Over the years I have found myself rooting for individual players more than specific teams. My brother, who is a lifelong Cleveland fan (sad but very true), does not understand how I can pick players over teams….but that is what I have always done and probably will do the rest of my sports watching life.

Picking only 10 sports heroes from 40 years of watching sports was not very easy….but the following hub lists my Top Ten Sports Heroes and the reason I started following their careers. I would like to mention a few people that did not make the cut but I have very fond memories of watching their sports achievements. Wayne Gretzky (the only time I watched hockey), Chase Utley (currently my favorite MLB player), Mike Tyson( before his life fell apart and he met Buster Douglas), Gregg Jefferies (former MLB player that played minor league ball in my hometown) and Mats Wilander (former number one tennis player in the world).

Reason I started following Charlie Waters. Needing a target, I put a Charlie Waters football card on our dartboard that was out in the garage. My older brother saw that I was ruining the card told me that it was a bad idea to ruin collectables. I took the card down and looked at the card and thought….”Waters that is a cool last name”….the very next Sunday the Dallas Cowboys were on television and Charlies Waters was involved in almost every play….so I became a fan for the rest of his career.

Highlights of being a Charlie Waters fan. (1) I have very fond memories of the Cowboys beating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. (2) The Cowboys only missed the playoffs once in his entire career. (3) Watching most of his NFL record 9 interceptions in the playoffs while being the defensive leader of the Cowboys.

Lowlights of being a Charlie Waters fan. (1) Not one but two Super Bowl(X & XIII) losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers (2) Watching Waters blow his knee out in a pre-season game and missing the entire 1979 season. (3) Having to see the 49ers’ “The Catch” shown over and over and knowing Waters was one of the defenders and that was his very last NFL game of his career.

Reason I started following Nolan Ryan and his baseball career. My dad had three baseball players he talked about on a regular basis with me. One was Ted Williams, one is next on this list and the third one was Nolan Ryan. Since Ryan was a favorite of my father’s he became one of the first baseball players I followed as well.

Highlights of being a Nolan Ryan fan. (1) Watching him pitch his record 6th and 7th no hitters of his career. He would finish with 7 no-hitters, 12 one-hitters and 18 two-hitters. (2) Watching him retire as the all-time strikeout king with a career total of 5,714 strikeouts. (3) Watching the old man (Ryan) destroy the young man (Robin Ventura) when he charged the mound.

Lowlights of being a Nolan Ryan fan. (1) Never getting the chance to see him pitch in the World Series…..although he was a member of the Miracle Mets of 1969. (2) Watching him hurt his arm two games away from his retirement.

Reason I started following Dwight Evans and his baseball career. Once again I will blame my father. Growing up I would hear stories about the great Ted Williams, the power of Nolan Ryan, and the cannon of an arm that Dwight “Dewey” Evans possessed as he patroled right field at Fenway Park. When I was not pitching in little league I always wanted to play right field just like Dewey. I remember reading the newspaper box scores each day as I kept track of the progress of Evans.

Highlights of being a Dwight Evans fan. (1) His historic 11th inning catch of Ken Griffey’s Game 6 flyball in the 1975 World Series….which is one of the greatest baseball games of all-time. (2) Hit the most home runs(256) of any American Leaguer from 1980 to 1989 while winning 8 Gold Gloves during his career. (3) Would have been the World Series MVP in 1986 if the Red Sox would have won the series. (4) Hitting two important home runs in 1990 against the Toronto Blue Jays to help Boston reach the playoffs….the impressive fact….Evans had been in the hospital for a bad back before showing up to hit the home runs.

Lowlights of being a Dwight Evans fan. (1) World Series loss to the New York Mets in 1986….game 6 (Buckner game) was devastating for Boston fans around the country. (2) Getting released by Boston when he only wanted to play one more year…damn you Red Sox executives. (3) Not getting much Hall of Fame support despite being one of the greatest defensive outfielders, who also hit nearly 400 home runs and reached base over 4,000 times in his career.

