What If Other “Superfriends” Joined Forces Past And Present In Sports?

Now that South Beach has formed a new delegation with “King James” (Lebron James), “The Flash” (Dwayne Wade) and “CB4” (Chris Bosh), the NBA will see just what can be accomplished by Miami Heat’s “Superfriends” in Miami.

But, what other creation of super powers would have been interesting to watch in basketball in the past? Or better yet, what about in regards to other sports and their superstar athletes both past and present?

Here are some possible ideas of what other superstar formations would have been interesting to see in their sport and time period:


Football: Present Day


Quarterback: Peyton Manning; Running Back: Chris Johnson; Wide Receiver: Larry Fitzgerald


Having these three on a team would make any Defensive Coordinator be a no-show on Sunday.

Manning is the best quarterback at dissecting a defense and analyzing what they are going to do. If any defense decides to sit back and cover the pass, Manning can hand it off to last season’s 2,000 yard running back Johnson. If any team decides to load the box and try to keep Johnson in check, Manning can just put up in the air and have Fitzgerald win one-on-one battles all game long.

The solution against this offense is simple, pick your poison and hope that the other option doesn’t kill you.


Baseball: Present Day


Hitting: Ichiro Suzuki, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols
Pitching: Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price, Tim Lincecum


Any manager would love to have these six players at their disposal.

Ichiro is the best lead off hitter and, probably, the best defense outfielder in baseball. He can hit and run while throwing out any player who decides to try and advance a base on him. Cabrera is the most dangerous hitter in the league right now and might have a shot at winning the Triple Crown. In each of his nine seasons in the big leagues, Pujols has at least 30 HRs, 100 RBIs, and a batting average over .300. He’s on pace to do the same this season.

Add a rotation with Jimenez (who has been virtually unhittable this season with only one loss at this point), Price (who appears to be the best pitcher in the American league this year) and Lincecum (back-to-back CY Young awards in 2008 and 2009), and no one will be able to score on this team.

Basketball: Past

Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson


There’s been the talked about trio of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird already, so they will be excused (despite those three being probably the best trio that could ever team up in basketball).

But spin time backwards even farther in time when there was no three point line and post players dominated the league. Russell alone won eleven titles in thirteen seasons, while Chamberlain won two in his fourteen year career. Having both players on the same team would simply be unfair.

Add in the mix “The Big O”, who was the only player ever to average a triple double in a season and quite possibly the best combo guard of all time, and each team they face would forfeit every game.


Football: Past


Quarterback: Dan Marino; Wide Receiver: Jerry Rice; Running Back: Barry Sanders


All three players are arguably the best at their position and would form the greatest football team if they played together.

Marino’s claim to the title of best quarterback can be seen in his career statistics. If not for “Mr. Iron Man”, Brett Favre, Marino would be the all-time leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns. On the other hand, Rice owns all receiver categories with the most receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Sanders was a human blur on the field and could have led any statistical running category he wanted if he didn’t retire after 10 NFL seasons.

Having all three on the same side would have been a nightmare for any opponent.


Baseball: Past


Hitting: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson
Pitching: Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax


The idea of having these players on the same team would be a dream come true for any baseball squad.

Aaron was regarded as the home run king for many decades and could hit the ball out of any ballpark. Mays was one of the greatest all around players who could hit for power, hit for average, run, throw and catch. Robinson was a great hitter as well and that was shown when he won the Triple Crown in 1966.

On the other side, having this rotation would be even more dominant. Gibson had an overbearing look on his face whenever he stepped on the mound and won over 250 games with over 3,000 strikeouts. Marichal was just as good with more wins than any pitcher during the 1960s (that includes Gibson and Koufax). Koufax had outstanding numbers (165 wins and 2,396 strikeouts) and would have had even better numbers if his career wasn’t cut short due to arthritis.

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Lebron's Full-Court Football Shot

There have been many amazing things that Lebron James has done and this ranks up their with the best.

Watch him heave a football from almost full-court and make it through the other basket.

I swear no-trick photography was used.

(Courtesy of The Baseline)

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I Love the Internet: Goal Line Blitz

So we don't normally do this, but I want to recommend this crazy addicting MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) to our readers called Goal Line Blitz. To be clear, we don't actually have any formal connection to these guys, I'm just a person who thinks it's a crazy fun game and thus wants to use the blog space to name drop it.

After you create an account, the site prompts you to pick a position that your created football player will play in the game. Give him a name, pick his starting attributes, and you're off. He (or she I guess) automatically joins a computer team and plays preseason and regular season and playoff games. Well not really play, as the games are simulated and your players just play as well as the stats they have are. But you can watch the simulated games of different colored dots play by play. The real "game" aspect is that there is no perfect way to distribute your "training points" and "flex points," and so you either be okay at the game and make your player very good or you can be awesome at it and make a superstar. My only character (you can have as many players as you have "flex points" to make but I prefer focusing on one guy) is a level 33 punter (I'm SpastikMooss there too), and a pretty damn good one at that. Good enough to recently bring about a three team bidding war for his services resulting in a sweet bonus of 50,000, which I bought some pink cleats with (nice).

Anyways, pretty fun little game if you like online MMORPGs at all. It's the only one I've really ever gotten addicted to other than Urban Dead, and even that got boring after my guy got too powerful. So check it out if you think you should, and maybe I'll see you in the playoffs.

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NFL Transactions 3/10/09 - Orlando Pace no longer a Ram?

Now I was a little shocked to see Tra Thomas cut by the Eagles and later signed by the Jaguars. When a tackle is with a team for enough years, you just kind of figure he'll be there forever I guess. Or so I thought.

Shows how much I know. Today Orlando Pace was given his walking papers by the St. Louis Rams, saving them $6 million dollars in cap space. Making 7 consecutive Pro Bowls from 1999 to 2005 had established Pace as one of the best left tackles in the league. But missing all of 2006, part of 2007, and 2 games in 2008 made him more of a question mark. I still think he's one of the better tackles out there and that he'll be a starter someplace else this coming season. But his time with the Rams comes to a sad close today, and I am very sorry to report it.

On a side note, who knew that Orlando Pace played high school basketball? I certainly didn't.

On a happier note today, the Patriots signed an ex Brown (via the Lions) in Leigh Bodden. Bodden has a career year for the Browns and then was infamously traded (along with a pick) to the Lions for Shaun Rogers before last season. Rogers went to the Pro Bowl, Bodden underachieved, and the Lions went 0 and 16. But the Patriots signed him at the veteran minimum, which is pretty solid considering he might not even be much more than a nickel back in New England and he's still just one season removed from 6 interceptions. Damaged goods, but the Pats will take them.

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Today's Moment of Zen: George Carlin "Football or Baseball"

In Today's Moment of Zen, I figure that a fair amount of you have seen the George Carlin clip of him talking about the comparison of football and baseball.

For those of you have not seen it, here is the clip of him performing the joke in New Jersey in 1990.

RIP George Carlin (1937-2008)

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