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!
The 2017 DL class is the great Harbaugh-era "what could have been?" question to me. Eight potential DL came in and Kwity is basically all of the production thus far.
Justin Fargas and Drake Harris.
My first choices have all been said, so I'll say Ekpe Udoh not transferring to Baylor
Revelatory thread to me—it is has been 15 to 20 years since i followed baseball at all, so I’m surprised to find out about all these busts. What Kerry Wood didn’t have a HOF career? Ha. Encino Man stuff.
Brien Taylor.
Had 5 of his "top draft pick" Topps cards with dreams of one day trading them all in for an F-14 Tomcat. Ahh 10 year old daydreams.
Grant Hill! As a kid, it was confusing and a little painful to see him leave Detroit, but I wish we still got to see him realize his full potential.
Tripp Welborne. Started his career as a WR, then became a fantastic safety while still returning punts. Lobbied Bo to also play offense. Bo's response was something along the lines of "If you want to play for Holy Cross, then go to Holy Cross" in reference to their two-way star Gordie Lockbaum. Hurt his knee late in his career.
Side note...my brother-in-law grew up with Grady Sizemore and said the dude had immense family pressure to succeed in baseball...like suffocating pressure.
Another side note: I had an apartment in the same building as Tripp Wellborne's girlfriend. Tripp drove a very expensive convertible with the vanity plate UBTRIPPN.
August 3rd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Pretty sure my older brother was in that same spot - I visited him in ~1990 and saw that car and my bro told me it was Tripps...crazy
Somehow Tiger Woods belongs on this list. The last 12+ years of his career has been a circus.
John Daly, the golfer
Demar Dorsey
Justin Turner
Bo Jackson
Tony C.
Josh Gordon and josh Hamilton
Sam McGuffie
Always liked McGuffie, wonder if he would've returned to Ann Arbor if he didn't suffer that concussion in the Ohio State game?
Even as a freshman, his numbers were pretty solid: 118 carries for 486 yards (4.1 avg.) and three touchdowns, 19 receptions for 175 yards (9.2 avg.) and another score.
around here, antonio bass and kelly baraka.
Darko Milicic
What could have been with Wade, Bosh or Carmelo. Sigh
Kelvin Torbert. He’s not my favorite athlete by any stretch, but a major “who could’ve been”.
First team Parade All American
McDonald's All American
USA Today first team ALL American
Mr. Basketball for Michigan
Gatorade and Sporting News national player of the year.
Then, he got Izzo'd to the point he wasn't even starting his senior year and had one single year where he averaged (barely) over 10pts game.
Drew Henson.
Stay for your senior year and then go pro in football.
The Bird.
August 2nd, 2020 at 10:50 PM ^
Len Bias
August 3rd, 2020 at 12:24 AM ^
A few
Marcus Dupree, I wasn’t alive when he played but that 30 for 30 on him was amazing.
Stauskas, he could get his own shot with above average ball handling and athleticism and could shoot from anywhere, off the dribble or totally set. probably could have been what buddy hield currently is. I get that his defense wasn’t very good, but that goes for a lot of “star” players in the league today. I think he lost confidence early on and that was a huge part of his game.
Jonathan Drouin, I know he is still a pretty big part of Montreal’s average forward group but whenever I would watch Tampa play from 2014-2017, to me he was the best individual player on those teams. I was fortunate to go watch a playoff game at the joe in 2016 and see those guys up close and personal. Kucherov doesn’t do much creating for other players 5 on 5, even more so back then. Stamkos had an amazing shot with good speed, but didn’t drive the play or control the puck like other stars can. Drouin could hang on to it and weave his way out of trouble to either get a great chance or find a teammate left open becuz the defenders needed to cheat and help on drouin. He doesn’t have great guys to play with that would complement his strengths. I also think he’s lost a step mentally and physically after how up and down his young career has been so far.