Reason I started following William Andrews. When I was very small, my mother sewed the number 11 on a sweat shirt. I used to wear that shirt outside to play football with my brother. My brother’s favorite team has always been the Cleveland Browns. So I wanted a favorite team as well. My brother grabbed a NFL roster book and started looking for players that wore number 11. The first player he found was the Atlanta Falcon’s QB Dick Shiner. So the Atlanta Falcons became my favorite team. So even though the Falcons were pretty horrible I followed them closely. In 1979, a rookie running back for the Falcons rushed for 167 yards in his NFL debut…..that was William Andrews and I became one of his biggest fans from that day forward.

Highlights of being a William Andrews fan. (1) Despite being considered a blocking back(in college he played third fiddle to James Brooks and Joe Cribbs)…William Andrews became a 4 time pro-bowl selection. (2) Behind the running of Andrews and the passing of QB Steve Bartkowski the Falcons actually became a very good team….with the highlight being a 12-4 season in 1980. (3) William Andrews became the standard of a NFL running back as he was great runner and a great receiver out of the backfield.

Low lights of being a William Andrews fan. (1) Playoffs 1980…..playing in a home game against the Dallas Cowboys…the Falcons blew a big lead and lost the game because of using a prevent defense…..that prevent defense prevented the Falcons from winning. (2) After four straight pro-bowl seasons…William Andrews blew out his knee during a pre-season practice. It would take him over two years to make it back on the field.

Reason I started following Rick Mahorn. I have actually had the opportunity to meet Rick Mahorn three times in my life. The first time was at a college seniors basketball tournament in Portsmouth, Virginia. And the second and third time occurred playing pick up basketball games with him at Old Dominion University. Each time I saw him was a very cool guy to me and everybody else that was around. So I followed him during his 20 year career that took him to 5 different NBA teams.

The highlights of being a Rick Mahorn fan. (1) Mahorn’s time with the Detroit Pistons….which included his one and only title….1989 when the Pistons won the title. (2) Mahorn’s time with the Washington Bullets….he was part of the McNasty and McFilthy team of Mahorn and Jeff Ruland. (3) Mahorn’s time with Charles Barkley and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The low lights of being a Rick Mahorn fan. (1) Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals 1987….Larry Bird steals ball from Isiah Thomas to win game….I could not believe how much that 3 seconds hurt me. (2) After winning the title with the Pistons in 1989, Mahorn was the first pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the expansion draft…..rumor has it, that Mahorn was told of the draft at the parade in Detroit that was celebrating the title. (2) Mahorn had the reputation of being a very dirty player….which always seemed to put me in a position of defending him..especially with Chicago Bull and Boston Celtic fans.

Reason I started following Steve Young. For some reason I always found it very interesting that Steve Young was a direct descendant of Brigham Young and was the star quarterback for Brigham Young University. So I rooted for him in college, actually watched him play for the LA Express in the USFL(I actually liked that league and wish it would have survived), suffered with him in Tampa, felt his frustration in San Francisco as he dealt with the great Joe Montana and then with the great Joe Montana shadow when Montana went to Kansas City.

Highlights of being a Steve Young fan. (1) Seeing Steve Young become one of the best passers in NFL history and a Hall of Fame quarterback. (2) Winning Super Bowl XXIX and passing for a record 6 touchdown passes. (3) Steve Young’s last second game winning touchdown pass to Terrell Owens in the 1998 playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. I have since stopped following the 49ers….but my man crush on Steve Young has turned my oldest son into a lifelong 49er fan.

Low lights of being a Steve Young fan. (1) The Montana/Young rivalry always seems to make Young the bad guy and Montana the good guy. People seem to forget that the 49ers won 2 Super Bowls when they were both on the roster…..so while Montana ended up with 4 rings….Young ended up with 3 rings. (2) Concussions concussions concussions. I still remember when Steve Young got knocked out off a game in early 1999….I told my wife as soon as the play was over…..his career is over….sadly I turned out correct.

Reason I started following Barry Bonds. Once again I can blame my dad. My dad always liked Bobby Bonds as a player…so being a good son I decided to like Bobby’s son….Barry. Plus Barry Bonds helped me win 8 fantasy baseball titles over the years. 4 titles before his steroid era and 4 after his steroid era.

