Who would you happily pay to see play?
Roar Guru By sheek, 17 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
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- AFL, Cameron Smith, Cricket, Davis Cup, Greg Inglis, Ian Chappell, John Newcombe, Justin Langer, Ken Irvine, Mark Ella, Matt Hayden, NRL, Rod Laver, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Shane Warne, Steve Price, Tennis, Tim Horan, Tony Roche, wallabies, Wally Lewis
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Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer walk out onto the ground - AAP Image/Jenny Evans
Let’s cut to the chase. There are some big matches coming up this weekend. Take your pick: Ashes cricket, Bledisloe Cup, NRL, AFL.
What’s your favourite sport and which players that you’ve seen would you happily part your well-earned cash for to see play live?
Not necessarily the best to play the game, but guys who get your blood racing. For the way they play the game, that is!
It doesn’t have to be only entertainment value.
You might like a particular player for his toughness, for example, or his ‘never-say-die’ attitude, or his ‘team-before-self’ attitude. Or something else.
I’ve been watching most sports since the late 60s, so I’ll start with three sports: cricket, rugby union and rugby league.
My favourite Aussie cricket XI (c.1969-present):
Matt Hayden, Justin Langer, Ian Chappell (c), Greg Chappell (vc), David Hookes, Doug Walters, Adam Gilchrist (k), Gus Gilmour, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson. Allan Border (12th man).
My favourite Wallabies XV (c.1969-present)
Roger Gould, Mick O’Connor, Jason Little, Tim Horan, David Campese, Mark Ella (vc), Nick Farr-Jones, Mark Loane (c), Ray Price, Willie Ofahengaue, John Eales, David Hillhouse, Stan Pilecki, Billy Ross, Topo Rodriguez. Bench: Glen Ella, Ben Tune, John Hipwell, Simon Poidevin, Greg Cornelsen, Steve Finnane, Phil Kearns.
My favourite Kangaroos XIII (c.1969-present)
Graeme Langlands (c), Ken Irvine, Mal Meninga, Bobby Fulton, Greg Inglis, Wally Lewis, Billy Smith, Johnny Raper, Ron Coote, Bob McCarthy, Steve Price, Cameron Smith, Artie Beetson (vc). Interchange: Billy Slater, Andrew Johns, Ben Kennedy, Noel Kelly, Bobby Lindner (18th man).
Here’s another, my Aussie tennis Davis Cup squad (c.1969-present)
Singles: Rod Laver and Pat Cash; doubles: John Newcombe and Tony Roche; reserve: Ken Rosewall.
Remember, pick any sport and pick any favourite, not necessarily the best.
It’s about being entertained, or those you admire and who you would willingly pay to go see play.
July 17th 2009 @ 7:31am
GaryGnu said | July 17th 2009 @ 7:31am | Report comment
Mark Waugh and VVS Laxman. The ease and grace with which they played their shots made watching them a pure joy.
On a football field Andrew Johns because he could make anything happen. I never had the chance but if he was as good as they say he was I would gladly pay to see Mark Ella.
July 17th 2009 @ 9:38am
onside said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:38am | Report comment
A fun concept Sheek.Time restraints stop me joining the party.
The ‘pay to see’ prerequisite eliminates most supporters as
couch potatoes rule.That said, any one with Fox does ‘pay to
see’.If two percent of people that watch sport on TV went to
the game ,it would be nearly impossible to get into most grounds.
July 17th 2009 @ 9:42am
Chop said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:42am | Report comment
What a sensational topic !
Mark Waugh batting because he always looked in control, sometimes I think it was almost boredom that got him out because the bowlers couldn’t.
Steve Waugh because no matter how uncomfortable he looked, you weren’t getting him out without a fight.
Adam Gilchrist smashing balls out of the ground for fun, taking many a game away from the opposition when at 5 down they thought they were on top
Matts Wilander playing Tennis, he looked like he was gliding on air when he was moving around the court.
John McEnroe, the shots he made with wooden racquets still amaze me.
Chris Evert again wooden racquets, calm demeanour and never looked flustered seemed to float around the court
Martin Lang playing League, the guy just ran 100% straight and hard, often to his own detriment.
Brett Kenny, I just loved the way he moved on the field and being part of the most successful era of the Eels doesn’t hurt
Sterling Mortlock very hard running with the ball and tackles with 100% force regardless of the consequences to himself
Jeff Thomson bowling, you could just see his mind ticking over as he came in ‘I’m going to bowl this as fast as I can and try to knock your head off’ (or break your toes)
Mark Richards, I got too see him surf in Newcastle as a 5 time world champion doing things no one else was at the time.
Mario Rivera closing pitcher for the Yankees, to do what he has done over the past 10-12 years in the highest pressure job in baseball is just amazing. As his pitch speed has dropped he’s developed other pitches to stay in front of the game.
