Phoenix’s Top Five Athletes (right now)
Yesterday, Miss Gossip over at AOL FanHouse reached out to me for my top 5 Phoenix Athletes. The criteria: 1) Who would a Phoenix sports fan say is his or her favorite local athlete? 2) Would the player’s name be familiar to someone who doesn’t follow sports or only follows local sports casually? 3) Would the player be recognized walking down the street?
With that said I went ahead and compiled my list and emailed it back to her. You can find Miss Gossip’s list here. And what was mine you might ask?
#5 Wayne Gretzky
Although he’s not an athlete right now. He was and he is definitely recognizable, even with his a) lack of accomplishments in the valley and b) even with hockey doing horribly bad. Would you still recognize him on the street? The casual fan? Perhaps.
#4 Amare Stoudemire
Amare is the man, but he falls to #4 here. After a year in rehab and on the bench, that equals a year lost in the publics eye. However, in the sports land, Amare is a near god and well he is Amare. He’s a Bask-a-holic.
#3 Randy Johnson
Back for his second tour as a Dback, Randy is taller than tall. He’s also packed in Cy Young after Cy Young in the valley, brought in a World Series Championship and also pissed off a lot of people on his way out. It doesn’t matter, anyone would recognize this guy on the street, and that is why he is number 3.
#2 Matt Leinart
Leinart may be the youngest of this bunch, but he has one thing going for him that no one else in the valley can claim being: a near celebrity. Leinart gossip flies faster than Paris Hilton…and there probably is a reason why. Any time he goes out, it’s big scene…And we won’t even go into his speeding tickets.
#1 Steve Nash
Steve Nash is the MV3. I don’t care what anyone else says, that trophy should have been his! He has single handedly lifted the Suns franchise to another level. He plays with heart, he used to play with hair, and he’s always been clutch. He is the face of the Phoenix Suns, and right now, no one can argue that the Phoenix Suns are the most popular team in the Valley. The most popular player on the most popular team = the number 1 athlete in Phoenix.
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Posted by Matt Blake
Co-founder of AZ Sports Hub. Avid blogger, podcaster, and marketer. You can hear Matt rant on In The Zona, Arizona's Premier Sports Podcast. Recently, Matt and the gang launched a new Suns website called SunsHub.com. You can contact Matt via email at: mblake [at] azsportshub.com.
http://azsportshub.com
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No, no, no. This list is not accurate. Randy Johnson? He’s not a fan favorite, at all. I mean, fans respect Johnson but he is not a fan favorite.