OT - Favorite 'could have been' athletes
Inspired by today, August 2, being Grady Sizemore's 38th birthday.
Before injures took their toll and forced him to miss extended action, he was one of the best outfielders in baseball and a player who seemed like he was on his way to compiling an interesting Hall of Fame case.
Who are some other sports figures y'all were a fan of like this, whether it be because of injuries or other circumstances?
Go Blue!
August 2nd, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
I think it was almost more of a quarterback issue than anything else. Scott Mitchell. The biggest loser.
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Tony Boles
The very first player in my lifetime that I can remember asking this question about.
Cocaine is a helluva drug
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
mark fidrych
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
with today's surgical techniques he could have been in his prime during the 80s. likely a few more world series appearances.
Just trying to imagine a rotation of Fidrych, Morris, Petry and Wilcox with Rozema as the 5th starter. Move Berenguer to the BP. Now that would have been formidable.
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
Drew Henson and Matt Gutierrez (sp?)
I agree about Henson, had he stuck with football. Guitierrez transferred to Idaho St., started, and played in the NFL. He simply wasn't good enough to stick.
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
Steroids were behind Grady's offensive leap, and likely a contributing factor to his injuries and demise.
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Everyone since 2007 that didn't redshirt properly. I forgot how the timing worked but it would have been nice for Gardner to have been the QB in 2015.
Gardner player in games in ‘10, ‘11, ‘12, ‘13, and ‘14, so not a wasted timeline as far as eligibility, but man he would’ve been fun to see in 2015 under Harbaugh
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Mitch McGary
Not a doubt in my mind that we win the 2014 national title with him in the lineup
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
How about Tyrone Wheatley? We saw what he could do when fully healthy but he always seemed to have a nagging injury keeping him out of some games every year.
Also I think Tate Forcier had the most god given talent as a QB since Henne, but he wasn't able to improve himself enough or work hard enough to fully show it.
I recently rewatched some of the older games with Tate Forcier at QB. He was honestly pretty amazing given he was only a freshman and had the misfortune of playing for Michigan under RichRod. The dude just couldn’t get his act together academically.
He reminds me of Johnny Manziel, except Manziel actually ended up winning the heisman, and didn’t really fall apart until he decided to completely waste an NFL career. I just don’t understand it.
Forcier's pocket presence was impressive. I'd swear he had eyes in the back of his head.
August 2nd, 2020 at 11:05 PM ^
Wheatley was the first guy I thought of. He had a great career at Michigan despite being banged up a lot of the time.
Hell, he only had 15 carries in that fantastic Rose Bowl game he had against Washington; he couldn't play the whole game because of what I remember (probably incorrectly) as a back injury.
August 2nd, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
Sidd Finch
You're old. I was a freshman living in West Quad when Sidd Finch came to spring training.
If he'd given up the French horn and focused on his control, he coulda been something else.
You took mine.
I so wish he had been real
Since the obvious names have already been mentioned I’ll put in Mike Utley and Eric Andolsek.
We all make fun of the Lions here, but the ineptitude and micromanagement of the Ford Family has overshadowed some real tragedies. Utley's is probably better known. Here's Andolsek's wiki page:
Pretty much every American tennis player in the last decade that was supposed to be the next coming but cannot seem to even threaten the top 10.
Really, aside from Isner, has there been an American guy since Roddick that had any level of hype that is now past their potential?
Sock and Querrey were never projected to be contenders for Slams, were they? I mean, in theory if Sock lost 30 pounds and stayed on a clay court for the next year he could make a run in France if Nadal skipped it.
And during this period, the Bryan brothers became the greatest doubles team in tennis history, so...
But yes, after dominating the international game during the 80's, 90's, and early 00's, American men haven't done much in singles play.
And then this ignores the the deep and broad talent in the women's game, including either the best or second best player of all time and another top 30 player of all time.
Past their potential? No. But, I am still waiting for guys like Tiafoe, Fritz, Opelka, Donaldson to even threaten the big boys and show any form of sustained success.
Each one has had the occasional nice run, but there's been nothing to show they have the goods yet to compete in the top tier. I get they are all young, but I'm still super concerned about them.
I think Sock had a pretty big amount of hype. He's been so freaking lazy and clearly not interested in being a big dog.
Sorry for the confusion, I am not talking about the women, just the men.
Francis is 22 and is really the only one of those guys to get hyped. Opelka and Fritz have always been just like Isner. If they go on a 2 week serving run, they can win a Slam on grass or a hard surface. Fritz is developing more of an all around game, but it's a work in progress.
The only difference between the 90's and now is that instead of it being two Americans grabbing all the headlines for a decade with a few random other guys popping up, it's been 3.5 Europeans doing it for nearly two decades with the occasional interloper.
Even if Sock were to get in shape, his backhand is a major liability that most top 5-10 player can exploit. He seems to have decided that he can make a better living on tour as doubles specialist.
I'm not very optimistic on Tiafoe either. He's 22 and currently ranked #81 (down from his career bet #29) in the world which means he's playing challengers and having to qualify to get into the big tournaments. He is at the age where he needs to be knocking on the door of the top 10 if he's going to contend for slams in the future and he's not near that. His forehand is very unorthodox where he has an extreme western grip / closed racket face with a big take back. Can lead to some big shots but also a lot of errors.
