Andrew Yaphe is (Tiger? Jack? K? Air?)

• From: Durham_Devil
• Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 13:29:06 -0700
• Message-ID: <000TD6R8I.001ROMTI6.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

I would not yet argue that Andrew Yaphe is Tiger
Woods, simply because Woods' career has only begun.
Furthermore, Woods appears a lot more popular than Yaphe. Or
that just may be my personal opinion.

The
person I would compare Yaphe to is Jack Nicklaus at this
point. If you consider only the academic grand slam
(ACF, NAQT, CBI, and yes, even Penn Bowl), Andrew has
won every event. Furthermore, he plays at such a
level for such a long time that, like him or hate him,
you are forced to respect him. His uncanny ability
never to be out of it (ask any Maryland player how
often it seemed he came back from 150+ points down at
ACF, a lead most teams would find close to
insurmountable) is similar to the Golden Bear's ability to
control the game when he was at his prime.

The
thing that separates Nicklaus from Yaphe is that Andrew
does not seem to have an obvious Arnold Palmer type
who was great before him and with whom he has
duelled. Unless David Hamilton can be considered that
person -- and I can accept that argument reluctantly --
Yaphe is the Palmer to someone else's Nicklaus (Subash
M. coming to mind).

Someone earlier suggested
Michael Jordan as a possibility, since this is a team
sport. I can buy that, especially since either Mike
Zarren or Ed Cohn would be a perfect Scottie Pippen to
him. I would be loathe to suggest anyone as Dennis
Rodman, simply because no one on Chicago exudes such
negative vibes to fit that mold.

Another
possibility could be to compare Andrew's Chicago teams to the
Duke basketball franchise over the same time span.
Andrew would be a good candidate for Battier, the senior
leader and Mr. Everything. But just as Battier needed
Jason Williams, Andrew needed Ed Cohn (witness last
year how Andrew by himself could not win the ICT --
though he came VERY close). J.S. Bennett would fit the
role of Chris Duhon -- an extremely talented, young
player who shows incredible potential -- or of Mike
Dunleavy -- the guy everyone forgets about until it
counts, at which point he lights up the scoreboard.
Appropriate to this comparison is, of course, the fact that
apparently while Andrew was at UVa, he consistently came
back from large deficits to beat Maryland.
:)

But whether he be Tiger, K, Air, Jack, or any other
figure, two questions remain:

1. When will be his
swan song?
2. Does he have a shoe
contract?

Andy