With the Sonics inking Flip Murray yesterday, only Reggie Evans remains in finishing their roster moves for the summer. With that in mind, how about an in-depth statistical analysis of every Sonic player’s per-minute/per-second contri...Aw, screw it. It’s raining outside here in Vancouver and the last thing I want to think about is how many points per minute Vladimir Radmanovic scores when he’s playing small forward while Flip plays the 2. So, without further ado, it’s time for the
GREATEST SONIC NICKNAMES OF ALL TIME!
C: Big Smooth
Reason: Epitomizes Sam Perkins’ character to a T. You can feel the slow, almost lackadaisical way he back-pedaled to his defensive position.
PF: The X-Man
Reason: Before the X-Files, there was the X-Man. The baddest man in Sonic history also has the baddest nickname. Think Wes Matthews would argue?
SF: Tommy Gun
Reason: Tom Chambers never met a shot he didn’t like.
SG: Downtown
Reason: It ties perfectly with Fred Brown’s game, it rhymes, and it is the perfect 70s nickname.
PG: The Wizard
Reason: Gus Williams was all over the court back in the day, and his moves merited the nickname. Bonus points for alliteration.
Reserves: The Glove, The Reign Man, Slick, JJ, DJ, Mac-10, Big Ben, Det, The Fiddler, The Brick, Cool Breeze, The Collector, Bones, Ukraine Train, and Bob “Ja” Rule (the last, alas, exists merely in my imagination).
Let the debating begin.
yo, what about James "100%" Cotton?
ReplyDeleteI'm also partial to The Human Eraser - Marvin Webster
Downtown Freddy Brown is the best in my book. As you mentioned, it just sums up the player and era perfectly.
Come on now, The Potato is clearly the best knickname of all time!
ReplyDeleteToo bad no one but us uses it. Someone call Collaboro!
Carl
b-con, that line about Patterson made me laugh right out loud. What does it say about Ruben that making a comment such as yours is not outside the realm of possibilty? I don't like to judge other people's lives, but Patterson is one messed-up dude.
ReplyDeleteI didn't go into this in the article, but I never liked the Reign Man nickname. Calabro gave it to him, obviously, right after the movie came out and I always wondered about the wisdom of naming a great athlete after a stumbling savant. Plus, the whole "reign" vs. "rain" thing was too confusing in my opinion. Exactly what was Shawn reigning over?
ReplyDeleteTo me, and I said this 10 years ago (chunk can back me up), the best nickname would have been Shawn "Hurricane" Kemp. Now, of course, after Katrina and Rita, it wouldn't have such a nice connotation, but there's alliteration to the name, it ties perfectly with his fantastic dunking ability, and his ability to just fly through the lane and obliterate the opponents' defenders. It's too late now, but I always thought it was a better fit.
My faves in no particular order:
ReplyDelete-Slick
-Downtown
-Cool Breeze
-The Quiet Man (could be 'cause I dig that movie)
-The Glove
Least fave:
-Sweet Lew (Rashard Lewis) Has yet to really catch on. Neither did "The Quiet Man," but it probably has more to do with 'Shard's nickname-resistant personality.
-Pookie (Eric Snow) Garfield's teddy bear has had one of those "steady but unspectacular" careers. Also known as "Teammate to Future Hall of Famers." Yawn.
-Silent Assassin (Dale Ellis) At least, that's what they called him in the Costacos Bros. poster where they had him wearing a trenchcoat and sweats(?), hiding around the corner from a dude reading the paper, all while making the "Shush" face/gesture at the viewer. Like a lot of things that were "cool" in the 80s, it now comes across as just plain gay.
-Reign Man. Like Nuss said, it implied that Kemp was some kind of idiot savant. But after hearing it every night on SportsCenter, it was pointless to fight it, much like trying to single-handedly stop another bone-headed outbreak of The Wave at a Mariners game while the Big Unit was trying to concentrate.
