close_menu
THE DAILY ROLL

Bob, Groz and Tom

Where does Marshawn Lynch rank among Seattle’s all-time favorite athletes?

Marshawn Lynch's charisma and championship success puts him in lofty territory in Seattle sports history. (AP)

The Seahawks’ charming, media-shunning, Skittles-toting, Beast-Moding running back Marshawn Lynch has forever ingrained himself in Seattle sports fans’ hearts. But where does he rank among the city’s all-time beloved sports figures?

“Bob, Groz and Tom” of 710 ESPN Seattle debated the diehard fandom for Seattle’s all-time greats on Wednesday. The primary contenders included Mariners greats Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Jamie Moyer, Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez; SuperSonics stars Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and Ray Allen; Husky football coaching legend Don James; and Seahawks studs Steve Largent, Cortez Kennedy, Matt Hasselbeck, Lynch, Russell Wilson and coach Pete Carroll.

While Bob Stelton put Lynch near the bottom when compared to the other listed legends, Tom Wassell had him in the top four, challenging Martinez, a man who has a street named after him outside Safeco Field. Meanwhile, Dave Grosby said most fans likely put Lynch at or near No. 1, with his rationale including the NFL’s current “over-the-top popularity,” the fact Lynch has won a championship, and because he is a team leader with maniacal toughness like another athlete on the list, Gary Payton.

“(Payton) absolutely endeared himself to the blue-collar core of this town; Marshawn Lynch epitomizes that,” Groz said. “There is no more of a blue-collar athlete just in terms of pure effort on the field. Look, Griffey, Payton, all of those guys, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy try harder than Marshawn Lynch.”

Wilson, on the other hand, receives a different kind of devotion from the fans, which Groz described as “Largent appeal.”

The trio decided much of the debate probably depends on your age, as the younger generations likely don’t remember Griffey’s heyday or the mania behind the Sonics.

You can hear the entire conversation beginning near the 9:50 mark of this podcast of Hour 1 of “Bob, Groz and Tom.”

So what do you think? Who did they miss? Where’s the love for The Boz?

Comments

comments powered by Disqus