Sleeper Pick Up in Fantasy Football

Michael Hill from the Packer's practice squad has been signed to the Tampa Bay Bucs. He was the 2012 Player of the Year in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association. With all the other Tamp Bay Running squad being on Injured Reserve, you can look for Hill to get some carries. During his 2012 Season at Missouri Western State, he rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and had 35 touchdowns. So, if you need a running back check into Michael Hill.

Pressure on Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning is the most beloved Colt to ever play the game. Last year he was cut by the Colts for a much younger quarterback in Andrew Luck. Sunday night Peyton will return to his old stadium where he once reigned as Captain of the Colts but this time as the enemy.

Many people are writing that this is a battle between quarterbacks but is it? Do Manning and Luck actually vs each other? No, is the simple answer. It is Manning vs the Colts defense and Luck vs the Broncos defense. Currently, the Broncos have the 32nd ranked passing defense and 1st ranked rushing defense. On the other hand, you have the Colts with the 5th ranked passing defense and 29th ranked rushing defense.

If you ask most people this will be a shootout but I believe it will be on one side of the field. Andrew Luck will have a field day with the Broncos defense who have already given up 2,026 passing yards this year. Andrew Luck is no stranger to pressure situations and is ready for this situation. If you ask him, he would probably tell you that this is what he has been waiting for.

Photo taken by Jeffrey Beall

On the other hand, you have Peyton Manning. Yes, Manning is arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. He is also known for breaking under pressure. He made the playoffs 11 times, has been eliminates 7 times in the first round, and only has one Superbowl. This is not good for the Broncos because all of the pressure is on Peyton to win this game. Do not look for Manning to make record numbers but more of an average performance Sunday.

All in all, I have this game going to the Broncos.  This game will be won by the Broncos with the running and short passing game to Knowshon Moreno. This is a much needed game for Manning to help him overcome pressure moments but they shouldn't undefeated this year. If they go undefeated in the regular season, look for them to lose in the playoffs.

Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky

Gretzky is said to be the greatest hockey player ever. This may be because he is the leading NHL scoring or maybe because he has more assists then any other player has points. No one but Wayne has had over 200 total points in one season and he has done it four times. He has over 100 points in 16 seasons and 14 of the seasons were consecutive. When he retired he had 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records. This could be why he is considered "The Great One". 

Gretzky was not really known for being the strongest, biggest or fastest but he had a high hockey IQ and could dodge his opponents that would try checking him. It just seemed like he knew how to make the right move or shot at just the right time. 

Photo by Iris Kawling

Gretzky started in the World Hockey Associations (WHA) in 1978 with the Indianapolis Racers. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers and shortly after the Oilers joined the NHL. He led the team to four Stanley Cups and was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988.  He led them to a Stanley Cup Finals in 1993. He has also played for the St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers. He retired in 1999 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame shortly after.

In his 20 seasons, Gretzky played a total of 1695 games, 1016 goals, 2223 assists, and 3239 points. There is not much evidence to argue that fact Gretzky is the greatest hockey player and clearly he has deserved the nickname "The Great One". To this day when people think hock they think Wayne Gretzky.

Awards and Achievements:

• Ranked #1 Hockey player of all time by "The Hockey News"
• Hall of fame 1999
• WHA Rookie of the Year 1979
• NHL MVP 1980-1987 and 1989
• Scoring Champion 1981-1987, 1990, 1991, 1994
• NHL Playoff MVP 1985, 1988
• 4x Stanley Cup Winner
• 3x NHL All-Star MVP
• Olympic Gold Medal
• 8x All NHL First Team
• AP- Athlete of the Decade 1980s
• Ranked #1 Canadian Athlete of the Century
• Ranked #5 in ESPN's top 100 Athletes of the 20th Century
• His Number 99 is retired by the NHL
• Most Career Goals 1016
• Most Goals in a Season 100
• Most Goals in one period 4
• Most Career Assists 2223
• Most Assists in a Season 174
• Most Assists in one period 7
• Most Career Points 3239
• Most Points in a Season 255
• Most 3 or more goal games 50
• Most 100 or more point Seasons 15
• Highest Goal per game average 1.18
• Highest assist per game average 1.321
• Highest points per game average 2.04
• Longest consecutive assist scoring streak 23 games
• Longest consecutive point scoring streak 51 games

The Axe Murderer

Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva is one of MMA's most vicious fighters of all time. He received his nickname "The Axe Murderer" from his aggressive style of fighting. A majority of his fights end in either a knockout or a referee stoppage due to strikes. His striking style is based of the art of Muay Thai, which helps him destroy his opponents with combination of knees and punches. 

