Over at the Fanhouse they are running a series that names the top five athletes in American cities and today they're covering New York. Dan Shanoff authors the list using the criteria that Fanhouse established.
1) What would a New York sports fan say is his or her favorite local athlete? 2) Would the player's name be familiar to someone who doesn't follow sports or only follows local sports casually? 3) Would the player be recognized walking down the street?
Shanoff lists Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Stephon Marbury, David Wright and Eli Manning. Honorable mentions are Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Jose Reyes, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, Eddy Curry, Chad Pennington and Jeremy Shockey. That's not a bad five if you're giving equal weight to each of the three criteria but if you're giving people who don't follow sports the same weight as people who do it's tough to agree with the criteria. Especially when two of the three have nothing to do with sports.
Mets fans are crazy about Reyes, for example, and most Yankee fans would agree that he's a dynamic player. Wright probably has more name recognition with sports novices because of endorsements and being a good-looking white guy but Reyes is both a better player and would probably get named more often as a favorite by sports fans. With the Yankees, there's no doubt that Mariano Rivera is more beloved by the fan base than A-Rod and you could make a case for Jorge Posada also having more "street cred."
Manning is the worst choice of the five, though. Rodriguez is well-known for his on and off-field exploits and Marbury's the best player on the Knicks and his sneaker line earned him tons of mainstream publicity. No matter their foibles any list of New York athletes should include them. Is there anyone that would say Manning is their favorite local athlete? That's a zero in the first criteria. How much credit can you get for being someone casual fans know because you're splashed on back pages time and again for sucking and being the butt of jokes among more serious fans at parties and offices around the city? It may earn you points on the second but other than sports fans are there really many people who would recognize a guy who wears a helmet all the time? Rivera, Reyes and Shockey would all get just as many looks on the street, if not more, and would score higher than Manning in the favorite player category.
Reyes and Rivera would each make a better choice but Jason Kidd is probably the guy who should have been on the list ahead of Manning. Even though it would mean no football players in the top five, Kidd's well-liked by basketball afficianados, gave the Nets credibility and got numerous mentions in the non-sports pages thanks to his salacious split from his wife.
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