The Most Influential Athletes

No. 1 Jimmie Johnson

Nascar

Influential: 25%
Awareness: 20%
Like/Like a lot: 47%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 6%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 72 (avg. athlete 14)

Voted Driver of the Year for the fourth time in 2010, Johnson has seen a spike in popularity as other athletes flatten out or decline amid labor strife.

No. 2 Tom Brady

NFL

Influential: 23%
Awareness: 35%
Like/Like a lot: 40%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 11%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 131 (avg. athlete 14)

Steady as she goes, Brady's talent and work ethic keep him consistently near the top, even as one of the few to hit double digits on the "dislike" meter.

No. 3 Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Nascar

Influential: 22%

Awareness: 40%

Like/Like a lot: 45%

Dislike/Dislike a lot: 3%

N-Score (endorsement potential): 217 (avg. athlete 14)

Hasn't had monster year since winning six races, including the Daytona 500, in 2004. But the personable third-generation racer has been voted Nascar's "Most Popular Driver" by fans every year since 2003.

No. 4 Shaquille O'Neal

NBA

Influential: 21%
Awareness: 71%
Like/Like a lot: 45%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 4%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 334 (avg. athlete 14)

Shaq, who returned from injury to make his 2011 playoff debut Saturday night, isn't the player he used to be. But his overall popularity hasn't waned much in his twilight years.

No. 5 Michael Phelps

Swimming

Influential: 21%
Awareness: 49%
Like/Like a lot: 47%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 4%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 214 (avg. athlete 14)

Laid low after the bong incident, and gaining some recent attention as the 2012 Summer Games approach.

No. 6 Troy Polamalu

NFL

Influential: 21%
Awareness: 23%
Like/Like a lot: 64%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 3%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 165 (avg. athlete 14)

A dominant defender who's all over the field, complete with long hair and likeable personality. Throw in the bonus that comes with playing for the Steelers, and Polamalu stands out as one of the league's most popular players.

No. 7 Peyton Manning

NFL

Influential: 20%
Awareness: 49%
Like/Like a lot: 54%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 5%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 262 (avg. athlete 14)

Less polarizing than his rival Brady, who has higher "dislike" numbers. But the spotlight that comes with Brady's four Super Bowls, model wife and changing hairstyles makes him more influential, fans say.

No. 8 Jeff Gordon

Nascar

Influential: 20%
Awareness: 39%
Like/Like a lot: 35%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 7%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 144 (avg. athlete 14)

The longtime Nascar great got a bump earlier this year by winning the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in Phoenix, snapping a slump that had rendered him winless since April 2009.

No. 9 LeBron James

NBA

Influential: 20%
Awareness: 42%
Like/Like a lot: 33%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 15%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 131 (avg. athlete 14)

Last summer's "Decision" cost LeBron eight points of influence, but he's still among the tops in sports.

No. 10 Tim Tebow

NFL

Influential: 20%
Awareness: 19%
Like/Like a lot: 44%
Dislike/Dislike a lot: 13%
N-Score (endorsement potential): 41 (avg. athlete 14)

Tebow drops from last year, after moving on from college superstar to pro benchwarmer. But he's still well-liked for his clean-cut ways, and the curiosity over whether he'll make it big in the NFL doesn't disappear after one season.

…more

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Manning Sends Broncos Online Ticket Prices Soaring

Don’t say that Peyton Manning doesn’t deserve the $18 million he’s due to pocket from the Denver Broncos this year. Even at 36, Manning is still making money for a lot of people. And not just his employer and the T.V. networks. With his move to the Rocky Mountains this year, Manning will shift millions in the secondary ticket market from sellers of Colts tickets to sellers of Broncos tickets.

According to data compiled by Tiqiq.com, a complier of online ticket prices from StubHub and other sites, the average price for a 2012 Bronco ticket in the secondary market comes in at $298.97,up from $182.69 last season. The 64% increase, the largest of any NFL team, makes the Broncos the fourth-most expensive team to scalp seats for this year, trailing only the Bears ($377.39), Patriots ($352.95) and Giants ($318.52). Last year, the Broncos ranked 12^th.

