Get out the cake and balloons because February 17th could be one of the best days for an athlete’s birthday.
On this day, 60 years ago, Michael Jordan came into this world. College and NBA fame will follow along with movies, sneaker dominance, business ventures, and a world of iconic moments and classic memes.
Jordan is not the only famous sports star born on February 17th. He was joined by Jim Brown and Luc Robitaille. There are a couple more dates dedicated to the birthdays of several prominent sports figures. However, adding great birthdays from pop culture, does Jordan’s big day make him a GOAT GOAT birthday? Let’s blow out the candles, look at some big days and compare them.
Date: December 30
Sporting GOATS Born Today: Tiger Woods and LeBron James
Woods holds the record for the most PGA Tour wins (82) and is second for the most major wins (15). James holds four NBA titles with three different teams and is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. According to Forbes, both Tiger and LeBron are also among the few athletes whose net worth is over $1 billion.
What else gave us a day
Splendor Sandy KoufaxA: He’s packed a lot in his 12-year career. Koufax won four World Series with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the World Series MVP in two of those series. He also won Cy Young unanimously three times.
Punk Poet Laureate Meets the Boss: American singer, songwriter, punk music icon and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Patti Smith was born on this day in 1946. Although she has released 11 albums and written 27 books, Smith’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Because the Night” remains her most famous song. It reached number 13 on the 1978 Billboard Hot 100 list.
Anything else?: The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling, born 1865); Roman Pierce from the Fast & Furious franchise (Tyrese Gibson, born in 1978); one Roman emperor (Titus, born 39).
Date: February 17
Sports GOAT was born today: Michael Jordan
In 1963 His Airiness arrived. We know the rest. An NCAA title, two Olympic gold medals, six NBA titles, five league MVP titles, iconic sneakers, Space Jam, The Last Dance, and plenty of memes – Jordan is a sports and pop culture icon whose influence has been going on for nearly 20 years. years after the end of his playing career.
What else gave us a day
Maybe the best running back: Once upon a time, Jim Brown, born on this day in 1936, set all significant NFL records in snatching. He did it in just nine seasons (1957-65) with the Cleveland Browns. Brown set all-game, season, and career yarding records. In addition, at that time he was the league’s all-time leader in rushing and total touchdowns.
He retired to become an actor and immediately excelled in The Dirty Dozen.
Hard rock icons: In 1972, about 1,700 miles apart, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters arrived. Here’s Hawkins from the band’s song “Such times.”
Anything else?People: Oscar winner (Brenda Fricker, born in 1945); defense 46 (Buddy Ryan, born 1931).
Date: June 11
Sports goat born today: Diana Taurasi
Sportzshala named Taurasi the greatest player in the first 25 years of the WNBA. Longevity and permanence distinguish her, as well as incredibly catchy – so much so that Kobe Bryant gave her the nickname “White Mamba”. She is also an incredible winner. Taurasi holds an NCAA title, an Olympic gold medal, a FIBA World Championship, and a WNBA title.
What else gave us a day
Other works of the UConn dynasty: Taurasi has won three NCAA titles with the UConn Huskies, the last in 2004. The Huskies went through an uncharacteristic period of decline, not winning a title until 2009. This happened to Maya Moore, who was also born on June 11th. Moore has won two college titles. and four WNBA crowns before retiring from basketball for charitable work. June 11 gave us players with a total of five NCAA titles, seven WNBA titles and seven Olympic gold medals.
More Winners NFL Edition: One has his name on the Super Bowl trophy. Another has won this trophy four times. Vince Lombardi (born 1913) is considered one of the NFL’s greatest coaches. He turned the Green Bay Packers into a dynasty and never had a losing season.
Joe Montana (born 1956) became a Hall of Famer leading the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowls in the 1980s. If you keep score, June 11 is responsible for 11 NFL championships.
Anything else?People: The original Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder, born 1933); Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage, born 1969); Toyota (founder of the company Kiichiro Toyoda, born in 1894).
Date: September 26
Sports Goat Born Today: Serena Williams
She is the best tennis player of all time, having won 23 Grand Slam titles. Williams was ranked No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association for 319 weeks of her career. She is the only player to have won three Grand Slams in a row, which has been dubbed “Serena’s Slam”. She did it twice. She is also a style icon and a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins.
What else gave us a day
Continuing Busse dynasty: As the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Bass (born 1961) is one of the most powerful people in the sport. She continues the family business started by her father, Dr. Jerry Buss, to turn the Lakers into a winning franchise with worldwide recognition. In 2020, Bass became the first female controller to win an NBA title.
speed of light: Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity was “born” on September 26, 1905, when he published a scientific paper on the subject. Stephen Hawking defined the theory in A Brief History of Time as the statement that “the laws of science (including the speed of light) should be the same for all observers, no matter how they move, in the absence of gravitational phenomena. Einstein’s theory led to his work on mass and energy and to the most famous equation in the world: E=mc².
Anything else?People: NASCAR (founder Bill France, born in 1909); Hockey twins (Daniel and Henrik Sedina, born in 1980); “Physical” (singer Olivia Newton-John, born 1948).
Date: January 26
Athletic GOAT born today: Wayne Gretzky
He is literally “Great”. Gretzky holds the records for the most goals scored in a single period, in a single season, and in a career. He also holds or shares six assists records as well as four Stanley Cup titles.
What else gave us a day
dunk god: Vince Carter (born 1977), probably the best dunker of all time. Who needs to explain this? Just look.
Reggie Dunlop and “Fast” Eddie Felson: Paul Newman (born 1925) was one of America’s greatest actors with memorable roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cold Blooded Luke, Hud, and more. However, he also has three great sports films in his filmography. He was a hockey player/coach who, shall we say, encouraged dirty play in “Slap Shot”. Newman plays Eddie Felson’s pool shark in The Hustler and The Color of Money, the latter of which earned him his only acting Oscar.
Anything else?People: Five-Star General (Douglas MacArthur, born 1880); half of The Road Warriors (Michael Hegstrand aka Road Warrior Hawk, born 1957); former SmackDown Women’s Champion (Sasha Banks, born 1992); creator this is a guitar solo (Eddie Van Halen, born 1955).
Source: www.espn.com
