what’s in a name from this day on I
would like to be known as the big
Aristotle welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten greatest sports nicknames
for this list we’ve chosen the one
athlete per sport who we think has the
most iconic memorable or funny nickname
number 10 UFC
labeled history’s best UFC fighter by
the organization’s president Dana White
Anderson the spider Silva holds several
records this mixed martial arts
superhero was labeled Brazil’s
spider-man by an announcer who noticed
him wearing a t-shirt featuring the
comic-book webslinger it’s a fitting
moniker not only because Spiderman is
one of Silva’s idols but also because
like a spider he baits opponents and
preys on them when their weakest
number nine boxing
the Golden Boy smoke and Joe hurricane
Carter
Bonecrusher the greatest the boxing
world has no shortage of great tags but
there’s no more appropriate name for the
baddest man on the planet than Iron Mike
Tyson looks the way he always does but
he wants it he’s here strictly for
business tough as nails and hard as iron
Tyson was terrifying at his prime his
nickname was so simple yet so perfect in
the ring he was vicious and frightening
and iron like as they come Richard
Steele has booted and has stopped the
fight
number 8 cricket Donald Bradman the dawn
one of history’s greatest batsmen
rattles is often credited with one of
the most impressive stats in any sport
with an incredible test batting average
of 99.9 for eventually the boy from
barrel grew up into a mature and
skillful veteran dropping the blitzing
style of his early career and becoming
the sports elder statesman known as the
dawn number 7 hockey
Maurice Rashard the rocket Gretzky was
the great one Lemieux was super mario
but rocket Rashard was his eras most
electric player becoming the first NHL
ER to score 50 goals in one season
his speed got him his immortal nickname
originally labeled the comet in 1942
teammate Ray get liffe remark to
reporters that Rashard was as fast as a
rocket the name stuck and was later
adapted for his smaller brother Ari the
pocket rocket number 6
swimming Ian Thorpe the Thor pedo he’s
getting a standing ovation the saltpetre
swimming isn’t known for its nicknames
but there are some standouts German
Michael Gross is the Albatross American
Michael Phelps is the Baltimore bullet
and his teammate Ryan Lochte is the
locked inator but torpedo is our pick he
was the youngest Australian to represent
his country and before long he was also
the proud owner of five Olympic medals
his shocking missile like speed means
he’ll always be the Thor pedo we have
please tell us the America
the birth of the legend number five golf
Greg Norman the great white shark it
looks good
and Tiger may be the most ubiquitous
golf nickname around but the great white
shark is decidedly the most badass
hailing from Australia
Norman first gained fame at the 81
Masters where he also earned his famous
nickname his white blond hair aggressive
approach and background diving with
sharks is what inspired this pet name
and it soon came to signify his
predatory nature on the links jag
doesn’t go anyway number four football
Franz Beckenbauer people call me the
Kaiser yeah one of Germany’s greatest
footballers Beckenbauer had magnetism
authority and a refined approach meaning
the Emperor his nickname supposedly
originated after the star posed for
photos near the statue of a former
Austrian Emperor however another story
says that Beckenbauer once humiliated
Reinhardt labuda also known as the king
of Westphalia on the pitch so the media
needed a nickname
for someone who was above a king there
Kaiser was born number three American
football wal-mart name is Perry but they
call me the fritz of paper so hard I
think the other teams print the NFL is
packed with great monikers and you don’t
have to look further than perry’s own
Chicago Bears teammates for another one
Walter sweetness Payton earned his
nickname with speed skill and class but
we loved the fridge all right while
Perry was an exceptional athlete what
made him memorable was his size that was
registered to a point a big even for the
NFL he’s got the biggest Super Bowl ring
ever made out of size 25 how about
another yeah another case another case
you got to keep a lot of coke in a
refrigerator coke and coca-cola classic
number two basketball
Earvin Johnson magic this man
that lights up a television screen from
here to Bangor made sure Air Jordan was
ultra successful branding but Earvin
Johnson didn’t even need his real first
name Magic Johnson goes around both jazz
guys his talent earned him the moniker
magic as a 15 year old high school
sophomore despite the fact that his
Christian mother thought the nickname
was blasphemous magic eventually grew up
to become the greatest point guard the
NBA ever saw with a label that was
reverential ingenious and evocative all
at the same time before we unveil our
number one pick here are a few honorable
mentions the splendid splinter Ted
Williams Pistol Pete Maravich Broadway
Joe Namath the Big Unit Randy Johnson
the bus Jerome Bettis the Yankee Clipper
Joe DiMaggio the mailman car Malone dr.
