If you were a GM in each of the 4 major sports....

....and were starting a franchise, which players would be your top 5 picks in each sport? (I know most don't follow hockey, so you can skip that one if you like 8) )

I'll start us off.

MLB:
1. Pujols - off year last year, but still the king.
2. Santana
3. ARod - tough choice b/c of playoff history, but his #'s can't be argued with.
4. D. Wright
5. Matt Holiday - what a hitter.

Honorable mention: Prince Fielder, Miggy Cabrera, Jake Peavy

NBA:
1. Lebron James
2. Dwight Howard - what a beast.
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Tim Duncan
5. Chris Paul - kid is having an unreal year so far.

NFL:
1. Ladanian Tomlinson
2. Tom Brady
3. Adrian Peterson
4. Peyton Manning
5. Brian Westbrook

NHL:
1. Sidney Crosby
2. Vincent Lecavalier
3. Roberto Luongo
4. Alexander Ovechkin
5. Jarome Iginla

I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreement, especially in the baseball section. So fire away

I'll just stick with baseball and basketball

1. Santana
2. Puljos
3. A-Rod
4. Ryan Howard
5. Jose Reyes

Hoops:

1. Kevin Garnett
2. Dwight Howard
3. Chris Paul
4. Lebron James
5. Kevin Durant

Jay

i'll give this a try since i consider myself a fan of all sports. i take into account age/injury risk/importance of positions. top 5 picks:

mlb:
1. pujols
2. hanley ramirez
3. a-rod
4. david wright
5. miggy cabrera (hopefully he's on that regimen)

nba:
1. lebron
2. kobe
3. chris paul
4. Yao Ming
5. Dwight Howard (still very raw)

nfl:
1. peyton manning
2. adrian peterson
3. L.T.
4. Brady
5. Mario Williams (I'm stretching at 4-5)

nhl:
1. Ovechkin (most exciting player in the world right now)
2. Luongo (best goalie?)
3. Heatley
4. Lacavalier (eh...)
5. Jagr (just because although this is his 2nd "bad" year in a row and sadly he finally might be on the downturn of his career)

Oh yea I'm also a huge soccer fan!

1. Kaka'
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Messi
4. Buffon
5. Totti

The absence of Sidney Crosby on your list astounds me, Quan

We're talking about a once per generation type player here. Your other picks look good though.

the inclusion of jagr prolly took a spot from a better-deserved player...although oddly i'd take malkin before i take crosby. i don't get to watch alot of nhl in the states and don't follow the pens day-to-day anymore so i'm probably missing the spectacular nuances of crosby's game...but generally i don't like smaller guys as in my mind they're more apt to be injury-prone.

cccc wrote:...but generally i don't like smaller guys as in my mind they're more apt to be injury-prone.

This coming from a small guy

Jay

....and Crosby is not small.
I'll try to put up my lists later, but wanted to mention that one of my five for hockey would be John Tavares.

Size doesn't really matter when it comes to injuries. Just ask Eric Lindros.

Jay

cccc wrote:Oh yea I'm also a huge soccer fan!

1. Kaka'
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Messi
4. Buffon
5. Totti

Holy cow! Just noticed I'm not the only futbol fan among American cartophiles. Despite the putrid loss to Tottenham yesterday and his lackluster form lately, ya gotta get Cesc on the list. And no Pato from an apparent Serie A fan?

Isn't there an extra "o" missing from #4?

Jay

MLB

1 Peavy
2 Webb
3 Santana
4 Pujols
5 Holliday
Pitching wins series - probably should have added Beckett. Hate leaving ARod off the list...

NBA

1 Kobe - nobody is more clutch - he finds a way to win
2 James
3 Paul
4 Anthony
5 Nash - getting old, but still wins

NFL

1-5 a great line and great defense - most QBs are over-rated, any can look good when the defense doesn't give up points - even Baltimore won a Superbowl with who at QB???

NHL

1 Crosby
2 Ovechkin
3 Iginla
4 Luongo
5 J Thornton

Okay so I really only watch soccer/futbol (die hard Blackburn Rovers fan...also Steve the Spurs/Arse game was amazing listening to it on the radio (my buddy is a huge Spurs fan)). Also a really good reason to follow soccer in the US is you have a perfect reason to drink beer at 7 am when your team in playing in England at 1 pm!