The last two guys not in the running for greatest tennis player of all time or just the greatest player in national history to win Slams were both in their mid to late 20's. That was 2014 when Cilic won the US and Wawrinka won Australia.
The idea that Tiafoe is somehow aging out of his window is simply absurd. If you want to nitpick forehand technique, lets start with Nadal and his buggy whip.
As for Tiafoe's ranking, you do realize he dropped most of those points because he ran into Medvedev in Australia in the first round and wasn't able to defend his QF run from the year before, right?
August 2nd, 2020 at 11:03 PM ^
Sure, it was unlucky that he ran into Medvedev in the 1st round in Melbourne but that's what happens when you lose in the first round of Doha, Auckland, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Atlanta, etc (he ended 2019 winning one match or fewer at his last ten ATP events)....your ranking tanks far into unseeded land where you end up meeting the top players early in tournaments. Before the Covid lockdown this year, he was losing early in Challenger tournaments as well which further hurt his ranking.
I've watched him play several times (including in person) and while Tiafoe has a potentially great serve, improvises extremely well and plays with a lot of grit, I think his game currently lags quite a bit behind Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Berrettini, Khachanov, Rublev, Auger-Aliassime, Humbert and others who are also in their early to mid 20's.
Tiafoe's forehand is a big problem (here is a good article - Where Does Frances Tiafoe Go From Here?) and is something he must fix if he doesn't want to spend his career qualifying to get into tournaments. If he does somehow get a consistent ATP level forehand, he could be a top 10-15 player which would be awesome for U.S. tennis.
Brandon Roy
The first name that comes to mind for me is probably Bo Jackson. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done in two sports over many more years. He was, after all, a fucking incredible athlete.
The amusing, obscure answer? In 1985, the Glasgow Rangers (now in the Scottish Premiership) tried out some dude named Gordon Ramsay, who went on to have a successful career outside of sports, I believe...
I agree, Bo would’ve been an all time great in two pro sports. I think he would’ve been remembered as the modern day Jim Thorpe, instead of this incredible flash in the pan and in the blink of an eye he’s gone. Dude was already an All-Pro in both sports by the time he went down. I don’t think we’ve seen a RB with his combination of size and speed except maybe Adrian Peterson in his prime.
On an unrelated and sad note, I have a feeling every away game we play the next few years will be littered with fans holding signs of his old ad slogan “Bo Knows”.
August 2nd, 2020 at 11:42 PM ^
Can confirm this about Ramsay. Have a pretty sickening liking for the chef, have heard this mentioned about him and by him many times.
I honestly believe Devin Gardner could’ve been a Heisman trophy winning QB with a successful NFL career. Brady Hoke and his staff wasting his potential is one of the greatest tragedies in Michigan football history.
Michael Vick. Not really injury-related, but if he had been put in an offense all along that really knew what to do with a talent like that, he might have dominated the league.
Grant Hill, Larry Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Mark Prior...
Mark Prior is an especially good answer. There was so much mania for him in Chicago it figures something bad would happen.
I watched the 30 for 30 episode about McGwire and Sosa’s run at Maris’s record. That same season Kerry Wood struck out 20 as a rookie. He was all set to be the next Roger Clemens, until he wasn’t.
How about Derrick Rose
Tony Boles
It's not a perfect analogy but at Michigan, Matt Gutierrez pops out. Was a highly-regarded QB (I remember people saying he was Navarre but with wheels) who hurt his shoulder before the first name of the year and got jumped by Henne. Never quite got back to competing for a spot, transferred to Idaho St, then had small sips of coffee with various NFL teams. But that was a guy who I thought could have done some good things at UM.
Outside of UM, Robert Edwards for the Pats tore his ACL (and other ligaments) at a Pro Bowl sand football game and was basically done with the NFL at that point. He had made the Pro Bowl as a rookie after putting together a really solid year and looked poised to be a pretty good RB for years.
Jamal Crawford.
Also in a slightly different universe maybe we could have had Kevin Garnett, Jason Richardson, Devin Booker, etc.
Also, obligatory Jai Eugene.
Kevin Durant, Harden, Russ staying on OKC... Does that count?
Vladimir Konstantinov
Can you imagine if we had another 5-7 years of him on the back end along with Nicklas Lidstrom?
I gotta believe the Wings would have won a few more Stanley Cups!
Good call
Poor Devin Gardner.
This will sound weird, but: Chris Webber
I know he had a borderline HOF career in the NBA. I think it could've been better, though, if he'd stayed within a few feet of the basket. He was explosive with long arms and big, soft hands. I don't think he played to his best strengths.
I agree. He also seemed be injured and miss at least a decent number of games each. He only played 70+ games 6 times in his career. I really would've liked to see him and Shaq together too. They both were plus passers and I think could've dominated in 90's style basketball.
Penny Hardaway would be another NBA player from that era I always wonder what he could've been without getting inured.
Mario Lemieux - hall of famer, but perhaps the most talented all-around hockey Player ever. Missed way to many games due to injuries and cancer to catch the Great One, Gretzky
Tom Brady @UM. 99 team was a national title contender. QB rotation and Illinois collapse were Carr’s worst coaching job.
Reggie Lewis and Len Bias.
Derrick Rose.
Bo Jackson