Silent Sports Assassins
Competition is the lifeblood of sports, and like any emotional and adrenaline-driven activity, talk—whether it's trash talk, celebrating the moment or otherwise letting your feelings be known—comes naturally.
Pro athletes are unique because they have the talent to underpin most of what they have to say about it. Some of the most compelling moments in sports have come during postgame interviews on the field, in the locker room and at the press conference, because all of the emotions and consequences of the action are given a forum.
And while the NCAA and pro leagues have rules in place to curb the most obnoxious or egregious outbursts during the actual game play, it would be unrealistic—unnatural—to forbid human beings from expressing their emotions.
That's why those athletes who are great but unusually subdued (compared to their teammates and opponents) truly stand out; these kinds of players "let their game do the talking."
Though silence is often a response to failure, sometimes it can be the backdrop to a great career. These are silent sports assassins.
Andrew McCutchen
1 of 10
No baseball player better exemplifies the resurgence of the Pittsburgh Pirates than star center fielder Andrew McCutchen.
He's the kind of game-changing talent a club can build a team around, the kind of player the formerly hapless Pirates simply did not have for nearly two decades after the departure of now-retired slugger Barry Bonds in 1992.
After consecutive postseason appearances following a 20-year drought, "Cutch" been a key part of the club's transformation from idling, small-market pushover to a National League contender since his debut in 2009.
He is a kind of anti-Bonds—whereas Bonds was a "silent assassin" because of his legendary prickliness with the media, the 2012 Golden Glove winner and 2013 NL MVP is charismatic and amicable. His production speaks volumes, but not even getting beaned twice in a single game by Brewers pitcher Matt Garza can make the man lose his cool.
Serge Ibaka
2 of 10
The idea that 6'10", 220-pound Oklahoma City big man Serge Ibaka is silent seems absurd when taken at face value. But when you draw the distinction between presence and personality, it makes complete sense.
A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ibaka and his family faced a level of danger and adversity simply unfathomable in the United States. When he was drafted 24th overall in 2008 by the former Thunder incarnation, the Seattle Supersonics, the achievement was a dream come true.
As a stretch 4 power forward, Ibaka gives the Thunder a rare one-two punch of size and shooting ability, and his return from injury during the 2014 Western Conference Finals keyed the Thunder's comeback from a 0-2 hole to even the series against the Spurs (eventually falling to the Spurs in six games.)
Despite a huge presence, Ibaka lets his play and his sister do the talking.
Kawhi Leonard
3 of 10
There's no irony in the fact that San Antonio's soft-spoken, largely unproven forward Kawhi Leonard was asked to defend former Heat star LeBron James during the 2014 NBA Finals. Bigger names with longer resumes and more bravado had tried and failed before him.
And if anyone was asked to predict who would be named Finals MVP when it was all said and done, even the riskiest gambler would scoff at the notion that anyone not named James, Duncan or Parker would receive the honor—much less a third-year player.
But, Leonard, without much splash, kept King James in check and emerged from the series an MVP, breakout star and NBA champion.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Mike Matheny
4 of 10
Replacing a titan of a sport is essentially an impossible, thankless task; your record will always be compared to theirs, any mistake thoroughly scrutinized and every victory tethered to the legacy of who was replaced.
This is why Mike Matheny was as perfect of a choice as possible to take over as manager when legendary Cardinals manager Tony La Russa stepped down in 2012.
La Russa molded the Cardinals into the model club for the modern MLB era—with a seemingly endless pipeline of developed talent and a penchant for making the right strategic decisions at pivotal moments, La Russa's Cardinals are a team that is in the hunt year after year.
Following that kind of legacy demands only one thing: winning. Another strong personality or headline-grabbing name would almost certainly be doomed to failure, and as a relatively young, soft-spoken unknown, Matheny has been allowed to grow into the role. As a result, the Cardinals are still the Cardinals.
