The legendary Jerry Rice currently holds all the major NFL receiving records, whether it be receptions, yards, or touchdowns. However, turn the clock back to the end of the 1993 season and the record books looked very different – in particular, for receiving yards, the two names topping the charts were James Lofton (#1) and Steve Largent (#2). Despite very different playing styles, with Lofton being the speedster and Largent being the sure-handed pass-catcher, the duo were two of the most productive players of the 1980s; even with the explosion in passing statistics over the past couple of decades, they remain among the best receivers ever, thus prompting the comparison:
According to the old adage, offense wins games, but defense wins championships; as such, while high-flying scorers and playmakers get all the glory in basketball, every winning team needs a strong anchor on the defensive end. In that vein, centers Marcus Camby and Tyson Chandler made their mark in the Association during the 2000s and 2010s as two of the league’s best defensive big men. Seven-footers (6’11” in Camby’s case) who were limited offensively, but dominant on the defensive end, there are notable parallels between the two players, thus leading to the question:
MLB has seen its share of great father-son duos over the years, from Bobby and Barry Bonds to Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. to Felipe and Moises Alou, just to name a few. However, in terms of pure hitting power, perhaps no father and son better exemplified the big basher than father Cecil Fielder and son Prince Fielder. Both powerfully built first basemen, the two were each among the top sluggers of their respective eras and each hit 50+ home runs in a season – moreover, father and son each finished his MLB career with exactly 319 home runs, thus prompting the obvious comparison:
With the split of Czechoslovakia into two sovereign nations in 1993, this resulted in two hockey-rich countries in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. From the likes of Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias on the Czech side and Marian Hossa on the Slovakian side, each nation has produced a plethora of elite NHL players and in particular, is renowned for offensive talent. Two of the best goal-scorers to emerge from each half of the formerly unified countries have been Peter Bondra of Slovakia and Milan Hejduk of the Czech Republic – both 50-goal scorers and NHL scoring leaders during their illustrious careers, each racked up over 800 career points, thus prompting the question:
From Pau Gasol to Domantas Sabonis to Nikola Jokic and others, one of the hallmarks of European-born big men in the NBA has been their strong passing skills. This characteristic goes back to the early days of foreign influence in the NBA, when Eastern European players like Vlade Divac and Arvydas Sabonis (Domantas’ father) were still considered a novelty. As two of the best foreign big men ever, Divac and Sabonis were not only accomplished NBA players, but had successful overseas and international careers as well as part of their Hall of Fame accomplishments. With the NBA becoming an ever-increasingly global game, let us look back upon the 1990s era of basketball and ask: