Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA's all-time scoring leader.

Freddy Adu was pursued by some of the world's top soccer clubs.

Teenaged soccer sensation Freddy Adu has a few more responsibilities and expectations heaped upon him than your average 16-year-old.

Adu is billed as the future of the D.C. United franchise, Major League Soccer (the league he plays in), and the U.S. national soccer program.

No pressure, kid.

Adu became the youngest player in modern American professional team sports when he was drafted by and later debuted with D.C United as a 14-year-old in early 2004.

Adu, who came to the U.S. from Ghana in 1997, was courted by some of Europe's most esteemed soccer franchises, but he opted to stay in the U.S. That decision, and the ensuing media exposure, has made him the great hope in a global sport the U.S. hopes to make strides in during the coming years.

Alexandre Daigle never emerged as the next Mario Lemieux.

Back in 1993, everyone was talking about a French-Canadian kid playing for the Victoriaville Tigres of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Alexandre Daigle was a young forward who dazzled scouts with his blazing speed and had all the markings of being the best player from the region since Mario Lemieux.

So when the expansion Ottawa Senators, desperate to find a franchise player who would help get their new arena built, finished last in the regular season and got the first overall pick, general manager Randy Sexton couldn't hide his excitement.

Rumours circulated the Sens threw their last few games in order to secure the pick, although the league couldn't prove it.

Ignoring such talents as Chris Pronger, Paul Kariya and Adam Deadmarsh, Sexton named Daigle as the No. 1 selection of the 1993 entry draft.

Unfortunately for the Sens, the media spotlight was a little too much for Daigle to handle.

Lacking the passion of his teammates, Daigle never managed more than 51 points in his 4 ½ seasons with the Senators and struggled with three more teams before retiring for two seasons to live in Hollywood.

Claiming he wanted to play again, Daigle made a comeback in 2002. In 2003-04, he scored 20 goals and 51 points to lead the Minnesota Wild in scoring, but it looks like the burden of being a first overall flop will haunt him for the rest of his career.

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4. John Elway

John Elway shunned Baltimore before playing his entire career in Denver.

Ken Griffey Jr. helped transform the sadsack Mariners into a title contender.

Exceptional talent has a way of getting a baseball prospect noticed, but having a big-leaguer as a father certainly doesn't hurt either.

Ken Griffey Jr. had the luxury of both.

Griffey Jr., whose father played 19 years in the majors, smashed team records with his Cincinnati high school team. He had all the tools – speed, power and defensive ability in spades.

The Seattle Mariners selected Griffey Jr. right out of high school with the first overall pick in the 1987 draft. It was a vital selection for the Mariners, a franchise that up to that point had never finished above .500 since entering Major League Baseball in 1977.

Griffey Jr. didn't disappoint. He blazed through the minor leagues and joined the Mariners in 1989 as a mainstay in centrefield. Griffey Jr. blossomed into a perennial all-star and guided the Mariners to the first two division titles in franchise history.

His career was later plagued by injuries following a 2000 trade to the Cincinnati Reds. However, the veteran outfielder is healthy and productive in 2005, and on pace for his best campaign since joining the Reds.

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6. LeBron James

LeBron James was a high school phenom who earned national attention.

If his first two NBA seasons are any indication on the type of career ahead for LeBron James, the anticipation was worth it.

Two years ago, it was hard to escape all of the media attention surrounding a high-school prospect many believed would become the sport's next superstar.

That year, the centre of the basketball universe seemed to be in Akron, Ohio, as James dominated his competition in leading St. Vincent-St. Mary to the national championship for the third time in four years.

Demand for seeing this phenom was so high, ESPN televised some of his games nationally.

So, it came as no surprise when the Cleveland Cavaliers called out James's name as the first overall selection at the 2003 NBA entry draft.

Everyone was anxious to jump on the James bandwagon. Before he even played an NBA game, he secured over $120 million US in endorsements.

All of the attention and the pressure to succeed didn't seem to hurt James on the court. He played just as the scouts predicted, earning the rookie of the year award.

The point guard continued to excel in 2004-05, almost single-handedly leading the Cavs to the playoffs.

The scary part is James is just 20. He still has lots of time to improve.

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7. Bo Jackson

Bo Jackson was a two-sport superstar.

