Notre Dame’s Golden Tate Featured in ESPN

Ivan Maisel, writer for ESPN, has a feature on Golden Tate, a two sport star at Notre Dame. Tate was picked not because he’s particularly good at football or particularly good at baseball, but because he’s good at both. Two-sport athletes are becoming increasingly rare these days.

Why are two sport athletes like Golden Tate becoming less and less common? Well, as competition gets more fierce, a more intense dedication to sport must necessarily follow. If you want to be the best high school football player possible, the pressure is on to play football all year round, giving you an advantage over athletes who play soccer, baseball, track or basketball in the other seasons.

However, athletes with pure, natural abilities like Golden Tate can excel at two sports. Former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija (2.28 ERA last year with the Chicago Cubs) used to be a star wide receiver with the Irish, just like Golden Tate. Other two-sport stars like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders are relatively easy to find in years’ past. But can you think of a two-sport star playing professional sports today?

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