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Earlier today, our own Ken Meringolo gave his take on the five most popular athletes in D.C. right now. Here's what he came up with.
- Alex Ovechkin
- Gilbert Arenas
- Chris Cooley
- Stephen Strasburg
- Clinton Portis
Guys like Nicklas Backstrom, John Wall, Donovan McNabb, London Fletcher, Trent Williams and Ryan Zimmerman were among those that missed the cut.
What type of feedback did we get? Click below the jump to find out.
The most controversial choice was putting Gilbert Arenas second, despite his recent felony charge for gun possession. Over at SBNation.com, only 10 percent of all voters believed Arenas should have occupied the second spot behind Ovechkin. The overwhelming winner of that poll? Strasburg, who earned 61 percent of the vote despite not having pitched a single Major League game yet.
As Chris Mottram wrote:
Meringolo has Arenas ranked too high. At best, I think Gil deserves the fifth spot, although replacing him entirely with Donovan McNabb would be my choice. The Redskins rule D.C. sports, and McNabb represents eternal optimism amongst many fans right now. (Optimism which will surely be crushed in typical Redskins fashion sometime around late October.)
Many of your comments echoed this sentiment:
I don't think Arenas and Portis belong on this list right now. A year ago, yes. Today, no. Might as well add Mike Green too and you've got a trifecta of DC athletes who have alienated their fanbases! -Martin Shatzer
I would say that Strasburg is by far more famous than Gilbert Arenas at this point. The way all of the sports world is talking about Strasburg is ridiculous on so many levels. -bigrm18
Tough to have Gilbert on there, as he may or may not be with the Wizards come October. It's up to Ted, of course, and when he has an issue with a player that's trouble, he deals with it quickly and effectively (See history of Joe Murphy with the Caps...) -MikeL-Caps
I gotta agreed with the crowd here, and I'm a huge Arenas fan. I'd probably flip-flop Arenas and Strasburg myself.
The other interesting choice was including Portis. Yes, two Redskins had to be included, but there wasn't a single person who voted him to be the second most popular DC athlete in the SBNation.com poll. I'd probably go with Zimmerman in that spot. If it had to be a Redskin, I'd go with London Fletcher, if only because McNabb hasn't played a down here yet.
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