Image via Complex Original
Today marks Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson's 33rd birthday. One of the better guards in the league, Johnson has managed to be successful for the past few seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and now the Nets despite one major flaw. He might be one of the most boring athletes to ever lace them up. He's not alone either. There are other NBA players with less than optimal personality like Tim Duncan and Jeremy Lin, and guys from other major sports like Roger Federer and Michael Phelps. Despite some immense talent, these guys weren't blessed with the it factor you see in some of the best athletes. We decided to compile a list of all of the current athletes in sports today that fit the bill. Try to enjoy the 15 Most Boring Athletes in Sports Today.
15. Georges St. Pierre
Sport: MMA
GSP is damn near unstoppable in the octagon (24-2 with eight KOs), but unlike many of your favorite fighters he's not the major personality you'd expect. He's a soft spoken guy who's nothing like Chael Sonnen or Rampage Jackson that love to talk. Pierre pretty much dismantles his opponents like clockwork and moves on to the next one. Despite UFC's added intrigue to make the fights interesting, GSP isn't going to be a pick for top trash-talker and will win most of the time on decisions. A beast nonetheless, Pierre will forever be linked with being boring for his calm and calculated style.
14. Jimmie Johnson
Sport: NASCAR
Jimmie Johnson has five of the last 12 Cup series championships to his name but he has to make our list for boring athletes today. Drivers like Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and even Danica Patrick have been able to cash in on their personalities which is something Johnson just doesn't seem to have in him. If you were the best at what you did for five straight years and had people with far less wins cashing in, you'd be scratching your head wouldn't you?
13. Jeremy Lin
Sport: Basketball
Linsanity is over, like really over. Jeremy Lin signed with the Rockets and became James Harden's underwhelming backcourt mate last season. That realization only reiterated the fact that A) Lin isn't as good as we thought, and B) He lacks the charisma that could have made him much more millions in endorsements after his Knick run.
This past season was a mediocre one for Lin and unlike what many of us thought, he really didn't cash in on Linsanity. A Harvard man, Lin clearly isn't lacking upstairs, but he just never really became that NBA star we expected him to be. Mainly because of his oncourt play and his offcourt lifestyle. He's downright vapid and unless he sees major improvements to his game next year, we might not hear much from Lin again.
13. Ray Allen
Sport: Basketball
Jesus Shuttlesworth and Miami's mayor on LeBron's off days a.k.a. Ray Allen is as stale as they come. On the hardwood he does his job as designated shooter and can always be depended on to get a good shot up when it counts. Off the court, however, there's not much going on with Allen. Can't remember the last time he's said or done anything of note outside He Got Game, which was incredibly surprising in its own right based on what we know of Allen now.
Can you even fathom him doing a movie now? Even with the beef with Rondo and KG we didn't get much out of Allen outside of him just wanting to be friends with his old crew. We're anxiously awaiting the autobiography when he finally goes off.
11. Joe Flacco
Sport: Football
The Super Bowl MVP turned richest QB in NFL history (if only for a few months) has got a lot to be happy about. One thing we're not too happy about though, is that the dude is as interesting as the change in your pocket. Outside of the whole "elite" talk, Flacco has been a lame duck for the Ravens in terms of entertainment and charisma since he got to the league. His play has steadily improved, but he just doesn't seem to be the face of a franchise or league because of his lack of star quality. Granted, Flacco could probably care less about star power when he's checking out his bank account. We can't blame him.
10. Sidney Crosby
Sport: Hockey
Now there aren't a ton of hockey players that the world would say they're considered to have a ton of star quality. Sid the Kid is one of the best players in the NHL today, and saying he's no Sean Avery is a major understatement. The Canadian lives, eats, and sleeps hockey, but despite being a megastar in the game, he is as boring as they come.
No major commercials of note despite a Reebok deal that was the biggest in the history of the league, no bulletin board worthy quotes for opponents, and his rivalry with Alexander Ovechkin has been disappointing to say the least. Crosby's still has some years in him despite the injuries, but don't expect some Gretzky-esque type rise into mega stardom from this guy.
