Really quick, look at that headshot over there. Don't think I don't count my blessings every time someone tells me we look nothing alike.
It's hard to be the younger sibling, especially in my case when you are four years younger. By the time I got better than bro over there at a lot of things he suddenly didn't want to play anymore.
Paul and I have always taken a different approach to sports. He played hockey as a forward; I played as a defenseman. Currently Paul is training to run a marathon; I just play a lot of Halo 2.
But the proof of the dominant sibling being the youngest is out there in the athletic world, and being the caring person I am (the younger one is always the more sensitive), I can provide a few examples.
Family DiMaggio: Everyone knows Joe, but what about Vince? Well, Vince's 125 HR, 959 hits, 584 RBI and .249 career batting average pale in comparison to Joe's 361 HR, 2,214 hits, 1,537 RBI and .325 average at the plate. Plus Joe got Marilyn Monroe. Case closed.
Family Maddux: While Mike had a quiet pitching career and is now a pitching coach with the Astros, Greg is still going strong. If 13 Gold Gloves and four Cy Young Awards do not impress you, 16 straight seasons with 15 wins or more, an MLB record, should. That's not mentioning his 2,916 career strikeouts.
So like Venus Williams -whose younger sister Serena just won the Australian Open to take the first Grand Slam in 2005 -take a seat Paul, the younger sibling rules sports.
Subhed: A toast to the older siblings of the world
Whether the contest is Monopoly or a one-on-one basketball match up on the driveway, the younger sibling always is going down.
Older siblings might not be as big, athletic or talented as their younger counterparts, but they refuse to lose. An older brother will cheat his way around Boardwalk, and he'll argue every contested foul, Sorry little bro
that was all ball.
My little brother knows this through many painful experiences. He's just in denial.
Older siblings dominate in the professional sports world. Brent Gretzky's nickname is the Not-So-Great One. I guess when you play hockey and your older brother is Wayne Gretzky, life can be hard. Brent did find his way out of the minors once to take on big brother in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Naturally, Wayne's Los Angeles Kings won.
Barry Bonds is the oldest sibling in his family, and we all know what he allegedly did to stay on top of the baseball world. Pat McEnroe might be a great tennis commentator on ESPN, but he never matched the big wins of his older brother John on the court.
And then my personal favorite, Darren Flutie, can think about how he didn't measure up to his brother Doug on the football field whenever ESPN runs Doug's big play with Boston College every weekend during college football. I guess he can find solace in a nice big bowl of Flutie Flakes. 17
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