Wanderlei has had a total of 49 fights in his mixed martial arts career with 35 wins, 12 losses, 1 draw, and 1 no contest. Twenty Five of these wins came by the way of knockout. He even had a 5 year undefeated streak where he had 18 wins and 13 knockouts during his PRIDE reign. Wanderlei holds wins notable wins over Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Quinton Jackson, Ricardo Arona, Keith Jardine, and Michael Bisping.

Photo by Lee Brimelow

Wanderlei Silva is one of the only fighters who never would turned down a fight. Even if he had to move up in a weight to take on a contender such as Mark Hunt or Mikro "CroCop" Filipovic. He has even fought twice in one night. If you were to get into a street fight this is a man you would want on your side.

Achievements and Accomplishments:

• First Pride Middleweight Champion
• Longest undefeated streak in Pride (20)
• Most win in Pride (22)
• Most Knockouts in Pride (15)
• IVC Light Heavyweight Champion
• 2004 Sports Illustrated Knockout of the Decade
• 2004 MMAFighting.com Fighter of the Year
• 2007 Fight of the Year
• 2008 Knockout of the Year
• Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaq is the heaviest NBA player to ever play the game. He weighs 325 pounds and stands at 7'11". Shaq was first drafted in 1992 by the Orlando Magic. During his 19 season career he played on 6 different teams. These teams include Magic, Lakers, Miami, Suns, Cavilers, and Celtics.

During his career he won 4 NBA Championships, 3 with the Lakers and 1 with the Heat. O'Neil was one of the most dominate centers to play the game. He was not only part of the 3 championships that the Lakers won. He was the MVP of all three NBA Finals that the Lakers won, while he was on the team. This is pretty amazing considering Kobe Bryant was on the team during this time period. He is currently 1 of 3 players to have a NBA MVP, All-Star MVP, and NBA Finals MVP all in the same year. This puts him in the same category as Michael Jordan and Willis Reed.

Photo by Keith Allison

During his Career Shaq averaged 23.7 PPG, 2.3 BPG, 2.5 APG, and 10.9 RPG. Shaq is an inspiration and role model to all centers that play basketball. He has a great work ethic and a will to win. Kobe and Shaq may have had their feuds but Shaq definitely proved that his play was more important or as important as Kobe's during their Championship runs together.

Awards and Accomplishments: 

• 3x NBA Finals MVP
• 4x NBA Champion
• 2000 NBA MVP
• 3x NBA All-Star MVP
• 15x NBA All-Star
• 2x NBA Scoring Champion
• 8x NBA First Team
• 1993 NBA Rookie of the Year
• Lakers Retired #34

Walter Payton's Birthday

Time to say Happy Birthday to a legend of the NFL, Walter Payton. Payton was a running back for the Chicago Bears for 13 seasons and was a big reason for their only Superbowl win in 1985. Payton was said to be the best player that people have seen, most notably said by Mike Ditka and was rated the #5 NFL player of all-time by NFL.com. Walter has two awards named after him the Walter Payton Awards and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. 

Photo by Korye Logan

During his career with the Bears, Walter has 16,726 rushing yards, 4.4 yard per rush average, 110 rushing touchdowns, 4,538 receiving yards, 9.2 yards per catch average, and 15 touchdowns receiving. Payton also has the record for most touchdowns thrown by a non-quarterback position with 8.

Walter Payton died November 1st, 1999 from a liver disease. He was only 45 years old but he lived more then most do and still does to this day. His number 34 was retired by the Chicago Bears in remembrance of Payton's great work ethic and personality. He was one of the toughest players to ever play the game. He would run over a defender before running out of bounds and he would only miss one game in his career. He was eligible to play but it was the coaches decision he sat out.

