Favorite New York athlete of all time and why

made me a Giants' fan. LT, Carl Banks, and Mark Bavaro.

The drama of 2007, the greatness of 2011, the toughness, the class - I know he drives us all crazy at times but I love the guy.

Honorable mention: O'Neill, Mattingly, Jeter, Mo, Bernie and Ewing.

Football - LT
Hockey - Bossy and LaFontaine tie.

Heroic player. Mo, YA, Derek, Messier, Brad Park, Willis, Clyde all in there.

Thats why...

.

Strahan prior to him. Beckham Jr looks like he's next.

the Knicks and Rangers since the early '60s. Very hard to pick one. But if I had to, I think it would be Mariano Rivera, for the person as well as his greatness and consistency pitching.

LT, YAT.
Eli- I thought he'd be a great NYFG QB when he was a sophomore at Ole Miss;
LT-the man was a 1 man D;
YA-all the old guy did was throw TDs and win games, and that was with a D and OL that was near or at the end of their careers and running on reputation as much as on fumes.

Because he had a transformative impact on the game, the team and the region. Before my lifetime, Babe Ruth. I always liked reading about him when I was a kid and his records and lifetime numbers were a measuring stick for so long.

its going to be Yankees. and I know Jeter has seen his day in the sun for the past year, but damnit Jeter was my guy for years. love Jeter... and so did everyone else.

LT - greatest defensive player ever. Great athlete, relentless will win and dominate. Played at a high through great pain and delivered some of his most memorable great games while playing with injuries.

relentless will to win and dominate

Frank Gifford, Jackie Robinson, LT, Clyde, Seahorn, Homer Jones, Duke Snyder Willis Reed, Strahan, Eli

Football LT
Baseball Jeter
Hockey Bossy
Basketball Bernard King

Eli
Jeter
In that order

Eli Manning.

not just for his talent and achievements, but he was the epitome of serenity in the eye of the storm. And he was all class - by all accounts, at all times, not just when the cameras were on him

Others:

LT, Eli, Bavaro, Simms, Tiki, Jeter, O'Neill, Mattingly, Leetch, Messier, Graves, Lundquist, Ewing

Followed closely by Messier and Mo.

#7.....use to hit rocks from both sides in my backyard as a kid....

Seaver ,Daryl Strawberry and Phil Simms

Me too.

is the champion of champions. And I'm not a Yankees fan. The man exudes class and humility.

I've had many favorites - Bernie Williams, Donnie Baseball, Adam Graves, Phil Simms, LT, Mark Bavaro, Jessie Armstead, Ahmad Bradshaw, Patrick Ewing, Anthony Mason.....but Mo stands above them all. He was the best at what he did by such a wide margin, and he did it with total class and humility.

But hard to say just one at 50 yrs old, about 45 years of memories. LT, Simms, Jeter, Munson, Seaver, Walt Frazier.

Simply the greatest.

No doubt about it, LT was my favorite as a kid. But the hookers and coke thing a while back was pretty unseemly even if it wasn't rape. Greatest football player ever - no doubt in my mind - but he's got some serious character issues.

Playing hockey growing up in CT I really loved Brian Leetch. Messier was a great Ranger but Leetch came up as a Ranager and he was every bit as important to the Cup as Mess.

Bernie is my favorite Yankee of all time. Seems like a good guy off the field.

Eli is such a great Giant. He's clutch as any athlete I've ever seen; pressure makes him better. He's won two incredible Super Bowls. He'll set every Giants passing record by the time he retires. He's a super high character guy - team guy all the way. Seems like a good family guy too. That NFC Championship game in San Fran - holly cow did Eli take a beating. Tough as nails. Eli is definitely my all time favorite NY athlete. Kills me when guys here give Eli shit b/c I don't think we'll see another QB as great as Eli for a very long time.

Not close.

Other Sports

Giants: Seubert
Yanks: Gehrig
Knicks: Starks

Game 6 of the 1994 semifinals against the Devils. Messier guarantees a win and backs it up with a hat trick.

#2 Armstead
#3 Messier/Tuck
#4 Bavaro

Eddie
Eddie

Gary Carter: Great player for that magical period for the Mets in the mid-to late 80's.

Now, Eli: no need to explain why.

Honorable mention: Bavaro.

He was my hero when I was young enough to believe in sports heroes.

LT
Mickey Mantle
Willis Reed
Hon Mention
Mariano, Simms, Frazier

Those two were my favorites through my early years and those memories of that time in my life remain my favorite. Sports were a little more special for me at that age

LT

Most admired:
Jim Bouton

Honorable Mention:
Frazier
Willis Reed
Ron Guidry
Chris Chambliss
Craig Nettles

I still cannot fathom how he could pay as little attention to taking care of his body as he did and still thoroughly dominate, both as an excellent pitcher and as the best power hitter of all time, measured by the difference between him and the next best in his era.

#2 LT, who changed Football more than anyone else I can think of single handedly changed a major sport.

My own private #3, Jimmy Jacobs, the greatest handball player ever, who was also an Acadamy Award winning boxing film director and co-manager of Mike Tyson back when he was still in his best period.

...he was both the most talented and the toughest player in the league. It wasn't fair to everyone who had to line up against him....and he was ours.

...
There are others which I did not list because I did not witness them playing.
Difficult questions, and no I did not follow the instructions as to why they were my favs...

In football Lt although he is such a putz. I'd throw in Rodney Hampton, Eli as well.

I used to love Walter Berry at St John's

Both are quiet, classy and tough as nails.

The only non NY athlete whom I would quit playing ball to watch on tv. The first player I ever witnessed transcending the game.

Followed closely by Strahan and Keith "The Hammer" Hamilton.

Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Keith Hernandez.

.

1. Tom Seaver
2. Mark Bavaro
3. Mark Messier
4. LT
5. Mike Piazza

Paul O'Neill was my favorite player during the Dynasty years and then early/mid 00s I began to appreciate Mo's historic dominance and he became my favorite player on the Yanks.

But as year after year went by, the more I realized that Derek Jeter was simply the man. The best player on a Dynasty (Bernie/Mo/Jeter are tough to choose between, but he's my choice), the leader of the team since he was 21, a guy who handled the NY media and spotlight to perfection, a guy who was a perfect face to not only the team but the entire sport.

3600 career hits, 5 rings, countless legendary moments. Sucks that he's no longer going to be a Yankee.

Eli is right there. One more ring and he's 1st place easy.