Philadelphia Radio Station's All-Time Philly Athlete Rankings is All Kinds of Wrong
By Michael Luciano
Even as we're over three months into out sports hiatus, Philadelphia sports talk radio is still cranking out the hot takes with regularity.
WIP released a ranking of the greatest Philadelphia athletes of the last 50 years. Surprisingly, Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson topped the list, with Mike Schmidt right behind him at No. 2.
The official, irrefutable, undebatable, be-all-end-all Philly athlete ranking list of the last 50 years. ? ?#GoatOfBroadStreet ??????? ?? ??? ?? @DeanVagnozzi ??? ? ?????? ????????? ????. pic.twitter.com/rbXuZ5HOhO
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) June 25, 2020
Wait a second ... Reggie White is one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, and he's not the best Philly athlete of all time? Chase Utley is in the top five, but Steve Carlton is No. 8? Moses Malone gave Philly a title, and he's No. 17? Charles Barkley is No. 12? We're surprised Rocky isn't on this list ahead of Joe Frazier.
The recency bias on this list is ridiculous, and the station seems to be weighing how much the fans like the players mentioned just as much as they're considering how productive they were on the field. The disrespect against Philadelphia greats of yesteryear like White, Malone and Carlton is simply unreal.
1. White 2. Schmidt 3. AI 4. Erving 5. Barkley 6. Malone 7. Carlton 8. Frazier 9. Dawkins 10. Take your pick McNabb/Cunningham
— Mike Luciano (@TheRealLuc3) June 26, 2020
HM Bernard Hopkins https://t.co/UpeQSI7W1k
Philly sports talk radio is a gold mine for hot takes and angry construction workers calling in to promote firing head coaches every other day, but these takes are exceedingly scalding, even for them.