Awards and Achievements:

• #5 NFL Player of All-time by nfl.com
• 1985 Superbowl Champion
• 1977 AP NFL MVP
• 1977 PFWA NFL MVP
• 1977 Pro Bowl MVP
• 1977 NFL Offensive Player of the Year
• NFL 1970's All-Decade Team
• NFL 1980's All-Decade Team
• NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
• 34 Jersey Number Retired
• 9x Pro Bowler
• 6x First Team All Pro Selection
• 2x UPI NFC Player of the Year Award
• Most Career games with 100 or more rushing yards (77) 
• Most 150 or more all purpose yards (46)

Jones or GSP: Pound for Pound King?

Many fans currently say Jon "Bones" Jones is thee pound for pound champ, now that Silva lost to Chris Weidman. I am not here to say that Jones isn't a great fighter because he clearly is a young phenomenon that has come to the UFC and devastated the light heavyweight division. What I am saying is that George St. Pierre has more of a deserving resume of a pound for pound champion.

Photo by ericdwheeler

When you look at notable wins Jones has some good ones under his belt. Jones top wins consist of Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen. Now, this is a good list of fight but lets take more of a look into these fights. Jon beat Ryan Bader in every dimension of the fight and just simple outclassed him. Bader did not seem ready for the fight with Jones and ended up losing in the 2nd round by guillotine choke. After that fight, Jones was given opportunity to fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight belt and he capitalized. He hit Shogun with early knee and from then on the whole fight was all Jon Jones. Jon ended up beating up a legend to many and winning by TKO in the 3rd round. His next fight was against Quinton Jackson, many thought Jackson would be a big test for Jones. Quinton said he trained the hardest he has ever trained for the fight but ended up getting man handled by the younger athlete. Jones ended up winning in the 4th round by rear naked choke. After the Rampage fight there was only a few fights that fans wanted to see, one was with Evans and the the other was with Machida. Machida ended up getting the fight. Machida did very well in the stand up and some watchers believe that Machida was even winning the stand up battle, but during a exchange Machida was caught with an elbow and Jones took over. Winning in the 2nd round by guillotine choke. After winning the fight Rashad Evans wanted a piece of his former training partner. There was a little bad blood between the two after Evans claims Jones said he would fight him (Evans) if he had too. Evans took Jones the distance but ended up losing by decision in the end. Jones next two fights were Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen. These two are both great fights but there both middleweights that moved up and got a title shot. Neither of these two deserved the title shot they got. They are both small for the division and would be beat by much of the top talent in light heavyweight. The two fighters probably also think the same, that is why Vitor moved back down to middleweight and Chael is planning to after his next fight with Shogun. Vitor actually almost beat Jones by arm bar and showed the world Jones weakness and broke a little of his aura.

Photo by scienceduck

Now lets take a look at GSP's most notable wins. George St Pierre has victories over Matt Hughes 2x, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn 2x, Josh Koscheck 2x, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, and Nick Diaz. Now if you look at these wins when GSP beat all of these people most of the were ranked in the Top 10 and most in the Top 5. He came into the division and took the crown from his old hero Matt Hughes. Who at the time dominated the welterweight division. In his first fight with Matt, GSP could barely look into Matt's face at the stare down. He ended up losing right before the bell rang  in the first round by arm bar. After that loss GSP changed and gained a lot more confidence in himself. He ended up dominating his next 5 fights. These fight include the fighter Sean Sherk (who ended up moving down to lightweight after this fight) and B.J. Penn (Many think is a natural lightweight). GSP ended up beating up Sean Sherk pretty bad in the 2nd round by TKO, who was at the time 32-1-1. After that fight he fought BJ Penn and got pretty beat up in the first round. Many thought that Penn had the fight won but GSP ended up coming back and winning the next two rounds and surprised the crowd by winning a split decision. By winning this fight GSP was given a title shot and proved he deserved it. In the title fight Hughes was beat up from beginning to end and ended up losing by TKO in the second round. GSP ended the reign of Matt Hughes over the welterweight division that day and became welterweight champion for the first time. He ended up loses his next fight to Matt Serra by TKO in the first, but that was the last time GSP lost and that was in 2007. It is now 2013 and GSP has won his last 11 fights. At the time each of the 11 fighters were top 10 fighter and many were top 5. He gets much criticism for not finishing fights lately but he does dominate each of the 5 

rounds he fights and there is no question by the fans who wins his fights even though he is not finishing them. There isn't ever a point in time anyone thinks GSP has a weak spot in his game, like they believe Jones may have a weak BJJ game. 

