A recent post over at Can't have too many cards talked about the various Daves and Davids that have been great athletes in the major sports. I thought it was a nice idea, so I stole it for this post!
For those of you who don't know, my name is Kevin. Side note: Evidently Germans think that people with the name Kevin are low class or stupid people. I'm not really in a position to offer any evidence to the contrary, so take that for what you will. Not really related to the point of this post, but I thought that this perception of people like me should probably be promoted a little more strongly. Sometimes even the Germans get things right! (no offense, all you Germans, just having fun)
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| Your average, every day Kevin |
So here are the notable Kevins from the 4 major sports!
Baseball
Kevin Appier
Kevin Brown
Kevin Elster
Kevin Gross
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Kevin Maas
Kevin McReynolds
Kevin Millwood
Kevin Mitchell
Kevin Seitzer
Kevin Youkilis
Hall of Famers: Zero!
Kevin's show up in baseball quite a bit. But they can't seem to excel. Enough to make a decent team here though, most positions could be adequately filled by this group. And if not, there are a lot more MLB Kevins that didn't quite make this list. Two of my favorite "not quite a star" players here, McReynolds and Youkilis. Hard to say who the best all time MLB Kevin is though. Thoughts?
Football
Kevin Greene
Kevin Mawae
Hall of Famers: Two
Football did not quite make as good a showing as Baseball in terms of quantity, but beat it in quality. Hopefully I missed somebody good, because only two decent Kevins is embarrassing! Come on, Kevins of the world! Both of these guys were very high level players though so I hope that counts for something.
Hockey
Hmm, I seem to have forgotten to research Hockey.... Nope, I actually did, but the Kevins in the NHL are few and far between. And those that did show up were not familiar to my eyes. But I am not much of a Hockey guy, so maybe you guys can tell me some decent Kevin in that world.
Basketball
OK, saved the best for last. There are far more studs named Kevin from the NBA than anywhere else.
Kevin Duckworth
Kevin Durant
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Love
Kevin Martin
Kevin McHale
Kevin Willis
Hall of Famers: 3 (Garnett, McHale and eventually, Durant)
Only 8 guys in my list, but you could put this group up as a team against pretty much anyone. Insanely strong in the frontcourt with Garnett, McHale and Willis/Durant. Not a ton of bodies in the backcourt, but if KJ can play a lot of minutes at the point, they'd get by. Move Durant back to shooting guard and let Kevin Martin spell him and KJ. It could work! This team is loaded with shooters at every position, and plenty of toughness too.
OK, who'd I miss? I'm sure there are a few...
Kevin Butler was a kicker for the Bears.
ReplyDeleteKevin Ross is in the Chiefs Hall of Fame, had a pretty good career. Right now he's a coach for the Buccaneers I think. Kevin Carter played for the Rams and Titans in the 90's and 2000's.
ReplyDeleteI should look into players with my name, but I can't think of any that would have a first name Jupiter. Maybe I'll look for my real name.
Did this for my name quite some time ago. I should do it for my blog name now, I've got Night Train Lane right off the bat.
ReplyDeleteKevin Stevens was a winger for the Penguins... back in the 90's. I'd also pick that team when I played NHL 94 because Lemieux, Jagr, Murphy, Samuelsson, and Stevens would just dominate. Good times. Can't think of any other baseball or basketball guys, but the Browns had a wide receiver named Kevin Johnson. I remember hoarding his rookie cards.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Kevins don't dominate the sports world, but at least you have Katherine O'Hara shouting your name every Christmas because you were left Home Alone..
ReplyDeleteAs much as I'd like to advocate for one of the Mets on your list, I'd have to say the best baseball Kevin is Kevin Brown. He's got at least a decent Hall of Fame case.
ReplyDeleteOf course I'm in the weird position that the best major leaguer with my first name has it as his LAST name.
Given their history, I don't think we should be putting too much stock in what the Germans have to say about, well... anything! :)
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