CGB Hall Of Fame Round Of 32: Natalie Coughlin v. Kevin Johnson

by TwistNHook on Jul 21, 2009 6:00 AM PDT in Hall of Fame

Wow, Natalie Coughlin v. Kevin Johnson! This should be a good matchup, people.

For each athlete, you can vote in the poll; it closes a week from today at midnight. After the jump, you can read the athlete profiles written up by our commenters, and discuss in the comments your memories of each athlete and which one deserves to move on. (Check out the full bracket here. To check out the original nomination thread, click here. For those who want to track the CGB Hall of Fame posts exclusively, click here or right next to the timestamp above where it says "Hall of Fame".)

#1 Natalie Coughlin

via cache.daylife.com

Beast Mode gives us the brief intro of Coughlin for those unfamiliar with her accolades:

11 Olympic Medals
3 Olympic Gold medals
Holds numerous US records and set numerous world records

I was planning on putting some of her sweet Olympic backstroke races, but NBC, being the total dicks they are about copyright, pulled them all off YouTube. Great job fellas. Way to promote your athletes. So I'm left with this article about the physics/fluid dynamics of dolphin kicks which Coughlin is famous for using off the turns, and an even cooler video of a female swimmer simulation (probably Coughlin?) of the fluid dynamics of the kick.

Twist once did a fine YouTube Thursday post on her (for the 4th of July!) which includes some interviews, highlights and training tips. He also showed Coughlin's pre-Beijing profile, which includes her NCAA accolades at Cal. Check it out below.

via www.nbcolympics.com

Natalie Coughlin
Country: USA
Event: Women's Swimming - Freestyle/Backstroke/IM
Hometown: Vallejo, Calif.
Years at Cal: 2001-04

Arguably the greatest female swimmer in Cal history, Coughlin won 12 NCAA titles with the Golden Bears (the second-most career titles for a women's swimmer in NCAA history). She was a three-time NCAA and Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year. Her success only grew more after her collegiate tenure. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Coughlin became the third American woman to win five medals at one Olympics (the others are Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller). She took gold in the 100-meter backstroke and the 800 freestyle relay, breaking the world record in that event. Coughlin also won silver medals in the 400 free relay and the 400 medley relay, and a bronze in the 100 free. At the 2008 Olympic Trials, Coughlin lowered her world record in the 100 back to 58.97. In addition, she finished second in both the 100 free (53.83) and 200 individual medley (2:10.32).

I predict you already have a solid appreciation of who Natalie Coughlin is. Although it states her hometown is the Valley Jo. I always thought it was Concord.

Also, she's one of our many athletes on Twitter! Everyone who saw her Olympic profile knows she's grown huge on the cooking thing to keep her from going crazy during all the swimming training. Thus, posts like "Fava bean puree on garlic toast, dungeness crab/avoc/beet salad, saffron chick w/ parm pudding, & cheese tart w/ blueberry lemon cream" "Making dinner. Just when I thought I had nothing to eat...found frozen artichokes in freezer. Voilà: artichoke-lemon risotto!" are not the least bit surprising!

#8 Kevin Johnson

Here's the Oski-friendly summary of one of the most exciting points to ever play ball at Harmon.

Despite excelling at two sports in high school, Johnson decided to play basketball exclusively at the collegiate level, and accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the University of California at Berkeley. Playing all four seasons, Johnson ended his college basketball career in 1987 as the school's all-time leader in assists, steals, and scoring (since eclipsed by Lamond Murray). He was also the first player in the Pac-10 Conference to post a "triple-double" in the statistics, and he was named to the Pac-10's all-conference First Team in both his junior and senior seasons, averaging 17.2 points and 5.0 assists in his final basketball season. His number 11 is retired.

California Pete's favorite lineup while at Cal involved Johnson running point, mainly because they ended a long streak of misery to UCLA.

11 – Kevin Johnson
22 – Chris Washington
33 – Eddie Javius
44 – Leonard Taylor
5 – Dave Butler

I still don’t know why Butler didn’t change his # to 55. It’s a toss-up for me between KJ and Jason Kidd as far as the most entertaining player I’ve seen wear the Blue and Gold. But LT was a monster, surpassed as a Cal power forward only by Mr. Powe. Probably could have had a good NBA career if not for a dangerous neck condition.

JoshinPortland: Best player on that team. Glorious day in a packed Kips watching UCLA go down for the first time in my lifetime.

Here's the only Cal footage I could find of KJ, from the 1987 NBA Draft (starting at about 3 minutes in).

The announcers were surprised he was drafted so high at 7th. I was surprised too. He should've been drafted 3rd.

Poll

Who wins? Natalie Coughlin or Kevin Johnson?

Natalie Coughlin

193 votes

Kevin Johnson

56 votes

249 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I had to go with Natalie Coughlin here, because as much as we all love Da Mayor, her accomplishments are world class. These matchups are getting really tough, though.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah TwistNHook!

www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Jul 21, 2009 7:26 AM PDT reply actions

Tough Call

This one comes down to how you determine your vote. Natalie is, bar none, top notch, kick-ass, incredible and spectacular (which is why she’ll probably win this one). But I voted for KJ because, before him, I didn’t even know Cal HAD a basketball team !!!! KJ put Cal basketball on my map; he broke us out of oblivion and I can’t thank him enough.

Keep up the good work, Mayor. Natalie, you ROCK, girl.