Jair Jurrjens, I watched him and Fausto carmona pitch one of the better duels I’ve seen and they were both rookies I’m pretty sure. The game was very low scoring like 1-0 or 2-1 and both guys went at least 7 innings. I really thought jurrjens was gonna be a stud for the tigers for a long time. He had a couple good years with Atlanta but was out of baseball by age 28. I followed him when he was still with the braves and to this day wish he could have been a tiger and built in that stuff he showed that outing against the Indians way back when.
Edit note* so I was curious and looked up if what I said about jurrjens and carmona was right and it turns out carmona’s real name is Roberto hernandez. He used the name Fausto carmona to get a visa and was actually 3 years older than he had previously claimed. He got suspended by MLB for identity fraud, that’s one I’ve never heard before. Just an interesting tidbit I never knew about the guy. Enjoyed watching him pitch too.
August 3rd, 2020 at 12:45 AM ^
MLB
Miguel Cabrera: Yeah he was amazing for quite some time, but since about halfway through 2013, he's been downright sad to watch. Had he not fallen apart, I think its not hard to say he would be within 100 HRs of the record.
Jose Fernandez: Just a crazy story to get to America. And a horrible demise.
NBA
2007 Trailblazers: Roy and Oden...
2012 Thunder: They traded away a young (and already really good) Harden for peanuts. Had they not traded him and found a way to resign him, they certainly win the 2013 finals...and 2014...and 2015...and 2016...
John Wall & DeMarcus Cousins: Both got hurt around the same time and have been injured ever since.
DRose: He won the MVP trophy in only his 3rd year. Coach Thib ruined him and so many others in the coming years through his terrible rotations.
Michael Beasley: The best freshman player ever. He was like a Blake Griffin/Durant hybrid. Unfortunately, he never made much of an impact in the NBA.
Jay Williams: Amazing NCAA player who messed up after his rookie year on the Bulls.
NFL/NCAA
Mo Clarrett: From National Champion as a frosh to jail in no time.
RG3: Arguably the greatest rookie of all time. Now he is a backup.
Andrew Luck: The QB with the most potential in forever. Done in by shitty OL management by the front office.
Sean Sanderson. Beast.
Couch for the Browns, and Klingler for the Bengals. 2 quarterbacks that had a very high potential on very bad teams.
Tigers: Mark Fidrych – Imagine if he'd been healthy and on the '84 staff. Mini-dynasty?
MLB: Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson.
Michigan: Tripp Welborne – Two-time 1st team All-American and projected top 5 pick before a knee injury dropped him to the 7th round. Charles Woodson before there was a Charles Woodson.
CFB/NFL: Bo Jackson – Greatest athlete I ever saw.
Trail Blazers: A murderer's row of fragile knees: Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden.
NBA: Len Bias – So tragic.
Loved Bill Walton, also Penny Hardaway in the NBA.
Tripp Welbourne would've been a great pro. Trevor Pryce. Scorput, the OL from Canada.
Kirby Puckett. Even though he made the HOF, his career might have been even greater had he not retired due to an unusual retinal disease.
All-time Twins leader in numerous hitting categories; highest average (.318) by a right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio; 2nd player in modern era with 2,000 hits in his first 10 years.
Then his life fell apart with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, and he died of a stroke at the age of 45.
For Michigan Football, I would go with Drew Henson. He would have been a first rounder if he had stuck with football. I can understand his decision to focus on baseball, but he definitely had a higher ceiling in football.
For Michigan Basketball, I would go with Jerod Ward. He was the number one recruit in the country coming out of high school and remains our highest-ranked signee since Chris Webber, but knee injuries kept him from realizing his potential.
For non-Michigan sports, I would go with Grant Hill. He had not yet hit his prime when he broke his ankle (or, more accurately, when his broken ankle was discovered) and he might have been a top 10 all-time player if not for that injury. Even with the injury, he might have made a full recovery had it not turned into such a clusterf**k (first it was misdiagnosed as a sprain, then the surgeons had to re-break it and re-align the bones when it turned out that it wasn't healing properly, then he developed a staph infection and nearly died, etc).