The fans were brutal to Simms. They didn’t respect him until he retired.
I think you underestimate the love Giants fans have for Mark Bavaro. I’d say 9 out of 10 would give him their daughter’s virginity. Okay, maybe that’s over the top. 8 out of 10.
Short of Bavaro, I think you’re right. As a Giants fan, I have no love for anybody other than Bavaro. Not even Strahan, Shockey or Tiki. Simms maybe, but I didn’t really become a football fan until after the strike year of 87, so his one great effort I saw ended with Hostetler beating the Bills.
For Detroit, I’d have to say a tie between Stevie Y and Al Kaline. Ernie Harwell if you count broadcasters. Definitely not Barry Sanders, that sour taste from the childish and unprofessional way he retired will never go away.
I’m surprised George Brett didn’t get the nod from the KC crowd.
For New Yorkers, I would go with Mickey. Joe D was respected but not really beloved, plus now it’s become known what a complete jerk he was in his private life.
“3Com” pissed me off because “Candlestick” was the name chosen by voters of San Francisco. Plus, we haven’t bothered to reinstate the “Candlestick” name now that 3Com let the name lapse. “Pac Bell” I didn’t mind because they paid a shitload of money to build the damn place, not just rename it. SF citizens paid no taxes to build the ballpark. I’ll forfeit a name for a ballpark. “SBC” sounds worse, but, egh, it’s not like “Pac Bell” was a revered image to start with.
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Forgive me going off topic, but 3-Com inspired a great line from Skip Carey once. The Braves broadcasters were lamenting corporate names for ballparks, like Cinergy Field and 3-Com, asking about what they referred to. Carey said, “Oh, I know what 3-Com refers to. It’s Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky, right?.” I fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.
He’s already been mentioned, but I’ll say it again:
In Seattle, it’s Edgar Martinez, hands down. The fans love him. He came up through the Mariner’s farm system, and he’s still here. Same team for his entire career, getting ready to start his 18th season as a Mariner. He’s been Mr. Consistency for his whole career. While Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez (Pay-rod) were more electrifying and more popular on a national scale, there is simply a love for Edgar that I don’t think was there for the rest of them. His nickname is “Papa”. You go, 'Gar!
A close second would have to be Mariner’s long-time announcer, Dave Niehaus.
A huge second for the Captain. Remember “the dead things”? The 80’s? Yzerman never worked for a trade to a “Stanley Cup” team, never jumped ship because the team sucked. Nice to see integrity like that rewarded with 3 fat rings, even if they did come in his career’s autumn. Barry who again?
This could also be the case in Ann Arbor, where tailgaters at Michigan football games still play tapes and CD’s of games announced by Bob Ufer, who for many years was the manic “Voice of Wolverine Football.” He combined the enthusiasm of Dick Vitale with an absolute inability to see things any other way than through Maize and Blue colored glasses. His call of Anthony Carter’s last second TD catch and run against Indiana is a classic, as well as the poem “Burying Woody Hayes” that he read after Michigan upset Ohio State in 1969.
