Sports star's you actually like

Flecktarn

Prompted by the Ireland vs. England match yesterday,
there's always a complaint about one of the participant's from the people who you're watching with .eg ''I hate that fella because...''

So it got me thinking do you actually like or admire any athletes? For me it would have to be Roger Federer or Ryan Giggs.
Two extremely successful athletes who are very modest about their achievements imo.

RichieC

Stephen Ireland!


hehe.. I'm of course kidding he's a total thick.

Royal Seahawk

Joe Canning.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

I don't like Federer ersonally, no real reason why, just never root for him

But Giggsy as you say is probably my favourite. An amazing career, a gentleman on the pitch and by all acounts gentleman off it

Really like Nadal as well, amazing player and, again, by all accounts a rela nice fella

bonerm

Peter Crouch. Yep that's about the only one I can think of right now.

TanG411

Adrian Lewis - Really down-to-earth person and always up for a chat.

Roger Federer - Probably cool.

Cantona's Collars

Paul Scholes-top player but so modest.Always shunned the celeb life and just wants to play football.

Ghandee

bonerm wrote: »

Peter Crouch. Yep that's about the only one I can think of right now.

A.P McCoy.

Genuinely nice, modest gentleman!

Saila

yes I do.

K4t

Ryan Giggs is admired by his own fans and rival fans alike. A gentleman man on and off the pitch, he's never received a red card throughout his career for Man Utd!

Metallitroll

Katie Taylor i've a feeling she could try her hand at anything and excel.

girl done good - and she'd punch the head off most dudes here ;p

W.Shakes-Beer

Paraic Harrington, always seems like a nice guy.

fillmore jive

jimmy bullard

The Pontiac

Paul McGrath, Brian Corcoran (ex-sport stars) and Messi.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Ken Doherty seems pretty cool too

pragmatic1

Bit old but Charles Barkley. Steve Collins is meant to be a sound man. Liked Dennis Rodman because he didnt give a fcuk.

Napper Hawkins

Eric "Kung Fu Seagull" Cantona.

squod

Games are not sports.

Rubik.

Kenny Dalglish.

Nolanger

Steve Collins.

TeddyTedson

Flecktarn wrote: »

Prompted by the Ireland vs. England match yesterday,
there's always a complaint about one of the participant's from the people who you're watching with .eg ''I hate that fella because...''

So it got me thinking do you actually like or admire any athletes? For me it would have to be Roger Federer or Ryan Giggs.
Two extremely successful athletes who are very modest about their achievements imo.

Got to say I really think Federer is a creep. No personality at all there. Boring.
Probably has to be Roy Keane really.

Metallitroll

mortified at the exclusive thanks from man u fans to man u fans. now i know why..

sports tends to be banned from here to avoid such allegiances / bias.. team-based in particular

senorwipesalot

Met Michael Carruth,olympic boxer, at Bernard Dunnes last fight.Came across as a nice guy and no problem standing in for pic.

MagicMarker

Javier ''Chico'' Hernandez

Taken from here.

Read this one on another forum. Thought it was nice.

The nicest 'celebrity' I've ever served was a young footballer. Strange to associate footballers with manners, I know.

He walked towards me, and as somebody who's son is a fan of the team he plays for I knew who he was as soon as he spoke to me.

At a hundred miles an hour and clearly flustered he said "I was wondering please if you could help me Miss. Do you sell - I'm sorry, I cannot pronounce it in English. Tagleeeteeelea. I'm sorry. That doesn't sound right. I can write it for you.....oh but my spelling not so good either. Is OK. Thank you anyway."

I quickly reassured him I knew what he wanted and I'd show him where it was.

The whole walk around to the pasta aisle he apologised for not being able to find it himself, for 'troubling' me and even for his pronunciation.

When we got there it was like I'd taken him to a case of buried treasure. his face lit up and he said 'Oh this is it. Yes! Thank you so very much Miss.'

Then he pulled out a 5 pound note and said 'for you'

I laughed and asked him what it was for and he said 'A tip. Because you help me so much.' When i explained that we can't accept tips and it's not generally customary to even be offered them, he blushed and said he was confused with tipping because it's very different where he's from - but to know that he was very grateful.

I finally told him I knew who he was and that my son was a fan. He was very pleased, and we talked for a few moments about his team and then we said our goodbyes.

I told my son when I got home and his face lit up, although he was annoyed at me for not getting an autograph! I didn't even think to ask!

The next day though, I was called by name to the customer service desk - and who stood there but my mystery footballer. He must have read the name on my badge. It turned out that he'd brought my son a signed shirt and even brought an unsigned photo with him so that he could dedicate it personally to my son once he'd asked me for his name.

Truly nice person.

His name? Most of you probably won't have heard of him. Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez.

Legend.

The Pontiac

Metallitroll wrote: »

mortified at the exclusive thanks from man u fans to man u fans. now i know why..