After looking at both of the fighters records we can see that Jones has beat some good fighter with some big names but only 4 of these fights were actually even top 10 in his division when he beat them. He has a good story with his reign and beat some big name fighters but not all of them were even top 10 when they fought in his division. On the other hand, GSP has won 13 fights against top ten opponents. He gets less press around it because that is what people expect of him. They know he will win and they just take it for granted. He is expected to win by so many that after he wins and beats a person like Jake Shields on a 15 fight win streak, they consider Jake Shields a can, say he never deserved the fight, and say GSP never fights good competition. This is clearly not true and GSP is definitely deserving of the top spot as pound for pound king.

Anyone who can give you the belief that every fighter who fights him is undeserving and clears out a whole division numerous times is more deserving of the pound for pound king title. Not someone with only 4 top ten wins and who beats fighters from a lower division. Jones may at some point be the pound for pound king but he is going to have to wait his time just like GSP and wait for the new king to lose.

Adrian Peterson

Adrian Peterson is considered the best running back in the NFL because of his great speed, power, and agility. Peterson was drafted 7th by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2007 NFL draft. During his rookie season he broke the single game rushing record that was then set by Jamal Lewis. He had 30 carriers, 3 touchdowns, and 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers. This helped him gain the 2007 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Photo by Mike Morbeck

Peterson has been in the NFL for 6 years and he has yet to disappoint his fans. Peterson has a career 5 yards per carry rushing average, 99.4 yards per game rushing average, 76 rushing touchdowns, 8,849 career rushing yards. 

In 2011, Peterson torn his ACL in a game against the Washington Redskins. After just 9 months of rehabilitation, Peterson returned to the game. Adrian had a breakout year, he average 6 rushing yards a carry, 131.1 rushing yards per game, 12 touchdowns, and 2,097 rushing yards. This put him just 8 yards short of Eric Dickerson's record at 2,105, but it did earn him the 2012 NFL MVP award.

Awards and Achievements:

• 2012 NFL MVP
• 2007 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award
• 2012 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award
• 296 rushing yards in a singe game
• 2nd all time rushing yards in a single season with 2,097
• Most 60+ rushing yard touchdowns with 10
• Most 50+ rushing yards in a single season with 7

Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds is a 14 time All-Star with a career lasting 22 seasons. For the first part of his career he played on the Pirates until he became a free agent in 1993 and signed with the San Francisco Giants. 

Throughout his career Bonds has broken many records and achieved great things. One of his greatest accomplishments was becoming part of the 500-500 club, which he is the only member. This club means he has stolen 500 bases and hit 500 home runs. Another notable club which he is the only person to be a part of is the 40-40 club. In 1996 Bonds hit 40 home runs while having 40 steals.

Photo by Kevin Rushforth

In Bonds career he has a .298 BA, .444 OBP, .607 SLG, 762 HRs, 1996 RBIs, 514 SB, 2935 hits, and 2227 runs. A career like that makes accomplishments like these.

Awards:

• 7x NL MVP
• 3x NL Hank Aaron Award
• 14x Allstar
• #6 Best baseball player of all time by The Sporting News
• 1996 Home Run Derby Winner
• 8x Gold Glover
• 12x Silver Slugger

Records:

• 73 Home Runs in a single season
• 762 Career Home Runs
• 688 carer intentional walks
• 2,558 career walks
• 13 consecutive seasons with 30 or more Home Runs
• .863 single season slugging %

Johnny Football

Johnny Manziel, also known as Johnny Football, is the only freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. His talents and skills give him the ability to be a multidimensional quarterback. He was recruited out of High School to Texas A&M and this is where the national first really got to known Johnny but his great football talents did not start here.

