Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Simple question. Will there be a player who will have the success of Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders in two sports - demonstrating at least the capability to play in one major professional sport, while demonstrating stardom in another?

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

I was about to say it will never happen, but who knows, maybe Samardjzia?

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i don't think it will happen simply because there is too much money at stake now where if one is a star in one sport.. he will be heavily influenced to be committed to just one... ala smarjidakzljalsdfj... or however you spell his name...

but by pure numbers there will be athletes who will have the capability to do both so if money wasn't a factor and the team did not mind.. then yes i would say it is very likely to happen again...

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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i don't think it will happen simply because there is too much money at stake now where if one is a star in one sport..
but by pure numbers there will be athletes who will have the capability to do both so if money wasn't a factor and the team did not mind.. then yes i would say it is very likely to happen again...

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I agree with this assessment.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports. Say what you want about Deon but he wasn't much in baseball.

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Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports.

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Walter Ray Williams Jr. is a six-time World Champion in Horseshoes and a six-time PBA Player of the Year in bowling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ray_Williams

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports.

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Walter Ray Williams Jr. is a six-time World Champion in Horseshoes and a six-time PBA Player of the Year in bowling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ray_Williams

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This is the same as being very good at chess and checkers. Nice, but we are talking about sports, not games.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Walter Ray Williams is most definitely an athlete. What is the difference between him and David Wells? *other than David Wells' athleticism is something that is an unnatural and destructive motion

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

i said a major professional sport - don't nit up the thread.

anyway, the player has to be good enough at both sports that both teams must give in to his wish to play both. this is i think the real difficulty - certainly there will be a talent good enough to play in two leagues, but he has to be just that good that teams will let him stay out of training camp or miss the beginning or end of a season.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports.

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Walter Ray Williams Jr. is a six-time World Champion in Horseshoes and a six-time PBA Player of the Year in bowling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ray_Williams

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This is the same as being very good at chess and checkers. Nice, but we are talking about sports, not games.

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We're not just talking about "being very good." We're talking about being the very best in the world. In two different games/sports. Six times in each game/sport. Really quite an amazing accomplishment, even if you don't consider either activity to be a sport.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

There's a small chance someone who is a top sport's star will be able to compete in golf after he retires.

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There must be some MMA fighters who already qualify.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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Money or not there will likely never be a talent like Bo in two sports.

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Walter Ray Williams Jr. is a six-time World Champion in Horseshoes and a six-time PBA Player of the Year in bowling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ray_Williams

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This is the same as being very good at chess and checkers. Nice, but we are talking about sports, not games.

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We're not just talking about "being very good." We're talking about being the very best in the world. In two different games/sports. Six times in each game/sport. Really quite an amazing accomplishment, even if you don't consider either activity to be a sport.

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Right, but there is still a HUGE difference between good enough to play two major professional sports and being able to play two games like bowling and horseshoes at a world-class level. The reason for this is that the major professional sports are far, far closer to some theoretical maximum or perfect ability level, as a whole, than games like horseshoes and bowling. The 'average professional baseball player' is way closer to the 'theoretical perfect baseball player' than the average bowler or horseshoe-player.

Our average baseball player is ALSO closer than the average baseball player from 50 (or even 15 or 20) years ago, meaning that it is less likely now (and presumably less and less likely as time goes on) that we will ever see anything like this again. Its not impossible, though, and over enough years, unless there is something that strictly prohibits it, it has a good chance of happening again. Previous posters have brought up things that might prohibit it, though, like the fact that these clubs aren't going to want to allow their guy to play other sports, and the amount of money might preclude anyone from wasting the time developing other skills.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

I think the lesson from Bo and Deion, to any future multi-talented prospects, is that it's probably better to stick to one or the other. So you're going to need to have not only an incredibly talented kid, but one with enough maverick spirit to stand up to a gauntlet of handlers advising against it. Seems unlikely, but of course nothing's impossible.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Not a star. Maybe somebody who plays two sports full time, but not a superstar. One sport alone requires a huge commitment. It's impossible to be a superstar in two sports solely based on athletic talent.

People like Bo and Deion were able to be two sport athletes because their natural athleticism made up for their shortcomings in baseball. It's very difficult to pull off that same effect today.

Another possibility is that some sports contracts include clauses in which an athlete can only participate in specific activities. When I played basketball in high school, I was not allowed to be on any other sports team that was not associated with the school. Don't know if that's true for pro athletes, but it might be.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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Not a star. Maybe somebody who plays two sports full time, but not a superstar. One sport alone requires a huge commitment. It's impossible to be a superstar in two sports solely based on athletic talent.

People like Bo and Deion were able to be two sport athletes because their natural athleticism made up for their shortcomings in baseball. It's very difficult to pull off that same effect today.

Another possibility is that some sports contracts include clauses in which an athlete can only participate in specific activities. When I played basketball in high school, I was not allowed to be on any other sports team that was not associated with the school. Don't know if that's true for pro athletes, but it might be.

