what was the most hyped up professional debut of an athlete of any sport?

the nominees are:
Danika Patrick
Reggie Bush
Lebron James
Michelle Wei
Tiger Woods
Yao Ming
Freddie Adu

10/27/2009 1:17:21 AM

Danika Patrick - fail?
Reggie Bush - fail
Lebron James - King
Michelle Wei - fail
Tiger Woods - prince? its golf, so didn't really give a shit. still don't
Yao Ming - earl
Freddie Adu - who?

10/27/2009 1:34:10 AM

lebron easily

10/27/2009 1:57:21 AM

Nomo
ichiro
Ben mcdonald
Brien Taylor

10/27/2009 2:25:33 AM

Matt Moore

10/27/2009 3:28:44 AM

cassius clay

10/27/2009 4:11:43 AM

lebron easily

maybe barry sanders, walter payton, oj simpson, etc. back in the day?

10/27/2009 7:41:03 AM

Ryan Leaf, boom goes the dynamite.

10/27/2009 7:54:50 AM

biggest flop, after huge hype, was Hideki Irabu

10/27/2009 8:18:20 AM

this is silly. its not even close. how can a thread like this even be made the way we had national holidays for every lebron high school game

10/27/2009 8:22:07 AM

Lebron from those listed.

How hyped was Jim Brown before he hit the NFL?

10/27/2009 8:38:03 AM

lol I don't think Brien Taylor ever really made a debut.

and Ben McDonald? There've been bigger hyped debuts in baseball in the past 15-20 years.

and Barry Sanders wasn't quite as hyped as others in his draft class, ie, Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, etc.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 9:06 AM. Reason : dsfasdfadsd]

10/27/2009 9:05:26 AM

Daniel Evans

10/27/2009 9:07:24 AM

^^ If Matt Wieters was in a big market he would have been as hyped a rookie as ever... Dice-K was pretty hyped.

Baseball isn't exactly going to produce any of the most hyped debuts because almost invariably they spend time in the minors.

Strasburg has been hyped beyond belief. Probably the most hyped athlete of the last five years...

10/27/2009 9:13:51 AM

albert pujols' mother even picked matt weiters first in her fantasy draft

http://www.mattwietersfacts.com/

when he was comming up, this website brought the lols

i love the t-shirt of him swinging the baltimore smoke stack

10/27/2009 9:17:50 AM

David Thompson

10/27/2009 9:18:08 AM

A couple new names:

Brandon Jennings
Strasburg

10/27/2009 9:42:51 AM

john wall... in another year..

10/27/2009 10:09:00 AM

Quote :

"Dice-K was pretty hyped"

first person who came to mind

10/27/2009 10:09:08 AM

Wrong all of you, here is the answer in order of most to least hyped

1. Yao Ming
2. Reggie Bush
3. Lebron James
4. Michelle Wei
5. Danika Patrick
6. Freddie Adu
7. Tiger Woods


and i have facts to prove it so dont argue, just accept it

10/27/2009 11:07:25 AM

Danica

10/27/2009 11:36:54 AM

Brent Schaeffer

not pro, but I had to

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 11:48 AM. Reason : hah]

10/27/2009 11:47:41 AM

#1 in america was lebron.

Yao was hyped in china but if we're counting other countries there are probably several soccer players as big as lebron and yao. Also dice-k wouldn't count because he's already played pro.

Sidney crosby seems pretty big also.

10/27/2009 1:09:21 PM

tim couch

10/27/2009 1:09:58 PM

Quote :

"lol I don't think Brien Taylor ever really made a debut"

He didn't. I went to same high school he went to, I remember going to watch him when I was kid and seeing all the MLB scouts there.

Before he reported to the Yankees, he got in a fight, trying to defend his little brother. He threw a punch missed, fell to the ground and dislocated his shoulder.

He never made past AAA and now he works for a brick mason.

10/27/2009 1:24:31 PM

Would have to go with Lebron.

Sidney Crosby for hockey, given that the hockey world and the entire nation of Canada had nothing to do during the lockout but watch him and salivate over the thought of their team getting the #1 pick.

10/27/2009 2:18:14 PM

Sidney Crosby.

10/27/2009 2:45:32 PM

How about DiceK Matsuzaka?

