My Top 5: Best Video Game Athletes Ever

Hey, everyone. This is, obviously, a list composed by me that highlights my personal top 5 video game athletes ever. Keep in mind that this list only includes athletes I've personally played as.

5. Damon Jones- ESPN NBA 2k5
This one is an interesting inclusion, to say the least. For starters, he's only ranked as around a 70 overall, and he's the Miami Heat's back up point guard. But man, he could drop 50 on you in a heartbeat. He had this absolutely nasty pull-up jumper, and he hit some rediculous 3's that for some reason if you shot them somewhere near the middle of the three-point-line they almost always went in . Not to mention some devastating fall away jumpers.

4. USC HB #25 (Reggie Bush)-  NCAA Football 2006
Since it would violate NCAA regulations to release the games with the players names on them, sometimes the gamer is left to guess as to who they're playing as. Seeing this animal at HB for USC took no guessing as to who this was. Heck, 20youksox and I constantly used to fight over who got to play as USC, because having Bush on your team meant having a dominant weapon. His spin moves and jukes were ankle-breaking. I remember once I took a kickoff to the house using nothing but Speed and the spin move button. He could not be stopped.

3. Pablo Sanchez- Backyard Baseball
I've got to believe that everyone growing up in the 90's played this gem of a PC game at least once. The orginal version featured your typical and not-so-typical neighborhood kids squaring off on the diamond, and later versions went on to include licensed versions of the "pros as kids". Pablo Sanchez, however, was a boy in his own league. This pint-sized spanish speaker had the kind of swagger (with that menacing spanish AB music, and his flat-brimmed cap) that made you think twice about even pitching to him. The series ranked players in hitting, speed, defense, and pitching; this was done on a (insert skill level)/4 basis. He was 4/4 in every category except pitching, where he was 3/4. Aptly named "the secret weapon", he could hit anything thrown at him somewhere where the fielders simply weren't. And a lot of times, that somewhere was over trees, two lanes of trafic, and a stack of shipping crates. He was better than many of the pros in the later editions; but even then, the nostalgia of playing as Pablo in the original game is just a great feeling

2. Shaq- ESPN NBA 2k5
Another dominant force from this game, Shaq had more moves in the low-post than any other player.ever. Playing as a part of the Heat for his first year, Shaq earned an amazing 95 overall rating. He had this move where he backed you down towards the low block on either side of the basket, and once he reached that block he had a shimmy shake where he spun to the left or right of his defender, switched hands, and dropped it in for an easy 2. He would score on you, it was just a question as to how many points over 25 would he have. His baby hook, oh sweet mercy he dropped that like it was a hot piece of coal. He simply was a beast, and with D-Wade as his point guard, you saw plenty of alley-oops.

1. Tom Brady/Randy Moss- Madden 08.
Yes, I am aware that the Patriots blew their chance for an undefeated season while losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. However, another thing I'm aware of is that you could singlehandedly beat any team in the game with just these two beasts. In real life, Brady threw 50 TD's that season, 23 of which he threw to Moss. In the game, not much changed. If you had Moss run a fly pattern through double-coverage and Brady threw the ball anywhere near him, he would catch it and he would score. It's simple math, my friends: Brady + Moss = 6 Points.