Over hyped, under delivered

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, scottsdad said:

He is 20 years old. How can you claim he hasn't delivered on his promise when he is just 20? 

I agree with @Left Back - he has either shagged your maw or pissed in your corn flakes. 

It gets attention. Watch:

Andy Murray  

Edit: I'd say Tim Henman, but I think the hype for him was more out of desperation by the English public than actual belief that he was good enough to win Grand Slams.

Edited February 17, 2022 by BFTD

[John Lambies Doos]

I actually thought of Rooney in the original post. In 2004 he was going to storm on and take over the world. He didn't - but he did achieve a hell of a lot and has a pretty decent medal collection. 
He just never materialised in to the Messi/Ronaldo sphere that the English press hoped he would. 

Rooney 2004 EC and second half of 2010 EPL season was sensational. Apart from that he was good but not great. Many of his records are due to longevity, playing against serious diddy teams and taking all the pens. He never did anything at world cups, often looking unfit and costing his team.
Like I say a very good player but way way way overhyped

[peasy23]

It gets attention. Watch:
Andy Murray  [emoji185]
Edit: I'd say Tim Henman, but I think the hype for him was more out of desperation by the English public than actual belief that he was good enough to win Grand Slams.

Felt sorry for Henman at times with the pressure he was under at Wimbledon time. I've posted before on the tennis thread that he has a very good career with what was fairly limited ability, so imo he didn’t underdeliver. The hype never came from him or his entourage, but the flag waving tabloids especially went OTT whenever he was at SW19.

[John Lambies Doos]

Felt sorry for Henman at times with the pressure he was under at Wimbledon time. I've posted before on the tennis thread that he has a very good career with what was fairly limited ability, so imo he didn’t underdeliver. The hype never came from him or his entourage, but the flag waving tabloids especially went OTT whenever he was at SW19.

Spot on@peasy23

[2426255]

 

5 hours ago, scottsdad said:

He is 20 years old. How can you claim he hasn't delivered on his promise when he is just 20? 

I agree with @Left Back - he has either shagged your maw or pissed in your corn flakes. 

Well he hasn't delivered for Norwich City this season despite being hyped as a wunderkid and he's had a good crack at it. That was my point really and I thought it fit within the parameters of your question set below. What's the big deal with that? 

On 16/02/2022 at 10:36, scottsdad said:

For any sport...who is the sports person that came into a sport surrounded by huge media hype, and just failed to live up to it? 

[BFTD]

On 16/02/2022 at 16:58, peasy23 said:

One for the older NFL fans, Brian Bosworth. A huge star in college football, signed for the Seahawks on a huge contract which was a record breaking one at the time. Lasted 2 seasons in the NFL before injury forced him to retire, but was known more for what he said off the field rather than what he did on it, including slating the NCAA in his college days.

The more you find out about the NCAA, the more you sympathise with any criticism of them.

 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Dele Alli

[Miguel Sanchez]

On 17/02/2022 at 15:33, TheScarf said:

He's a great example.  He peaked at the absolutely perfect time in tennis, Sampras and Agassi were well past their best (they both however went on to win one more slam) and it was 18 months before it clicked for Federer.

If you watch his matches from around the turn of the century, you can see why he only won 2.  His shots were so weak and if you stood inside the baseline you could fucking hammer it back past him.  Federer discovered this fairly quickly.  As did Safin after a while. He was lauded for his retrieval skills but he had so weapons shot-wise.

Staying on Tennis - Laura Robson.  Yes, she won an Olympic silver in the mixed doubles.  But her singles career was laughable.

You could list countless female tennis players here tbh, it doesn't seem to be a sport made for longevity. 

[BFTD]

Did anyone ever think Anna Kournikova was particularly good, or was she just hyped so much for...erm...other reasons?

Apparently five years after she retired, she was still the most Googled athlete in the world. Amazing what a couple of Aussie Open wins can do for a gal's popularity.

[Merkie84]

Amir  Khan. 
 

Olympic silver at age 17 and had the world at his feet.

In his prime some amazingly fast hands and was  great to watch. 

Unfortunately also has a glass chin. 

Didn’t duck the big fighters but never seemed to achieve that career defining big victory either. 

Always seemed to lose when in with genuinely quality fighters ( happy to be corrected if this is wrong, just the overall impression I get of how his career went) 

 

 

[Left Back]

6 minutes ago, Merkie84 said:

Amir  Khan. 
 

Olympic silver at age 17 and had the world at his feet.

In his prime some amazingly fast hands and was  great to watch. 

Unfortunately also has a glass chin. 

Didn’t duck the big fighters but never seemed to achieve that career defining big victory either. 

Always seemed to lose when in with genuinely quality fighters ( happy to be corrected if this is wrong, just the overall impression I get of how his career went) 

 

 

Not sure you can say unified world champs under delivered.

[kiddy]

1 hour ago, Merkie84 said:

Amir  Khan. 
 

Olympic silver at age 17 and had the world at his feet.