-Larry Legend. Okay, Larry Bird was not a Sonic, but speaking of fighting against the tide, I always thought that "Legendary Larry" woulda been appropriate for a goofy looking guy with a goofy name.
Dale Ellis makes Reggie Theus look straight in that poster, Chunk. And is that guy in the background taking a dump, or what? "Shhhhhh! He's going poo!"
ReplyDeleteDid Terrence Stansbury have a nickname? He had the sweetest non-game dunk of all time during the 1988(?) dunk contest—Statue of Liberty, baby!
ReplyDeleteTrue Sonics fans may remember this weird bit of nickname lore: The season before the Supes traded for Eddie "EJ" Johnson, they had another Eddie Johnson on the roster, but his nickname was "Fast" Eddie Johnson. Why do I remember this? Because I still have the team poster with him on it, and I always say "Hey, that's not Eddie Johnson!"
Here are some nicknames that I just made up for some neglected former Sonics:
Sedale "2 Sweet" Threat
Clemon "The Clemonator" Johnson
"Insane-ah" Dana Barros
Olden "They traded Scottie Pippen for me!" Polynice
I can't believe I forgot "Moochie" Norris. Any nickname that becomes your new first name is always a good nickname in my book.
ReplyDeleteThis is all well and good but we could be on the brink of the next great Sonic nickname with your own Brunson Burner. He is, dare I say, mint like Craigers the Cougar.
ReplyDeleteI dare say, Michael "John Shaft" Cage certainly deserves at least a footnote here. Sure he's a complicated man, but he was always willing to risk his neck for his brother man. Plus he never copped out when there was danger all about.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the really big shoulders.
Is Craig "Mint" Ehlo a nickname?
ReplyDeleteCool Hand Luke???
ReplyDeleteI think new-school nicknames were omitted (Frodo lives!) I'm determined to have a new nickname for every player on the roster by openning night, but in the meantime:
ReplyDeleteRay "All Day" Allen (aka Ray-Gun,Ray-Ray, Not Fey, EBay)
Rick "Brunson Burner"
Mateen "Meat" Cleaves
Nick "The Brick" Collison
Reggie "The Elbow" Evans
Danny "Da Fort" Fortson
Rashard "The Rash" Lewis (aka Sweet Lew, aka Summer School)
Mikki "The Stikki" Moore
Flip-Flop Murray
"Go on" Johan Petro
Vitaly "The Par-tay" Potapenko
Vladimir "Von Dunk-a-vic" Radmanovic (aka Rad-Man, aka Hair Boy)
"Use the Force" Luke Ridnour (aka Lil' Frodo, aka Cool Hand Luke, aka The Wee Lad)
Robert "Not So" Swift (thanks B-Con)
Danien "The Omen" Wilkens (aka Lil' Nique)
(Potapenko - aka The Potato, aka V-Pot, aka Big Hairy)
ReplyDeleteAlas, Paul, you've forgotten the best nickname bestowed via supersonicsoul: Reggie Evans, aka "Mr. Glass." I've forgotten who wrote in with that name, but it's by far the best.
ReplyDeleteMy own nominations:
"Sugar" Ray Allen (also from a commenter) - 'cause he's so darn sweet.
"The Potato" - I'm tooting my own horn here.
Vladimir "The Impaler" Radmanovic
Nick "The Hawk" Collison - KU and all
Where the frick is Big Paper Daddy?
ReplyDeleteBIG PAPER DADDY! YES! How could I forget? Ricky Pierce, stackin' mad paper with the pull up jumper from 18 feet out!
ReplyDeleteHorn Self-Toot Dept:
Bob "Edel" Weiss (Mr. Slate)
I know you all know this nickname; we all do, but how was it not good? "The Glove" ?!?!?
ReplyDeleteI was always a fan of Yabba Dabba Drobnjak, and his Drobnjak's Manjaks, personally
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