Your Team's Top "Cult Heroes"

[capsfan1000]

Matt Hendricks, any guy who can fight and dangle in the shootout is fine by me.

I'd have to agree, along with Jason Chimera & John Erskine.

I'd also add Brooks Laich. And as for old capitals players I'd add Matt Bradley and Quintin Laing

[Still MIGHTY]

Ducks - Guy Hebert, Stu Grimson, Steve Rucchin, Ruslan Salei, Travis Moen, Sami Pahlsson, Joe DiPenta, George Parros, Mike Brown

[Chawls]

New Orleans Saints:

Steve Gleason:

[Lights Out]

(Devil) Rays: Dan Johnson, Sam Fuld, and of course, Roberto Hernandez.

Chargers: Stan "The Man" Humphries and Natrone Means.

Clippers: Steve Novak, Sam Cassell, Corey Maggette, Brian Skinner, Marko Jaric, Vlad Radmonovic... I could keep going.

[Shumway]

For the Wings, I don't know if there could ever be a bigger one than...

Stanley Cup clinching goal.... Pummeling the living crap out of turtles... Starting an awful rock band and people still flocking to see your band after you gamble away your life earnings....

...and he's still my favorite player ever.

For the Angels...2 guys who had one HUGE game in the '02 playoffs come to mind.

- Adam Kennedy: 3 HRs in one game of the ALDS

- Scott Spiezio: Clutch 3-run HR in game 6 of the '02 Series. 19 RBI in the '02 playoffs.

[RedSox44]

Shane Hnidy and Miroslav Satan? No, just.. no. Hnidy was and always will be a bum, he wasn't that popular around here. Also, according to this list the Bruins started playing professional ice hockey in 1997. I honestly forgot all about Satan until this article, I'll probably forget about him again in a few hours. I don't think there has been or ever will be a guy like PJ Stock. He sucked, he played like 14 games, but he beat the piss out of everyone (or tried to). I still wear my Stock Crew shirt around the house on occasion. No guy has been more beloved for doing so little, good on him. Axelsson deserves more respect than he's given, it's a shame he never got to raise The Cup.

For the Sox? I don't know, is there any? Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury.. they've all become bonafide stars. Maybe Salty in that weird "hey he married his hot math teacher" kind of following.

Celtics, who cares? Scals before he left, can't think of anyone now.