Highlights of being a Barry Bonds fan. (1) Before 1999 he was on pace to be the only 500 home run 500 stolen base player in history…..which would have made him a first ballot Hall of Famer. (2) After 1999, with some help, Barry Bonds turned into Babe Ruth for 7 off the chart years. (3) Holds the record for most career home runs and most home runs in a season.

Low lights of being a Barry Bonds fan. (1) Losing to the Angels in the 2002 World Series…especially with his fielding skills being one of the reasons for the loss. (2) The entire BALCO steroid scandal….which eventually lead to Bonds being convicted on obstruction of justice charges. (3) Trying to explain to many Bonds haters how there must be a logical reason that his head got so big in such a short period of time.

Reasons I started following Jeremy Mayfield. Back in the mid 1990s I was on the road a lot of the time for my job. During my many road trips I could not escape NASCAR being on the radio. After hearing a Jeremy Mayfield on the radio, I thought….”There is a guy that seems to realize how fortunate he is”. So I started to keep track of his race results. The more I paid attention the better he seemed to perform on the track. I eventually became a pretty big NASCAR fan…..even getting the chance to meet Jeremy Mayfield on two occasions.

Highlights of being a Jeremy Mayfield fan. (1) Winning a Pocono race by bumping the late great Dale Earnhardt Sr. out of the way on the final lap. (2) Winning a Richmond race and qualifying for the chase…he went from 14th place in the standings to 9th place in the standings in one night. (3) Making the chase the first two years that NASCAR playoff system was put into place.

Low lights of being a Jeremy Mayfield fan. (1) Getting fired from the Roger Penske racing team. (2) Getting fired from the Ray Evernham racing team. (3) Failing a drug test and being suspended from NASCAR. (4) Facing multiple criminal charges ranging from illegal drug possession and possession of stolen merchandise. Mayfield claims NASCAR has been setting him up….as a Mayfield fan I want to give him the benefit of the doubt…..but I am having a hard to believing his side of the story.

Reason that I follow Phil Mickelson. My dad was a left handed golfer and so is Phil Mickelson….which is when I first started paying attention to Phil Mickelson. Later when Mickelson was labeled with “Greatest Golfer Never To Win A Major” title, I liked his attitude about how his life was great no matter if he won a major or not. The final thing that got me in the Phil boat was the time his wife was about to give birth during a major tournament and he said he would leave even if he was leading to go be with his wife. I wonder if Tiger would do the same thing?

Highlights of following Phil Mickelson. (1) Winning his first major tournament in 2004 when he captured the Masters green coat. (2) Winning his second Masters and first PGA major. (3) Winning his third Masters in 2010 and having his wife waiting for him at the 18th hole.

Low lights of following Phil Mickelson. (1) His meltdown on the final round at Winged Foot for the U.S. Open championship. (2) 2009 U.S. Open meltdown…bogeyed the 15th and 17th hole to finish two shots back. (3) 2011 British Open….actually was tied for the lead on the final day…only to end up with a horrible back nine to take him out of contention.

Reason I follow Peyton Manning. How can you not like a member of the first family of the NFL. I liked Archie in the 1970s and 1980s…and now we have Peyton and Eli standing tall in the 2000s. I have always been impressed with Peyton Manning’s legendary work ethic and his willingness to give back to the community.

The highlights of following Peyton Manning. (1) A NFL record 4 MVP awards. (2) Many passing records. (3) His very successful Saturday Night Live hosting performance. (4) His many very humorous commercials. (5) 15 playoff appearances in 17 years.  (6) Two Super Bowl Titles!

The low lights of following Peyton Manning. (1) Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints…I still can not believe the on side kick to start the second half. (2) Getting cut by the Colts….I know Andrew Luck is awesome….but you had Peyton Manning on your roster. (3) His very poor average per carry on run plays.

Since Peyton retired….I have been without somebody to follow and root for…..but I feel the next person is coming soon!