#363

Been Franklin has eclipsed Bear Grylls as my favorite human. While driving to Iowa, I listened to a documentary about the guy I never see on money because I can't afford to carry hundreds. I asked M 'n' m to make a favorite person list (family excluded). Naturally, it got me listing too. I did it sort of chronologically, hence Santa, my first favorite. And then Rickey Henderson; I was heavily sports-minded as a kid and I wanted to be Rickey. 130 thefts in 1982 (I was seven). Are you kidding me?! Three times more than 100 stolen bases in a season. I have all his baseball cards. I digress. Here's my favorite men, family excluded. I can identify with men. Listing women... just feels like something not to do. Mother Teresa. Mary. Anyway, my list of dudes, pretty quickly done; I'm sure I've forgotten some:

1) Santa Claus
2) Rickey Henderson
3) Davy Crocket
4) Bill Hickok
5) Crazy Horse
6) Abraham Lincoln
7) The Holy Family (that's three folks actually, and possibly four – brother James?)
8) Michael Jordan
9) Dwight Long (I should probably tell him I'm using his name here, as I know him personally, an infectiously positive, all-around unrivaled role-model in my life)
10) Jimmy Carpenter (same as above, hope he doesn't mind, although this is a nice list, let's face it; Jimmy is an awesome competitor and solid dude; a highlight of my life was helping him win basketball games, although winning was nearly guaranteed already when playing alongside Jimmy)
11) Cecil Travis (an all-star MLB shortstop whose career was interrupted by service in WWII, specifically he was in the Battle of the Bulge. So was my grandpa)
12) Thich Nhat Hanh 
13) MLK
14) Muhammad Ali
15) Marcus Aurelius
16) Hugh Jackman
17) F. Scott Fitzgerald
18) Dave Grohl
19) Bear Grylls
20) Ben Franklin

Honorable Mention: Fred Hoiberg (Go Cyclones!), Jack London, Jack Black, Ulysses S. Grant, Steve Nash, Theodore Roosevelt, Eliot Ness, George Washington, Thomas Merton, Joel Osteen, Michael Chabon, John S. Mosby (thank you Bruce Van Sloun for the book)

You should make a list too.