J Julius Erving the Minister of Defense
Reggie White Bernie boom-boom Jeffrey on
prime time Deion Sanders the Russian
rocket Alexander Popov wilt the stilt
Wilt Chamberlain and last but not least
Adam Pacman Jones number one baseball
Joe Jackson Shoeless Joe Babe Ruth’s
Yogi Berra mr. October and Charlie
hustle round out the list of great MLB
nicknames but without Shoeless Joe
Jackson’s name would be ordinary
he received his nickname as a teen when
his cleats gave him such bad blisters he
played barefoot hecklers called him a
shoeless son of a gun and he never
shucked the name even after he was
banned from baseball following 1919 s
Black Sox scandal do you agree with our
list what’s your favorite sports
nickname
for more entertaining top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com I see
Shaq tested 29 points um how did you get
so many Q’s don’t worry about it
would like to be known as the big
Aristotle welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten greatest sports nicknames
for this list we’ve chosen the one
athlete per sport who we think has the
most iconic memorable or funny nickname
number 10 UFC
labeled history’s best UFC fighter by
the organization’s president Dana White
Anderson the spider Silva holds several
records this mixed martial arts
superhero was labeled Brazil’s
spider-man by an announcer who noticed
him wearing a t-shirt featuring the
comic-book webslinger it’s a fitting
moniker not only because Spiderman is
one of Silva’s idols but also because
like a spider he baits opponents and
preys on them when their weakest
number nine boxing
the Golden Boy smoke and Joe hurricane
Carter
Bonecrusher the greatest the boxing
world has no shortage of great tags but
there’s no more appropriate name for the
baddest man on the planet than Iron Mike
Tyson looks the way he always does but
he wants it he’s here strictly for
business tough as nails and hard as iron
Tyson was terrifying at his prime his
nickname was so simple yet so perfect in
the ring he was vicious and frightening
and iron like as they come Richard
Steele has booted and has stopped the
fight
number 8 cricket Donald Bradman the dawn
one of history’s greatest batsmen
rattles is often credited with one of
the most impressive stats in any sport
with an incredible test batting average
of 99.9 for eventually the boy from
barrel grew up into a mature and
skillful veteran dropping the blitzing
style of his early career and becoming
the sports elder statesman known as the
dawn number 7 hockey
Maurice Rashard the rocket Gretzky was
the great one Lemieux was super mario
but rocket Rashard was his eras most
electric player becoming the first NHL
ER to score 50 goals in one season
his speed got him his immortal nickname
originally labeled the comet in 1942
teammate Ray get liffe remark to
reporters that Rashard was as fast as a
rocket the name stuck and was later
adapted for his smaller brother Ari the
pocket rocket number 6
swimming Ian Thorpe the Thor pedo he’s
getting a standing ovation the saltpetre
swimming isn’t known for its nicknames
but there are some standouts German
Michael Gross is the Albatross American
Michael Phelps is the Baltimore bullet
and his teammate Ryan Lochte is the
locked inator but torpedo is our pick he
was the youngest Australian to represent
his country and before long he was also
the proud owner of five Olympic medals
his shocking missile like speed means
he’ll always be the Thor pedo we have
please tell us the America
the birth of the legend number five golf
Greg Norman the great white shark it
looks good
and Tiger may be the most ubiquitous
golf nickname around but the great white
shark is decidedly the most badass
hailing from Australia
Norman first gained fame at the 81
Masters where he also earned his famous
nickname his white blond hair aggressive
approach and background diving with
sharks is what inspired this pet name
and it soon came to signify his
predatory nature on the links jag
doesn’t go anyway number four football
Franz Beckenbauer people call me the
Kaiser yeah one of Germany’s greatest
footballers Beckenbauer had magnetism
authority and a refined approach meaning
the Emperor his nickname supposedly
originated after the star posed for
photos near the statue of a former
Austrian Emperor however another story
says that Beckenbauer once humiliated
Reinhardt labuda also known as the king
of Westphalia on the pitch so the media
needed a nickname
for someone who was above a king there
Kaiser was born number three American
football wal-mart name is Perry but they
call me the fritz of paper so hard I
think the other teams print the NFL is
packed with great monikers and you don’t
have to look further than perry’s own
Chicago Bears teammates for another one
Walter sweetness Payton earned his
nickname with speed skill and class but
we loved the fridge all right while
Perry was an exceptional athlete what
made him memorable was his size that was
registered to a point a big even for the
NFL he’s got the biggest Super Bowl ring
ever made out of size 25 how about
another yeah another case another case
you got to keep a lot of coke in a
refrigerator coke and coca-cola classic
number two basketball
Earvin Johnson magic this man
that lights up a television screen from
here to Bangor made sure Air Jordan was
ultra successful branding but Earvin
Johnson didn’t even need his real first
name Magic Johnson goes around both jazz
guys his talent earned him the moniker
magic as a 15 year old high school
sophomore despite the fact that his
Christian mother thought the nickname
was blasphemous magic eventually grew up
to become the greatest point guard the
NBA ever saw with a label that was
reverential ingenious and evocative all
at the same time before we unveil our
number one pick here are a few honorable
mentions the splendid splinter Ted
Williams Pistol Pete Maravich Broadway
Joe Namath the Big Unit Randy Johnson
the bus Jerome Bettis the Yankee Clipper
Joe DiMaggio the mailman car Malone dr.
J Julius Erving the Minister of Defense
Reggie White Bernie boom-boom Jeffrey on
prime time Deion Sanders the Russian
rocket Alexander Popov wilt the stilt
Wilt Chamberlain and last but not least
Adam Pacman Jones number one baseball
Joe Jackson Shoeless Joe Babe Ruth’s
Yogi Berra mr. October and Charlie
hustle round out the list of great MLB
nicknames but without Shoeless Joe
Jackson’s name would be ordinary
he received his nickname as a teen when
his cleats gave him such bad blisters he
played barefoot hecklers called him a
shoeless son of a gun and he never
shucked the name even after he was
banned from baseball following 1919 s
Black Sox scandal do you agree with our
list what’s your favorite sports
nickname
for more entertaining top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com I see
Shaq tested 29 points um how did you get
so many Q’s don’t worry about it
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