10/27/2009 2:53:23 PM

any answer other than Lebron is wrong

10/27/2009 3:34:39 PM

kimbo slice

10/27/2009 5:37:54 PM

Just got a PM from Jaybee

He wants to nominate Cap Anson

10/27/2009 5:40:45 PM

10/27/2009 8:10:21 PM

They were already pro before coming to America, but Pele and David Beckham caused a lot of headlines in the USA while playing a sport that most Americans don't care about watching.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 8:40 PM. Reason : .]

10/27/2009 8:24:56 PM

1)LBJ - and he lived up to it.
2)Freddie Adu - I haven't heard that name in years...
3)Yao
4)Bush
5)Wei

10/27/2009 9:17:18 PM

^^^ Nice.

I'll vote for Jackie Robinson as well, not sure it counts though because wasn't he already playing pro ball, just not in MLB?

Then LeBron overshadows all the rest on that list.

10/27/2009 9:43:51 PM

Quote :

"Danika Patrick - fail? Reggie Bush - fail Lebron James - King Michelle Wei - fail Tiger Woods - prince? its golf, so didn't really give a shit. still don't Yao Ming - earl Freddie Adu - who?"

i feel like you're joking.

10/27/2009 9:52:17 PM

How about Jordan when he decided to play baseball? I don't recall that anyone thought he'd be good, but the media sure hyped the hell out of it.

10/27/2009 9:58:39 PM

wow, jackie robinson, you really hit that one out of the park, gg

10/27/2009 11:21:44 PM

Glacier.



BLOOD RUNS COLD.

10/28/2009 1:19:36 AM

the Boz

10/28/2009 2:47:03 AM

Ohhhh!

Ricky Williams

that slacker had press on his nuts till the day he quit, and then a year or so after that

10/28/2009 5:47:05 AM

Reggie Bush. Cleveland was expected to be weak that year and he was supposed to go nuts against them. He wound up having a game that holds as one of his better pro games to this point (147 APY), but they showed him make a routine catch on a 10-yard curl more than they showed Marques Colston's actual TD catch.

10/28/2009 6:17:18 AM

I forgot Glacier's debut was against Ray Traylor.

10/28/2009 6:17:50 AM

for how much bush was hyped he hasn't done much career wise yet....
danica only got so much hype due to not having danglely bits
lebron got tons of hype and actually pretty much delivered, probably still not as much as he was hyped but damn close.
wei was hyped but generally isn't that great (media build up only)
woods was hyped as a kid? not that he hasn't probably surpassed expectations but really?
yao ming was probably overly hyped, he's good just not the WTFAMAZINGBBQ that some in the media thought he would be...
freddie adu was hyped not really by the media so much though, but hasn't really done much yet either, shows flashes but no consistency
ryan leaf v peyton manning hype war of the decade, we all know how that one panned out...
ricky williams, the saints, the poor saints, horrible idea to try to trade up to get him, didn't they give away all their picks for the next year to nab him or something? totally not worth it at the time and still isn't worth it yet, one of the bigger implosions ever, has a chance to get back in the saddle but still isn't worth his draft pick number.
brian? bosworth, super hyped, super mediocre, great college player (roids) very average to below average pro, talked the talk but couldnt walk, got massively injured forced out.

10/28/2009 11:55:17 AM

i would think that the degree of hype has nothing at all to do with how they have performed

hype is hype warranted or not

Lebron and Kimbo

10/28/2009 12:04:15 PM

I came in here to post

KIMBO SLICE

10/28/2009 12:35:18 PM

lol its going to be Tim Tebow

As if ESPN isn't forcing enough Koolaid down our throats, we're going to hear about him in the NFL, and then we are still going to hear everyone be compared to him in NCAA...

10/28/2009 12:54:01 PM

Nah, I think Tebow to the NFL will be like Hansbrough to the NBA. He'll get his mentions at draft day but then he'll fade into obscurity save for a commercial where he finds a little girl's dog.

10/28/2009 1:28:06 PM

haha we can only hope

10/28/2009 1:53:48 PM

as far as someone noone (aside from diehards) had seen prior to his national debut, I'd say Tiger or Lebron. Tiger winning the Master's wasn't that much of a shock, he had already torn it up in his first few matches and met the hype.

10/29/2009 8:48:04 PM