Sports List Top Ten Linebackers

White_Savage

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Apparently, the caste system had a little hiccup, because five of these were White guys, and one Samoan.

But of course, black Lawrence Taylor got top billing as number one
smiley5.gif
 

Don Wassall

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Do you have a link to it? It's hard to comment without being able to see the list.
 

White_Savage

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It was the show "The Sports List", on FSN

Here's the list

10. Jack Hamm
09. Kevin Greene
08. Junior Seau
07. Derrick Thomas
06. Ray Nitsche (sp)
05. Mike Singletary
04. Jack Lambert
03. Ray Lewis
02. Dick Butkus
01. Lawrence Taylor
 

Don Wassall

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Ham and Lambert would never get a shot at the NFL now, if they even were "allowed" to play LB in I-A; too small.

It's interesting to listen to announcers who are at least 45 years old bring up the names of Nitschke, Butkus, Lambert, Mike Curtis, Ted Hendricks, Nick Buoniconti and others, just as they sometimes like to talk about Lance Alworth and Fred Biletnikoff and other white receivers. They seem almost nostalgic at times for the days of great white football players, though they would never admit to such a weakness publicly. It's just so absurd that whites have been limited to blocking, kicking and throwing for a quarter century now with no end in sight.
 

IceSpeed2

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Chuck Bednarik, Brian Urlacher, Zach Thomas, and many others. Dave Wilcox? There are a lot of guys that could have been(or could be in this category), but never got the chance to play, or just had bad luck.
 

Don Wassall

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Sam Huff could be on the list as well. He was from the Butkus/Nitschke school of bone-rattling hits.
 
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I remember when Sam Huff played for the NY Giants. Huff was the first MLB to be highly publicized. He made the cover of Time Magazine in 1959, a very big thing in those days. Joe Schmidtwas a HOF MLB for Detroit in the 1950's and 1960's who belongs on any such list.
 

GWTJ

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Don, I really don't think Lambert or Ham would have any problem coming into the game today and knocking runners on their butts. They competed against the likes of Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett and Larry Csonka. I'm sure they wouldget themselvesmore bulked up today, given ample time to grow. Also, if we use your comparison, the average Hall of Famer today will be too undersized to play the game in 40 years.


Iagree that there are many NFL players of the past that could not make an NFL team today. But I believe the HOF'ers would be able to. I believe this is true in many other sports as well. Ultimately, it is talent that gets you to the HOF, not size.


The problem with all these sports list shows is that they are slanted to modern players. I guess they feel the audience would rather see players they know on the list.


Butkus will always be the best Linebacker football has ever known, modern day lists notwithstanding.
 

Gary

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No list would be complete without Chuck Bednarik, Tommy Nobis, Joe Schmidt and Mike Curtis.
 
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