I'd like to smell the Roses before I die.

by BTown85 on Jul 21, 2009 10:48 PM PDT up reply actions

Contacting BTown85

BTown85, can you please email me at steve at joeroth12 dot com? I want to ask you something about your Roth cloth. Thanks.

by run2win on Jul 22, 2009 3:46 PM PDT up reply actions

Okay, now I am just ashamed of all of you, because it is transparently clear you have no clue about anything that happened at Cal before 1995.

For all of Natalie’s accomplishments, her time at Cal was not even close to as important or impactful as KJs. All you need to know is he was on the team that ended Ucla’s winning streak against Cal. One of the most embarrassing losing streaks Cal has ever had.

This is just nuts

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

by SoCal Oski on Jul 21, 2009 10:10 AM PDT reply actions

I dunno dude, Pawlawski is taking Leon Powe to the wire.

by Avinash Kunnath on Jul 21, 2009 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions

I’m from the KJ generation and there is no question he was the #1 Cal athlete of that era. In any sport. Until Tony Gonzalez came along, he was also our highest-profile alum in professional sports.

But I actually voted for Natalie. She’s neck and neck with Matt Biondi as the most accomplished swimmer ever to come out of Spieker, and I don’t think any of our Olympians, in any sport, have represented the University as proudly and prominently as she has. Outside the Cal family, I’m not sure many people know KJ starred in Berkeley. And while it’s unfair, the progress that Cal basketball has made since KJ’s time—when we hung banners in Harmon GYM just for making the NIT field (!)—does take some of the shine off his legacy. Then again, one could reasonably argue that KJ, as much as anyone, laid the foundation for the likes of Kidd, Powe, et al., to build on.

Another tough call.

Go Bears!

by California Pete on Jul 21, 2009 11:05 AM PDT up reply actions

Perhaps I am just not getting the point of this. I thought, as this was supposed to be a Cal-related Hall of Fame, we are judging these athletes/candidates based on their contributions to Cal athletics, and to only consider their greater accomplishments with a passing interest.

There’s no doubt that Natalie was one of the premier women’s swimmers at Cal (though some would put Mary Meagher above her, but that’s another story). Yet her direct contributions to Cal weren’t as important or iconic as KJ’s. Yes, she was dominant — but can anyone actually point to one Natalie Coughlin moment while in Blue & Gold that they actually remember?

This isn’t meant to disparage Natalie in the least. But I would really like someone to explain how her Cal career was more impactful or more important or more iconic than KJ’s.

That being said, she is a knockout.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

by SoCal Oski on Jul 21, 2009 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Well…how many swimming “moments” (or really, any non-football/basketball sport) do you think most people remember?

Having said that, here’s one moment: winning 5 medals (including 2 gold) at the Olympics while at Cal in 2004.

by HolmoePhobe on Jul 21, 2009 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Like Matt Biondi—and unlike Mary T—Natalie’s Olympic achievements have occurred while she was at Cal, as well as after Cal. And more than any other Cal Olympian I’ve seen, she has always been quick to emphasize her Cal connections after she graduated, so much so that it felt—to me at least—that she was representing Cal at Beijing, not the USA. Several years after graduating, she continues to compete in a Cal swim cap, and I even think I might have seen her wearing one in Athens or Beijing underneath her official U.S. Olympic Team cap.

Also note this prominent piece of her NBC Olympics website bio:

Berkeley Bear
Coughlin attended the University of California-Berkeley, where Teri McKeever coached her. She graduated in 2004 with a psychology degree but continues to train at Cal. She grew up near Berkeley in the East Bay suburb of Concord. As a collegian, she was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Coughlin lost only one time in her college career, falling in her final race at the NCAA Championships. Coughlin says she had no regrets about foregoing sponsorship dollars to swim all four years.

In short, I agree with the basic premise, SoCal, that this is a Cal-specific Hall of Fame. But I think Natalie does very well by those standards. Whereas Michael Phelps forfeited his college eligibility, even while he remained enrolled at Michigan, Coughlin’s decision to retain her Cal eligibility is really quite remarkable.

Go Bears!

by California Pete on Jul 21, 2009 4:13 PM PDT up reply actions

While this is a Cal Hall of fame, I don’t think anybody officially said that the rules of this playoff was to compare the athletes’ accomplishments at Cal. So I think people are free to weigh Cal successes and post-college successes how ever they see fit. Some value college accomplishments more than pro accomplishments. However, to only look at college accomplishments would probably ignore many fantastic athletes who excelled in the pros and who represented or are currently representing the University very well.

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by HydroTech on Jul 21, 2009 4:17 PM PDT up reply actions

Dude, she has 11 freakin’ medals. She’s not just an elite Cal athlete, she’s an elite American athlete.

by HolmoePhobe on Jul 21, 2009 12:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Dude

Dude.

She has more gold medals than most men have toes. TOES.

CGB: Optimism is dead to us.

by Spazzy Mcgee on Jul 21, 2009 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions

This is tough to beat

… plus Oski approves.

by ttgiang15 on Jul 21, 2009 11:28 AM PDT reply actions

That’s a very creepy photo on the right.

by Yes We Cannon on Jul 21, 2009 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Looks like a movie poster for one of those cheesy horror explotation films

by Avinash Kunnath on Jul 21, 2009 2:12 PM PDT up reply actions

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