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You might as well ask why a dog licks its own a**hole or why Canadians love Curling and Poutine. And in that spirit, we here at Guyism have decided to enter the fray. Sometimes, an athlete can be great and overrated at the same time. Its just the way it is. Its all a matter of context. Whos overrated? Whos underrated? As sports fans, we spend a lot of time asking each other and ourselves these questions. Why? Who knows? Thats not important. In that case, its easy to point out how overrated they are. Sometimes, though, its a little bit trickier. In the end, though, they all have one thing in common – they all have a place on our list as the most overrated sports legends of all time. What makes a player overrated though? Sometimes, an athlete becomes inexplicably famous even though he or she is a big ol butt on the field. This list is about both types, both those utterly undeserving of their fame and those who simply arent quite as great as people make them out to be.

Elvin Hayes had a great career in the NBA. That doesnt mean that he wasnt a great player, it just means that he wasnt great when it really mattered, and he wasnt nearly as great as the stats and the All-Star teams would lead you to believe and thats why hes on this list. He won a title with the Washington Bullets in 1978, he was a twelve time All-Star and he average 21 points and 12.5 rebounds for his career. The Big E was famously derided throughout his career for not coming through in the clutch – even when he won his championship with the Bullets he scored only 12 points in the deciding Game 7 and fouled out early in the 4th quarter – and that remains his enduring legacy. So why is he on this list? Because perhaps no player in NBA history had a bigger reputation for shrinking from the moment than Elvin Hayes.

So why is Danica Patrick so famous? Because she understands the celebrity side of sports stardom perhaps better than anyone else, and whether its through bikini shoots or godaddy.com commercials, she has managed to parlay peoples curiosity into a genuinely successful career. But the thing is, is that Danica Patrick has won only one race in her career – an Indycar race in Japan – and while she certainly is a capable driver, her level of fame is nowhere near commensurate with her level of success, which is kind of the whole definition of overrated, you know? Some will say that she is to be lauded for her success as a woman in a male dominated sport, and while this is true to a degree, other women, like drag racings Shirley Muldowney, have had similar – or greater – success without any of the fanfare which accompanies Patrick. Danica Patrick is one of the most famous race car drivers in America, and if you listen to all the hype, you would think she would be making the move to NASCAR after dominating the Indycar circuit for years and years. But all that notoriety does is draw attention to the fact that once you strip away all that fanfare, all thats left is just another halfway decent race car driver, and thats why shes overrated.

Hes absolutely despised in Toronto, where he admitted to quitting on the team in order to force a trade, and he has never lived up to enormous hype which has surrounded him since early in his career. People have grown pretty wise to Carters fraudulent rep over the last few years, but his gaudy stats will always convince people that he was better than he was. There is no doubt that Carter is ridiculously talented, but there is also no doubt that Carter basically doesnt give a shit. Half man, half amazing. Slam dunk champion. Vinsanity. So is Never won a damn thing. In 13 NBA season, Vince Carter has only made the playoffs six times. And thats why hes on this list. These are all words used to describe Vince Carter. And of those six times, hes managed to get past the second round only once, last year with Orlando, when he had basically been reduced to a complimentary player.

Think about those two statements and then try to reconcile them. Of course, stats dont always tell the whole story – which has kind of been a theme prevalent throughout this list – but they still mean something, and when it comes to Swann, the stats dont so much lie as utterly condemn the case for his greatness. Again, think about that for a second. Lynn Swann is a Hall of Famer who is considered to be one of the most iconic wide receivers in NFL history. Lynn Swann was a fine player, an exemplar of grace who was one of the most famous members of those legendary Steelers teams of the 1970s. Let that sink in and then let the following sink in: in his best season, Lynn Swann caught 61 passes for 880 yards and 11 touchdowns. You cant. Of course, it was a different era, but even in that career year of his, Swann didnt rank in the top five for either receptions or yardage. His best season was approximately as good statistically as Deion Branchs 2010 season. For references sake, 41 players — 41! – caught more passes this season than Swann did in his best year. But you can only argue with stats so far.

Basically, he is the male version of Danica Patrick. Yes, I am aware that this means that I am going to be driven off the road sometime soon by some wide eyed lunatic with Dale, Jrs number 88 tattooed on his arm and forehead and who the hell even knows where else but such is the price of truth in these strange and terrible times. After all, Earnhardt has never won the series championship – his highest finish is 3rd in 2003 – and he hasnt finished the season in the top ten in five years. is probably the most famous NASCAR driver in the world. Okay, okay, Junior is a pretty talented driver in his own right but if he wasnt the son of the Intimidator, well… lets just say that he probably wouldnt have won the award for most popular driver every year since 2003. This is because he is the son of the most beloved Nascar driver of all time. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. And thats pretty much it.

