Will the real Hammer please stand up?

After reading my brother's post about that awesome blind bowler, I was struck by how difficult it must be to carry around such a strong nickname. Think about it. "The Hammer". It comes with such obligation.

Consider some past hammers: Hank Aaron, MC (aka Stanley "the Manley" Burrell) and the seemingly endless list of professional Jewish athletes (Ryan Braun, Demetri Salita, Hank Greenberg, Gabe Kapler...). Of course, they're Hebrew Hammers, but if anything that makes the obligation that much greater.

Let's face it though, the most feared (and loved) Hammer must be Tom DeLay. I always thought "Touchdown Tommy" would have been a more appropriate nickname for DeLay, but I tend to want to call everyone named Tom "Touchdown Tommy". Call it Bushitis.

I wonder how much influence a nickname has on its owner. Did being "The Hammer" push DeLay to a career full of bitter partisanship and a penchant for crookedness? Consider this: when DeLay served in the Texas House of Rpresentatives, his nickname was "Hot Tub Tom". Guess the guy liked to party in hot tubs. Wonder what kind of political career he might have had if that nickname stuck. He might have just been a really fun lobbyist. Or maybe he would have run Spring Break trips to South Padre.