Argentina Sport's Hall of Fame*
Top 20 Argentina Hall of Fame*
1- Maradona (Soccer or Futbol)- World Cup hero /"Mano de Dios"/
2- Gabriela Sabatini (Tennis)- US Open in 1990/ Wimbledon in 1988/ Silver Olympic Games 1988
3- Gabriel Batistuta (Soccer or Futbol)- World Cup hero
4- David Nalbandian (Tennis)- Top 5 World players 2002-2008
5- Lionel Messi (Soccer or Futbol)- Talent hero
6- Ángel "El Pato" Cabrera (Golf)- The Masters 2009 / U.S. Open 2007
7- Paola Suárez (Tennis)- Semifinals in Australian Open 01/ French Open 04/Wimbledon 04/ US Open
8- Pepe Sanchez (Basketball) First Argentine on the NBA
9- Manu Ginóbili (Basketball)- Gold Olympics 04 against USA/ NBA All-Star 06-08/ FIBA World Championship/won NBA rings in 2003, 2005 and 2007
10- Rugby Team (2007)- Top 3 in the World
11- Futbol team (1986)- Wold Cup Champion
12- Futbol team (1986)- Wold Cup Finalist
13- Futbol team (2004/2008)- Olympic gold medals
14- Juan Manuel Fangio (Car Racing)- won five Formula One World Driver's Championships in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957
15- Juan Curuchet & Walter Perez (Cycling)- olympic gold medal in 2008.
16- Hockey women's team (2000-2004)- Las Leonas conquered the World Hockey Cup in 02/ Olympic silver medal in 2000, as well as bronze in 2004 and 2008.
17- Pascual Pérez (Boxing)- Argentina's first world boxing champion
18- Polo Team (1949-2009)- Uninterrupted world champion since 1949 and is today the source of most of the world's top ten players. 2 Olympic gold medals.
19- Boca Juniors' Career (Soccer or Futbol) Boca Juniors has won a record 18 international titles.
20- Guillermo Vilas (Tennis)- 1977 French Open/1977 US Open 1978 - 1979 Australian Open/ Runner-up at the French Open (1975, 1978, and 1982)/ Runner-up at at the Australian Open ( 1977).
(*According to me)
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Juan Martin Del Potro (US Open Winner 09)
I hope my list covered most of the legends and heroes of Argentina sport. Anyway... the following article about Del Potro made me LOL (I always wanted to say it like that)
BTW, LOL means "Laugh out loud" (And BTW means By the way)
Let Him Please Say Something in Spanish!
Article By Michelle Collins
Yesterday afternoon, while in the midst of planning for the VH1 Divas Coverage this Thursday night (where I’ll be live-blogging from the second row), I remembered that the U.S. Open Men’s Final was beginning, a day late no thanks to the crappy weather in New York last week. I casually turned on CBS to find the match between arguably one of the best tennis player’s in history and consecutive 5 time U.S. Open Champion Roger Federer, and some new, poor bastard across the court who goes by the name Juan Martin Del Potro. Say his name with me, won’t you? Juan Martin Del Potro. Kinda makes you feel like this guy, doesn’t it?
But just who is this JMDelP character who would almost certainly be obliterated by the animatronic Federer? Measuring in a 6′6″ tall, he’s a handsome gentleman with a mature, well-bred face, sinewy caramel logs for arms, giant, Road Runner circle feet, and a determined will. Also, he’s only 20 years old, making this last sentence possibly illegal and worthy of a sex offenders registry. It became clear that rooting for this Argentinian wunderkind was the only way to go.
And root for him I did, in my dark office, until nearly 8:30 PM when the epic match finally came to an end. If you thought the players were exhausted after 4 hours, imagine how I felt, having just shouted out so many f bombs that the maid who came to collect the garbage thought I was literally in the throes of a Tourettes meltdown. It seemed impossible that Del Potro would win, given the fact that I had never even seen, much less heard of his handsome face. But in the 5th set, game tied, you could see Federer basically giving up. Sometimes you get to a point when you win so many times that winning again ain’t no big thang. Trust me, I should know: I am a professional blogger.
Then it happened: Del Potro beat Roger Federer in the fifth set. The Earth shook as his humongo body dropped to the court and began sobbing. It was an amazing moment. He climbed into the stands and collapsed in tears on the shoulder of his equally handsome coach. (No, really, is this how Argentina rolls?) Watching this giant hot man child cry tears of exhaustion and joy was easily one of the most rewarding things this lil’ lady has ever witnessed. It was like the end of Rudy, only with a giant testosterone wolf-faced totem pole in place of the delicate Sean Astin.
Ahead, video of his spectacular win, and him being denied speaking his native tongue at the trophy ceremony.
But what on Earth did this Del Potro sound like? On to the awards ceremony. Federer accepted his fruit platter with a beady-eyed grace we’ve come to expect. Now it was Del Potro’s turn. In broken English reminiscent of one of our other favorite Spaniards, the luminous Ricky Ricardo, Del Potro told us he “didn’t have words to ’splain” how he was feeling. He then asked to say something in Spanish… and was denied. WTF, old man with the microphone? As my blood began to boil and the geriatric Dick Edberg continued to ramble, Del Potro again asked if he could say something in Spanish. The kid had just had his biggest win ever — LET HIM PLEASE SAY SOMETHING IN SPANISH. It’s one of those moments you really wish Kanye “Mic Jacker” West was there to set things straight.
Here is video of both the win and the awards ceremony. If you missed it, 1. your major loss and 2. watch it to remember what it feels like to be on top of the world.
