Advertisement

Sunday’s question: Which athlete/celebrity has been your favorite coupling?

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant

Advertisement

I’m going old school on this one. Tony and Jessica? T.I. was right, it’s not fair (sob, sob). A-Rod and Kate Hudson? He has his ring, she has “Nine.” It’s over. Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood? And they are …..?

They all fade to insignificance alongside the brief 1954 nuptial of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, the one that started it all. For sheer star power, this was a romantic and matrimonial clash of equal titans. There is no actress, singer, diva, billionaire’s daughter or former governor who is as big a star today as Marilyn Monroe was in her day. And no athlete has ever matched the class, elegance and mystique of Joe DiMaggio.

Put them together, as fate did, and their brief marriage was such a gigantic story that half a century later, fans are still familiar with details of their divorce, what he said and what she said. And the story’s tragic ending still haunts our culture.

So when it comes to the pairing of athletes and celebrities, Joe and Marilyn remains the romance for all seasons.

Barry Stavro, Los Angeles Times

Greg Norman and Chris Evert.

Yes, I know, they are breaking up, but somehow that end game seems to fit.

Both of them exited their spouses in 2006 to commence a new, middle-aged, celeb/sports relationship and later married. “The Shark” was mega-rich from his clothing deals, clubs, course designs, wine business, etc. Evert was a 50-something trophy wife with a lot of trophies.

Advertisement

And when Norman nearly won the British Open in 2008, he was effusive in thanking Chrissie for helping revive his interest in the game, while she was bubbling over because Norman was her guide to a pro sport that she hadn’t spend much time in. Both said that their new spouse’s sports experience gave them a tremendous insight that few other people had.

So what went wrong? The rumor-rumbling on the Internet is that the newlyweds didn’t get along very well with their step-kids. But who knows.

What we do know: Evert now has three failed marriages, Norman two.

Advertisement