Is there any rational reason for them to do so? Something us non-athletes don’t understand?
I love Jimmy Kimmel’s “I’m The Carl Malone”.
I assume it’s an ego thing. I’ve only noticed this in ultra superstars, none of whom I can think of now, except for LeBron James, who, while not of that status yet, is on the way to life as a substandard human being because of the absolute GODLINESS his handlers and the media bestow upon him.
hrh
Uhhh… how many athletes really do this? For that matter, hrhomer, how many ultra superstars do it? I can’t think of any. I can’t remember the last time I heard an athletes do this.
Michael Jordan doesn’t do it that I’ve ever heard.
Barry Bonds doesn’t, except one time he did use “Barry” to emphasize something.
Wayne Gretzky doesn’t.
Joe Montana didn’t.
Cal Ripken didn’t.
Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t.
I can think of a few athletes who did; Bo Jackson, as I recall, always referred to himself in the third person. Jackson, however, had terrible speech problems as a kid; he stuttered to the point of being almost incapable of conversation. Many pro athletes have speaking problems that become exagerrated when trying to talk to the media, and I know that one way of trying to speak clearly is to refer to yourself in the third person.
It may also just be an urban hip-hop thing.
I didn’t mean to imply that all or even most ultra superstars do this, just that athletes of that stature are the only ones I’ve heard doing it. And no, I can’t recall any off the top of my head either, but I know I’ve heard third person used by athletes on occasion, always black athletes, and usually football or basketball. Actually, I think Rickey Henderson used the third-person “Rickey” when talking about himself. I know there are more.
You may be right about the urban hip-hop thing…
hrh
NurseCarmen thinks it’s all about ego, that’s what NurseCarmen thinks.
Denny Green and Herschell Walker also did this. This could be taken the wrong way very easily, but I don’t recall ever seeing a white athlete speak in this manner. Just my observation.
Well, this thread was inspired by the Roy Jones, Jr. interview after the fight on Saturday night. I don’t think it’s an urban hip-hop thing. You don’t hear kids on the street referring to themselves in the third person.
I always figured that they just didn’t have the mental capacity to juggle three persons in grammar, so dropped one of them.
hrhomer writes:
> I didn’t mean to imply that all or even most ultra superstars do
> this, just that athletes of that stature are the only ones I’ve
> heard doing it. And no, I can’t recall any off the top of my head
> either, but I know I’ve heard third person used by athletes on
> occasion, always black athletes, and usually football or
> basketball.
So Bob Dole is a superstar black athlete?
I’ve never actually heard Bob Dole talk like that. I’ve heard the SNL parody of Bob Dole, but not Bob himself.
And yes, Bob Dole ** is ** a superstar black athlete.
Narrad heard Cathy Freeman refer to herself in the third person a couple weeks ago.
Even more aggravating is athletes who talk about their sporting experiences in the SECOND person.
Eg, “It’s tough, but when you’re out there in the pool and your arms are burning, you just hold on because you’re competing for your country.”
Gah!
Haven’t you ever seen the SNL where Bob Dole makes an appearance? The whole time he’s telling Norm MacDonald’s Bob Dole that “Bob Dole doesn’t always refer to Bob Dole in the third person. Why do people think Bob Dole does that?” Don’t know if that counts though…
In any case, in that episode, the sketch w/Bob Dole as a contestant on “The Real World” is hillarious