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- 05/14/2012, 02:51PM ET
Joe Namath is the most overrated athlete in modern history. In any sport.
Whosthere said 05/14, 02:51 PM
Joe's number's wouldn't even make him a backup on most teams. 220 interceptions to 173 touchdowns. A 50% completion percentage, 65.5 passer rating, a won /loss record of 68/72, and a playoff record of 2-1. In his best season (the super bowl season) he completed 51.2% while throwing for 19 td's and 17int's. In his last season with the Jets, He threw for 4 td's and 16int's and had a passer rating of 39.9.
Despite such a meager record, he was voted the Super Bowl MVP while completing just 17 of 28 passes for ZERO touchdowns, He is listed in the Sporting News as one of the 100 greatest football players of all time, He is in the pro football hall of fame, and is consistantly talked about as one of the great all timers by people who never actually saw him play. Meanwhile, a dozen qb's with far better records are completely forgotten.
Is there a better definition of overrated?
Bigalke said 05/14, 06:43 PM
There is indeed a better definition:
She burst onto the scene in 1996, emerging from the qualifiers to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open before losing to eventual champ Steffi Graf. She reached the semis in her Wimbledon debut the next year, and soon everyone was anointing her as the next superstar of women's tennis.
During the course of her next eight years as a professional, she would win $3.5 million in earnings. Yet she would never win a Grand Slam tournament, let alone a WTA tournament of any kind at all. All in all, she reached but four finals in her entire career, none at a Grand Slam or WTA Championship.
Sure, she earned millions in endorsements, making Pantyhose Joe look like a greenhorn in that department. But at least Namath did enough on his chosen field of competition to win a title -- while he didn't throw a touchdown, he also didn't throw an interception, racking up 206 yards and putting his team in position for Matt Snell's 4yd TD run that set the Jets on path to victory.
The most overrated athlete in modern sports history? A lady revered far more for her looks than her tennis success, Anna Kournikova...
Whosthere said 05/14, 07:26 PM
You're a little off target. The premise was "overrated" not "overhyped." Anna will never be considered great by any serious organization or media, nor will she ever be in a hall of fame, or make anyone's list of 100 best ever, and I seriously doubt many non-tennis fans would even be able to tell you who she is.
On the touchdown drive of 80 yards, Namath completed 4 passes for 40 yards. There were 8 rushing plays (7 by Snell, including the last two plays of 5 and 4 yds). Namath completed no passes whatsoever in the 4th quarter, and only 3 in the entire 2nd half. Worst qb performance in Super Bowl history.
Even if he had played well, it still would not make up for the rest of a below average career.
Anna was popular for her looks, but no one rates her today as a great player.
Joe was popular for his personality, but he's rated as a hall of famer with nothing to back it up.
It's not even close. Anna was overrated for a little while, a year or two, but Joe is still increadibly overrated 35 years after his final miserable season.
Bigalke said 05/15, 10:52 AM
Am I off target? To overrate: "to rate, value, or estimate too highly"...
Hindsight is everything here. Hindsight makes it harder to overrate. You're trying to use one game as a microcosm for a career. Your point about rushing only further illustrates the fact Namath was NOT overrated.
Here's a guy who was the first QB to throw for over 4000 yards -- in a 14-game season, when football was still largely a running game. His quick release meant he took fewer sacks, when QBs weren't cloaked in rules of protection. Compared to his era, his numbers are far less gruesome than you let on.
Say what you will about numbers, but Joe delivered results. And that counts for something.
Now Kournikova, on the other hand, was overestimated after a hot start to her career. "She has the ability to create situations on the court that very few people can create. And at the net she's brilliant. She hits volleys from all angles. The only person I could compare her to," said Nick Bollettieri, "is John McEnroe."
Did she put up McEnroe-like results? Hardly... making her far more overrated. You can't rate in retrospect... only analyze how that rating fared.
Whosthere said 05/15, 01:22 PM
You said:
Hindsight is everything here. Hindsight makes it harder to overrate. You're trying to use one game as a microcosm for a career. Your point about rushing only further illustrates the fact Namath was NOT overrated.
Exactly my point. Even with hindsight, Joe is vastly overrated. I never used one game as a microcosm. It wsa YOU who tried to use one game as justification for Joe being so wildly overrated. You said:
But at least Namath did enough on his chosen field of competition to win a title
Which was wrong. Joe just didn't suck as badly as Morrell on that day. But it was Snell and the defense that won the only game Joe is remebered for. He contributed very little. I've pointed out that his numbers suck compared to the other qb's of his day. They were average at best. He threw for over 4000 one year..that's true. He also threw 28 INT's that year and only 26 TD's. It was also the only year his qb rating was better than average for the league. He was the 11th ranked qb that year (his best ranking of his career). Hardly a great year, and being his best year out of 13, hardly a HOF worthy career. He had 3, THREE, winning seasons out of 13. Overrated beyond a doubt.
Bigalke said 05/15, 07:47 PM
A few things first: YOU chose not to define the argument in your opening statement, and you've chosen not to refute my definition. So stop with this overrate/overhype argument. You ceded the point long ago.
