City's Best: New York's Top Five Athletes

Posted Jun 25, 2007 12:10PM By Jamie Mottram (RSS feed)

Filed Under: New York

FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a New York sports fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHX | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

5. Eli Manning: Eli's "Manning Face" might not be as nationally known as his brother, but Eli's sheepish look and pre-eminent position as the city's most recognizable pro-football player makes him a lock for this list. Now, if he could only translate that into performance... (Desperate to avoid seeing Manning on this list? Your other choices are Jeremy Shockey and Chad Pennington. Meh.)

4. David Wright: Look around the city and all you see is signs, billboards, posters, ads -- ad nauseum -- for the city's poster-child for clean-cut baseball goodness. For all of his on-field stats, Wright's most significant achievement so far is building momentum to replace our No. 1 guy (after the jump...no spoilers here!) as the city's most talented and beloved pro athlete. Wright still needs a few rings, but he's on his way.

Photos: New York's Top Athletes

3. Stephon Marbury: In a basketball-crazy town, the hometown hero isn't just the face of the Knicks (for better or worse), but he's the face of Coney Island, the soul of New York City basketball's "Give Up Your Girl Before You Give Up Your Dribble" mentality. Recently elevated his "Man of the People" status by launching his admirable $15 sneaker line.

2. Alex Rodriguez: Only in New York City could a player of A-Rod's best-ever(?) talent and instantly recognizable face NOT make the No. 1 spot. That may change if/when A-Rod opts out of his contract for the $30 million deal to play in another city, where his ability and celebrity will have no peer. Unfortunately, playing in NYC means competing with...

1. Derek Jeter: He is not just captain of the Yankees. He is arguably New York City's biggest rock star: A Stadium-swooning, club-spotting, starlet-wooing, Page Six-driving rock star. He may never win another World Series ring and he may drive fans in other cities crazy with envy, but in New York City, there is no one who out-Jeters Jeter.

Honorable Mention: Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Jose Reyes, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, Eddy Curry, Chad Pennington and Jeremy Shockey. I don't follow hockey and thus have no Rangers/Islanders/Devils names to offer. Whoops.

Editor's Note: Dan Shanoff, formerly of ESPN.com, writes at DanShanoff.com and recently launched Varsity Dad. He also lives in Brooklyn, which, for the purposes of this post, gives him "cred." We thank him for his contribution to FanHouse.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

6-25-2007 @ 12:49PM

Unsilent Majority said...

Shoudn't Eli be saved for the Northern Jersey edition?

6-25-2007 @ 12:41PM

Dan L. said...

Agree with most of your choices, but Stephon Marbury over Mariano Rivera? I dunnooooo about that one.

6-25-2007 @ 2:08PM

6-25-2007 @ 1:05PM

Stagnant said...

Eli Manning is an athlete? Any of the honorable mentions rate above him.

Jose Reyes is King. Wright has more face exposure, but Jose is the King of Queens and will rule NYC long after the top 3 on this list are gone.

6-25-2007 @ 1:17PM

Rivera can walk down most streets in NYC without being surrounded by a mob 10 people deep.

6-25-2007 @ 3:20PM

Jaj8588 said...

Hey Shanoff,
Even if you don't follow NHL hockey and the Rangers/Devils/Islanders, haven't you ever heard of Martin Brodeur, the most consistent NHL goalie of the last decade and on pace to break Patrick Roy's career record for wins and shutouts?
Do you live in a cave?

6-25-2007 @ 6:08PM

DNA said...

Eli Manning hasn't done anything athletic since his Ole Miss days. Can we please stop hyping up this mediocre at best quarterback? The best athlete in NY isn't even on the list and that young man is Jose Reyes.

6-25-2007 @ 5:30PM

Eric McErlain said...

Come on, Dan. What about that Jagr guy?

6-26-2007 @ 12:02AM

jay said...

having Stephon and Eli on this list makes New York look horrible im almost embarrassed to say i'm a new yorker if this is all we have. Where is Jose Reyes he should be #3 and Mariano #5

6-26-2007 @ 10:20PM

Tracey said...

BRENDAN SHANNAHAN?? NYR--This year was STELLAR for them!! Sean Avery too!

6-26-2007 @ 7:51AM

Dennis Kobray said...

David Wright is a legitimate choice, but I fear that racism is responsible for Jose Reyes not being at least #2. His playing and enthusiasm are infectious!

6-26-2007 @ 7:53AM

Dave the Rave said...

I'll tell you what....Mark Messier, even though he's retired from the NY Rangers will still command attention in the Apple after delivering the Cup.

6-26-2007 @ 7:59AM

Charles said...

Hands down Jeter and Riviea are #1 and Reyes #2 A-Rod #3 and A-Rod must stay in New York winning season or not. Yank's will anty up the $$$.

Chas.

6-26-2007 @ 8:18AM

a j z said...

jeter deserves first but reyes belongs up there this is the summer and this is a baseball town eli ha snot done anything yet and the knicks and the nab are a joke for now all baseball jeter a rod reyes wright and mo in that order

6-26-2007 @ 8:23AM

Dan said...

You know your town is short of athletes when Eli Manning is on the list of top 5 in your city. Guess what Giant fans? It's going to be another long season.

6-26-2007 @ 8:21AM

Rick said...

Eli Manning? Come on. He doesn't belong in the top five nor the top 20. He is a dud riding on the coat tails of his big brother with the horseshoes on his helmet. Jose Reyes makes my list at number 3.

6-26-2007 @ 8:26AM

Juan said...

Alex Rodriguez owes his lack of popularity in New York because many of his Latino fan have been disappointed at the way he has handled his double nationality. At times, this guy claims to have strong Dominican roots (His parents are Dominican) and a great love for Hispanic fans. However, at the time he was expected to play on the International Series, he CHOSE to play for the United States team instead of playing for the Dominican team. Then you wonder is he or is he not for Latin fans? I have concluded that he will play for whoever pays him big bucks, so he has no real identity or real character as a player. He's just a lousy-Yankee-team-good hitter lacking identity. That's it. No personality.

6-26-2007 @ 8:28AM

steve said...

If you don't follow hockey maybe you should not be a sports writer. It's just as good if not better than the other sports.

6-26-2007 @ 8:46AM

Todd said...

In reference to hockey, it has lost it's status as one of the 4 major sports, the others being baseball, basketball and football. In fact better ratings are often seen in golf and Nascar. So to slight a sports reporter for not covering a sport that is unpopular with most of the general public in favor of the major sports is to not understand the business of sports reporting. Now if the question is trully in reference to the best athletes in the city, then you MUST include ALL sports.

Just fyi.. The most recent tv ratings...

June 9, 2007 - via www.dailynews.com All rights reserved.

The Stanley Cup finals ended up with a record-low Nielsen TV ratings for NBC, which had the final three games of the five-game series between the Ducks and Ottawa Senators.Games 3-5 on NBC averaged a 1.6 national rating and a 3 share, the network said Thursday.