Top 10 "Top 10s": Most Beautiful Women in Sports

     Before any chants of me being sexist begin, allow me to defend myself.  I would've made a separate list for male athletes just to even the field, but then again, who would want me to describe muscular, athletic men in my blog, ranking them by their looks?  See?  I knew we would all be in agreement.


Parameters:  For the list, I only included athletes still active (so no Anna Kournikova or Trish Stratus), and while looks are important to me (and this list), I've also considered success as an important factor, since there is nothing sexier than a successful woman. (so no Daniela Hantuchova, sorry syd or Kelly Kelly either).  Lastly, I allowed for no more than three per sport, lest I have a list of only tennis players and WWE Divas.


10. Jessica Mendoza (UAAP Courtside Reporter)

     In a previous "Top 10," I listed down the Top 10 Sportscasters, showing my deep respect for great sportscasters. Studio 23's reporters for the UAAP?  Well, I'll be diplomatic and say they have a long way to go to even approximate any of my Top 10's greatness.  Mendoza (the UAAP courtside reporter), however, is a breath of fresh, (beautiful) air.  I've always admired public speakers who never say things like, "ummm," or "ah," and she doesn't, which is quite an achievement if you check out her contemporaries.  The cherry on top of the sundae?  She is a self-described, "nerd."  What could be better? (Thanks to Tibibord for the pic and the info)

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Top 10 "Top 10s": What-Could-Have-Beens

     Some people say it's never good to ask "What if?" questions because there will never be any real answers.  Sometimes, though, it is a little fun.  That's why I'm presenting my top 10 sports "What-Could-Have-Beens," sports figures whose relatively incomplete careers leaves questions behind.




  10.  Earl Manigault

     People said that upon NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's retirement, he was asked who was the greatest player he had played against.  His answer was said to have astounded everyone as he named Earl "Goat" Manigault, a man who never set foot in the NBA, as the guy.  Turns out, Manigault was indeed a heck of a street ball player.  Details of his exploits include such tales as once doing 36 consecutive reverse dunks to win a 60 dollar bet, dunking from the free throw line with two hands over two people during a game, and picking off dollar bills and quarters from the top of the backboard.  It was clear that the freakishly-athletic 6'2" baller was an exceptional prospect for the NBA.  Unfortunately, Manigault succumbed to a drug habit for years, effectively destroying any chance for a basketball career.  It does beg the question, though, if the "Goat," could have dominated the NBA the way he dominated the playground.

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Top 10 "Top 10s": Worst Monickers

     As I've mentioned before, I love sports monickers, especially the really good ones.  Sometimes, though, people can get too excited and start giving athletes monickers without really thinking.  The results, you will see in the list below.


Parameters:  While I tried to limit the number of monickers per sport, it is hard since the PBA has an extraordinary amount of horrible monickers and they deserve to be mentioned.


10.  Lex Luger and British Bulldog (WWE)

     Lex Luger finally found his niche in the WWE when he bagan a patriotic All American persona who battled Yokozuna.  Following that, he was paired as a tag team with another nationalistic persona, the British BUlldog.  It was perfectly fine to introduce them individually, but the powers that be just had to name them and the result was one of the worst tag team names of all time, The Allied Powers.  Yes, that's cheese you're detecting.

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Top 10 "Top 10s": Best Sportscasters

     Sometimes, I don't mind watching sports at home instead of live, and these guys have a lot to do with it.  I have tremendous respect for great sportscasters and I have not given up  on my dream of being one.  That's why it was such a great experience for me when I did coverage for the Philippine Bowling Open a few years back with Bill Velasco.  I hope to do more in the future, maybe even with my former prof. Sev Sarmienta.


Parameters:  To be fair, I gave 5 slots for foreign sportscasters and 5 slots for local sportscasters.  Also, while I have been watching, studying and enjoying sports for over two decades, I can only include those I actually heard for at least 10 times.  This means I can only give special mention to legends like Dick Ildefonso and Pinggoy Pengson.


10.  Marv Albert

     The NBA playoffs, people say, are like a different season, and so are the commentators.  Even the TV stations bring their "A" game and among the best is Marv Albert.  He does have a great television voice and he always develops great camaraderie with his panelists.  The thing I love the most though, is his ability to make the game more exciting through his accentuation.  He doesn't say anything too unique but the way he say lines like, "for three!" or "up high and down hard!" just sound awesome.  I also love his penchant of starting disagreements with his panelists like Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson.

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Top 10 "Top 10s": Best Monickers

     I love monickers.  In fact, I wrote about my favorites before in a previous article.  I think they give sports a lot more color and they give athletes a chance at better name recognition, which is always helpful in making a certain sport more popular.  


Parameters: As usual, only athletes playing in the sports that From the Fifty Peso Seats covers will be counted.  Also, given my preference for MMA monickers, I decided to control myself by limiting it to three per sport at the most.  Also, as tribute to my brod Tibibord, I would like to give special mention to "El Aparador" Joel Dualan.  Great monicker, but it did little to extend his PBA career.  I heard he's coaching though.


10.  Marcus Davis (UFC)

     One of the better fighters in the UFC's middleweight division, I have to admit that I barely knew of Davis a few years ago.  That all changed when I witnessed one of his fights.  It wasn't his fighting style that really got me.  It was his monicker.  "The Irish Hand Grenade," is just freakin' awesome, isn't it?  Of course, he would've ranked higher had his monicker not have been too controversial to use in Ireland.  he ended up being called, "The Celtic Warrior," there, since Ireland continues to experience unrest.

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Top 10 "Top 10s": Best Coaches

     Being a coach of over 10 years myself, I know all about how truly difficult a coach's job is.  A coach has to wear many hats, teacher, confidante, leader and sometimes even sponsor or benefactor.  Plus, everyone knows that  blame for a loss is always to the coach while glory for a victory is always to the players.  Coaching truly is a thankless job and these 11 guys are the ones I truly admire.


Parameters:  I've picked only coaches from sports that From the Fifty Peso Seats covers so coaching greats like Bobby Knight or Coach K are not eligible.  I've also put in half foreign coaches (coaches whose achievements were done internationally) and half local coaches. (FIlipino coaches or coaches where Philippines was the venue of their achievements)


10 (tie).  Rajko Toroman - Basketball

     This Serbian tasked to coach the Philippine National Team has already done wonders for our Smart GIlas team, but it would be premature to name him to this list for only that.  What people have to remember is what he did before we stole him.  Toroman was first tasked to coach the Iranian basketball team.  Within a few years, he assembled an Iranian team that defeated perennial Asian powerhouse China to emerge as Asian basketball Champions and a stint in the 2008 Olympic Games.  What I admire the most, though, is his patience in teaching.  Watch any game of Smart GIlas and you will see that he takes every opportunity to use game situations to teach his players, making every game a meaningful learning experience.  If he can bring the Philippines to the Olympics as well, his position would definitely jump up.  

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