I saw this question in a Deadspin story, and I thought it was an interesting idea.
You get to pick an athlete who never got that winner’s trophy at the end of a season. An athlete who you feel played so well during his or her career that a championship is deserved nonetheless, and you have the power to rectify that. The caveats are that you aren’t awarding a championship to this person’s teammates—just the individual. And you aren’t taking away a championship from any other person or team who actually won one.
So, to whom do you gift this award? Who do you consider most deserving of one who never had one?
I’m not a Bills fan, but that’s a good pick. A guy who came so close so many times and has also dealt with a lot of personal stuff.
Other players that came to my mind were Karl Malone and Charles Barkley. Bernie Kosar, as a selfish Browns fan. Carl Yastrzemski also gets honorable mention.
2 NASCAR drivers deserve championships that they never received. Mark Martin finished second in the points on 5 occasions. In 1994, he finished 3 points behind Dale Earnhardt but earlier in the year, Martin was penalized 15 points for an illegal part that was a few weeks later deemed legal. The 15 points were never returned.
In 2011, Carl Edwards finished tied in the points with Tony Stewart, Tony was given the championship based on wins. Carl kind of screwed himself in this case, at a race at Talladega he stuck the nose of his car under Brad Keselowski’s and ended up crashing. If he had just backed off and accepted second, he would have won the championship by 24 points.
Along those lines, Ron Santo. Preferably via time machine so he could receive it while alive, unlike his HOF induction. Not only was he a great player, but he was such a fan and just exuded joy for his beloved Cubs and baseball in general. Even after diabetes had taken his legs away.
And, because he’s my all-time favorite ballplayer–Ryne Sandberg.
Angel McCoughtry. Dragged an otherwise talentless Louisville team to the NCAA National Championship game, only to lose to an overwhelming Connecticut team. Gets drafted into the WNBA, and carries an expansion Atlanta team to the WNBA Finals three times in her first eight seasons, only to be swept all three times.
Fourth-highest scoring average in WNBA history, two-time scoring champion, one of only five players to lead the league in scoring more than once; Becky Hammon is the only other player in league history who has scored at least as many points as her, who also doesn’t have a ring.
Interesting thought, this thread. Lots of good answers here so far. Many of who I’d pick are already taken, so I’ll add this one: the race horse Alydar. In the 1978 US Triple Crown of horse racing, Affirmed won the Triple Crown, and in a great duel, Alydar finished 2nd in each race.
Good picks here too, but Bernie Kosar got his ring – as a backup on the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXVIII team, 30-13 over the Buffalo Bills.
I have a weird take on this: if you are a quarterback for a team that got close (especially more than once), you don’t deserve pity for failing to achieve the ultimate prize, because you are probably the main reason the team didn’t win.
Thus, I wouldn’t give one to Jim Kelly, nice as he is, because unlike, say, Bruce Smith, or even more so Adam Lingner, Kelly himself, simply by performing just a bit better, could have made it so the Bills won one of the four SBs they lost. He’s perhaps the single most culpable player not named Norwood in this regard.
For me, the target of such an accolade would be someone who was an outstanding athlete at their position, but who never had more than a sniff of the ultimate glory, never was called upon to put it on the line when it really counted, so they could show just what they had at crunch time. Barry Sanders is probably the ultimate example in the NFL. In baseball, one can think of many a Cub or Red Sox player (not to mention the Phillies, the Indians, etc.); I personally would nominate Rod Carew.
Now, if one removes the restriction I imposed of not rewarding those who could have rewarded themselves, I nominate Colin Montgomerie, probably the best golfer of all time to have never won a major…