The issue, which is now available, also features nine magazine covers of athletes past and present represented on the list. Click here to see the pictures.

A spokesperson for GQ explained, “The athletes featured on GQ’s ’25 Coolest’ list were chosen by the editors of the magazine, and were included based on the fact that they excelled in their sport and showed individuality in the way they played, exemplified cool, and had a unique sense of style/appearance — which are reflected in the photos featured on the nine separate covers.”

Here’s their list in alphabetical order. A few may not be familiar to you and a few may not be popular choices but then again…this isn’t Sports Illustrated’s list.

Muhammad Ali: The Greatest. He was stylish from the very start and will forever be associated with the pinnacle of his sport.

Mario Andretti: A name that translates to speed. The playboy race car driver.  Elegant in and out of the car.

Arthur Ashe: Probably didn’t get his due until he became ill. A legend for his sport and considered as much fierce competitor as he was a consummate gentleman.

George Best: The Mickey Mantle of soccer for Manchester United’s legendary teams from 1963 to 74.  Played hard both on and off the field which led to kidney failure.  No stranger to GQ’s men of style lists.

Bjorn Borg:  Stoic. This guy was the stylish ying to McEnroe’s loutish yang.  Long hair with a sweat band won’t usually qualify you for this list, but this guy cleaned up real nice and continues to prosper.

Tom Brady: Made a wife and mother out of a super model. A few Super Bowls and movie star looks. The guy looks good in shoulder pads or tux.

Jim Brown: Widely considered either the baddest man in football or the best the game ever saw.  He considered Hollywood a better fit for a man with his charisma and he was right. 

Julius Erving: Dr. J. was cool even when not in flight on the basketball court. He was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan.

Walt Frazier: The guy could really wear a fur. Smooth artist on and off Madison Square Garden. One of the all time great Knicks. He wore wide-brimmed hats (a brown velour Borsalino one was his favorite), and sported a low afro and intense muttonchops . He had full-length mink coats and velvet blazers and rolled to his games  in a Rolls Royce.

Bob Gibson: If being the most feared fire-balling pitcher in the majors doesn’t make you cool, then it least will get you on a list through intimidation.

Allen Iverson: I think Yao Ming is cooler. The DailyHelping isn’t so sure about this one. Someone must have asked Iverson to contribute to the list and he put the coolest guy he knew. Himself.

Bo Jackson:  “Bo knows” will always be one of the great ad campaigns. This guy should be more well-known. A remarkable athlete and remarkable man.

Michael Jordan: His Airness.  The Babe Ruth of his sport.

Jean-Claude Killy: The french playboy who could make the downhill look like ballet. The only thing that could bring him down was a lover’s bullet.

Evel Knievel: Eh, not so cool. A redneck who rode his motorcycle over trucks and buses and tried a canyon. He channeled Elvis and only got the belt buckle part right.  His son who followed in his father’s footsteps all the way to the hospital.

Tim Lincecum: The DailyHelping loves this off-beat choice. Some will claim there are better pitchers in the game (see Philadelphia’s current pitching rotation), but few have the engaging personality of “the Freak”.  A bit of a pothead, small stature, huge heart. The guy looks good in a bow tie.

Pete Maravich: Great nickname: Pistol Pete.  Amazing ball handler and a jump shot that was poetry in vertical motion.  A sharp dressed man when off the court.

Joe Namath:  The coolest the NFL ever had. Bold predictions, bar owner, ladies man who also looked good in panty hose.

The guy had a bunch of nicknames but the two most associated with the guy was “Broadway Joe” when off the field and “Joe Cool” when leading the Jets.

Arnold Palmer: The Babe Ruth of his sport.

Pelé:  The first guy in sports who only used one name. International cool with a patented “bicycle kick” that kids emulated for decades.

Gary Player: Looked great in black. The best thing about South Africa when it was not a cool place. Unflappable, handsome and skilled. This guy is definitely one of the coolest golfers of all time…and let’s face it, golf is not a cool sport.

Derek Sanderson: Probably a worse choice than Iverson or Knieval. A former Jet receiver and party guy with Namath. Maybe there’s a spot for a wing man on this list.

Kelly Slater: A surfer. GQ has had a thing for this guy and it’s probably because he’s one of the few surfer guys who was willing to put on a shirt, long pants and a jacket. He’s also apparently the best in his sport.

Ken Stabler: “The Snake” was quarterback on a very cool team, The Oakland Raiders. Like the Captain of a pirate ship.

Ted Turner:  Launched a network, built up the Atlanta Braves and dated Jane Fonda. He also had an excellent mustache and could wear a yacht cap without looking like Thurston Howell III.

If you click on the picture below you’ll get more beach shots. Please note that they are all NSFW.

