Lately it seems to me there are less and less good nicknames in sports.
So instead of pondering why and blaming technology like Twitter and facebook, that ‘don’t well teach people grammar good’, I figured it’s best to just look at some of the most memorable ones in the past.
And why not start with, ‘The Great One’.
Yes Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has many nicknames but when one thinks of the nickname ‘The Great One’ he’s the first person that comes to mind. Who? Wayne who? Oh, number 99. Yeah, I guess when you think of ‘The Great One’ his name pops up in the argument somewhere.
Golf is not always known for excitement but nicknames are almost earned. Phil Mickelson is simply called ‘Lefty’ as if he’s the only left-handed golfer on the tour. Jack Nicklaus was known as ‘The Golden Bear.’
And Tiger? Well, yeah, that’s his nickname.
In football, there are a few standouts as well.
Walter ‘Sweetness’ Peyton was always my favourite. William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry. If you’ve never seen him, his frame says it all. Joe (Cool) Montana who was simply that. Most recently, the Detroit Lion’s Calvin Johnson’s nickname ‘Megatron’ is one of the best. But nothing right now is better than Revis Island, given to Darrelle Revis, the shut down corner of the New York Jets.
Baseball and basketball are sports where it seems like it’s mandatory to have a nickname before you can get playing time. In baseball, one of my favourites? ‘Chipper’ Jones, who’s real first name is Larry, is one of the best. Reggie ‘Mr. October’ Jackson, David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz and Pete ‘Charlie Hustle’ Rose also stand out.
For basketball, there are many and not enough room to name them all. But I’ll just throw the nicknames out there, you can look for who it belongs to later on the interweb.
There’s ‘His Airness’, ‘Bird’, ‘Magic’, ‘CB4’, ‘King James’, ‘Hair Canada’, ‘Superman’, ‘Big Diesel’, ‘The Big Cactus’, ‘The Big Shamrock’ and ‘The Big Aristotle.’
OK, those last five all belong to Shaquille O’Neil but the point is there are plenty of nicknames to go around. And it has me thinking about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Are we really just going to let RNH go without a nickname? Oh, my bad, you really like ‘Nuge’. Or was it ‘Hoppy.’
Exactly, why don’t we give him something that he can run with, like ‘The Next One.’
sports@reddeerexpress.com
