New Englanders understandably sometimes feel like the world revolves around their teams and athletes.
ESPN’s ranking of the “100 most famous athletes” in the world tells an awfully different story, however.
The Mothership published its annual list Tuesday morning, and there were certainly a few surprises. Although, the rankings make a bit more sense when you consider the three factors taken into account: Twitter followers, endorsement dollars and the amount of times a given athlete was searched for on the internet.
Here are the top 10:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. LeBron James
3. Lionel Messi
4. Neymar
5. Roger Federer
6. Tiger Woods
7. Kevin Durant
8. Rafael Nadal
9. Stephen Curry
10. Phil Mickelson
As you can see, no Boston athletes cracked the top 10. As a matter of fact, only two Beantown stars made the list all.
Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving registered at No. 27, one spot behind English soccer star Wayne Rooney and one spot ahead of recently retired Spanish soccer legend Andres Iniesta. The only other Boston athlete to make the list was New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who came in at No. 38, two spots behind Derrick Rose.
That’s right: Derrick Rose is more famous than Tom Brady.
As we mentioned, there were a more than few surprises on (and off) the list.
Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton ranked No. 68 and was the only professional driver on the list (sorry, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick). Furthermore, a grand total of zero NHL and MLB athletes made the cut, as the world apparently isn’t that fascinated with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Giancarlo Stanton.
But hey, an Indian cricket player named Yuvraj Singh made the list — so there’s that.