Phil Kessel
5 of 10
Maple Leafs right winger Phil Kessel plays for a team where the pressure to win is only surpassed by the collective fan pathos created when past glory is crushed by recent failures. Together, these two elements create a pressure cooker that turns a 4-1 Game 7 lead into a heartbreaking Game 7 collapse.
In this sense, Kessel is the perfect combination of talent, antipathy and toughness. When you play for a franchise that's trying to revive its championship past, silence is a valuable partner in a city where fans and media alike are looking for a scapegoat.
He admittedly doesn't obsess over offseason training, could possibly "hate" his coach, and the fact that it drives the fans nuts really doesn't seem to affect the gritty winger. Coming off of an 80-point season and averaging almost a point a game over his eight-year career, Kessel has produced results despite the angst.
Joe Flacco
6 of 10
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is in a unique situation—for much of his pro career, he’s been “the quarterback” on an offense that usually got in the way of a suffocating, punishing defense led by former linebacker Ray Lewis. Despite the fact he followed known disasters, like former quarterback Kyle Boller, Flacco quietly helped the Ravens reach the playoffs in five of his first six seasons, including a Super Bowl championship in 2013 that saw him have one of the greatest postseasons ever at the position.
This is Joe Flacco in a nutshell: some tall, awkward and quiet guy who inherited a team anchored for a decade-and-a-half by one of the most vocal leaders in the sport.
All he has done is produce, and when he has spoken, the content of his comments have been significant in their insignificance—though his inconspicuousness has inspired stories on everything from his "driveway long-boarding prior to a playoff appearance" to his supposed "disrespect" for Ray Lewis.
Steven Stamkos
7 of 10
How "quiet" an athlete is perceived to be is often driven by a narrative that is created by some combination of personality and media coverage.
Penguins star center Sidney Crosby is one of―if not the most―recognizable player in the NHL, by design and due to talent. And though he's not Reggie Miller-loud, you can't be a silent assassin when you're one of the league's poster boys.
Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos is a world-class talent and (with the exception of his injury shortened 2013-2014 season) has never finished lower than second in goals and fifth in total points since the former first overall pick's rookie debut in 2008.
With two "Rocket" Richard Trophies and two All-Star appearances, Stamkos is undoubtedly a star; he just happens to play in a U.S. city about a billion miles from the Canadian border, where 65 degrees is considered cold.
Marshawn Lynch
8 of 10
While some athletes make silence a perfect backdrop of a statement made by their game, some—well, particularly, this one—are silent because they "talk" to the media the same way you "talk" to a stranger who says something awkward in an elevator.
Bruising Seahawks tailback Marshawn Lynch was the one quintessential ingredient in the punishing recipe used en route to the demolition of Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII last February. "Beast Mode" is on pace to break the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth consecutive season and is unquestionably in the top tier of running backs in the league.
Marcus Mariota
9 of 10
The antidote to the last two Heisman Trophy winners (Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston) who have earned the ire of the general public with their shenanigans, third-year Oregon starting quarterback Marcus Mariota has all of the stats and none of the personality. That’s not to say he doesn’t have a personality; we just don’t know what it is.
Mariota is known as quiet—so quiet that he actually had to be encouraged to speak to his own offensive lineman and used to struggle to make eye contact with his own teammates.
Kyle Whittingham
10 of 10
Perhaps no school, or place, could be better suited to the ethos of Utes head football coach Kyle Whittingham than Utah. A state known best for being metaphorically buttoned-up—and for miles and miles of salt flats—Utah is unassuming and quiet, like the man who took the reins of a rising mid-major program from Urban Meyer in 2005.
Whittingham's team, like the state the University of Utah calls home, rarely finds itself in the spotlight—until it makes a splash. Despite the fact the coach admittedly has no plan to celebrate or honor his 10th year at the helm, Whittingham has made his presence known by upsetting the big boys—including a 31-17 rout of SEC bully Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.
The Utes are off to a 4-1 start, upsetting Michigan and then-No. 8 UCLA in the process, and with heavy hitters like Oregon and Arizona left on the schedule, Whittingham may quietly crush the playoff dreams of teams more accustomed to the attention.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