During his days at Tivy High School Johnny also put up some good numbers. Junior year was the first year he started as quarterback. He had 2,903 passing yards, 1,544 rushing yards, 152 receiving yards and a total of 55 touchdowns. The next year as a senior his stats only went up. He had 3,609 passing yards, 45 passing touchdowns, 1,674 rushing yards, and 30 rushing touchdowns.

When he made it to Texas A&M students gave him the name "Johnny Football" and it stuck. Johnny's freshman year he had 3,706 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 1,410 rushing yards, and 21 rushing touchdowns. While doing this, Johnny took Texas A&M on to win the Cotton Bowl Classic. 

Awards and Achievements:

• 2012 Heisman Trophy Winner
• Manning Award
• Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award
• 2012 SEC Offensive Player of the Year
• 2013 Cotton Bowl Classic MVP
• Most Games with 300+ passing and 100+ rushing yards

100% Derrick Rose

Derek Rose was drafted in the 2008 NBA Draft. That very same year he was voted the Rookie of the Year. Rose has lead the Chicago Bulls to the playoffs every year he has been in the league and even received the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year award. Michael Jordan is the only other Bull to ever achieve this award, but Rose is the youngest player to ever do it. During his career he has average 21 PPG, 6.8 APG, and has a FT% of .815.

In the first game of the 2011-2012 Season of the playoffs, against the 76ers. Rose was injured during a play while trying to jump. The injury was a torn ACL in his left knee, which would lead to him sitting out the whole 2012-2013 Season. Rose is now considered 100% and will play the first game of the 2013-2014 season.

Photo by Keith Allison

Lets take a look back and see why Rose will be a huge factor to make it to the championship this season for the Chicago Bulls.

Awards and Achievements: 

• 2011 NBA MVP
• 2011 All-NBA First Team
• 3x NBA All-Star
• 2009 Rookie of the Year

2013 Home Run Derby

Yoenis Cespedes wins the 2013 Home Run Derby. He started off with a great 1st round having 17 HRs, leaving the 2nd best person (C. Davis and B. Harper) in the dust with 8 Homers. He slowed down in the 2nd round with 6 HRs, giving him a total of 23 Homers for rounds 1 & 2. Harper started off the final round with an impressive 8 home runs but was overcome by Cespedes.

Photo by hj_west

1st Round:

1. Y. Cespedes (Oak) 17 HR
2. C. Davis (Bal) 8 HR
3. B. Harper (Wsh) 8 HR
4. M. Cuddyer (COL) 7 HR
5. P. Alvarez (Pit) 6 HR
6. P. Fielder (Det) 5 HR
7. D. Wright (NYM) 5 HR
8. R. Cano (NYY) 4 HR

2nd Round:

1. Y. Cespedes (Oak) 6 HR - Total 23 HR
2. B. Harper (Wsh) 8 HR - Total 16 HR
3. M. Cuddyer (COL) 8 HR - Total 15 HR
4. C. Davis (Bal) 4 HR - Total 12 HR

Final Round:

1. Y. Cespedes (Oak) 9 HR
2. B. Harper (Wsh) 8 HR

Randy Moss

Randy Moss is considered to be the #2 ranked receiver of All-Time to ever play in the NFL. Moss was drafted into the NFL by the Minnesota Vikings in 1998 as the 21st pick. He wanted to play for the Cowboys because he grew up as a Cowboys fan but Moss and the Cowboys did not see eye to eye.

His first year on the Viking, Moss helped the team become the number one offense in the NFL. That year they have scored a record 556 points. During the first game of the season, Moss had 4 receptions, scored two touchdowns, and had 95 receiving yards.

Photo by Mike Morbeck

Randy Moss played in the NFL for 14 seasons and has played on 5 different NFL teams. (Vikings, Raiders, Patriots, Titans, and 49ers) In his career he has 982 receptions, 15,292 receiving yards, 156 touchdowns, and an average of 15.6 yards per catch.