Like the famous TV advertisement professed, Bo knew about a lot of things. Getting drafted was one of them.

Jackson, a high school sports star in Alabama, was selected by five pro franchises in his career – three baseball and two football teams.

The New York Yankees chose Jackson out of high school in the second round of the 1982 baseball draft, but instead of accepting a multi-year contract, he took a football scholarship at Auburn University.

At Auburn, Jackson boosted his stock by becoming one of the top running backs in the country while still patrolling center-field for his college baseball team. Jackson became the hottest football prospect in the country after winning the 1985 Heisman Trophy as most outstanding U.S. college player.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made Jackson the No. 1 pick in the 1986 NFL draft, but the multi-sport sensation shocked observers by shunning the Bucs in favour of his first true sporting love – baseball.

Later that year, Jackson joined the Kansas City Royals – the third baseball team ever to draft him. He didn't put the football pads on again until Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis later lured him into the NFL by forking out full-time money for Jackson to be a part-time player.

Like the Royals before them, the Raiders gambled on Jackson in a subsequent draft and won. The rest is multi-sport history.

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8. Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux turned the Penguins into a championship franchise.

Two decades ago, before everyone in Pittsburgh was talking about Sidney Crosby, there was another future superstar that looked poised to revive a sagging hockey franchise.

Laval Voisins forward Mario Lemieux had all of the markings of a franchise player – a smooth skater with extraordinary vision, passing and a deft scoring touch.

He exhibited all of those talents in his final season in the QMJHL, setting single-season records for points (282) and goals (133).

By the end of his three-year junior career, he had 562 points and a 2.81 points-per-game average.

Lemieux looked like he could, one day, challenge Wayne Gretzky for the NHL scoring title.

There was no doubt the Penguins would select Lemieux with the first overall pick in 1984, but even they didn't know they would get a saviour.

Not only did he go on to shatter club records, win various awards and lead the Pens to two Stanley Cups, he returned to save the franchise from bankruptcy by putting together a group of investors and becoming team owner in 1999.

Being the boardroom wasn't enough for Lemieux and he returned to the ice after a three-year retirement in 2000.

This year, past and present blue-chip prospects will play together when Lemieux and Crosby suit up for the Penguins.

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9. Eric Lindros

Eric Lindros refused to play with both the Greyhounds and Nordiques.

First overall draft picks usually engage in convocation-like rituals. Family members are embraced, the new employee shakes hands with his bosses, and a cap and jersey are pulled on for photographers to snap the moment.

Eric Lindros was one of the rare exceptions, not once, but twice.

As a teenager, Lindros made scouts salivate. He scored in bunches and physically-dominated players with his hulking build. It was enough to make the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League want to draft the uber-prospect first overall.

Lindros's parents asked the Greyhounds not to choose Eric since they wanted their son to play closer to Toronto. Despite the warning, the Greyhounds selected Lindros with the top pick and he failed to report to the Northern Ontario club.

Lindros's rights were eventually traded to the Oshawa Generals, where he became a junior superstar.

The Greyhounds experience was relived during the 1991 NHL draft when the Quebec Nordiques used their first overall selection to take Lindros. Again, the Lindros camp informed the Nordiques – the NHL's doormat at the time – that Eric wouldn't report to the club.

The Nordiques took Lindros and later sent him to the Philadelphia Flyers in a blockbuster swap. The deal helped transform the Nordiques into a Stanley Cup powerhouse once the club moved to Colorado.

Lindros, dubbed the Next One, became an above-average NHLer, but never quite lived up to the hype as the next Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux.

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10. John Tavares

John Tavares was scooped up by the Oshawa Generals.

It takes a special kind of 14-year-old hockey player to force a league to change its draft rules, but that's the impact John Tavares had on the OHL earlier this year.

Tavares, a star on his Toronto midget hockey team, originally wasn't eligible for the 2005 OHL draft since the previous rules had an age limit of 15. Wary of losing the super prospect to another league, possibly in the United States, the OHL devised a system in which so-called "exceptional" 14-year-olds would be permitted into the draft.

The OHL deemed Tavares eligible in time for the May 2005 draft in which he was selected first overall by the Oshawa Generals.

Is he the next Crosby?

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