There are always some guys who have a reputation for training/practicing harder/more than the other guys in the league. Larry Bird comes to mind. and Jerry Rice. Who would you say holds those distinctions now? In the Past?
Kobe Bryant.
Yup. That’s a good one. Can you think of anyone else? Perhaps part of the newer crop of players?
[semiserious answer]Mathieu Darche[/semiserious]
Undrafted, first one-way pro contract at the age of 33, hands of stone but works his ass off and is reliable in shutdown roles. Because his job is rather easily up for grabs by rookies and other players, he puts in a ton of work to keep it. He has a reputation of being first on the ice and last off, and is a good mentor for the younger players. He has great hockey sense - knows where to be and what needs to be done, but doesn’t quite have the skills to do it reliably.
I think it’s the role players in any sport that have to work hardest - the superstars with pure talent can get by on somewhat less work and have more success. I’m sure every team has a player on the bubble like this, and there might be harder working ones, but I think the age at which Darche broke into the NHL makes him one of the hardest working players.
I don’t follow hockey, but I love that story. Reminds me of Vince Papale of the Philadelphia Eagles. (Invincible).
Barry Bonds.
Ray Lewis.
Maybe. But he’s forever tainted. Sad.
I’ve heard Dwayne Wade is pretty serious with training. Anyone know if that’s true? And if you look at Dwight Howard, he looks like he lives in the gym, but I think he started out with a pretty good set of genes.
Walter Payton had the reputation for working out like a fiend, and keeping himself in extraordinarily good condition, even for a pro athlete.
Derek Jeter has already reported to spring training.
Coincidentally, I heard both Eli Manning and Tom Brady work exceptionally hard. Eli’s been reported to hang out in the film room until 2 in the morning, and supposedly, Tom is the first to start practice and the last to leave every day.
In hockey, Gary Roberts had a reputation for fitness. Hell, he came back from a serious neck injury and its associated surgery. In his retirement he has worked with Steven Stamkos, and a good player is now the best goal scorer in the game.
Chris Chelios also had a reputation for his fitness work ethic. Playing well into his 40s shows how it payed off for him.
Great answers here. Thanks. Any names of rookies. Or people from other sports? MMA? Soccer? Boxing? Also, I have to believe that there are some young guys in the NBA who are super dedicated/determined.
There probably are, but that isn’t something you really notice until a few years down the line. I believe Derick Rose probably has the same kind of dedication and commitment to getting better as Kobe, but you simply can’t tell yet.
Practically EVERYBODY works very hard in the NFL, but the one name I always heard on every list of “hardest working athletes” was Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys.
He was the quintessential “words hard and plays harder” athlete. Off the field, he had a huge appetite for women and drugs… but every observer agreeed that he worked harder in the weight room and on the practice field than anybody else on the Miami Hurricanes or the Dallas Cowboys. And teammates tended to take their cues from him.
Postscript: in general, MOST pro athletes work extremely hard. But when a particular athlete gets a widespread REPUTATION for being such a hard worker… well, I hate to bring this up, but…
-
99% of the time, the “hard-working” player is a white guy.
-
Most of the time, the “hard working” player isn’t all that good.
To use one example, Dallas Cowboys fans and media ALWAYS used to go on and on about what a hard worker (white) defensive back Bill Bates was. He was one of the most popular players in Dallas, precisely because of his supposedly phenomenal work ethic.
But really, did fans KNOW that Bates worked any harder in practice than his black colleagues Larry Brown or Kevin Smith? Of course not- they were generally parroting what they’d heard. There’s often an assumption among white fans and reporters that black players are just NATURALLY gifted, while white guys who succeed got there through “hard work.”
Moreover, for all his fine qualities… Bill Bates was a LOUSY defensive back, and a WORSE special teams player.
Deion Sanders had a reputation for coasting, for goofing off in practice, knowing he could cover ANY receiver just with his natural gifts. Many fans looked down on Deion for that.
But realistically, even if Bill Bates was an EXTREMELY hard worker and Deion Sanders was a lazy player… well, there’s no question which of those guys I’d want to have covering Jerry Rice or Tim Brown.
A lazy Deion Sanders was still 100 times better than a hard-working Bill Bates.
Dennis Rodman had a similar reputation when he played for the Bulls. (And I assume for other teams as well, but I didn’t hear about it until he came to Chicago.) He’d spend hours lifting weights and studying film to figure out where his opponents were most likely to leave their missed shots, then go clubbing all night.
I think there’s a substantial difference between the fitness nuts - of whom there are many in every sport - and the guys who just work work work because they need to keep up with the superstars because they don’t have all the attributes that are typically needed for their sport.
Look at Martin St, Louis - the man is 5’7" and weighs 180lbs. The average hockey player is about 6’ or 6’1" and weighs 200lbs. How much harder does he have to work to win puck battles, to outskate guys with longer legs (except for Hal Gill…lol) than someone like Vincent Lecavalier, 6’4", 218lbs who was drafted first overall? St. Louis also wasn’t drafted and spent a few years in the minors before getting his chance. He’s now a top-performing player in the NHL, with several years in his career.
By reputation, St Louis is a fitness nut too.
His current workout routine:
“Walker stated in an in-studio interview during BaD Radio on August 23, 2010 that he still performs 3,500 sit-ups and 1,000 push ups every day. He has been going through this same routine since high school. Walker has said that he only eats once a day.”
And while this probably isn’t what the OP is after, I would bet that the commissioners (Goodall, Stern, etc) work their asses off too.
Tony McKegney and Jerome Iginla both have/had reputations as hard workers…I guess your idea has some inverse racism to overcome.