I'm not a Man U fan, but I still thanked Giggs and Scoles posts. You couldn't find two better sport personalities.

kfallon

Kieren Fallon
Mick Kinane
A.P. McCoy
Ronaldo (the real one)
John Aldridge
Robbie Fowler

Basically anyone but Ruby Walsh and Robbie Savage

Cantona's Collars

Metallitroll wrote: »

mortified at the exclusive thanks from man u fans to man u fans. now i know why..

sports tends to be banned from here to avoid such allegiances / bias.. team-based in particular

Man U fans are best qualified to know about their teams players,same for supporters of any team really.'Pool fans will do the same about their players.

Just to be unbiased I also like Zola and Di Canio.

RichieC

Messi.

Colilfc

Suprised no one has metioned John Terry or Steven Gerrard. Both inspirational leaders on and off the pitch.

TeddyTedson

Actually can I change mine to Diego Maradona?

Paparazzo

Manny Pacquiao

TeddyTedson

RichieC wrote: »

Messi.

Good isn't he:pac:

Turtyturd

George St Pierre...man is a god of his sport and comes across extremely humble.

The Pontiac

Colilfc wrote: »

Suprised no one has metioned John Terry or Steven Gerrard. Both inspirational leaders on and off the pitch.

Terry shagged one of his best mate's girlfriend. She was also his wife's best friend. Very inspirational indeed. Good player, but a bit of a langer in fairness.

Mister men

All time... Joey Dunlop
Present day... Steven Gerrard

PeteEd

Mister men wrote: »

All time... Joey Dunlop
Present day... Steven Gerrard

thanked that post for joey,

not so sure about your present day pick though

policarp

Mohamad Ali...
A great sense of humour...

Paparazzo

Mister men wrote: »

All time... Joey Dunlop
Present day... Steven Gerrard

Gerrard? Ah, come on, I reckon even the most hardcore liverpool fans would admit he's a knob! Joey is a legend though

clonadlad

Ronnie O'Sullivan. What a man.

seanybiker

Scholes
Giggs
Keano
Valentino Rossi aswell just for being a legend


Joey dunlop all time legend

ziedth

Lance Armstrong. I'm not into cycling or anything but you have to respect his career and he seems decent.

Eddie Irvine, simply lives the life I wanted as a teenager.

Freddie Flintoff: the only reason to watch that show a league of their own. Seems like a complete legend and if I could go on the beer with anyone it'd be him.

The Real Ronaldo: heartbreaking interview he gave when he retired, if 10% of current footballers in the premiership cared about football as much as him I'd be shocked. I respect anyone that comes back from an injury.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

And of course Phil 'The Power' Taylor



:pac:

Brain Stroking

Great storyon Chicarito there. He really looks like he plays without ego and i have warmed to him greatly this season. Scholes is a complete legend and a better player overall than Giggs in my opinion but Giggs seems a good guy and has had a great career. Reinventing himself when the pace went marks Giggs down as a great.
As for others i am a big fan of Roy Keane, Zinedine Zidane (my main football hero), Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Javier Zanetti, Romario.
Outside football - Manny Pacquaio, Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer, Miguel Angel Jiminez, Brian O'Driscoll, Dan Carter, Roger Federer, Nonito Donaire, Peter Canavan.

the keen edge

From any of the interviews I've seen of him David Beckham seems a pretty ok guy.

Plus when he was dropped completely from the England squad, and told that he wouldn't feature in the future English teams plans, he didn't bitch about it.

Instead he trained harder and upped his game and earned a recall to the squad and played further games for the English team at 33 years of age.

Metallitroll

<Ollie> wrote: »

I'm not a Man U fan, but I still thanked Giggs and Scoles posts. You couldn't find two better sport personalities.

scholes has the personality of a piece of cardboard - like most footballers. Cantona, i'd understand as he had unique character whit translated to his football. but his ego is a bit .. i see why you go scholes maybe.

i'd go Drogba; great life story big character and still essential to his team at 33. could probs continue til 40 - must be gutted a liability like torres is in favour, what a spineless overrated clown

jimmurt

<Ollie> wrote: »

Terry shagged one of his best mate's girlfriend. She was also his wife's best friend. Very inspirational indeed. Good player, but a bit of a langer in fairness.

I think Colifc was being sarcastic in fairness (I hope anyway).

Manny Pac
Ryan Giggs
Paul Scholes
GSP
Messi
Jimmy Bullard
Jamie Heaslip
Tom Brady
Ken Doherty

tallaghtmick

cant believe noone has said niall quinn-gent that is all

Metallitroll

if i see a Twigg i am outta here.

thetonynator

Graeme McDowell always seems dead sound.

Iron Hide

Metallitroll wrote: »

scholes has the personality of a piece of cardboard - like most footballers. Cantona, i'd understand as he had unique character whit translated to his football. but his ego is a bit .. i see why you go scholes maybe.

i'd go Drogba; great life story big character and still essential to his team at 33. could probs continue til 40 - must be gutted a liability like torres is in favour, what a spineless overrated clown

No, Scholes is just a quiet lad who plays his football and goes home.

While Drogba is a good player, shouting "Its a f*ckin disgrace" into a sky sports camera is hardly good character.

Metallitroll

Iron Hide wrote: »

No, he's just quiet.

While Drogba is a good player, shouting "Its a f*ckin disgrace" into a sky sports camera is hardly good character.

but it was a disgrace, that was great imo