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Moondizzle...The Original. won the Throwdown.

Moondizzle...The Original.

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5 Most Influential Figures in Sports Today (NMI tournament 4)

The Ram said 05/20, 01:30 PM
Tiger Woods - His impact on the world of Golf is unprecedented. A global game, dominated the most recognizable name in sports.

Roger Goodell - The head of the most popular League in the US has already powerfully asserted himself. He has sole discretion to weild the hammer of justice on player suspensions, cheating scandals, and the image of the NFL.

Roger Clemens - This one may seem like a joke. However, if the topic is "today," then the crater left from Clemens fallen stature is having an enormous impact on sports. 10-year olds freely talk about steroids, PED's, and cheating in sports due to his influence. Clemens has inadvertently raised awareness of the "drugs in sports" issue to heights never before reached.

George Bodenheimer - Who? The President of ESPN and ABC Sports, that's who. In the information age, the people who bring the public access to sports have a vast influence in the popularity and public perception of athletics.

Yao Ming - No one influences MORE people than Ming. No one. His impact may not be as evident in the US, but if we are measuring the Global landscape, 1.3 Billion Chinese are being exposed to basketball primarily because of Ming.

Moondizzle...The Original. said 05/20, 01:52 PM
Ok Ram, I agree with you on Tiger and Goodell. There was no way I could find anyone besides my other 3 playing a more significant role in their respective sports. On to my differences...

1. Jose Canseco - As much as Roger Clemens has been in the news, he is more a victim (not in the literal sense) of baseball's ultra-awareness to steroids, HGH, and other PED's. A few years ago, all was happy in baseball land. And then poof...a disgruntled Jose Canseco arrived on the scene, book in hand, letting us all know what kind of influence PED's had on the game. Guys like Clemens came afterward.

2. Ed Rooney - "The Rooney Rule," while not a lightning rod issue, has become well-known in football, and unless you have permission, you don't ignore the precedent. There is an increasing effort to bring more minority coaches to the sidelines, and this rule, spearheaded by the owner, is the most concerted effort to date.

3. Dice-K: Yes, 1.3 billion Chinese watch Ming. And he's quite influential. But Matsuzaka? Baseball is Japan's main sport. He is followed almost hourly in Japan - and Yankees-Red Sox is HUGE in there. Japan is baseball crazy. Can't say the same for basketball & China.

The Ram said 05/20, 02:10 PM
Canseco vs. Clemens. 3 years ago? Canseco. Today? Clemens. Canseco may have gotten the ball rolling, but the man standing center stage is Clemens. He is the one in the public eye, having his historical dresser drawers rifled through looking for needles and love notes from 15-year olds. Canseco today is helplessly groping for attention for his sequel to his "tell-all" book. His influence has waned.

95% of people in the US have probably never heard of the "Rooney Rule." At most it has led to the hiring of one or two coaches (Tomlin, I guess?). Whoooo!!! Feel the impact. It is a symbolic gesture, that really hasn't changed the NFL in any appreciable manner in the last few years. Certainly not to the degree that ESPN, and it's programming decisions have affected sports.

Dice-K. Seriously? You're going with Dice-K? He's not even the first Japanese player to be a star in MLB (Ichiro anyone? Hideo Nomo?). Followed hourly is quite an exaggeration. And how does he influence them if they are already baseball fans? Do they become more fannish? Yao is bringing the NBA to an unreached audience 10X the size of Japan. 1.3 Billion > 130 Million. That's math, Moon.

Moondizzle...The Original. said 05/20, 02:29 PM
A. Clemens is having his dirty laundry aired everywhere, and his "alleged" steroid use has become late night comedy. The actual influence on the game? Nada. It didn't effect any one team, or any players (except maybe Koby). Canseco's influence on the game began years ago and still permeates the sport, making steroids the biggest bad word around. Baseball has been squirming since his book.

B. 95% of people in the US? Thats a stretch. But not only did the Rooney rule become a major factor in the NFL hiring process, it also brought to light the dearth of minority coaches in other sports, specifically MLB. The recognition of coaches & managers, not players, leading franchises has become more prevalent. His rule changed the way owners across sports conduct business.

C. I decided to go Asian. We should all go Asian once. Ichiro may have been first. But this man was bid on for $51 million. 1.3 billion people in China don't tune into watch the Yao, sorry. He sells products and apparel - most noticeably in CHINA. Not so much here. Dice-K is playing, and representing, the game that Japan cherishes most. He is arguably its biggest star, together with American popularity, TODAY.

The Ram said 05/20, 02:54 PM
Canseco started it, but the story is Clemens. The popularity of sports, their lifeblood, is the approval of the masses. Roger goes to Capitol Hill was a nationwide PED overdose of coverage. Canseco was outside with his face pressed against the glass saying "Remember me? Anyone wanna buy my book." The story, and it's influence have moved on.

That dovetails with Bodenheimer. As the orchestrator of the ESPN conglomerate moster, he has the power to dictate what matters to you as a fan (like the Clemens hearings). Spygate got as much play on the air as Watergate, and generated a level of vitriol and hatred toward the Patriots that would have been absent in a coverage-starved 1970's era. ESPN has become such a powerful part of the sports landscape, it is almost laughable to match it up against Ed Rooney in an "influence" deathmatch.

With or without Dice-K, the Japanese would love their baseball. He could vanish today, and that would not change. Yao Ming vanishes and China turns off the TV. Yao is not the perennial leader of the All-star voting because of his talent. Ten years from now, we may see Chinese prospects flooding the NBA, and it will be easy to trace the root.

Moondizzle...The Original. said 05/21, 09:51 AM
There is a difference between tabloid fodder & disgrace, and genuine influence on a sport based upon one's actions. Clemens has been rightfully villified in the media, and there is plenty of coverage. Canseco may be a jerk begging for publicity, but this isn't about who wins the back page. It's about whose actions have changed a sport, and whose actions continue to indict those that are playing the game today. Canseco made steroids the bad word it is.

Bodenheimer may be the wizard of oz behind the curtain for ABC/ESPN. That said...nobody knows who he is. I'm not ashamed to say this is the first I've heard of him. While his networks are powerful sports entities, he is not the 'master' of sports. ESPN & ABC have become cartoonish, immature sports outlets with little character. Nobody gives them credence. Rooney's influence is a CULTURE-changer.

Dice-K is a peculiar choice. But the man is a legend at 28. We truly underestimate what kind of cross-ocean influence he has on the sport in the world scene. Japan may still like their baseball, but he solidifies their spot in the baseball world. Basketball isn't China's past-time. Communism is.

Influence is whats important.

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Great idea for a debate and I like your list and reasoning. I am very interested to see what moondizzle offeres up!

[The] Coach | 05/20/08, 01:36 PM

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5 Most Influential Figures in Sports Today (NMI tournament 4)

The Ram beat Moondizzle...The Original. 11 to 8

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