For this week’s article I will focus on all of the major sports and their top figures. \u00a0It’s very similar to one of the Sportscenter summer “filler” features when there is nothing to talk about but baseball and Brett Favre. \u00a0And now the top five most important people in their respective sports………<\/p>\n
NFL:<\/p>\n
#1- Rodger Goodell: \u00a0National football’s commissioner is getting down and dirty when it comes to player-league relations. \u00a0Never have I seen a sports league try so hard to keep the ship sailing smoothly. \u00a0Roger Goodell is the league’s ambassador and disciplinarian.<\/p>\n
#2- Peyton Manning: \u00a0No one in sports has the same kind of charisma that Peyton Manning does. \u00a0He is not only the best player on the field day in and day out but he seems to be a stand-up guy as well as a really good guy to go get a beer with.<\/p>\n
#3- Brett Favre: \u00a0Brett Favre is a walking news story and between retirements is a really good quarterback.<\/p>\n
#4- Bill Belichick: \u00a0The Patriots’ head coach is a man that football fans love to hate. \u00a0Belichick has neither the swagger nor charisma of an angry hyena but he is one of the top five most important men in football.<\/p>\n
#5- Jerry Jones: \u00a0Jerry Jones has a more recognizable face than most owners (or Chicago quarterbacks for that matter.) \u00a0Jones is a rich showoff who is not afraid to be a snob with class. \u00a0The Steinbrenner of the sport holds a heavy hand when it comes to anything having to do with the Cowboys or the league in general.<\/p>\n
MLB:<\/p>\n
#1- Derrick Jeter: \u00a0Jeter is the best baseball player of his era and holds a reputation that is nearly spotless. \u00a0The guy is classy and a winner.<\/p>\n
#2- Alex Rodriguez: \u00a0A-Rod is the most hated player in the game. \u00a0He has 600 home runs and is looking to break the HR record (how many of those are tainted, I don’t know.) \u00a0Whether or not he’s a cheater does not erase the fact that Alex Rodriguez is a tabloid phenom and a very important figure for baseball.<\/p>\n
#3- Albert Pujols: \u00a0Albert Pujols is the best player in the game right now and seems to be the only guy in baseball who’s not juicing (let’s hope.) \u00a0The guy is a class act and an incredible talent.<\/p>\n
#4- Stephen Strasburg: \u00a0The guy is hyped to be the next Cy Young.<\/p>\n
#5- Kenny Powers: \u00a0He is the incarnate of all that baseball has been since the early nineties.<\/p>\n
NBA:<\/p>\n
#1- LeBron James: \u00a0Any guy who can schedule an hour block on ESPN all to himself is a pretty important guy (for better or worse.)<\/p>\n
#2- Dwayne Wade: \u00a0D-Wade is a great basketball player and a great ambassador for the game. \u00a0He is also very good at persuading others to play on a team with him. \u00a0There is nothing this guy can’t do.<\/p>\n
#3- Kobe Bryant: \u00a0Kobe is another guy who is fun to watch and will draw people to the arena.<\/p>\n
#4- Phil Jackson: \u00a0Any man with 11 championship rings knows what he’s doing. \u00a0The man can run any team in any sport and be successful. \u00a0I’m sure of that.<\/p>\n
#5- Dwight Howard: \u00a0Everyone can get on bored with a charismatic big-man.<\/p>\n
NHL:<\/p>\n
#1-Alexander Ovechkin: \u00a0The Russian machine is like nothing hockey has ever seen before. \u00a0Aside from the 50 plus goals he scores each year (in electrifying fashion might I add) he is a dominant athlete and a physical freak. \u00a0Ovechkin is the NHL’s top star.<\/p>\n
#2-Sidney Crosby: \u00a0Sid “the kid” is the NHL’s golden boy. \u00a0He is one of the two faces of the NHL (along with Ovechkin) and a god in Canada. \u00a0Crosby is a phenom for his dazzling moves and ability to score at the right times. \u00a0The Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry is very reminiscent of the Magic-Bird rivalry, two amazing players at the top of their games dukeing it out every time they play.<\/p>\n
#3-Patrick Kane: \u00a0Kane is a great young star and more importantly he’s American. \u00a0Hockey is not huge in America but it’s a sport on the rise. \u00a0Having a talented young American in a big-market city (Chicago) helps the sport to grow. \u00a0Plus, the kid’s fun to watch.<\/p>\n
#4-Barry Melrose: \u00a0The only time we get to see hockey on ESPN is from this guy. \u00a0The man has style and class and advertises very well for the sport.<\/p>\n
#5- Whoever’s idea it was to put a game outside: \u00a0The Winter Classic is one of the most entertaining and fulfilling sports events of the year. \u00a0It has been very successful during its tenure and I know it will be a very popular event this year when the Penguins and Capitals face off in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
-AJ (One of the Top 5 in Sports Journalism……maybe)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For this week’s article I will focus on all of the major sports and their top figures. \u00a0It’s very similar to one of the Sportscenter summer “filler” features when there is nothing to talk about but baseball and Brett Favre. \u00a0And now the top five most important people in their respective sports……… NFL: #1- Rodger … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[119,121,4691,207,313,5490,475,597,611,1124,786,6615,6756,6923,6991],"zone":[121877],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"Wild Pitch: The Top Five People<\/a><\/blockquote>