You'd be surprised how much the Devil and the Sheriff are still beloved in the Bruins' blogosphere.

~~~~

New Orleans Saints:

Steve Gleason:

I agree with this. I'm not a Saints fan (though I did support them during their SB run a few years ago), but Gleason is forever an icon in the NFL because of that play.

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

Auburn football: Kodi Burns, Tre Smith, Lutzenkirchen

Auburn basketball: Josh Wallace, Scott Pohlman

ATL Hawks: Ivan Johnson (though he's pretty well-known around the league now...)

Cards: David Eckstein, So Taguchi

Penguins: Craig (f***ing) Adams, Max Talbot (well, not really anymore...)

[CS85]

Bears:

Any 85 Bear

Any backup quarterback

Any white safety

Any white running back

Any white receiver

Pretty much any white guy that "played hard"

Walter Payton

Cubs:

Ryne Sandberg

Kerry Wood

Harry Caray

Ernie Banks

Ron Santo

[raysox]

Rays: Sam Fuld

Lightning: Former Steve Downie

Bucs: Former Matt Bryant

[Discrim]

Packers: illwauk already put it pretty well...the lovable big fellas and Mr. Underrateds of the world (speaking of which...yeah, I love Donald Driver, and I know a girl who's freakin obsessed with him. That said, I was surprised as hell when I heard he was gonna be on Dancing with the Stars...cus hell, the only Packers I think most casual fans can name are Favre and Rodgers). Ahmad "Grabby Smurf" Carroll is the rare cult villain. And then some would count Yancey Thigpen and Nate Poole as cult heroes, in spite of the fact that neither ever played a down for the Pack. (for those uninformed, Thigpen dropped a touchdown pass in Lambeau back in 95, and Poole caught a TD against the Vikes. Both helped the Packers win the division...hell, Poole was honored by the city of Green Bay with a key to the city)

Bears: been mentioned already,and I'd add Robbie Gould and Kevin Butler as well (I'd have said Hester too, though I think he's too well-known to be a cult hero)...hell, let's throw in Cap Boso for good measure.

Bucks: back in 03-04, Desmond Mason. Dude could only dunk and play some D, but the man threw it the down. Dan Gadzuric used to be one, but then he started making starter money despite not playing much, if at all. Right now, it'd be Delfino, Jon Leuer, Ersanity Ilyasova and Larry Sanders

Cubs: Rod Beck for sure, and frickin Augie Ojeda

Wisconsin: the HB's always THE guy in Madison. Fittingly, their cult heroes are usually either named Matt (Matt Unertl, Matt Bernstein, Matt Davenport), are the fullback, or are the quarterback. Speaking of Bernstein, raise your hand if you remember that one game where they had to start him at halfback and all he did was make Penn State look stupid all day

NBA Draft: Adam Silver. That is all.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Bills: Steve Tasker, obviously.

Sabres: Matt Barnaby

Syracuse basketball: I've been watching as a regular fan since the 1999-2000 season, and the first name that jumps out is Gerry McNamara.

Also, I've always considered Miroslav Satan a Sabre.

[scottysprings]

Jets: Wayne Chrebet

Yankees: None really stand out, though Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan were recent notables.

[AndrewPF]

The Boston ones have been said, so I'll speak for Tottenham Hotspur. I'd consider the cult heroes at White Hart Lane to be Aaron Lennon and Ledley King. Both get injured a lot and don't play much, but when they do, it's a huge deal. Spurs fans love those two. To a lesser extent, Tom Huddlestone could be a cult hero, but in my opinion it's because he's a fatass (for a professional athlete) but when he does play (he's out with an injured ankle this year), he works his tail off, to occasionally spectacular ends. To an even lesser extent, there's backup goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. His games in goal almost always involve extremely costly gaffes, but for some reason, a lot of fans really like him. There's even a song that goes like:

Heurelho Gomes, you are the love of my life/Heurelho Gomes, I'd let you shag my wife/Heurelho Gomes, I wish I was Brazilian too...

[Sport]

Reds: Chris Sabo and more recently Ryan Freel.

Blue Jackets: Jody Shelley. If they brought him back the team would sell 500 full season ticket packages. People love this idiot for some reason.

Bengals: Jon Kitna, Willie Anderson, and these days, Brian Leonard.

[B-Rich]

New Orleans Saints:

Steve Gleason:

I agree with this. I'm not a Saints fan (though I did support them during their SB run a few years ago), but Gleason is forever an icon in the NFL because of that play.

Even moreso today. For those of you (nationally) who may not know, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and is facing his fate with the same type of courage and energy he displayed on the football field.

Steve had always been active in community and as a giver, having founded different foundations and inititives, such as the post-Katrina "Backpacks for Hope" which provided back-packs and school supplies to Katrian affected students. After his diagnosis, Steve formed "Team Gleason" to allow others to join him in his mission to continue living a full and adventurous life and inspiring others to do the same. One part of Team Gleason is The Gleason Initiative Foundation which is a non-profit with a specific mission to: 1. Help provide individuals with muscular diseases or injuries with leading edge technology, equipment and services; 2. Raise public awareness toward amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ?ALS? by providing and documenting extraordinary life adventures for individuals with muscular diseases or injuries.

Here is a video regarding his story:

http://youtu.be/LSS10h0BKig

He is an inspring young man, and more than just a "cult hero", he is a true hero.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

on the Eastside Hockey Manager boards, Roman Vopat was somewhat legendary. so much so he became a verb.

Vopatization - sending a guy to the farm team that is over 30 which results in his skill set decreasing with every game until you hit 10 in all skill categories.

[RedSox44]

New Orleans Saints:

Steve Gleason:

I agree with this. I'm not a Saints fan (though I did support them during their SB run a few years ago), but Gleason is forever an icon in the NFL because of that play.

Even moreso today. For those of you (nationally) who may not know, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and is facing his fate with the same type of courage and energy he displayed on the football field.

Steve had always been active in community and as a giver, having founded different foundations and inititives, such as the post-Katrina "Backpacks for Hope" which provided back-packs and school supplies to Katrian affected students. After his diagnosis, Steve formed "Team Gleason" to allow others to join him in his mission to continue living a full and adventurous life and inspiring others to do the same. One part of Team Gleason is The Gleason Initiative Foundation which is a non-profit with a specific mission to: 1. Help provide individuals with muscular diseases or injuries with leading edge technology, equipment and services; 2. Raise public awareness toward amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ?ALS? by providing and documenting extraordinary life adventures for individuals with muscular diseases or injuries.

Here is a video regarding his story:

http://youtu.be/LSS10h0BKig

He is an inspring young man, and more than just a "cult hero", he is a true hero.

I remember briefly hearing about his ALS, but forget about it. Horrible disease, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[oldschoolvikings]

Interesting topic.

One thing I've noticed... without question the greatest Viking Quarterback was Fran Tarkenton, but so many Viking fan's I've met, for some reason, just loved Tommy Kramer so much more.

[UnclearInitial]

Yankees: Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher

Knicks: Danilo Gallinari, John Starks and Lin

Giants: Steve Weatherford

Rangers: Derek Boogaard RIP

[PacificCoastRL]

As a Vancouver Canucks fan I would have to say Tiger Williams may have been the greatest cult figure for the team. Although some Leaf fans may wish to put him on that same pedestal in Toronto. I'm also a rugby league fan and two names come to mind. The first is Fui Fui Moi Moi (that's phooey phooey moy moy)of the Parramatta Eels, who could be a cult figure based on his name alone. The second is Beau Ryan of the Wests Tigers, who is flat-out a comedian, so good in fact, that he has a segment on a high profile rugby league show in Australia. Unfortunately he is averaging a try a game this season, and may become to good a player to be considered a cult figure in the future.