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Bobby Motus
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Thursday, February 9, 2017
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PROFESSIONAL athletes around the world either go thru fame and infamy and everything else in between. Along the way, their prominence, notoriety or obscurity earn them labels which identifies them easier to fans and haters alike.
Let’s start the list with the most enduring and easily remembered nicknames. All became legends of the game when they hung up their sneakers and one is probably the wealthiest of them all, active or retired.
AIR JORDAN / HIS AIRNESS
We all know his aerial basketball exploits and the resulting six league titles and numerous individual awards. But many years after he retired from playing, Michael Jordan still commands big money. He makes in excess of $115 million annually from endorsement deals, about $100 million of it from royalties. MJ gets 8 percent from the $30-plus billion annual revenues of the Jordan Brand, a Nike subsidiary. His annual take from endorsements is more than the $94 million total earned during his entire NBA career. Okay, it must be the shoes.
MAGIC
Where else can you find a guy standing 6-9 who can play all five positions? Earvin Johnson during his rookie year was the 1980 Finals MVP when he started at center in lieu of a hobbled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He torched Philadelphia in Game 6 with 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists. He was a joy to watch during the Showtime era of the Lakers. His laser-like precision passes earned him the nickname as he would find AC Green, James Worthy, Byron Scott and Abdul-Jabbar at impossible angles to score points. The Magic Man retired from the game with five more NBA titles with the LA Lakers. He is a successful entrepreneur with several businesses and is a majority owner of the MLB’s LA Dodgers, the WNBA’s LA Sparks and an expansion franchise of Major League Soccer temporarily known as LA Football Club. Now, that’s Magic.
DR. J
Julius Erving created the nickname because he found a cure to what used to be boring dunks. He invented the aerial acrobatics not common during his time and is one of the best dunkers of the game. Prior to the NBA, he played in the defunct American Basketball Association and won two titles with the New York Nets. When the ABA merged with the NBA, he played with Philadelphia and won a championship in 1983. Erving was one of the first players to have a shoe marketed under his name and became one of the consultants at Converse before it went bankrupt and eventually became part of the Nike empire. Erving fathered nine children from three different women. And that’s a prolific doctor.
THE HICK FROM FRENCH LICK
This alias is a mouthful but it does define to some extent Larry Bird. Born in West Baden Springs, Indiana but raised in nearby French Lick, Bird grew up underprivileged with his five other siblings in a rural setting. He used basketball to get away from financial troubles and capitalized on it up to the rivalry with Magic Johnson. Hick refers to a person who comes from the countryside and is unschooled but Larry had a successful 3 years with Indiana State University. Also known as Larry Legend, Bird is a notorious trash talker and is dependable at the clutch during his time.
Among the existing bunch, the famously familiar are:
THE TRUTH
Paul Pierce, then 23-years old and playing for Boston, was baptized by Shaquille O’Neal when in March of 2001, he exploded for 43 points in a losing effort to the Lakers. Shaq pulled one reporter from Boston and said, “Take this down. My name is Shaquille O’Neal and Paul Pierce is the (choose expletive) truth. Quote me on that and don’t take nothing out. I know he could play like this. Paul Pierce is the Truth”. And so it came to be. Truth is playing his final season and recently, in his farewell appearance at the TD Garden, fans shed tears for Pierce.
THE GREEK FREAK
A lanky 6-11 wonder in the mold of Magic Johnson, Giannis Antetokounmpo can play the 1-, 2- and 3- spot effortlessly. Still 21 and developing, we will be seeing this Athens native for a long time. Sports broadcasters often choke on his kilometric name so they opted for the Greek Freak. Giannis is an emerging superstar not only on the hardcourt but also on the hobby scene.
CHEF CURRY
As if Steph is not a nickname already. But credit the witty sports media for the other name as Stephen Curry can cook up anything on the playing court, especially long range shots even from the locker room. The two-time league MVP has another stage name – the Baby-Faced Assassin but Chef Curry is more like it. Delicioso.
LBJ / KING JAMES
In my honest opinion, among the current crop of ballers, LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet today. Whining and flopping aside, few if none at all can contain LBJ as he dominates games on a nightly basis. I’m not a fan of the guy but his basketball talents are out of this world. His $1 billion lifetime deal with Nike is a first but compared to MJ, his line of shoes and apparel is still on its infancy. Depending on his performance, Nike has the capability and savvy to capitalize on LeBron’s marketability and just maybe launch his own brand, similar to MJ’s. Hail to the King!
Of course, there are some ridiculous and silly sounding nicknames in the league. The Lopez twins, Brook and Robin are called BroPez and RoLo respectively. And why is Russell Westbrook called Brodie? Shaq has a handful of aliases – The Big Diesel, the Big Cactus and the silliest of all, the Big Aristotle.
Kobe Bryant? He went by the name of Vino before resurrecting as Black Mamba. The best belongs to Ricky Davis – Wrong Rim Ricky. In an effort to pad his rebound total to ten for a triple-double game, Davis tried to shot at the wrong basket. The attempt failed, the dumb name stuck.
TRIVIA
Twitter’s logo is called Larry, yup, in honor of Larry Bird./PN
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