Survey Says: Favorite non-hockey athlete?

One of the first Survey Says features I did last season was asking Penguins players who their favorite hockey players were growing up, and it led to some interesting answers with good variety.

I wanted to stick with the same sort of fandom question for this Survey Says, and went around the locker room asking Penguins players about their favorite non-hockey athlete. There are definitely a handful of names that were popular answers, but also some good variety with athletes and different sports.

Here's how the Penguins' players (and some now-former Penguins players) answered:

Sidney Crosby: I like Novak Djokovic. I think he's still at a pretty high level for his age, and he's won a lot. I was a big Roger Federer fan, and Rafael Nadal as well. But (Djokovic) seems like he's just not slowing down and still finds ways to win.

Marcus Pettersson: It used to be Christiano Ronaldo when he was at Real Madrid. Now, maybe Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish tennis player. 

Sam Poulin: Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan. I watched both of their documentaries, The Last Dance and The Captain. I just love their mindset, love the way they play, love their compete. I'll say those two guys.

Jansen Harkins: Kobe Bryant. I just liked him when I was younger. I wasn't huge into basketball, but I feel like basketball players are some of the more fun athletes to follow. I liked the motivation he had and just his persona. He had a really cool persona.

Michael Bunting: Probably Roger Federer. I just love tennis, I grew up watching him a lot. Him against Nadal were pretty cool matches, I was always a Federer fan. He's all-around class.

Radim Zohorna: Ooooh, I like a lot of athletes. Ronaldo, other soccer players. And tennis players -- Federer, Nadal.

Kris Letang: Michael Schumacher. I just like Formula 1 and he's one of the greatest of all time. I grew up watching him with my dad.

Jack St. Ivany: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Good mentality, 'Mamba' mentality.

Ryan Shea: I mean, the easy one being from Boston is Tom Brady. But if I had to pick someone other than him, I like Rafael Nadal. I don't want to say Bryce Harper when he's on the Phillies and I'm playing in Pittsburgh.

Jonathan Gruden: Growing up I loved the Tigers, so Miguel Cabrera.

Emil Bemstrom: Leo Messi. He's the best football player ever.

Valtteri Puustinen: I would say Messi. He's so skilled, whatever he does is unbelievable. I'm not a big fan of soccer, but if I'm watching soccer, I'm watching Messi.

Reilly Smith: Tiger Woods, just his excellence.

Erik Karlsson: Roger Federer, I grew up watching him play tennis.

John Ludvig: Probably Steph Curry. He's just a perfectionist. He's worked so hard, he's had such an amazing story coming up winning all those titles with the Warriors there. I admire him a lot.

Drew O'Connor: Eli Manning. I was a Giants fan, he won a couple of Super Bowls.

Colin White: It was Tom Brady, but he's not playing anymore. I think Patty Mahomes is pretty cool.

Rickard Rakell: Michael van Gerwen. He's a darts player, the best darts player that's ever played.

Magnus Hellberg: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he's been a great athlete that I've been watching for a long time.

Jake Guentzel: Tiger Woods or LeBron James. I just think what they've done is pretty remarkable. And I just look at what LeBron has done over his career, I think it's pretty unique. He reminds me of Sid. Him and Sid are kind of doing this together where they're aging like fine wine. Father Time is not really getting them. So it's pretty remarkable to watch.

Chad Ruhwedel: Kobe or Tiger. I watched a lot of Kobe growing up, for sure. And Tiger, the more I started playing golf, the more I appreciated Tiger too. They're just both great.

Tristan Jarry: LeBron or Michael Jordan, just they way they play and practice. Even Kobe, all those guys were at a different level.

Lars Eller: Hmmm ... I don't know.

Jesse Puljujarvi: When I was younger, Usain Bolt. I thought he was really cool, Usain Bolt for sure.

Joona Koppanen: I would say Usain Bolt. It was fun watching him break all the world records. 

Noel Acciari: You have guys like Tiger, Michael Jordan. Just competitors. I mean, look at Tiger. I'd probably say him because it doesn't matter what age he is, everyone's going to turn on the TV to watch him. It's pretty cool to see what he's done in his career and what he's still doing.

Ryan Graves: Tiger Woods. I'm a huge golf fan, so I grew up watching Tiger. There's something about an athlete that when push comes to shove, they're always in it. Like, you just knew he was going to charge. He's so exciting, there's very few athletes like that in the world.

Bryan Rust: Tiger Woods. The passion he had playing his sport and the way he transformed that sport. I think it was viewed as a little bit more stuffy, for an older person, more rules. Then after he came in and dominated and showed a little bit of swag, a little confidence, a little bit of personality, I think he got a lot more young people in the game and I think it's made a lot more people want to be good at golf.

P.O Joseph: Can I say a couple? Tiger Woods is up there for sure. Michael Jordan was up there. I'm a big (Roger) Federer guy, I really liked him. We watched a lot of tennis, and he's definitely someone that I looked after in terms of personality. Him and Serena (Williams) in tennis. I can keep on going and going. I watched so many sports and played so many sports that I feel like I have a lot to say about those athletes.

Alex Nedeljkovic: Oh, I don't know. (Me: Not Joe Flacco?) Hey! Easy there. LeBron James.

Past editions of Survey Says can be found here.