Here's the real question... did anyone ever rate Namath as the next Sammy Baugh or Otto Graham when he played? Did anyone expect him to be an all-time great? No? In his era of play he was viewed as a serviceable QB, who was as much flash as he was substance. We've known that.
Now Kournikova, on the other hand, was supposed to be a female McEnroe... her ice queen demeanor was supposed to yield a fire on the court that would yield Slam after Slam. Yet her potential for career success was overestimated, the comparisons made early in her career valued her too highly.
What you're arguing is not overrating somebody, but inflating their career in hindsight. There's nothing to rate in that case, nothing to estimate. It's all just choosing which statistics to use to prove or disprove your case. Did Namath meet the expectations people had for his career? If anything, he exceeded them...
That, by definition, doesn't sound overrated to me.
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Comments (229) Add A Comment
IMO, see Tony Romo.
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Total Comments (3797)
Joe Namath is more revered because of who he was more than what he did on the field. Did some good stuff on the field too [can't compare his stats with the guys today] but he is considered as one of the main guys who help force the merger by some historians of the game.
BuckyBadger.
Total Comments (2791)
I would say his SB III W was a big deal. It validated the AFL after starting out 0-2 in what is now called the SB.
W_A_M_U?
Total Comments (64072)
Whosthere...
NO MAS...NO MAS(ha-ha)!
W_A_M_U?
Total Comments (64072)
Namath never threw a TD pass in SBIII, yet he was named MVP.
THE BISHOP!
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Phil Rizzuto
Save_Me_Jebus: Hello…
Total Comments (1636)
162 game avg; .273 batting average, 3 HR's, 55 RBI, .706 OPS, 15 stolen bases. Put simply, the guy had worse numbers than Jose Offerman, yet he is in the Hall of Fame. Whereas, the only way Jose Offerman gets into Cooperstown, is if he becomes the night-shift janitor.
Save_Me_Jebus: Hello…
Total Comments (1636)
Yep, another interesting thing about that SB.
W_A_M_U?
Total Comments (64072)
He did win an MVP...but there is no question that having a few friends on the Veteran's committee (Yogi Berra, Bill White and Pee Wee Reese) certainly helped him get into the HOF.
Mondo Jay
Total Comments (20011)
1 MVP win, sure. But he was only a 4x All-Star in 13 seasons. You are right, though.. Rizzuto had friends in high places.
Save_Me_Jebus: Hello…
Total Comments (1636)
It was a completely different game then. QBs didn't throw 5 TDs a game during this time. You could close line the WR coming across the middle and stomp on his throat for good measure and there wouldn't be a flag.
It was a low scoring game and Joe made some plays to give him the award. They could have gone defense as well. Beverly and Snell could have gotten it as well but it is always the QB's award to lose.
BuckyBadger.
Total Comments (2791)
Namath's best year statisticly, was 1967. He finshed ranked 9th among starting qb's. He would never finish higher than 11th in any other year. Even in '67, he threw more int's than td's and it was the ONLY year he finished with a qb rating higher than the league average (and that just barely). He was an average qb at his best, and below average for most of his career, in any way you want to measure it. He lost more than he won, he was a statue behind the line (140 total career rushing yards), he has one of the worst int ratios of all time for qb's with more than 100 games started. The super bowl victory everyone keeps bringing up was won in spite of his poor performance, and because of the inexplicably poor performance of a far superior Earl Morrell for the Colts. People forget that Earl played so poorly, he was benched. On the field, Namath had no great performances to speak of. He was a hollywood construction. A fake. Overhyped in every sense of the word.
Whosthere
Sand Springs , OK
Total Comments (43)
I might point out too, that the supposition was "most overrated." Ever seen Rizzuto on any all time best lineups? I doubt that casual fans could even tell you who he was.
Whosthere
Sand Springs , OK
Total Comments (43)
That would be the Toney Romo who is the second highest rated passer of all time and who is 3rd all time in winning percentage (of qualifying qb's)? I doubt that he's as overrated as Namath (187th in passer rating and not in the top 100 for winning percentage....A whopping .480)
Whosthere
Sand Springs , OK
Total Comments (43)
Resulting in.... 0 SBs - fact, not opinion.
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Total Comments (3797)
Voting right once he posts pictures of Anna.
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Total Comments (3797)
Which is stupid - fact, not opinion.
Dan Marino ALSO has 0 SBs and is thought more highly of than Romo so BY YOUR OWN ABSURD DEFINITION Marino is "more over rated".
There is no way you are actually a Cowboys fan. I don't know any that are so stupid as to think ANYONE would win with most of the teams Romo has played with.
C-C-C
Total Comments (4335)
I'm a little perplexed by the Kournikova choice. Sure she never dominated tennis, but I don't think anyone ever expected her to. She did have a lot of success in doubles and was forced from the game at just 22 years old from injuries.
C-C-C
Total Comments (4335)
What C-C-C said
Whosthere
Sand Springs , OK
Total Comments (43)
That's a bit of a cop out. Romo has played on some good "teams".
Eli managed to win not 1, but 2 SB's on teams that were no better than the Cowboy teams Romo has played on.
MattUSA
Total Comments (2391)
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