1. Carlos Tevez
2. Lionel Messi
3. Dimitar Berbatov
4. Roque Santa Cruz (have to have a Rover)
5. Jose Mourinho/Kaka'

To add a US player - Clinton Dempsey

I was at the Brazil/US game in Chicago and it was pretty amzing to watch the full Brazil squad play (much better than they did at the World Cup).



sdbh

I went the Barzil World Cup in Santa Clara. The brazillian fanz are amazing. Gotta love drums and good time to had at the games.

Jay

After attending a few International games I have finally
come to the realization that the best place to sit is behind the goal; they are
the cheapest seats (that is where the above photo was from), and fans that are
mad fer it usually sit there to afford more beer.

You are right Jay, the Brazilians bring out the whole band; the section next to
us was ALL brazil fans and it was an experience.

hey it's nice to get some futbol~! talk in here. i don't know why but the last couple weeks the name tevez have been running through my head also . i remember going to some games with my dad when i was 8-9 years old in vietnam, great time!

for hockey i'd like to add malkin in somewhere...i've always loved him since hearing all the fanfare being drafted after ovechkin and watching him in the last winter olympics.

i freakin' hate that gay binky celebration, but tevez is in fine form, which is also a testament to ronaldo's otherworldly play as of late. it makes me sick, though, because i really want arsenal to win the EPL.

i'm obviously no spurs fan either, but can admit that berbatov's a stud. i know he catches some flak for appearing disinterested, but i think that's just his style.

mourninho's an interesting choice and probably a good one. wonder where he'll end up. i hate chelsea, too, but i do miss the banter between SAF, wenger and the special one. their comments are usually way more interesting than the typical post-game tripe served up by coaches in american sports.

Where are the Totem Hot Spurs or Queens Park Rangers (they still in the EPL) fans

I used to watch the Bundesleage on PBS every Sunday in the 70s. Bayern Munich was favorite team. My son lived in Germany for 6 years and was/is a Belrussia Munchen Gladbach fan. Think he was partial to FC Koln too.

Jay

I don't really follow the Bundasliga that much, mainly because it's not on Fox Soccer Channel. I wish it were, though. I've read that it's one of the last "pure" football leagues in Europe - and quite possibly one of the last such leagues anywhere - in that it hasn't yet been totally tainted by corporate largesse and is still fairly responsive to the interest of fans.

QPR is a second division team now, but Tim Ecclestone and some other guy of of F1 fame bought the team last year, I think. And they sold a stake in the club to some other super-rich dude. A lot of people think they could spend their way to the top, but at the very least they should contend for promotion to the EPL in the near future.

just bumping this thread to give myself a SELF HIGH FIVE (since either ovechkin or malkin will take the hart) for being the best honorary canadian at picking stud hockey players playing the most manly game in the world. i don't consider rugby a sport since it's just a bunch of animals running around . honorary canadian--1 , actual canadians (ben, elliot, etc)--0

i was also able to get my fix of soccer travelling in se asia, since they show that stuff 23 hours a day, the other hour reserved for wrestling.

uh Quan, I see Jagr on your list, but no Malkin

Agreed. Ovechkin is such a stud. I'd definitely take him over Crosby if I were building a team.

Enough of the self-congratulations, though. Arsenal made Kaka look rather ordinary in dumping out reigning cup holders Milan in the UCL. At the San Siro, no less. Wooo! Of course, that epic win was followed by an ugly 0-0 to relegation candidates Wigan.

e--where r u at? i'm busy thurs/fri but can meet on the weekend...

also check my follow-up post about malkin down the thread.

steve, that was a bit of a bummer on my trip but the better team won that day. i was also able to watch a couple barcelona games and messi was everywhere! ronaldhino's touches were still very good when he could get to the ball, but it seemed like he was invisible at times while messi was all over the field...wow. And Ronaldo is still dreamy/intense/mesmerizing

Quan - high fiveing your self, yeah! Way to go out on a limb with that Ovechkin pick

And just FYI I'd still take Crosby over Ovechkin if I were starting a team. I don't look good saying that now because Sid the Kid has been injured for 7 weeks and AO is tearing it up, but Crosby has that unique, Gretzky-like talent in the way he sees the ice and creates plays for himself and others. Ovechkin is more of a pure scorer ala Brett Hull (with better wheels). He's not much of a passer/playmaker, and he'll often try to take on the other team by himself (resulting in plenty of neutral zone turnovers). Ok so I'm nitpicking here, AO is a pure stud plain and simple.

Either way you see it, they're both unbelievable players and will likely be the #1 and #2 stars in the league for the next decade +.

I agree, I would still take Crosby over Ovechkin, but Ovechkin is the more exciting player. Quan, I'm in your backyard....PM sent.