At the other end of the spectrum: Manning’s old team, the Indianapolis Colts, whose average price online has dropped almost 28%, to $121.99 from $169.29. The Colts, whose online ticket prices placed in the middle of the league (13^th) last season, are now third from the bottom, ahead of just Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Not that Manning is the only factor on that end – last year’s Colts team played without him for the entire season. And you’d think that the excitement over top draft pick Andrew Luck taking over from backups Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky would put upward pressure on prices, not downward pressure. But these things apparently carry some lag time – last year’s prices came directly off of the Colts’ 2010 playoff season. This year’s tumble follows the 3-13 nightmare of 2011. Fans in Indy may want to see how Luck & Co. do before laying out bigger money for tickets.

Other big movers from 2011: the Houston Texans, whose online asking price is up 60% from last year to $215.06 a pop following the team’s first playoff season, and the Carolina Panthers, up 48% to $184.31 as fans appear to be sold on the excitement of QB Cam Newton now that he’s got a year under his belt (a good omen for next year’s Colts ticket scalpers, should Luck live up to expectations).

On the downside: the New York Jets, whose average ticket is fetching $194.03, a 17% drop from last year’s $234.61. Coming off a playoff miss that followed two straight AFC Championship Game appearances, Rex Ryan’s hot air isn’t quite as amusing. And fans don’t yet know how much Tebow Time to expect. Also dropping: the bounty boys themselves, the New Orleans Saints, down 11% to $268 a ticket (though don’t doubt New Orleans’ as a bona fide football town – the Saints are still the sixth-most expensive team in the league).

All in all, business is good. League-wide, the average ticket on line is fetching $191 right now, 8% more than 2011. Let’s finish up with five individual games that will cost you the most from an online scalper this year:

-          Dec. 16 Steelers at Cowboys: $479.81

-          October 7 Broncos at Patriots $467.31

-          September 5 Cowboys at Giants $465.01

-          September 9 Steelers at Broncos  $456.46

-          October 14 Packers at Texans  $433.96

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The most powerful women of the world

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) smiles on Wednesday (18.07.12) at a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin. Merkel received before the Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra to bilateral talks. (AP Photo/Steffi Loos/dapd)

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Secretary of State HIllary Rodham Clinton addresses the Gallup "Evidence and Impact: Closing the Gender Data Gap" conference in Washington, Thursday, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff smiles as she wait for her Uruguayan counterpart Jose Mujica, at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on April 19, 2012. Mujica is on one-day official visit to Brazil. (Photo credit: EVARISTO SA/AFP/GettyImages)

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Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, posing, on Thursday (05.04.12) at a press conference in Berlin. Gates and the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dirk Niebel informed about the cooperation of the Ministry of Development with the Gates Foundation. (AP Photo/Christoph Soeder/dapd)

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This undated photo obtained June 3, 2011 courtesy of The New York Times shows Jill Abramson. Abramson was named the first woman executive editor of The New York Times on June 2, 2011, taking the reins of the prestigious newspaper as it seeks to plot a course in the digital era. (Photo credit: Fred R. Conrad/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom)

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NEW DELHI, INDIA: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence on February 7, 2012 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

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MIAMI LAKES, FL - JULY 10: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at Barbara Goleman Senior High School during a campaign event on July 10, 2012 in Miami Lakes, Florida. (Photo by Larry Marano/WireImage/Getty Images)

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Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), poses for a photograph at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, May 10, 2012. With unemployment in the euro region at the highest in almost 15 years and an economy the IMF predicts will shrink this year, some members of the 17-nation group are challenging austerity plans advocated by Germany. Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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WASHINGTON, DC: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies during a hearing before House Judiciary Committee July 19, 2012 on Capitol [...] more

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Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, speaks during a news conference in New York City on December 2, 2011. Facebook announced that New York will be the center of Facebook's new engineering technology initiative in 2012. Facebook, the world's largest social networking company, is expected to file for an IPO in April, and a public offering could reach a valuation of up to $100 billion and raise $10 billion. 

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NEW YORK - APRIL 2: Oprah Winfrey on CBS THIS MORNING with co hosts Erica Hill, Gayle King and Charlie Rose on the set in New York on Monday, April 2, 2012. 

