It's been a bad month for famous Scousers. First Peel, then Emlyn Hughes. If I was Willy Russell I'd have a personal physician close at hand. And wear a vest.

Emlyn Hughes was definately one of my boyhood idols. He and Kenny Dalglish WERE football as far as I was concerned. So I'm very sorry to see him go so young. It was only as I got older that I came to appreciate that he also had one of my all-time favourite nicknames: "Crazy Horse".

I've always wanted the nickname Crazy Horse! I know nicknames tend to be handed out rather than requested but what the hell. Anybody who calls me Crazy Horse has a friend for life. And I'm still trying to play Ultimate Frisbee in such a way as to be spontaneously christened Crazy Horse by my team. We have a tournament this weekend so watch this space...

It also made me think of my other favourite sporting nicknames:

Clyde "The Glide" Drexler - Basketball
Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain - Basketball
Bobby Hebbert "The Ragin' Cajun" - American Football
Carl "The Truth" Williams - Boxing. Because the Truth hurts!

and best of all...

Karl "The Mailman" Malone - Basketball. Why the mailman? 'Coz he always DELIVERS! Boom and if-you-will boom!

So you've got to hand it to basketball. The game itself maybe a bit silly (and to be honest a bit boring) but they are the tops when it comes to nicknames (perhaps these facts are not unrelated?). And I haven't even got to Meadowlark Lemon.
Puts the Premiership to shame. Isn't that right Giggsy?