#20 Detroit Lions Barry Sanders......lets just run through the stats first to acknowledge the WOW aspect of his on-field accomplishments.......15,000 yards.....1,500+ rushing yards 5 times (NFL record).....made 10 Pro-Bowls in 10 year career.....Heisman Trophy winner....Pro Football Hall Of Fame Inductee.....
ever was.....he had 15 career 50+ yard TD runs - most ever.....46 times he rushed for 150+ yards in a game - most ever.....the crazy thing was that Barry - at 5"8" 200 pounds - got caught and dropped behind the line-of-scrimmage more then any other Running Back ever (he lost 952 yards on 336 of those plays) but he was so slippery, athletic, tenacious that he avoided and broke tackles on every other carry.....over a 10 year career of multiple carries his 5.0 yard-per-carry average, and 109 touchdowns, tell the story that Barry could carry the day for your offense......For me a major memory is the simple give of the football from Sanders to the referee right after scoring a touchdown....no hey look at me......he said he expected to be in the end zone, and he expected to be back so he humbly gave the ball to the ref sans showboat - sans attitude every time
Barry retired earlier then anyone would have expected.....he was on pace to be the all-time rushing leader - 1-2 seasons more was all that was needed.......he ripped up the turf in Detroit for 10 years but the key word there is "Detroit"......the Lions did a lot of losing, actually still do a lot of losing as a franchise.....instead of even asking for a trade his spirit was so broken by the Detroit experience that he walked away from the NFL completely
Jesus Shuttleworth......Mr Ray Allen if you will..........Mr 3-Ball if you will.........Allen is new to # 20 wearing 34 for most of his career, but since he turned his career from explosive scorer on decent teams to major contributor on a high-level NBA team like the Celtics he has rocked #20
Ray Allen was a scorer in his career.......even today he will occasionally take it to the rim but he is primarily a jump-shooter.....still a great jump-shooter......Allen has a career average of 20 points per game......witness these scoring #'s - 9 straight years of avg 20+ points per game for Milwaukee and Seattle.....that includes career highs in year 8 and 9 of that run of 25.1 and 26.4 ppg.....despite his ability to score at will with Seattle he took a step back to fit in the the Big 3 in Boston along with KG and Paul Pierce.....that has already paid off with an NBA Title and, personal stats too - several Regular Season and Playoff records for 3-pointers......this guy has a pure, sweet shot......in the storied history of the Boston Celtics Allen holds the record for consecutive free throws with 72......Shuttleworth also has a career playoff avg of 20 points per game..........
Other # 20's have included MLB Hall-Of-Fame Inductee Frank Robinson......his importance to baseball is clear.....he was the first African-American to manage a MLB team and one of the all-time great players ever......only player ever to have won MVP in the AL and the NL......heck this guy even won a Triple Crown - unheard of these days as we are experiencing the longest drought ever between Triple Crown's (Triple Crown = lead the league in HR's, RBI's, batting average)
NHL Hall-Of-Fame Inductee Luc Robitaille also wore #20 during his 19 year career......3 stints in LA with the Kings......668 goals.....726 assists.........
#20 Chris Pronger is currently writing his NHL Hall-Of-Fame resume
In MLB legends like Mike Schmidt, Lou Brock and current stud Kevin Youkilis all donned jerseys with #20 on them
send me a message on this, or on any of the other 19 blogs (and counting)..... craig.ballard@hotmail.com