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Chad Ford's Top 20 Of 2012

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Ranked Players
RK	PLAYER	NAME	POS	HT	WT	AGE	RD	PK(OVR)	SCHOOL/COUNTRY	TEAM
1		Anthony Davis	PF	6-11	222	19	1	1(1)	Kentucky	New Orleans Hornets
		June 27 Update: The Hornets' big trade with the Wizards last week put their ... more
2		Michael Kidd-Gilchrist	SF	6-8	233	18	1	2(2)	Kentucky	Charlotte Bobcats
		June 26 Update: I'm a big Bradley Beal fan, but I think that Michael ... more
3		Bradley Beal	SG	6-5	202	19	1	3(3)	Florida	Washington Wizards
		June 27 Update: With John Wall running the point, the Wizards are left with ... more
4		Thomas Robinson	PF	6-9	244	21	1	5(5)	Kansas	Sacramento Kings
		June 27 Update: Former Kansas forward Thomas Robinson said Wednesday that he should go ...more
5		Andre Drummond	C	7-0	279	19	1	9(9)	Connecticut	Detroit Pistons
		June 26 Update: Andre Drummond: The next Dwight Howard or the next Kwame Brown? Who ... more
6		Dion Waiters	SG	6-4	221	20	1	4(4)	Syracuse	Cleveland Cavaliers
		June 27 Update: Former Syracuse guard Dion Waiters was in Chicago for the pre-draft ... more
7		Harrison Barnes	SF	6-8	228	20	1	7(7)	North Carolina	Golden State Warriors
		June 28 Update: Drafting Barnes at No. 8 is actually Plan B for the ... more
8		Damian Lillard	PG	6-3	189	22	1	6(6)	Weber State	Portland Trail Blazers
		June 27 Update: Weber State's own Damian Lillard told Andy Katz that he had ... more
9		John Henson	PF	6-10	216	21	1	14(14)	North Carolina	Milwaukee Bucks
		June 22 Update: The Detroit Pistons have a major workout in Detroit on Monday ... more
10		Terrence Jones	PF	6-10	252	20	1	18(18)	Kentucky	Houston Rockets
		June 25 Update: Rejoice, Mavs fans. After weeks and weeks of having Kendall Marshall ... more
11		Terrence Ross	SG	6-7	197	21	1	8(8)	Washington	Toronto Raptors
		June 27 Update: The Cavs are bringing in Washington wing Terrence Ross for a ... more
12		Jared Sullinger	PF	6-9	268	20	1	21(21)	Ohio State	Boston Celtics
		June 27 Update: Feels like his first landing place may be Orlando. Doubt he ... more
13		Jeremy Lamb	SG	6-5	179	20	1	12(12)	Connecticut	Houston Rockets
		June 22 Update: UConn wing Jeremy Lamb hasn't worked out since suffering a high ... more
14		Austin Rivers	SG	6-5	203	20	1	10(10)	Duke	New Orleans Hornets
		June 27 Update: Rivers worked out for Washington, Portland and New Orleans, according to ... more
15		Perry Jones	PF	6-11	234	20	1	28(28)	Baylor	Oklahoma City Thunder
		June 26 Update: Which prospect do NBA GMs fear most? Baylor's Perry Jones. Teams are ... more
16		Royce White	SF	6-8	261	21	1	16(16)	Iowa State	Houston Rockets
		June 27 Update: There's a good chance Webb goes to the Celtics at No. ... more
17		Quincy Miller	SF	6-10	219	19	2	8(38)	Baylor	Denver Nuggets
		June 26 Update: Miller was widely regarded as a top-10 pick going into Baylor ... more
18		Kendall Marshall	PG	6-4	198	21	1	13(13)	North Carolina	Phoenix Suns
		June 20 Update: Marshall has been struggling in draft workouts which is to be ... more
19		Marquis Teague	PG	6-2	180	19	1	29(29)	Kentucky	Chicago Bulls
		June 20 Update: Teague is still trying to find his spot in the first ... more
20		Draymond Green	SF	6-8	236	22	2	5(35)	Michigan State	Golden State Warriors
		June 26 Update: Green is not a great athlete, plays questionable defense and doesn't ... more www.nfljerseyslord.com