The Most Entertaining Players to Watch in Sports
Fair warning everyone—we're about to enter a dangerous area in sports. This area is bound to turn the comment section into a mosh pit of arguments.
Discussing the most entertaining athletes in all of sports is very subjective. There's a ton of names to go around, which makes reducing this list to 10 guys a challenging endeavor.
But bare with me here. The candidates we've chosen are truly outstanding.
The qualifications to be classified as entertaining go a little something like this: Each player on the list has to be appreciated by all fans. Even if you can't stand the player or the team he suits up for, you have to tip your cap Derek Jeter-style to him.
Next, all of these names have done spectacular things during their respective careers. Game-winning shots, world-shattering moves, wondrous skill sets—all of those categories must be covered.
With all of that being said, here now is the list of the 10 most entertaining names in sports.
Antonio Brown
1 of 10
No matter what you throw at him, there's no stopping Antonio Brown. The Pittsburgh Steelers pass-catcher has blown up over the last two seasons and quickly become one of the elite playmakers in the game today.
Brown's 852 receiving yards are second to T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts among the league leaders. He's been targeted a whopping 87 times, which is enough to rank him No. 1 in that category.
The Steelers need Brown in order to function properly. With the sudden emergence of Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton, he's now entrenched in one of the best up-and-coming receiving corps in the league.
On the field, it doesn't get much better than watching him perform. It's easy to write him off as just a speedy playmaker, but he's so much more than that.
Brown regularly comes down with amazing, "how did he do that?" types of catches, and the way he manages to forge separation allows him to be a threat all over the field.
There aren't too many wide receivers around more entertaining than Brown these days. He's found that sweet spot nestled between talent and production, quickly becoming one of the best in the business.
LeBron James
2 of 10
When you're the best basketball player in the world, by default you're also one of the most entertaining.
LeBron James has done it all during his 11-year career. Countless MVP awards, two shiny NBA championship rings and a convoy of highlights you have to see to believe.
Whether it was his first run with the Cleveland Cavaliers or his Darth Vader days in a Miami Heat uniform, James has always thrilled onlookers. Now that he's back in Cleveland to reclaim his throne, there's no reason to think King James will slow his roll.
What makes James so entertaining isn't just his style of play on the hardwood. Since his days of forming the Big Three in Miami, free agents have lined up to play alongside of him.
With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love now cemented next to him in a Cavs uniform, this team is going to be full of zest.
J.J. Watt
3 of 10
J.J. Watt's taking an imaginary selfie after sacking Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger was one of the highlights from Week 8 of the NFL season.
Watt was poking fun at Mettenberger for a series of selfies he took leading up to the game. "It's just kind of a reminder, this is the National Football League, not high school," he told ESPN.com's Tania Ganguli.
There have been few players on either side of the ball who have been as dominant and entertaining as Watt. Eight weeks into the NFL season, he's enjoyed 32 combined tackles, three fumble recoveries, an interception and, oh yeah, three total touchdowns.
It's rare to watch a player every snap on defense. Naturally your mind wanders to the offensive side of the ball. But Watt is good enough to break that trend.
He's easily one of the most talented and appealing players the NFL has seen in a long time.
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Blake Griffin
4 of 10
The only real chance any of us of has of playing in the NBA is if we played with Blake Griffin. All you'd have to do is throw the ball up near the hoop and watch him slam it down with a vengeance.
Though he's not nearly the player King James is, Griffin is the NBA's version of a human highlight reel. Watching Chris Paul dish him oops has become one of SportsCenter's favorite pastimes.
Being 25 years old, Griffin also has a resounding amount of industrial-strength health to lean on. He's missed just four games over the last two regular seasons.
Coming off a 2013-14 campaign where he averaged 24.1 points and 9.5 rebounds, the benefactor of Paul should see another uptick in production as he grows up. From an entertainment perspective, that just means we are going to be in for another blockbuster season in the City of Angels.
Arian Foster
5 of 10
When he's healthy, Arian Foster can run the rock like no other. Over the last couple of years, it feels like everyone has forgotten about Foster.
Among LeSean McCoy's fancy footwork, Matt Forte's catching every pass that's thrown his way and Marshawn Lynch's going all "Beast Mode" on teams, Foster's brilliance has flown comfortably beneath the radar.
This year, he's is second in the NFL in rushing with 766 yards. With Dallas Cowboys star DeMarco Murray on a serious pace to shatter the NFL single-season rushing record, he once again has evaporated from the headlines.