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Thats just part of the unlikelihood, not a prohibiting factor. The guy would have to be a good enough player at one sport that he could negotiate a contract that didn't forbid it. He'd also have to be willing to take the monetary hit that such a contract would probably require.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Bo was about 20 points better in EQA over his shorter career than Deion. I think if Deion had played in the 80s he would have been more valuable, and if Bo had played in the 90s he would have fit right in.

Given that Deion was a hall of fame DB and Bo had every indication of being a HOF HB, I don't think it took much away from their football careers.

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Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball? It was said he was one of the top prospects and might have made it big in college football had Thompson let him play.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

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Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball? It was said he was one of the top prospects and might have made it big in college football had Thompson let him play.

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I think his chances of playing football are zero. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Interesting. What do you guys think of Iverson's chance of playing both football and basketball?

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He might have been good enough to play football, but there's obv no chance that it happens now, unless he randomly gets banned or something.

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There's a small chance someone who is a top sport's star will be able to compete in golf after he retires.

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Isn't Elway a scratch golfer? I could see this happening quite easily.

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Iverson is about 5ft 11in and 160 lbs....he'd get killed in the NFL even at his position(QB).

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Apparently Michael Vick is also a giant in the dog-fighting world. Does that count?

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Seasons are getting longer. A baseball/football guy would miss too much football if his team made the playoffs today, and no other sport combination is even slightly plausible. Teams are also getting more finicky about guys doing dangerous stuff in the offseason. Finding a player who could do both is easy, tons of guys are multi-sport stars. Finding two teams that are OK with the deal is likely impossible.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

I think it will happen eventually, there are some guys right now with that type of potential, Julios Peppers may have been a solid role-player for an NBA team, nothing compared to his NFL potential but he could have contributed. I always thought Charlie Ward was going to retire from basketball and give the NFL a shot, he had a ton of potential at FSU. There are occasionally guys that played minor league baseball, couldn't break into the bigs, and end up moving on to the NFL. Drew Henson got paid a lot of money to play baseball, never made it to the bigs on a regular basis, then entered the NFL draft. So I guess if minor league baseball counts there are a few guys that have done this as recently as a couple years ago.

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Seasons are getting longer. A baseball/football guy would miss too much football if his team made the playoffs today, and no other sport combination is even slightly plausible. Teams are also getting more finicky about guys doing dangerous stuff in the offseason. Finding a player who could do both is easy, tons of guys are multi-sport stars. Finding two teams that are OK with the deal is likely impossible.

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that's why the guy has to be so good at both sports that both teams have to accept the deal - otherwise they risk losing him to the other sport altogether. sure, there are guys who could be capable in both leagues - think Brian Jordan. But you'd have to be as good or better than Deion or Bo to get away with two-sport stardom now.

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There are certainly guys with two-sport talent... Iverson is one, and apparently A-Rod was attracting attention from pro scouts in three different sports in high school.

But there's so much money in one sport nowadays that a player would have to just want to do it for ego, or something... and none of the teams would really be crazy about having a part-time star anyway.

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What would Iverson have done in the NFL? WR, CB, RB? KR?

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What would Iverson have done in the NFL? WR, CB, RB? KR?

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Iverson is apparently the best high school QB in Virginia history, and that includes Michael Vick.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Rugby union/rugby league is cheating, right?

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Rugby union/rugby league is cheating, right?

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Although Jason Robinson is godlike in both codes, yes, it must be cheating.

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What would Iverson have done in the NFL? WR, CB, RB? KR?

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Iverson is apparently the best high school QB in Virginia history, and that includes Michael Vick.

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I'm aware of his high school exploits, but he's 5-11 and had no future as a QB.

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does that mean iverson actually passes the ball in football?

i know a lot of times people playing 1 sports are forbidden from playing another by their school but if youre good enough theyll let you do whatever the [censored] you want

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

What about MLS soccer + NFL kicker?

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What would Iverson have done in the NFL? WR, CB, RB? KR?

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Iverson is apparently the best high school QB in Virginia history, and that includes Michael Vick.

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I'm aware of his high school exploits, but he's 5-11 and had no future as a QB.

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Had he decided to go the football route instead of basketball he would have been converted to another position. He would also probably weigh a lot more then he does now.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

I don't know if people knew this because it isn't really talked about much, but Darin Erstad was a punter at Nebraska.

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What would Iverson have done in the NFL? WR, CB, RB? KR?

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Iverson is apparently the best high school QB in Virginia history, and that includes Michael Vick.

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I'm aware of his high school exploits, but he's 5-11 and had no future as a QB.

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How do you know that? There's no way for a 5-11 QB to make it to the NFL?

I'm not saying he definitely would have made it, but to just dismiss him because he's not 6'5" is a little silly IMO.

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I don't know how good he was, but I think Tony Gonzalez would have at least gotten a look from the NBA.

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Someone here have the latest issue of ESPN the Magazine? There's a very short blurb there about a guy who played in two major sports, though I've never heard of him. Hopefully, I'll remember to check the issue when I get home.

Re: Will there be another two-sport star?
 

Charlie Ward won the Heisman and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Could he have had an NFL career to complement his NBA career?

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I don't know if people knew this because it isn't really talked about much, but Darin Erstad was a punter at Nebraska.

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lololol