I had an idea as I was writing my column last week (the tooth is better, thanks for asking) and I thought this would be a good time to run with it. My idea was to compile a list of my favorite 10 athletes of my lifetime. Now, in no way am I saying these are the 10 best I’ve seen play. Once you get to the list you will see this is not even close to being the case. Instead, they are my 10 personal favorites. Guys who could get me to tune into games which I otherwise might not have watched. Players who helped build my love for sports and probably are a good part of the reason I am writing this today. The only restriction I put on myself is that I had to have seen them play myself. It could have been on TV, but it had to have been with my own eyes and I needed to see them more than once. Without further adieu, let the fun begin.

10. Trot Nixon. You will notice something as you delve further into this list. I have a thing for kind of second-tier guys. Heck, Trot might not even be a second-tier guy, but you know what, he always played hard, he often played hurt and I knew every time he took the field he would leave everything he had on it when he was done. I enjoyed watching Trot play so much that a couple years back when he was with Arizona’s AAA team and playing at the Dell Diamond I secured tickets to every game of the series and went out early each day to watch him. I even talked to him some and he seemed like a nice guy. Although he probably thought it was a little weird that I held my not yet 2-year-old daughter up and pointed him out to her with glee, saying “look Ellie, it’s Trot Nixon!”

9. Jim Harbaugh. I don’t recall where my love of Harbaugh began. I know it was when he was at Michigan, but I don’t recall why. I did love the way he ran that Michigan offense and I liked that Bo Schembechler liked him so much. From those beginnings sprouted a rather long-term commitment that actually has not ended (although I don’t get to watch him play any more). I loved Harbaugh because he was scrappy and smart and he got by on that and very average quarterback tools. I suppose that is why he is turning out to be such a great coach.

8. Mike Singletary. They called him Samurai Mike on the “Super Bowl Shuffle”, I just always thought of him as the big hitter. I loved that fact that Singletary broke a record number of helmets when he was at Baylor. I loved the stories of how he would apologize if he didn’t tackle someone cleanly. There was plenty to love about him and, believe me, I loved it all.

7. Gary Grant. My misguided belief that the Michigan point guard might be a relative because we had the same last name, led me to one of my finest sports-related moments of my life (see No. 6). Grant was a solid player who turned into an average pro, but the very fact his last name was Grant assured the fact that I was going to keep tabs on him. I have let that go now. I wonder what he’s up to?

6. Rumeal Robinson, Loy Vaught, Glen Rice, Mike Griffin and Terry Mills. Michigan’s true Fab Five did something the over-hyped group who showed up a few years later never could – they won a title. Like I said, Grant sparked a love of Michigan basketball in my heart which lasted for well over a decade, so when the Wolverines made their improbable run to the title in 1989 I was on the edge of my seat. In fact, when Robinson went to the foul line to shoot those two free throws to seal that game, I was not even on the edge of my seat. I was standing in the front yard of my house staring through the front window, my heart racing faster than I’d ever felt it beat. I realize I kind of cheated naming five guys as one, but to me these guys were a team and I will never be able to separate one of them from the others.

5. Dan Fouts. For a brief time in the mid 80’s, for no apparent reason, I was a San Diego Charger fan. Well, that’s not true, there was a reason and his name was Dan Fouts. I liked Fouts because he gave us guys who were growing up looking like we might end up being linemen a little hope that maybe we could still be the quarterback. I liked Fouts because he threw the ball all the time and he had that tough-guy beard. My Chargers’ fandom fizzled once Fouts was gone, but my fond memories of the big guy will stay with me forever.

4. Dwight Evans. Dewey as I called him will always be my Red Sox guy. He is the player I grew up watching and the guy who’s batting stance I tried to mimic. He had power and a tremendous arm and he played defense in Fenway’s right field better than any one I’ve seen since. In fact, every time any Sox right fielder in the year’s since has failed to make a play I have always thought to myself, Dewey would have made that play.

3. Carl Yastrzemski. I owe my Boston Red Sox devotion to Yaz. He is the guy who captured my imagination that warm day at the old Arlington Stadium and he was the reason I stuck with the team. To be honest, I almost left Yaz off the list because I don’t remember watching him play that much. I do know I have more of his baseball cards than most people thanks to my hording of them as a child. Yaz was smooth, I remember that. He mostly played first base when I saw him play so I cannot confirm the stories about him being the best defensive left fielder in Sox’ history. However, he is the foundation on which a lifetime of fandom has been built, thus here he is. Did I mention that I sent him a Christmas card every year up until I graduated from high school? Yeah, I did. He never replied.

2. Bucky Richardson. I loved Bucky Richardson the way a drunk loves booze. From the moment he stepped onto the field to replace the terrible Craig Stump and lead Texas A&M past Texas I was smitten. The fact that he flashed the “Hook ‘Em Horns” sign to the Longhorn students at Kyle Field made him more the rock star in my eyes and from that moment forward I was like a teenage girl with a crush. I lived in Oregon when Bucky played at A&M and it became my mission to spread the word of this guy’s incredible talents to anyone who would listen. Honestly, not many people would, but I found a few converts who to this day still reference him to me when we talk. Bucky could run, he was tough and he could, well, ok, he couldn’t pass all that well. Still, this did not stop me from following his truncated NFL career and even seriously believing he should have been the starting quarterback of the Houston Oilers.

1. Roger Staubach. I was pretty young when Roger was riding the high tide of his career. I remember living in Garland when he led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl win over the Broncos and thinking the day was some sort of worldwide holiday because everyone was so happy. Roger’s is the first jersey I ever owned and it was because of him that I wanted to be a quarterback when I grew up (genetics had other ideas for me). I had a chance encounter with Roger at the Cowboys’ training camp in Thousand Oaks one year and as I tried to ask him for his autograph I found that I had been rendered mute. He paused for a minute, smiled at me and walked on his way. I ran and hid behind a bush. It was as if I had stared into the face of God. Roger was everything you could hope for in an athlete. He was clean-cut, friendly and most of all, incredibly talented. And when Roger finally called it quits, I wept (seriously!). I also officially turned my back on the Cowboys. I was convinced Tom Landry and Danny White had concocted a plan to run Roger out of town so White could finally become the starter and I was not going to stand by and support their dastardly scheme. It was, in fact, the retirement of Staubach that left me without an NFL team to root for up until the Texans came into existence. And while I love the Texans just as much as I loved the Cowboys (or at least as much as an adult’s love can compare to that of a 9-year-olds) there is no way any Texan, or any athlete, will ever supplant Roger Staubach in my heart.