9. Tim Tebow
Sport: Football
As much as ESPN and Skip Bayless want to dissect and prod Tebow, when you actually think about it, the guy's pretty boring. He's famous for giving the company lines NFL coaches love to hear, never taking shots at organizations or teammates. He's never had any endorsements or commercials that have elicited anything other than "Tebow needs acting classes and has no charisma." Advantage Stephen A.
8. Mariano Rivera
Sport: Baseball
Mariano Rivera is the best closer ever (word to his 634 saves) and there are absolutely no doubts about that whatsoever. Lets be honest though, the most interesting thing about him over the course of his career was his injury shagging balls in batting practice a year ago. Unlike many of his Yankee counterparts, Rivera has never made any media splashes, had any major beefs, or even gotten caught up in the steroid era controversy. He does his job on the diamond and gives us nothing more and nothing less. Great for the Yankees, a little boring for us.
7. Michael Phelps
Sport: Swimming
Not many dudes can say they were literally the most watched and talked about person on Earth for two summers. Michael Phelps is one of them. His record 22 Olympic medals have lent to him being called the greatest Olympian ever.. How could he be so great and still be on this list you ask? Try watching an interview with Phelps and get anything out of it you couldn't get reading his Wikipedia page. For a guy who has supreme talent, Phelps just doesn't the personality you look for in a primetime athlete. His Subway commercials are about as entertaining as a Bobcats preseason game.
6. Jeff Gordon
Sport: NASCAR
Before Jimmy Johnson or Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon was running NASCAR, ripping up tracks for years. He racked up 87 career wins and countless trophies. Gordon was the biggest name of his sport and even had Nelly shouting him out on a track, but boy is this dude seriously deprived of some charisma. We never expect a NASCAR racer to have a ton of endorsements or be as big as LeBron, but Gordon could have been a much bigger icon if he had a little more going on.
5. Vijay Singh
Sport: Golf
Back When Tiger was dominating golf and making people actually pay attention to the game, Vijay Singh was the guy who proved to give Woods the most competition. Has Singh given us any bombastic moments? Nope. Has he started any PGA beefs? Negative. Even him suing the PGA tour for humiliation for using deer antler spray didn't get a rise out of anyone. Thankfully we still have Tiger and Sergio.
4. Joe Johnson
Sport: Basketball
Iso Joe is known for a few things. He's the guy who's robbing the Brooklyn Nets for $20 million a year, he made Paul Pierce fall last year when he turned a lose ball into a crossover, and he's a guy who's been pretty solid over the past five-seven years (19.5 PPG and 4.5 AGP since 2006-07). Johnson's been an All-Star six times, and has a smooth game that you'd think would translate to a smooth guy off the court. Think again. Heck we wonder if Josh Smith could tell us three interesting things about Joe. Besides "Uh....he can shoot."
3. Roy Halladay
Sport: Baseball
Roy Halladay is so boring it's hard for us to even write something about him. He's nabbed two Cy Youngs and has been an All-Star eight times as one of the best pitchers in the league over the past decade. Here's a question for you though, can you remember what his voice sounds like? Has he even been in a commercial? No excuses Roy, no excuses.
2. Roger Federer
Sport: Tennis
When you're the greatest athlete in your sport for as long as Roger Federer was (see his streak of 302 weeks as the World's No. 1 player), it's hard to make things too interesting. Then again, Federer is probably as dull as they come for a superstar athlete at his status. You don't have to be John McEnroe or anything, but show us a little personality Roger! Commercials with potential like this one are inexcusable bro. They gave you a tennis ball couch man!
1. Tim Duncan
Sport: Basketball
Tim Duncan is the boring athlete king. He's the best power forard to ever play the game and he's also without a doubt one of the most boring human beings alive. Duncan's never in the news for anything other than his team winning, he's rarely ever shown emotion on the court, and his recent divorce rumors were barely a byline. The most interesting YouTube clips you'll find of Timmy is when he drank some bad gatorade and when he got ejected for laughing on the bench. For a guy with so much game, you gotta wonder how he has so little personality.