When talking about athlete’s who date other celebrities, I believe they are divided into one of three categories. They are either a superstar who is already a household name, a “B list” who may be known if you see their face (but you can’t really place them… especially to a woman who doesn’t follow sports), and lastly you have your average players who probably get little playing time and are best known for the celebrity they date.  The people they date also come in one of three categories; a superstar, a celebrity, or someone in the business.  I took 17 different couples and put them into groups:

A (Power Couple’s) – Couples in which each are superstars in their respective field and neither makes the other.

B1 (Athlete Notch Below) – Couples in which the athlete may not be that well known to people outside of the sports world and dates celebrities who are superstars or more famous. 

B2 (Celebrity is notch below) – simply the inverse of B1 where the athlete is better known than the celebrity they’re dating.

C (Known) – this is where both people in the relationship are somewhat known but neither is a superstar even if they make a huge amount of money. 

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A Couples:

  1. Tom Brady & Gisele Bundchen (Why she is a top model I don’t know)
  2. Dwayne Wade & Gabrielle Union
  3. Alex Rodriquez & Cameron Diaz

B1 Couples:

  1. Monica & Shannon Brown
  2. Keisha Cole & Daniel Gibson
  3. Eva Longoria & Tony Parker (Now Divorced)
  4. Jessica Simpson & Tony Romo (No longer a couple)
  5. Maria Sharapova & Sasha Vujacic
  6. Rihanna & Matt Kemp

B2 Couples:

  1. Carmelo Anthony & Lala Vasquez
  2. Derek Jeter & Minka Kelly (Jeter can go in either group if you look at his dating history)

C Couples:

  1. Lamar Odom & Khloe Kardashian (He should have waited one of the younger sisters to become legal).
  2. Candice Parker & Sheldon Williams
  3. Kenyon Martin & Trina (Both are almost superstars)
  4. Kelly Rowland & Roy Williams ( No longer a couple)
  5. Tim & Elizabeth Hasselbeck (Neither has done anything worthy of mention)
  6. Reggie Bush & Kim Kardashian (No longer dating and both overrated.)

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If you ask women who don’t follow sports in your area if they know most of the athletes listed I believe you will get the same results I did when asking people around the Atlanta area. With the great majority of them, they only know they play some kind of sport and are dating someone that they know something about.

 

Written by J. Darien Stokes, contributing writer for STACKS Magazine