James was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and an All-Star for the past five years.  His value to the city of Cleveland was perhaps never more evident than this past year when in a highly publicized free agency process, he decided on live television to announce (after much dramatic buildup), to go to the Miami Heat.

He claimed it was for the opportunity to play with other superstars and earn a title that he felt unobtainable in Cleveland, while the devastated fans of the area felt it was a money grab on the lowest order.

The fallout has been significant and as the new NBA season has just began to roll, the superstar small forward has sought assistance from his beloved shoe company in an effort to save his legacy.

Daily Helping would like to share three videos that chronicle the evolution of this PR effort and it clearly hasn’t turned out the way King James had hoped.

The first video is the original effort by LeBron and Nike. It’s impressive and admits that he can’t please everyone and that there are ramifications for the decisions he makes.

More impressive is the next video, which shares the reaction by the spurned fans of Cleveland.

The last word belongs to the true giant of the game, Michael Jordan, who shared his own impression of the young star’s effort to save face.

From the fans he left behind:

Michael Jordon’s reaction:

]]> http://dailyhelping.com/2010/10/29/1676/feed/ 0 http://dailyhelping.com/2010/09/25/makes-sense/ http://dailyhelping.com/2010/09/25/makes-sense/#comments Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:20:25 +0000 admin http://dailyhelping.com/?p=1663

The Fan Base of America's Baseball teams.

The very mention of the word “Baseball” may alienate some of the valued DailyHelping readership, there are still others who crave over analysis of what this map implies. For that breakdown, go here.

On Tuesday, Playboy Enterprises Inc. launched a website that will be cleaned up and safe to browse.  Even conscious of the implied message that their name and logo conjure, the site will go by a more palatable name.  TheSmokingJacket.com. (More like Hef, less like the Girls Next Door)

TheSmokingJacket.com will contain no nudity instead go with  humor to reach Playboy’s target demographic, men 25 to 34 years old. They also tend to send a lot of cartoons and jokes online.

“A lot of our audience logs on (to Playboy.com) after work and we saw that we were missing a golden opportunity to reach guys when they’re online the most: when they’re sitting at their desk, not working, sending e-mails to their friends,” said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy’s editorial director.

The site, named after one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s favorite pieces of clothing (silkpajamas.com was taken), won’t include the long interviews or in-depth articles found in Playboy. Think People magazine but more fun.

The site will still tease. This is still Playboy, after all and man doesn’t live on dirty viral jokes and Axe ads alone .  There will be  some pictorials that are relatively tame by comparison to the parent online magazine Playboy.com. the Playboy archives with photographs like those from the 1983 Playmate Playoffs, in which bathing suit-clad women competed in games such as a tug-of-war. The idea that you can just forget about the site while at work is somewhat foolish as well. The large print article headers still boldy declare that they can provide you with “7 Signs You’ve Given Up On Getting Laid”.

“The ideal is to be … the go-to site for those who are bored at work,” said Matt Gibbs, the lead producer of the site.

Because “Playboy” is just the kind of word that has companies putting up firewalls to keep their workers’ minds on their jobs, the only thing in the name that suggests Playboy is behind the site are the bunny ears inside the ‘o’ in “TheSmokingJacket.”

The site will be updated continually in the hopes that men will return to it throughout the work day.

Many would be surprised that this isn’t the first film to feature pixies with silencers.  There was a fantastic action picture called “The Professional” that came out in 1994 starring Jean Reno and Natalie Portman, in what was her very first film.

The story is simple.  a professional assassin  Leon (Reno) is New York’s top hit man. When his next-door neighbors are savagely murdered, Leon becomes the unwilling guardian of the family’s sole survivor, a 12-year-old girl named Mathilda (Portman).  Mathilda wants revenge.  She convinces Leon to train her in the deadly arts and the story leads to a confrontation with the psychotic detective and his fellow crooked officers.  The bad guy  (played by Gary Oldman in an over-the top performance), ranks number #43 in the Online Film Critics Society’s “Top 100 (film) Villains of all Time” .

If you haven’t seen “Leon The Professional“, please make the time. It’s worth a look.  Particularly the Director’s (Luc Bresson) cut.

Nike, one of the most innovative sports-world marketeers put out an extended commercial devoted to the upcoming World Cup that’s a real pleasure to watch.

They’ve taken frozen moments for a group of international superstars and visualized the fantasies that spring to mind just before that world-shattering score. It goes from one football star to another, each moment of adoration more over the top than the next.

There’s some subtlety, humor, cameos and amazing camera work. Enjoy…

At 36,  some models look to be a bit more discreet but Heidi is holding nothing back.  Here are a few pictures from Allure magazine‘s April edition.  Enjoy….

Whipped Cream

Heidi wears something "light".

Heidi goes for something snug.

Heidi's not afraid to throw her weight around.