Most likeable athletes

[Mathman]

This was recently posted by Lavender on the MK Forum. According to the online advertising trade newspaper Brandweek, the top ten "Most Likable Athletes" (with likability marks of at least 59%) are:

Brett Favre, Steve Young, Kristi Yamaguchi, Mia Hamm, Michelle Kwan, Arnold Palmer, Jerome Bettis, Peggy Fleming, Lance Armstrong and (tied) Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning and Wayne Gretzky.

We got three of the top eight! (What's so great about Brett Favre? )

MM

 

[SeaniBu]

Cool, I wish more people knew FUMIE.

Yah, Farve? I like Fulltie (not sure on that spelling) and Rod Smith better. Surprised No Bloom in there, not surprised about Elway, though he is one of my favs as well.

 

[rob43]

I believe you mean Doug Flutie- he was great for one season (and famous for 1 pass) in college but was pretty much a journeyman as a pro. Bloom just went on the second day of the draft and hasn't played football in 2-3 years, so we'll see how he does, but I think he'll be good not great.

I wonder about the intensity of their support- since many people have wide but shallow popularity and others have a smaller reach but very devoted following. I'm assuming this is marketing related- their are probably 20 less known athletes who would score just as well in terms of depth of the support within their fileds (i'm thinking about all the x-gamesers and the basketball crowd.

 

[76olympics]

Gosh, Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill aren't there? The fickle winds of popular acclaim....

 

[Piel]

Flutie was rude as heck when he came to Morgantown wih BC. Of course he never got a win aginst us either . That said, his pass to Gerard Phalen against UM was a beautiful thing. AND he was awfully cute!
Flutie was good enough to win the Heisman over...
2nd Keith Byars
3rd Robbie Bosco
4th Bernie Kosar
5th Kenneth Davis
6th Bill Fralic
7th Chuck Long
8th Greg Allen
9th Jerry Rice
10th Rueben Mayes

AND was runner up to Steve Young and Mike Rozier the year before.

I LOVE college football!

 

[Mathman]

...UM meaning Miami, that is, not to be confused with the University of Michigan Worverines, beat on a Hail Mary by Kordell Stewart of Colorado, bouncing off Blake Anderson, to Michael Westbrook in 1994. (That wasn't so doggone cute.)

Cutie Flutie

Cutie Patootie

 

[SeaniBu]

I believe you mean Doug Flutie- he was great for one season (and famous for 1 pass) in college but was pretty much a journeyman as a pro. Bloom just went on the second day of the draft and hasn't played football in 2-3 years, so we'll see how he does, but I think he'll be good not great.

Yep, I have always admired his work with the Autistic. As for bloom, I just figured that all the little ladies would have voted for him - he is an athlete. I was very torn with the decisions of my home town collage to not let him play and ski.

Interesting that MM mentioned Kordell, my best friend is a Pit fan and that had always been a fun amount of razzing. "He never could play once he left Boulder. Of course now with #7 it is great for me to mention he learned it all from his hero John E!!!!

But Once again Fumie cannot go without being mentioned by me when you ask about likable Athletes!

 

[Piel]

Seanibu do you mean best friends with a PITT fan? That's OK you are still welcome at GS.

 

[SeaniBu]

Seanibu do you mean best friends with a PITT fan? That's OK you are still welcome at GS.

Yes, and he only deserves one T. The fool acutely built a Blue and Orange RC plane and gets offended when I call it his Denver Broncos plane

 

[Ladskater]

I would think Kurt Browning would be at the top of the list - at least on a Canadian list.

 

[Piel]

Yes, and he only deserves one T. The fool acutely built a Blue and Orange RC plane and gets offended when I call it his Denver Broncos plane

It is ALWAYS open season on Pitt in WV! Pitt week is one of those unofficial official holidays like the first day of deer season, ramp season, and NASCAR.

 

[Wolfgang]

Brett Favre is a 'gentleman' in a sport where many others are, ...well...not.....
He is also one of the toughest guys to put on a football uniform, at least within the past 20 years or so.

Not so sure about Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Manning.

If this is supposed to be an international list, I'd like to add Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish ski icon of the 70's and early 80's, there never was a more unassuming super star.......

 

[MKFSfan]

Where's Jeter?????

Cool that there are 3 lady skaters in the top 8! I knew Michelle and Kristi have a "likability" factor, but I would think Dorthothy or Scott would be there before Peggy.

 

[Bill508]

Im surprised Phil Mickelson, the golfer, isn't on the top 10 list. Everyone likes Phil- he always get an ovation at each hole on the course--even more so then Tiger Woods. ..............and who couldn't like Shizuka?

 

[R.D.]

Kinda surprised Fleming made that list. Unfortunately all the stuff I've heard about her person is rather negative.

and who couldn't like Shizuka?

there's a certain likeability factor about her but she seems rather intense and that would probably keep her off (my) top five list. But yes, overall I agree.

 

[#1Kerryfan]

This was recently posted by Lavender on the MK Forum. According to the online advertising trade newspaper Brandweek, the top ten "Most Likable Athletes" (with likability marks of at least 59%) are:

Brett Favre, Steve Young, Kristi Yamaguchi, Mia Hamm, Michelle Kwan, Arnold Palmer, Jerome Bettis, Peggy Fleming, Lance Armstrong and (tied) Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning and Wayne Gretzky.

We got three of the top eight! (What's so great about Brett Favre? )

MM

Cool

 

[Piel]

It would be interesting to know why they are thought to be nice.

 

[Mathman]

It would be interesting to know why they are thought to be nice.

Yes, it would.

It's kind of hard to tell just how this poll was conducted. The parent company of Brandweek magazine is the Neilsen rating organization. From the way the article is worded, I don't think they asked the people, "name your top five nice athletes."

I think instead they might have presented the viewers with a list, and asked: "Brett Favre, nice or not nice?" etc. Ths would account for why lots of nice people are not mentioned -- maybe they just weren't included in this particular marketing poll. (It is hard to believe that anyone would say, for instance, "Kimmie Meissner, not nice," if Kimmie were on the list.)

The full article actually is about Kobe Bryant (not so nice as he once was, but getting a little nicer recently. Nothing like scoring 81 points in a game to make people thnk you are nice.)

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/magazine/columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425220

MM

 

[Crizzy]

Maybe they got the results through which company the athletes are sponsored by at least in North America. Perhaps that's the reason why Fumie or Shizuka is not on the list. They also had to consider who's endorsing them, TV specials, commentating gig.

Peggy probably made the list because of her long standing years as a commentator but other than that she's really not marketable and not as likeable as Dick Button.


Michelle, well she's Michelle. Aside from being the First Lady of Modern Figure Skating, she also has a sweet deal with Disney, East West Bank that Tire company and she has her own Rink co-owned with the bank. Kristi, has that likeable persona and like Michelle they have cross over. They don't just represent that Asian community but the entire American people. I agree with both being as likeable and marketable. BUT Peggy???

Dotty, strikes me as more marketable. I guess because she's not as "exposed" as Peggy was the reason she didn't made the list.

 

[Mathman]

I think most people just remember Peggy as "America's sweetheart" way back when.

"Likeable" is a funny word anyway (quite apart from the fact that it can correctly be spelled both "likeable" and "likable" -- I had to look it up, LOL.) It might just mean sort of bland, like, I have nothing against this person, so, OK, I'll say likable.

MM