Awards and Achievements:

• 7x Pro Bowler
• 5x All-Pro
• 1999 Pro Bowl MVP
• NFC Player of the Year in 2003
• AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
• PFWA Offensive Rookie of the Year
• NFL 2000s All-Decade Team
• Most Touchdown Receptions in a season with 23 (2007)
• Most Touchdowns by a rookie in a season with 17 (1998)
• Most Seasons with 17 or more touchdown receptions
• Most Seasons with 16 or more touchdown receptions
• Youngest Player to reach 100 receiving Touchdowns
• Fastest Player to reach 5000 receiving yards

Chris Weidman

On July 6, 2013 Chris Weidman shocked the world by beating Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva was the UFC Middleweight Champion and also known as the Pound for Pound King of Mixed Martial Arts. Some fans believe the win was a fluke and Anderson just disrespected Chris too much by keeping his hands down. The viewer who saw the fight saw Chris winning ever aspect of the fight from the standing battle to the ground game. Weidman is currently the #1 ranked Middleweight in the world and the #5 pound for pound fighter. He earned this by snapping Silva's seventeen fight win streak. Chris is currently undefeated with a record of 10-0. He has 4 wins by knockout, 3 by submission, and 3 by decision. He currently has victories over Tom Lawlor, Demian Maia, Mark Munoz, and Anderson Silva. Look forward to seeing more out of this 29 year old New York native.

Photo by Peter Gordon

Awards and Achievements:

• UFC Middleweight Champion
• Brown belt in Jiu-jitsu
• 2x Knockout of the Night
• Submission of the Night
• Ring of Combat Middleweight Champion
• World MMA Awards 2012 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year

Earvin "Magic" Johnson

Magic Johnson was one of slickest point guards in the NBA when it came to assists. He could pass from every angle and from any position. He received his nickname when he was in High School, when he had a triple double with 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 assists. After the game a sports writer wrote an article about him calling him Magic. Johnson played his whole 13 year NBA career with the LA Lakers and is in the argument to be the best Laker ever. In his career he averaged 19.5 PPG,  11.2 APG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.9 SPG. In his rookie season he won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. In 2007 he was rated the #1 point guard of all time by ESPN.

Photo by Kip-koech

Awards and Achievements:

• 3x NBA MVP
• 3x NBA Finals MVP
• 5x NBA Champion
• 12x NBA All-Star
• 2x NBA All-Star MVP
• 9x NBA First Team
• 4x NBA Assist Leader
• 2x NBA Steal Leader
• NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
• #32 Lakers Retired Jersey
• NCAA Champion

Calvin "Megatron" Johnson

Calvin Johnson is a 6'5", 236lb wide receiver on the Detroit Lions. He was drafted in 2007 from Georgia Institute of Technology. He played for the Yellow Jackets from 2004-2006, which in that time he had 2,927 yards and 28 touchdowns. When drafted with the 2nd round draft pick by the Detroit Lions, he was expected to be traded to the Buccaneers. Instead, the Lions decided to keep Calvin Johnson and were glad they did. Calvin Johnson has broken many records in his young career and has helped make the Lions successful. He is currently considered the best wide receiver in the NFL by most.

Photo by Mike Morbeck

Awards and Achievements: 

• Most receiving yards in one season with 1964 yards (2012)
• Lead the NFL in receiving yard(2011,2012)
• 3x Pro Bowler
• 3x All-Pro
• First Team All-American
• First Team All-ACC
• ACC Player of the Year

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell

The Iceman is one of the most dominant champions to have ever fought in the UFC. He helped bring the UFC to a new level and brought a new fan base that the UFC had never seen before. Chuck Liddell came out on the scene as a collegiate wrestlers but as his career progressed he became a great knockout artist. He has the second most knockouts in the UFC only behind Anderson Silva. He has wins over some of MMA's greats such as Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Renato Sobral, Jeremy Horn, and Guy Mezger.