If we're talking about who's more entertaining to watch, Foster is higher than Murray on that scale, which is weird to say considering Murray could dethrone Eric Dickerson by season's end.
It's just that Foster is a more fluid, evasive-type of runner. Let's give him the nickname "King of the Cutback" and be done with it. No one, and I mean no one, plants his feet and changes direction like Foster—McCoy and Le'Veon Bell are equally gifted but in a different way.
He's a classic runner. Without Gary Kubiak scheming on his behalf, it's nice to see Foster is still capable of scrapping together an exemplary season.
Stephen Curry
6 of 10
Is there anyone better than Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry at sending a crowd into a frenzy?
The pride of Davidson College has made a living off that. His range is deeper than the ocean, and his play fits perfectly with that rowdy Golden State fanbase.
Curry is the complete opposite of guys likes James and Griffin. He isn't going to fly down the court, elevate into the rafters and slam home dunks. What he is going to do is break down a defender and sink a barrage of treys on his way to a big night.
With former Chicago Bulls point guard Steve Kerr running the show now, Curry may finally transform into a superstar. Last season with ex-head coach Mark Jackson, he took that first step toward greatness averaging 24 points and 8.5 assists per contest.
Even if you aren't a Warriors fan, get ready for another season of Curry and all of his basketball sorcery.
Aaron Rodgers
7 of 10
There are a lot of quarterbacks you could toss onto this list without breaking a sweat—Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, even Cam Newton.
Aaron Rodgers stands out because he does a little bit of everything. He's mobile, can spin the ball with an immoral amount of force and sees the field with the best of them.
Since he took over for Brett Favre in 2008, Rodgers has quickly become one of the top signal-callers. Like Manning and Brady, Rodgers has an amazing level of comfort under center. When he drops back and releases the football, you always expect a big play as the camera trails behind.
Besides his inclination to create instant offense, Rodgers is extremely accurate. To date, his career completion percentage of 66 ties him for the second-highest in NFL history with Chad Pennington.
Rodgers is the guy you would come up with if you had to construct the perfect quarterback from scratch. There's simply nothing he can't do when the ball is placed in his hands.
Derrick Rose
8 of 10
Derrick Rose is finally back, and man, that feels good to say out loud.
Rose's return from back-to-back knee injuries will be one of the biggest storylines of the 2013-14 season. He returns to a talented Chicago Bulls team looking to get its hands on a championship.
This version of the man we call D-Rose looks healthy and, more importantly, seems fearless. During his time at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, Rose was his usual explosive self attacking the rim.
A healthy Rose is a destructive one. He's one of the top players in the game and arguably the hardest to guard. The stuff he's done on the court may never be replicated again.
He's just so aggressive and smooth at the same time. Plus, he can shoot the basketball. Rose is listed at 6'3", but at times he plays bigger than that. Outside of LeBron James and possibly Kevin Durant, no one gets to the hoop more quickly than Rose.
It's an exciting time to be a fan of the Bulls and a fan of the NBA in general. Derrick Rose is back, and that should make everybody happy.
Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware
9 of 10
There's a terribly good tandem making waves in the AFC this year. Edge-rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware have joined forces and turned a middle-of-the-road Denver Broncos defense into an elite one.
With eight weeks in the books, Miller has nine sacks. Ware isn't far behind, nabbing seven of his own. Because of the havoc they've caused, it's only right to pair them up.
Those sack totals are great, but it's how they've done it that makes these two so entertaining. Take Ware's ridiculous fake-spin move for example. You can't teach something like that. The sheer creativity they display when attacking the quarterback makes them both equally mesmerizing.
The Broncos' defensive resurgence is real, and a big part of that credit belongs to the veteran Ware and the fiery Miller.
Cristiano Ronaldo
10 of 10
The hero of La Liga is Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo scores goals at will and has a room full of awards to prove it.
There are plenty of top-tier soccer players in the world right now, but Ronaldo is by far the most endearing. He's an excellent athlete who can inflict damage from just about anywhere on the pitch.
Plus, the rivalry he's developed with fellow La Liga star Lionel Messi is one of the most entertaining "feuds" in professional sports.
We may not get to see a lot of Ronaldo here in the United States, and that's a shame. He's one of the few commanding athletes left in the world, and that shouldn't be taken for granted.
All MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and NFL information and stats provided by ESPN.com, unless noted otherwise.
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