Klinsmann, Ginola and Anderton.
JET LI
...on a technicality, I know, but before he moved into film (and I could genuinely spend an entire day watching Jet Li fight scenes), but it has to be said that when he was just twelve years old he was winning numerous martial arts championships against people literally twice his age, and no matter how you look at it that's scarily impressive.
A very humble, likeable guy who just so happened to be the most gifted wrestler of his generation who made a name for himself by being just so damn good, before being picked up by WWE and not only becoming hugely popular with the crowd due to his obvious talent and genuine likeablility, but his popularity saw WWE scrap their micromanaged plans to allow him to rise to the top of the company due to the huge amount of crowd support.
LILIAN THURAM
So gifted a defender it should be illegal. For both Parma and Juventus he was a commanding centre back that a tactical nuke couldn;t get past, yet for France he was a superb right back with great attacking instincts.
HOLLY HOLM
While I can say that I genuinely couldn't give a tuppeny **** about MMA, the collective nervous breakdown of not just Ronda Rousey's fanboys but UFC's douchebag-in-chief Dana White when she utterly annihilated Rousey was glorious.
TEDDY SHERINGHAM
Let's be honest, barring a couple of borderline respectible seasons the 1990s were complete ****e for us. Yet even though we were stagnant on the pitch and off, and it felt like Alan Sugar was having a personal competition with Doug Ellis to see who could run a football club without putting their hand in their pocket the longest, Teddy was always a bright light amidst a sea of stodge, single-handedly dragging the team up above their level of ability most seasons, while complementing genuine talent such as Klinsmann, Ginola and Anderton.
JET LI
...on a technicality, I know, but before he moved into film (and I could genuinely spend an entire day watching Jet Li fight scenes), but it has to be said that when he was just twelve years old he was winning numerous martial arts championships against people literally twice his age, and no matter how you look at it that's scarily impressive.
I've enjoyed reading the thread and it's a very good time for it, but virtually all of my sporting heroes are Spurs players, I'm afraid.Would be interested to hear from @PleaseNotPoll @humanbeingincroydon @O.Spurcat @SpursDisciple (amongst others) with their sporting heroes
I just don't seem to develop particular affection for those in other disciplines, for some reason.
I'm a fan of the upset, the underdog and the entertainer and none of them tend to last long enough to get attached to.
Good call Eddie the Eagle but who are the other two?Eddie the Eagle, Devon Lock and Jamie Vardy it is then
Devon Loch - I blame Google's automated spell check which has knowledge, but lacks wisdom
Vardy? No idea.
I'm adding John McEnroe to my list.
Great player, but a brat when playing.
As a middle aged man and commentator, he's become unmissable. Have to watch when he's on (as he is now).
Great player, but a brat when playing.
As a middle aged man and commentator, he's become unmissable. Have to watch when he's on (as he is now).
I recall Taylors purple patch - I think I saw more Gills matches that season with you than any other - The 2nd half hat trick v Bristol City ( managed by Pulis) was a genuine thing of beauty.
My favourite Stan Bowles story is the Sunderland FA Cup one; QPR played Sunderland in the league 4 days after there 1973 cup victory and during the warm up have the cup on a table in front of the main stand at Roker Park - in his own words
'There were a couple of us who had a bet on who could knock it off the table with the ball first," he recalls. "With the ball at my feet I tear off straight across the park. Everyone on the pitch is just staring at me - and then, bang! The FA Cup goes shooting up in the air'
Would love to have seen that
My mother-in-law was in the same class at school as Stan Bowles.
He drinks in a pub around two miles away from me, although he has Alzheimer's now.
Did great for QPR, but otherwise wasted his talent.
He drinks in a pub around two miles away from me, although he has Alzheimer's now.
Did great for QPR, but otherwise wasted his talent.