Tiger Woods/Greg Norman
I’ve got plenty more, but I better go do some work….again sheek what a sensational topic!
July 17th 2009 @ 9:47am
Andrew said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Shane Warne, Andrew Johns, Zin Zan Brooke, Sonny Bill (playing league where he is allowed to shoulder charge), Stacy Jones, Harry kewell and Thiery Henry
July 17th 2009 @ 9:50am
Brett McKay said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:50am | Report comment
wow Sheek, where might this start and finish… The problem I have is if I’m paying to see who I want to see, I don’t think I can limit it to Australians…
Somehow, I’d like to see Larkham and A.Johns sharing the playmaking duties with Mortlock and Umaga running at gaps. I’ll then have El Masri, Halligan, Carter, Wilkinson and Fox ro-sham-bo’ing to decide who takes the conversion (perhaps rock-paper-scissors might be safer). I’d then like McGrath and Lillee to take the new ball against Gilchrist and Richards, with David Gower and Mark Waugh following in the most laid back middle order in the history of cricket. In the innings break, I want Warne and Muralitharan to have a bowl-off to see who has the most variations. Lockett, Dunstall and both Gary Abletts can then have a goal-a-thon a la the NBA All Star weekend slam dunk contest.
Michael Schumacher, Peter Brock, Colin McRae and Jeremy Clarkson will share the driving; Tiger Woods can tee off with Phil Mickleson to do the putting; David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo will begin a free-kick shoot-out from varying positions, while Federer and Laver settle once and for all who is the GOAT (which is a very unfortunate acronym for such a contest).
Commentary will be shared between Richie Benaud, Ray Warren, Gordon Bray 15 years ago, Jim Maxwell, Martin Tyler, and Murray Walker, with Bruce McAvaney and John Madden providing expert comments.
And I better start saving for the cost of the tickets…
July 17th 2009 @ 9:54am
Knives Out said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:54am | Report comment
In no particular order:
Joe Calzaghe;
Ronnie O’Sullivan;
Usain Bolt;
Dimitar Berbatov;
Keith Wood.
July 17th 2009 @ 10:28am
Rickety Knees said | July 17th 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
Also in no particular order :
Lillee and Thomson
Doug Walters
Mark Ella
David Campese (minus any interviews)
Simon Poidevan
Stephen Larkham
Sterling Mortlock
July 17th 2009 @ 11:37am
Pippinu said | July 17th 2009 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Bloody hell – this is pretty open ended!!
For starters, I carry this in my Roar profile, but just in case you haven’t seen it before, here’s a classic goal from Eder from the 1982 WC (in which every 2nd Brazilian goal was a classic):
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zbj3MYBS7SI
Aussie rules fans aren’t that great at acknowledging players from other clubs (or even acknowledging other clubs full stop), but we’ll pay to see this every time:
Not only was it billed the match of the season (even the century), with both teams having come in at 14 wins, zero losses, but remarkably – it actually lived up to the hype!!
So this clip comes at a point where scores a locked with a minute to go and every player is absolutely dead on his feet, such as been the intensity of the contest.
The ball is actually in the air before you see Gardiner arrive from the left of screen, watch carefully, he must have covered at least 30 metres to make the marking contest, he’s something like 5th in line to the ball!!
With eyes only for the ball, he grabs it cleanly, absolutely crashes through the pack, and knocks 3 Geelong defenders to the ground like skittles.
Watch it from the reverse angle – it’s brilliant!!
Replay it for good measure.
July 17th 2009 @ 12:17pm
Kazama said | July 17th 2009 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
Jeez, well there’s probably about 20,000-odd football players I’d pay good money to see. Probably Gianfranco Zola would be top of the list, he was my favourite player growing up.
A guy who I hope to see in action in the next couple of years is Valentino Rossi. Possibly the greatest motorcycle racer of all time, and maybe the #1 sportsperson in the world right now.
Would have loved to see Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird play, or the Orlando Magic when we had Shaq, Penny, Horace Grant, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott etc.
I never got to see Gary Ablett senior, Jason Dunstall, Tony Lockett or Stephen Kernahan play live, so I’d love a chance to see any of them, or one of the old State of Origin games.
Of the sportspeople I’ve already seen, and would pay anything to see again (it’s not possible in most cases): Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin, James Blake, Tony Modra, Darren Jarman, Mark Ricciuto, Andrew McLeod, Wayne Carey, Craig Bradley, Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, Tony Vidmar, Alvaro Recoba, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Dean Jones, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting…I’ll stop now, but I could go on forever.
July 17th 2009 @ 1:36pm
Gaff said | July 17th 2009 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
Has anyone mention Don Bradman yet? Given the little footage there is of him, I would definitely pay to go and watch the Don. I did get to see Warnie play live on many occasions and would love to get the chance again.
and I agree with Kazama – Jordan in his prime was great to watch on TV. I would’ve loved to watch him live.