At the time he was not considered a professional athlete, but I would argue that he was and I admired him for his can do spirit and moxy.

I refer to Theseus who fought the Minotaur in the Labyrinth

Edward Burne-Jones’s illustration of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, 1861

In that particular fight I did cheer for the Minotaur who like Theseus was a great athlete and had a very special skill set of his own.

Minoan Labyrinth

I bring Theseus and the Minotaur up because today’s prompt asked me to name the professional athletes that I respect the most and why  and the answer short answer is I couldn’t think of a single one.

On the other hand, I like doing these prompts and when they challenge me  I get super creative. I think I did pretty good here.

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William Blake’s image of the Minotaur to illustrate Inferno XII