Nicknames, or lack thereof.

Karl "Mailman" Malone

Fun read from  The New York Times on the lack of nicknames throughout sports nowadays. 

"The Yankees won generations of championships with men known as Babe, Iron Horse, Joltin’ Joe, Scooter, Yogi, Catfish and Mr. October. More recently, they won with players named Derek, Mariano and Andy. Alex Rodriguez — A-Rod — has what passes for a nickname these days."

Chris Berman hits it on the head...“I viewed it as reviving a lost art. Why aren’t there nicknames now? Maybe everything is so literal. You can see everybody on the Internet, TV, YouTube, whatever it is. There’s very little left to the imagination.”