Underrated Athletes

It is tougher to come up with the underrated than the overrated. By definition, the underrated don't get noticed. There are certain categories where they can be found, though.

1. Quarterbacks that don't win a Super Bowl. Sunny Jurgenson was a great quarterback for Washington back in the day. Hardly anyone remembers him, though. Sammy Baugh must have been great. They called him Slingin' Sammy Baugh. You don't get the nickname Slingin' for nothing. And that was back when throwing a football was a lot like throwing a cantaloupe. You can do it, but it's tough to be very accurate.

A good example is the Manning family. Peyton is probably rated about right. Brother Eli is overrated. He won a couple of Super Bowl games with good luck or magic or something. Father Archie is probably underrated. He played with the Saints when they were terrible. Yes, worse than now. A lot worse. They were often called the Aints. He never got close to a Super Bowl. If he didn't have famous children no one would remember him.

2. Players from long ago. Have people name the top players from the last century - Likely they'll all be after 1950. I don't remember his name, but there is a player in the Baseball Hall of Fame from the 30's that played most of his games drunk. That kind of accomplishment should get some recognition. Basketball players like Bob Pettit, Bob Cousy, George Mikan. OK, I don't know anything about them either, but they were big stars back then, but they're not going to make many lists.

3. People that do the little things that help their team win. How about Ron Hunt? His claim to fame was getting to first base by allowing himself to be hit by a pitch. That doesn't happen by accident. OK, sometimes it does, but Hunt had made a science out of it. He set records. He once got hit three times in one game. Talk about giving yourself up for the team. It's nothing to hit a home run and trot around the bases. To lean in and take a fastball in your shoulder takes courage. They have batting cages in different places where you can pay money to have a machine pitch to you. Set it on 90 mph and take a few for the team. I think you'll have a greater appreciation for Ron Hunt.

How about offensive linemen in football. I don't know the name of a single lineman. They get slammed into on every play. Underrated.

4. Not quite great - Every see a distance event of great runners? Some will be way behind and you can't help but think they're slow. "Look, he's behind by 40 yards." If we were running in that race, we would be about a mile behind that guy.

Last place in the 1500 meter final in this Olympics will look slow. He won't even be in the camera view after the first lap. It's really unfair we think of him as slow when he is faster than 99.999999% of the rest of the world. Seriously, do the math.