Biggest busts in the history of US sport

Damon Bailley
Mychal Thompson
Rick Mirer
Kade McNown
Rashon Salaam
Brian Kingman
Archie Griffin
Brian Bosworth
Shawn Bradley
Bill Walton

Oh. Never mind. I thought this was going to be about Mia Hamm.

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Ryan Leaf
Darryl Strawberry

Haj

Why is Bill Walton up there? He was a dominant center for a few seasons and won a championship until his feet gave out.

um, the XFL

::d&r::

Why, Morganna, the Kissing Bandit, of course!

Ajou Ajou Deng
Rick Ankiel
Ki-jana Carter
Anyone taken in the first round by either the Clippers or Bengals

Tony Mandarich
Eric Lindros
David Klingler
Andre Ware
Mark Malone
Heath Shuler

The Yankees paid a million dollar bonus to pitcher Brien Taylor, their top draft pick. So far as I know, he never pitched an inning in the majors.

Todd Marinovich - Raiders(?)
Todd Van Poppel - NY Yankees
Akili Smith - latest Bungles washout
Booker Reese - Buccaneers accidental first round choice

(I grew up in Tampa Bay and live in Cincinnati, both places where you can scarce swing a dead cat around without hitting a big sports flop of some sort…)

Wayne Garland. Way back in mid 1970s at the dawn of baseball’s free agent era, Garland won 20 games for the Orioles. The Indians immediately signed him to a ten year contract for the then unheard of sum of $235,000 per year, after which Garland hurt his arm, went 13-19 in his first year in Cleveland and genrally stuck out the joint.

Sam Bowie. The guy the Trail Blazers selected instead of Jordan.

Ralph Sampson. A guy 7’4" who wanted to play point guard.

PatrickM,

Wayne Garland sure brought back memories. I forgot all about him until reading your post. And it reminded me of another bust.

Rennie Stennett, who was signed by the Giants for an ungodly sum, broke his leg and never regained his form.

And for Reds fans, let’s not forget Ken Griffey, Jr. One of the biggest free agent busts in recent memory.

I thought this was going to be a Ryan Leaf thread. heck, the Seahawks offered him one last chance, and he goes and retires.

As a Packer fan, I have to go with Tony Mandarich. He was supposed to be the next Forrest Gregg, instead he was more like Forrest Gump. The Packers could have had Barry Sanders, for crying out loud!

Barry Sanders and Brett Favre in the same backfield would have been unstoppable.

I, too, disagree at least somewhat with including Bill Walton here. In general, I would define a “bust” as someone who just plain did not live up to his/her potential, rather than someone whose career was cut short or hampered by chronic injuries.

Darryl Dawkins is someone who I do think was a bust. He was not a totally bad player, but always seemed to get into foul trouble and was just generally not a very dominant center. The 76ers were never able to win a championship with him, but did do so with Moses Malone in the middle.

Anybody remember Mark Fidrych? I didn’t think so.

Uh, Bill Walton was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993 and was named one of the NBA’s Top 50 Players of all time.

Hardly a bust.

IMHO a “bust” is a relative thing. I think of a bust as someone with high potential and high expectations who falls well short of expectations.

Perhaps Walton does not belong in the top 100 busts or 1,000, even, but after graduation from UCLA he drew comparisons to Lew Alcindor, fair or not. His career does not compare to Alcindor’s.

After college, Walton was on a strict vegetarian diet that was seriously lacking in protein for a man of his stature and activity level. Walton ignored his team’s physicians’s dietary advice, which, according to the physicians, limited his potential and lead to many avoidable recurring injuries.

Clearly, Walton had a noteworthy career, but IMHO he could have, would have and should have been a much more dominant player for a longer period of time. His last few years were a mere shadow of his potential.

Is Tiger Woods a bust?

He has fallen below expectaions, by not winning the British Open.

Yes, the Big Red Head, did have high expectations. And he did not achieve the longevity part of those expectaions.
But he was still considered Hall of Fame material because, when healthy, he was the 2nd best center in the league.
Kareem being #1.

Ricky Williams has been a disapointment.
Rebecca Lobo
Kelvin Cato