In his prime some amazingly fast hands and was  great to watch. 

Unfortunately also has a glass chin. 

Didn’t duck the big fighters but never seemed to achieve that career defining big victory either. 

Always seemed to lose when in with genuinely quality fighters ( happy to be corrected if this is wrong, just the overall impression I get of how his career went) 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Left Back said:

Not sure you can say unified world champs under delivered.

Willie Limond carried him for a few good rounds.

 

As for under achievers, Audley Harrison. Close thread.

[Miguel Sanchez]

On 19/02/2022 at 13:38, Miguel Sanchez said:

You could list countless female tennis players here tbh, it doesn't seem to be a sport made for longevity. 

I was thinking about this after I posted it: List of Grand Slam women's singles champions - Wikipedia

From 2000 onwards there's Venus Williams (7), Serena Williams (23), Justine Henin (7), Maria Sharapova (5) who've won five or more. Ones, twos and threes everywhere else.

[ICTChris]

From boxing, Audley Harrison was going to be the new poster boy for British boxing when he turned pro and he singularly failed to live up to the hype. He was a great amateur and really was the first to show the potential for Lottery funded boxers. Sadly he just didn’t have the necessary edge to be a top pro.

[BFTD]

11 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

I was thinking about this after I posted it: List of Grand Slam women's singles champions - Wikipedia

From 2000 onwards there's Venus Williams (7), Serena Williams (23), Justine Henin (7), Maria Sharapova (5) who've won five or more. Ones, twos and threes everywhere else.

I's nice that they have such a wide spread of winners. You look at the Men's champions, and they're barely into double figures since Federer started winning everything.

There must be a few male players cursing their luck for playing during the Federer/Nadal/Djokovic era.

[Crawford Bridge]

Darren Till in MMA.

He's still young enough to come good but UFC pushed him to the top way too soon as they were desperate for a new British star after Bisping retired.

[scottsdad]

On 20/02/2022 at 14:38, ICTChris said:

From boxing, Audley Harrison was going to be the new poster boy for British boxing when he turned pro and he singularly failed to live up to the hype. He was a great amateur and really was the first to show the potential for Lottery funded boxers. Sadly he just didn’t have the necessary edge to be a top pro.

I woke up this morning feeling like I'd just gone 12 rounds with Audley Harrison.

Just fine.

[aDONisSheep]

On 17/02/2022 at 19:09, peasy23 said:

On 17/02/2022 at 16:44, BFTD said:

It gets attention. Watch:
Andy Murray  
Edit: I'd say Tim Henman, but I think the hype for him was more out of desperation by the English public than actual belief that he was good enough to win Grand Slams.

Felt sorry for Henman at times with the pressure he was under at Wimbledon time. I've posted before on the tennis thread that he has a very good career with what was fairly limited ability, so imo he didn’t underdeliver. The hype never came from him or his entourage, but the flag waving tabloids especially went OTT whenever he was at SW19.

I would still pay to watch Henman! 

If he underdelivered in his career, God help the rest of us.  At Wimbledon, In his pomp (in 9 years) he made 1 x 4th round (lost to Philippousis in 5) 4 x Qtr and 4 x SF (losing to the eventual winner every time Pistol Pete x 2, Goran x 1 and Hewitt x 1).

That's not flash in the pan or underperforming that's quality.

His game wasn't suited to other surfaces, but he managed a Semi-final at the French  and a semi-final at the US Open (losing to eventual winner Federer)

I wish I'd underperformed like him.

Yours

aDONis

[bluearmyfaction]

On 17/02/2022 at 10:38, Albertlegend said:

Federico Macheda and Adnan Janujaz both scored early in their Man Utd Careers media hype went into over drive and have worked their ways Down the leagues ever since. 

Macheda had ten starts with us a few years ago and finished our leading scorer...

Wasn't Audley Harrison a very late starter in the pro ranks?  I don't remember that much hype about him.

In motor racing, Stefano Modena and Jan Magnussen had monstrously good records in the lower formulae, Magnussen beat Senna's record for most wins in F3, but both flopped hard in Grands Prix.  Didn't have the dedication to go with the talent.  Magnussen didn't even give up smoking, Modena gave up in his debut GP because it was hard work.

 

 

[BFTD]

6 hours ago, aDONisSheep said:

I would still pay to watch Henman! 

If he underdelivered in his career, God help the rest of us.  At Wimbledon, In his pomp (in 9 years) he made 1 x 4th round (lost to Philippousis in 5) 4 x Qtr and 4 x SF (losing to the eventual winner every time Pistol Pete x 2, Goran x 1 and Hewitt x 1).

That's not flash in the pan or underperforming that's quality.

His game wasn't suited to other surfaces, but he managed a Semi-final at the French  and a semi-final at the US Open (losing to eventual winner Federer)

I wish I'd underperformed like him.

Yours

aDONis

Like I said, I only brought him up because he's something of a joke figure with the public in England, who castigated him for doing really well, but not well enough for their liking.