The 5 Best Sets of Twins in Sports

There are plenty of sport families, both nowadays and in throughout history.

There are the Mannings, the Staals, and even the Griffeys.

But what about greatest sets of twins in sports?

They're not as common as families passing down the "sporting gene," but it's still pretty cool when you get to see identical twins who have always been together play against each other on the field/floor/rink.

So, in honour of that here are the five greatest sets of twins currently in sports. 

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The Sedin Twins

The exception to the rule.

The Sedins have been together ever since they were playing pond hockey in Sweden.

They started their careers together with Modo Hockey in the Elitserien and, through some impressive wheeling and dealing by Brian Burke, ended up being drafted together by the Vancouver Canucks in 1999.

Whilst they still haven't yet had a chance to lift the Stanley Cup, they play on a very good Vancouver team that could win the cup soon.

The thing about the Sedin twins is that they have an almost telepathic connection—one always knows where the other is, making their passing and positioning seamless.

The two work perfectly together, the epitome of "brotherly teamwork."

Maurkice and Mike Pouncey

Anchoring an offensive line is a lot easier when you have your brother next to you.

Maurkice and Mike Pouncey played together on the Florida Gators OL from 2007-09, and although Maurkice declared for the draft a year earlier, the two will forever be linked.

Mike is the elder, being a minute older than Maurkice, although Maurkice is a pound heavier.

Maurkice was taken 18th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and in his first season made both the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro second team.

There were a lot of indications that the Steelers were hoping Mike would fall to them this year, so the two could re-unite.

However, it was not to be as Mike was taken 15th overall by the Miami Dolphins.

Maurkice has a year's head start on Mike, but it'll be interesting to see which brother ends up being the better one by the end of their careers.

*Note: That's Tim Tebow in the picture as well—he's not the third twin.

Brook and Robin Lopez

Despite the contrasting hairdos, these two are identical twins.

And they play identical positions.

Both Brook and Robin play center, which probably caused confusion when they were both at Stanford.

I suppose the hairdos are the way to tell them apart.

Interestingly enough, despite being identical the brothers play with different styles.

Brook is a more offensive, dunking kinda guy whilst Robin is known more as a defensive center specialising in rebounding.

The Lopez brothers both declared for the 2008 NBA Draft, where Brook was taken 10th overall by the New Jersey Nets and Robin 15th overall by the Phoenix Suns.

This is why I always tune into Nets-Suns games.

Marcus and Markieff Morris

Sticking with the basketball theme, here are two more "ballin" twins.

Markieff and Marcus were drafted Thursday night with consecutive picks.

Marcus—who was actually ranked higher than Markieff in pre-draft rankings—was taken 14th overall by the Houston Rockets whilst Markieff went at 13th to the Phoenix Suns.

I'm not much one for brotherly love, but seeing Marcus cry when his brother got drafted was a pretty sweet moment.

The two played together at Kansas, where they helped the Jayhawks get into the Elite Eight and although neither has played on NBA hardwood yet, I for one am excited to see these two play.

Like the Pouncey brothers, it'll be nice to watch the two over their careers as they go in their different directions and at the end see which twin ends up being better.

The Lundqvist Twins

Another Swedish duo, Henrik and Joel Lundqvist.

I am a die-hard Rangers fan, but even I had completely forgotten that the Vezina-worthy goaltender had a twin brother. I guess this was because they are not often compared to each other.

The brothers grew up in Sweden, where they began to play hockey whilst in kindergarten. The two were then snapped up by Frolunda HC and then drafted in the 2000 NHL Draft.

However, the big difference between the two is that Henrik plays goaltender whilst Joel is a center.

In fact, the two hold the distinction of being the first twins in the NHL to play against each other when one twin is in goal and are only the third set of twins to play against each other in NHL history.

Henrik is the starting goaltender for the New York Rangers whilst Joel is back at Frolunda after a five year spell in America.

Interestingly enough, the two are set to face off again as Henrik's Rangers play Joel's Frolunda as part of the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere Challenge.

That will be an intriguing occasion in the Lundqvist household.  

Lewis Hughes is an aspiring writer on nearly any sport. Follow him on twitter @ http://twitter.com/#!/lah_8