Sole claim?
Posted: Saturday, May 02, 2009 by Travis Cody in
I've never called LaDainian Tomlinson by his initials, as has been the fashion since he emerged as this generation's "greatest running back". That's open for debate, but that's also another post.
For me, those initials belong to my generation's "greatest linebacker", Lawrence Taylor.
Taylor changed the way the position of outside linebacker is played. He IS LT. Tomlinson is an outstanding running back. But he's not LT to me.
Does the first to garner such a moniker have sole claim over it? Or is it a generational thing? I mean really, it's just a couple of initials. LaDainian Tomlinson has the initials L and T in his name. That's all that is, right?
Uhm...not in my opinion. The sports nickname LT belongs to Lawrence Taylor.
Today I happened to turn on the hockey playoff game between Pittsburgh and Washington. Both teams have two of the best players in the game, Sidney Crosby for the Penguins and Alex Ovechkin for the Capitals.
Now I don't follow hockey. But my mom is a huge hockey fan and I learned the game back in the 1970's, and did keep up with it in the 1980's. So I recall the outstanding players of those eras, up to and including The Great One, Wayne Gretzky.
While watching the game this morning, I heard the ESPN pronouncer refer to Ovechkin as The Great One.
Now I ask you, can that particular nickname actually be recycled? Aren't there some monikers that belong to only one person? If you're a hockey fan and you hear The Great One, do you think of Gretzky or Ovechkin? And if you think Ovechkin, do you at least remember the greatness of Gretzky?
Does recycling an iconic sports nickname tie the two monikered ones together? Or does the recent use of such a nickname diminish the legacy of the original?
As great a hitter as Tony Gwynn was, he was never called The Splendid Splinter because that belonged to Ted Williams.
There's no other Magic. That's Magic Johnson.
As high as some of these kids fly in the NBA these days, you wouldn't lay Michael Jordan's nickname "Air" on any of them.
Dr J is Julius Erving.
Walter Payton was Sweetness.
As hard as some of these safeties in the NFL can hit a receiver over the middle, you'd never call one of them The Assassin. That belongs to Jack Tatum.
Why don't we call some of these huge NFL linemen The Fridge? Because The Fridge is William Perry.
Maybe the most egregious usurpation of a sports nickname comes from boxing. When you hear Sugar Ray, you should think Robinson. But how many of you thought Leonard? Now I was a fan of Ray Leonard back in the day. But the nickname Sugar doesn't just go with the name Ray as a matter of course. It goes with the name Ray Robinson.
Am I wrong? Am I just a fuddy duddy old school guy?
i agree, trav... monikers are for ONE character, only
who else can be 'the brown bomber' but joe louis, or 'iron mike' tyson, or 'broadway joe' theismann, etc.?
[just shows how OLD i am! :P lol]