Write On Sports LLC - "The Unsung Heroes of October" by Troy Somero

The Unsung Heroes of October

2007-10-10 10:47:30 | By: Troy Somero

For the total sports fan, there is no better month than October. January has the BCS bowl games and the NFL Playoffs, March has its Madness, and May has the NBA and NHL Playoffs, but October is the resting place of the greatest annual amalgam of sporting contests. With everything from baseball to hockey to soccer (yes, soccer) becoming more relevant, it is the right time to take a look at who helps make major college and professional sports so relevant at this time of year. The unsung heroes are the men who are acting - intentionally or unintentionally – to make their sports special, even if they do not receive the same press as the A-Rods and Peyton Mannings of the world.

MLB – Mike Lowell, 3B, Boston Red Sox

Two off-seasons ago when the Red Sox traded for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell was "the other guy" involved in the trade. While the Sox originally took Lowell on as a charity case – the Marlins traded him along with Beckett to get rid of his $9 million-a-year contract – Mike Lowell has turned into the solidifying figure of the 2007 Red Sox. Men like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett, and Jonathan Papelbon receive the glory, but Lowellembodies the guts and grit of this Red Sox team.

Lowell's season-long stat line speaks for itself: 154 games, .324 batting average, .879 OBS, 37 doubles, 21 home runs, and 120 RBIs. With several Red Sox starters in and out of the lineup throughout the season with injury problems, Lowell has maintained his health and his fifth spot in the Red Sox lineup. With several rookies making immediate impacts on the roster, Lowellhas led by example and been a stabilizing, stoic presence in the Red Sox dugout. As the Red Sox gear up for the ALCS, Lowell's heroic ways will garner more and more attention as the Red Sox attempt to garner their second World Series crown in four years.

NFL – Eric Mangini, Head Coach, New York Jets

The New England Patriots have been a whirling dervish throughout the first five weeks of the NFL season, tearing apart anything and anyone in their path. While some excellent off-season acquisitions – Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, and Sammy Morris, among others – have played a role in dominance of the team to this point, the real person to thank for the dominance of the Patriots is Public Enemy Number 1 in Patriots' camp: Eric Mangini.

By ratting out his former boss after a Week 1 loss in New Jersey, Eric Mangini has lit a fuse underneath Bill Belichick and the entire Patriots team. No longer satisfied with merely beating opponents, the Patriots are now demoralizing their opponents. The Patriots have outscored their first five opponents by an average margin of 23 points-per-game and outgained their opponents by a staggering 177 yards-per-game. Tom Brady has a quarterback rating of 128.7, the team has two running backs (Sammy Morris and Laurence Maroney) *and* two receivers (Randy Moss and Wes Welker) on pace for 1,000 yards each this season, and the defense and special teams are pretty good as well. While Belicheck is an artist when it comes to Xs and Os, Mangini has been his inspiration. Without the surfacing of the cheating allegations, it is possible that the Patriots might be showing some mercy to their opponents. Instead, the boys from Foxboro have been tearing through their opponents at full-throttle and look to be as good of a threat as ever to go 16-0 in the regular season.

College Football - Jim Leauitt, Head Coach, University of South Florida

Many people predicted that a few teams from the Big East would make to this point in the college football season and still be undefeated. Nobody predicted that one of these undefeated teams – and the highest ranked team in the conference – would be the University of South Florida.

While Louisville and Rutgers have both lost multiple times already this season and fallen completely out of BCS title contention, South Florida has picked up where the defeated powers left off. If a 26-23 victory at Auburnon September 8 was a statement game for the Bulls, then their September 28 victory over then fifth-ranked West Virginia put an exclamation point on that statement. The man behind the magic is Jim Leauitt, a humble, modest man who has taken full advantage of his school's Florida location to build an under-the-radar BCS title contender. South Florida is as small-time as a big-time team can be in the BCS title run, but the team has played beautifully with the big boys to this point in the year.

NHL – Chris Drury, Forward, New York Rangers

Although the NHL season has just begun (for those of you at home the NHL season has actually begun), professional hockey needs a big boost in its biggest market. With the addition of a man nicknamed "Hockey God" by ESPN's John Buccigross to the New York Rangers, the NHL unknowingly made a stride towards making hockey relevance again in New York City. Drury is a former Calder Trophy winner, Presidents Trophy winner and Stanley Cup winner. In his first two games as a Ranger Drury has three points. For the NHL to avoid 1.1 primetime television ratings again this year, the league needs a big team with a big-time talent. Chris Drury has proven to be "the man" in the past, and for the sake of professional hockey he needs to do the same again this year when the eyes of eight million New Yorkers on him.

English Premiership – Emmanuel Adebayor, Forward, Arsenal

Across the "Pond", the fandom of the MLB, NFL, College Football and NHL combined are encompassed in one league: the English Premiership. While soccer does not receive the press in should in the States, the Premiership is arguably the most popular national sporting league in the world. Arsenal has been the Yankees of the Premiership over the last several years, with a vivacious Russian owner named Alisher Usmanov who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into building the best team in all of soccer. Despite all of his personal investing, all-world forward Thierry Henry left Arsenal at the end of last season to play for FC Barcelona in La Liga in Spain and therefore left a huge gap in Arsenal's offense. Despite Henry's departure, Arsenal is currently ranked at the top of the Premiership, thanks in large part to a man from (of all places) Togo.

After signing a long-term contract with Arsenal in May, Emmanuel Adebayor has filled Henry's large shoes to the tune of six goals in the six games he has started. The unlikely scoring machine has been the perfect compliment to more-famous Arsenal stars like Tomas Rosicky and Francesc Fabregas. If Adebayor can keep scoring goals against the world's best at his currently torrid pace, his fame will soon be sung throughout the Premiership for years to come. As of now, Arsenal and its fans will take Adebayor's goal-scoring ways under the radar so long as the squad remains atop the Premiership standings.

Whether you are a fan of football or futbol, professional sports or amateur sports, there is definitely something to cheer for in October. Hockey has just started, football and soccer are in full bloom, and baseball is at its climax of emotion and excitement. If anyone tells you that this October is lacking in star power, just remind them that some of the biggest October stars often emerge largely unsung and off of the media radar. The stars would tell you themselves, but they are too busy benefiting their sports outside of the limelight.