Essay:Overrated/Underrated Sports Stars

The mainstream sports media continually discuss and debate the skill and prowess of various athletes. These judgments are often disputed by other observers, believing that commentators have "overrated" them (given more praise than is warranted) or "underrated" them (less praise). Sometimes the criticism of the commentators is based on a perception that they (the commentators) are liberal or that the sports figures are conservative . Here's a growing list of the most underrated and overerrated sports stars:

Athlete	Achievement	Praise/censure in the media	Underrated or overrated?	Possible reasons for this perception
Tim Duncan	Led an average team to five NBA Championships, without supercoach Phil Jackson	the media give him relatively little attention	under	played in conservative Texas, in a very small media market (though San Antonio is one of the 10 largest cities in the US, its media market is barely in the top 50 due to the lack of large suburbs)
Serena Williams	The finest women's athlete of all-time and likely to break the record for the most grand slam victories in women's tennis despite playing in a highly competitive era	the media are stingy in giving her full credit	under	she is a devout Christian (though she gave birth to a child outside wedlock)
Stan Musial	Seven batting titles, three championships, and overall statistics better than nearly everyone	Ty Cobb said he "is the closest to being perfect in the game today" in 1952.	tossup	a devout Catholic who played in the conservative Midwest, in a small market (however, the Cardinals are among the most-followed teams nationally as until the 1960's, excluding the California teams, they were the westernmost baseball franchise)
Reggie White	the best defensive football player ever, he twice won the AP Defensive Player of the Year award, set an NFL career record at the time of 198 sacks, appeared 13 consecutive times in the Pro Bowl, and won a Super Bowl championship	unknown	unknown	spoke out against the homosexual agenda and was hated by homosexual activists for it; also played and won his only Super Bowl with Green Bay, who plays in the smallest media market of any North American professional sports franchise
Eddie Murray	one of very few baseball superstars to exceed 500 home runs and 3,000 base hits	unknown	unknown	gave the media the silent treatment, and a sneaker company dared to run him for president in a humorous campaign against liberal Bill Clinton in 1996
Jim Plunkett	won the Heisman Trophy and then led the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders to two spectacular Super Bowl victories	excluded from the Hall of Fame (Joe Namath won only one Super Bowl and yet he's in the Hall of Fame)	under	a Mexican American who exemplified the American Dream and never asked for sympathy despite being raised by two blind parents, whom he praised immensely
Bill Laimbeer	only the 19th player to surpass both 10,000 points and rebounds. Defeated both Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and won two NBA championships (including sweeping Magic's Lakers in four games). Laimbeer was the finest long-range shooting center in history and led an average team to two championships in a highly competitive era.	received much praise in the media, but was never inducted into the Hall of Fame	tossup	a conservative who was demonized by the liberal media, also played on a team known for its extremely physical style of play and overshadowed by more well-known players such as Isiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman
Pat McCormick	won double gold medals in women's diving at back-to-back Olympics; won her second pair of gold medals only five months after she gave birth	unknown	under	outside of the Olympics, diving is generally not followed by the American public