Where Have All the Nicknames Gone: Bad Boys Best Ever?
Sunday, March 2, 2008
What's happened to nicknames in sports? Are today's professional athletes too-cool-for-school when it comes to alternate monnikers? Apparently, the answer is "yes." And it pissses us off. In our early existence, we filled what seems to be a sports blogger's right of passage in throwing up some of our favorite sports nicknames. Looking at in now only makes us angrier about the current state of affairs.
Sure, you've got your A-Rods and T-Macs cattered here and there today. Big deal. Nicknames based on real names? How about a little freakin' creativity. The real question is are we ever going to see a team again that boasts multiple random alter egos? Like who, you might ask? How about those Bad Boys Pistons teams of the late 80s and early 90s. Remember them? Has there been a better collection of memorable nicknames associated with one team -- ever? There very well may be. If so, hit us up in the comments.
In the meantime, a stroll down memory lane.
JOHN "SPIDER" SALLEY
Not only was Spider a tremendous "role player" for the Bad Boys, but we loved him as "Fletcher" in the first Bad Boys movie.
DENNIS "THE WORM" RODMAN
The greatest rebounder we've ever seen play. Worm had a great, appropriately weird nickname long before we were used to seeing him look like this.
VINNIE "THE MICROWAVE" JOHNSON
An instant spark off the bench, we couldn't resist including this visual classic which deserves a spot in our regular poster series. Vinnie also is neck-and-neck with this guy for greatest athlete to don the nickname of a household appliance.
These three headliners weren't all. Those close to the Pistons teams of that era referred to James Edwards as Buddah and had their own creations for notorious bad boys like Mahorn and Laimbeer. It was so long ago Isiah Thomas had yet to become known as "the idiot.
Not to mention the entire team had a nickname that ranks among the best in sports history.
Ahhh, the good 'ole days. It's about time we had a few high-profile athletes to referred to as animals - or kitchen appliances, don't ya think?
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3 comments:
I'm with you. Joe "Alibi" Smith; Ben "The Tower" Wallace; LB Jimmy; let's have a contest.
Growing up outside of Cincinnati in the 80's I worshipped the "Nasty Boys"; Rod Dibble, Norm Charlton, and Randy Myers. They may not have gained the notoriety that the Bad Boys did, but they were unhittable in 1990 and carried the Reds to the World Series Championship that year.. Also there mullets gave them a nice, nasty edge
Nice shout out to one of the greatest, hardest working, dirtiest teams ever. These are the guys that taught Jordan how to win.
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