He also won several championships as a member of the famed Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s and then one more with the Pittsburgh Penguins after he was traded. No one was better at joining the rush than Coffey and no one put up gaudier numbers. If you look at the statistics, Paul Coffey is probably the second best defenseman of all time behind only Bobby Orr, but as we have already seen throughout this list, statistics can be a bunch of damn liars. But heres the thing: Coffey had teammates named Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and later Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, so he wasnt exactly heroically carrying mediocre teams to glory. Coffey played in a run and gun era in which it was acceptable for a defenseman to serve as virtually a fourth forward on the ice. All this seems to point to a very talented offensive player who was never really considered indispensable by the teams he played for. And, perhaps more damning, both of those teams won more Stanley Cups after trading Coffey. And when the NHL moved to a more defensive oriented style of play in the mid to late 90s, Coffey immediately became irrelevant, which is kind of a problem for his reputation since he was, you know, a defenseman. Further, the Detroit Red Wings, for whom Coffey starred after getting traded to them by the Los Angeles Kings (Hmmm, for an all-time great, Coffey sure got traded a lot.), didnt win the Stanley Cup until the season they traded him away, after which they went on to win back to back Cups.

And while he won 324 games in his career, good for 14th all time, he also lost 292 games, the 3rd most all time. He never even sniffed the World Series after that and remember, he played for almost 25 more years – and in his whole career he never won more than six games more than he lost. He never won a Cy Young despite his huge numbers, and while he won a World Series with the Mets in 1969, he only won 6 games that season and was little more than a wild relief pitcher for them. He never learned to pitch to contact, or to rely upon his defense. He also threw 7 no-hitters – again, the most all time – and he set the single season mark for most strike-outs with 383 in 1973. He also walked more batters than anyone in baseball history. This is not to say that Nolan Ryan wasnt a great player – he was – its just that he wasnt as good as some of the numbers say. Then again, he did famously beat the crap out of the much younger Robin Ventura, so maybe Im being too harsh. He was one of a kind, more of a freak of nature than anything else, and while he should be remembered for all of that, he should also be remembered as a flawed pitcher who was never quite as good as the numbers said. Nolan Ryan is the greatest strikeout pitcher of all time. He either struck everyone out or walked them. Fittingly, he also led the league in walks that season. Ryan was a workhorse who pitched for an astonishing 27 seasons, which allowed him to rack up his ridiculous numbers. Of course, pitching success in terms of wins and losses is heavily dependent upon the team surrounding you, but Ryans style also played a big part. Whos to say?.

Namath is a Hall of Famer because he got lucky after opening his big mouth and guaranteeing a Jets victory prior to Super Bowl III and for being a drunken manwhore. Yeah, yeah, I know Joe Namath was maybe the single most important player in the merger between the NFL and AFL and I know that he is beloved for being a legendary horn-dog and degenerate. Basically, he managed to not screw up while the defense and running back Matt Snell eked out a hard fought victory for the Jets, saving Namaths ass in the process. It may sound like Im being tough on Namath here, but the truth is, is that I love him like a horny old goat of a father. In that famous Super Bowl victory – which the Jets won 16-7 – Namath managed to avoid throwing an interception, but he also didnt throw a touchdown. Hardly inspiring stuff. For his career, Namath threw 173 touchdowns – hey, thats good! – but he also threw 220 interceptions, which, uh, well thats not so good. He threw more than 20 interception in a season five times and he averaged 17 INTs a season, all while completing only 50.1% of his career passes, which… yikes! Only twice in his career – twice! – did he throw more touchdowns than interceptions. But as a quarterback? Eh, not so much. His ratio in those two glorious years? 18-15 and 19-17. Its just that, well, the dudes overrated and you simply cant deny that. I love him for those reasons too.

Chamberlain was infamous for being a stat whore. The year that he averaged an unreal 50.9 points per game, his Warriors averaged 125.4 points per game, the most in the league. The greatest of the great are always the alpha dogs. But does it really mean that much to always come out as second best against a great like Russell? It sure as hell does when youre considered to be one of the two or three greatest players of all time. Always. He was Shaquille ONeal, and while that is a hell of a thing to be all on its own, that doesnt make Wilt Chamberlain one of the one or two best players of all time. I know I have some explaining to do, especially given Wilts gaudy stats, but hear me out. zealots anyway. Im not arguing with that. This is my case: Wilt is considered by most fans to be one of the two or three greatest players who ever lived. They also gave up 122.7 points per game, dead last in the league. He wasnt even Russell. Ill give him that. But no one will ever be able to take away those 20,000 women from him, which probably makes him one of the one or two greatest swordsmen of all time. The point is that Wilts greatness has to be taken in context, and the context – the era, the constant beatings by Russell – show that Wilt was a tremendously gifted talent, playing in a league that had never seen someone with his physical gifts, but he wasnt Jordan and he wasnt Kareem. In fact, I predict that this will be the one that gets people angry at me more than any other entry on this list – well, other than the irrational Dale, Jr. But Wilt also played in an era when numbers as a whole were gaudy and hyper-inflated. Ill probably catch hell for this one. But its true. Yeah, he had better regular season numbers, but when it counted, in the playoffs, Russell always managed to better Wilt. It just doesnt, and thats why hes overrated. And the simple fact is that Chamberlain was almost always number two to Russell. He needed, wanted, his points, his rebounds, his assists – whatever. And he usually got them. The only player put in front of him is Jordan and maybe – maybe – Kareem. But heres the thing, throughout the 1960s, Wilt famously battled Bill Russell of the Celtics and almost every time, Russell came out ahead.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6LBE3S-ZU&feature=youtube_gdata

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