Photo by Keith Allison

Awards and Achievements

• UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
• UFC Hall of Fame
• 2x Fight of the Night Award
• Knockout of the Night Award
• 2006 Sherdog Fighter of the Year 
• 2007 World MMA Awards Fight of the Year
• 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Award Most Dangerous Man
• Most Knockouts in Light Heavyweight with 10

Barry Sanders

Barry Sanders is known by many as the most elusive running back of all time.  Barry Sanders played ten years in the NFL with the Detroit Lions. He average over 1,500 yards per season and left the NFL when being only 1,457 yards away from breaking the all-time rushing record. (Which at that time was held by Walter Payton.) In Sander's best year he rushed for 2,053 yards and 11 touchdowns. His average run per carry that year was 6.1 yards. He also had 305 receiving yards that year with 3 touchdowns. For this Barry Sanders is on lockdown!

Photo by Shea Huening

Awards and Achievements

• Rated #1 Elusive Running Back of All-Time by NFL.com
• Rated #17 Player of All-Time by Nfl.com
• 10x Pro Bowler
• 4x NFL Rushing Champion
• NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
• AP NFL MVP
• NEA NFL MVP
• 2x AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year
• 10,000 Yard Rushing Club
• Heisman Trophy Winner
• Detroit Lions Retired #20

Anderson "The Spider" Silva

Anderson Silva is regarded by many to be the best Mixed Martial Artist alive. He is currently the UFC Middleweight Champion and has an impressive record of 37-4. Anderson holds the record for most consecutive wins with 16 and most title defenses with 10. He is ranked as the number 1 at Middleweight in the world and the number 1 Pound for Pound fighter in the world.

Awards and Achievements:

• UFC Middleweight Champion
• Shooto Middleweight Champion
• Cage Rage Middleweight Champion
• (3x) Fight of night award
• (7x) Knockout of the Night awards

Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols is what is known as an active Hall of Famer. Pujols is the only MLB player to ever hit for a batting average of .300, hit 30 home runs, and have more than 100 RBIs in his first ten seasons.

Photo by David Herholz

 Albert was the National league Rookie of the Year in 2001. He is a 9x All-star, 2x World series Champion, 3x National League MVP, 2x National League Hank Aaaron Award winner, 6x Silver Slugger Award winner, and 2x Golden Glove recipient. For that Albert Pujols is a great Lockdown Athlete!

Dwight Howard

With all the talk of where Dwight Howard will go next season, it seems like a good time to remind people what they get when a center of this caliber comes to there team. Dwight Howard is a 7 time All NBA team selection, 5 time All Defensive team member, and 3 time Defensive Player of the Year.

Photo by Keith Allison

Dwight is the first player in NBA history to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award consistently for 3 years. In his 9 year career, he has average 18.3 PPG, 2.2 BPG, and 12.9 RPG. With stats like these Howard could be a essential piece to any team.

Anthony Bennett

With the number one pick the Cavaliers select Anthony Bennett. He was projected at the 8th pick and shockingly picked first.

Photo by Jeremy Rincon

He was 6'8" 240 pound PF from UNLV Rebels. Congratulations Anthony!

Happy Birthday Derek Jeter!

Derek Jeter has turned 39 today and in those years he has achieved great things. Jeter has won the World Series Champion 5 times, selected for the All-stars 13 times, won 5 Golden Groves awards, won 5 Silver Slugger, won 2 Hank Aaron awards, and won a Roberto Clemente Award.

Photo by Keith Allison
 He leads the Yankees in hits, games played, steals, and at bats. Derek Jeter is an  unstoppable force on the field, whether he is using his bat or his lockdown defense at the SS position. Happy Birthday Jeter.

Lockdown Defense: Ray Lewis

After just recently retiring earlier this year, it seems like a good time to give a Ray Lewis tribute. Ray Lewis was one of the best linebackers to ever play the game. His career lasted 17 years, which he was selected into the Pro Bowl 13 times.  

Photo by Keith Allison

Ray Lewis helped the Ravens win two Superbowls, while being the MVP of  Superbowl XXXV. Here is a little video that shows just a glimpse of Ray Lewis's lockdown defense. 

Lockdown Defense: Kobe Bryant

Kobe is known for his scoring ability, ball movement, and taking charge in a clutch situation. The only problem is his defensive talents aren't brought up enough. 

Photo by Keith Allison

Here is a great video of Lockdown Defense on some great players. (You may recognize some recent NBA champions in this video.)