ESPN's quest for greatest athelete of all time..

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LaneMyer said:
Robinson lettered in baseball, basketball, football, and track at UCLA. There has long existed a narrative that baseball was his fourth most proficient sport. Had baseball, boxing, and horse racing not ruled the sporting landscape back then it's likely he would have been an NFL player.
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Amazing.

As I said, he or Jim Thorpe get my vote.
 
A lot of these athletes have the support of teams to carry them through tough days, but tennis players are out there on their own (well, except when they receive illicit coaching from uncles, friends, teams, et al.).

As far as Earnhardt goes, good driving should be rewarded with reduced insurance premiums, not ESPN accolades.

And Tony Hawk could never promote both a razor and a premium chocolate line, so I say sexi Rogi all the way.
 
big mj and RF fan
but in terms of athleticism, Mark Allen is an alien
the others are sportsmen (or players)

also: why Carl Lewis is in that list and not Usain Bolt?
 
I like Mohammed Ali too... the guy was a genius.. It was just yesterday that I was watching his "Thrilla in Manila" fight... one of the best fights ever..

Still no one can match the class, style and people friendly attitude of federer.. he is just a good 100 levels above everyone in that regard.. It surprises me how he knows the exact right thing to say on every occasion..
 
SLD76 said:
huh??

fed is not the greatest athlete ever.

there can never be one greatest athlete in any case.

different sports require different attributes
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Lets atleast name the best sport ever.. :-D which do you think it is?? Basket ball?? Tennis? Boxing??

I would say tennis.. the most all round game to test an athlete ever..
 
muhammad_ali_versus_sonny_liston12-e1351986771524-300x268.jpg


Watch one of his old fights....he dared people to punch him
 
tistrapukcipeht said:
LOL at this poll, hahahaha.

A poll that has Dale Earnhardt as the best driver ( Nascar LOL, Please give me a break!) is a completely worthless, it's a joke.

Since when Nascar with all those fat old guys is the top tear of auto racing??

The greatest driver of all time is Michael Schumacher, He hold the records for almost everything in F1, at least the most important records, in the hardest and more competitive auto racing, the one that most drivers dream to have a chance to seat in those cars and drive it, if Michael Schumacher, isn't on the poll, the poll is worthless, but that's ok, We Americans only value what is important here.
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Yeah, plus it also shows that you Americans don't have a clue about Formula1.
Michael Schumacher ain't even the F1 GOAT for the most of us Germans, who followed the sport for decades itensively.
 
TennisLovaLova said:
also: why Carl Lewis is in that list and not Usain Bolt?
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Well, as they are ignoring any drug usage......

Perhaps because of Carl Lewis's long jumping, including holding the indoor world record, being undefeated for 10 years and participation in one of the greatest olympic events in memory. Or his 9 Olympic golds versus Usain's 6.

I don't understand the general hero worship of Ali. He's not often mentioned as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Unfortunately it's become fashionable to lionise him because he shakes a lot. He's is sport's Nelson Mandela.
 
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TennisLovaLova said:
Maybe
But still it is not a proof of great athleticism
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That's because everyone has their own definition of what athleticism is, Ali had amazing footwork, coordination, reflexes, hand speed etc. of course his punching power was lacking (relatively speaking) compared to some other heavyweights but you can't have it all.
 
zagor said:
That's because everyone has their own definition of what athleticism is, Ali had amazing footwork, coordination, reflexes, hand speed etc. of course his punching power was lacking (relatively speaking) compared to some other heavyweights but you can't have it all.
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Ali was great.. but I would but Jordan above everyone else..

To me the list would look something like this:

Jordan (Closest to a player who was an immortal demi god in their sport)
Federer (special because he is just niiiceee and bleeds class all over)
Ali
Gretzsky
Bolt (not on the list unfortunately)
Phelps
 
tistrapukcipeht said:
LOL at this poll, hahahaha.

A poll that has Dale Earnhardt as the best driver ( Nascar LOL, Please give me a break!) is a completely worthless, it's a joke.

Since when Nascar with all those fat old guys is the top tear of auto racing??

The greatest driver of all time is Michael Schumacher, He hold the records for almost everything in F1, at least the most important records, in the hardest and more competitive auto racing, the one that most drivers dream to have a chance to seat in those cars and drive it, if Michael Schumacher, isn't on the poll, the poll is worthless, but that's ok, We Americans only value what is important here.
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nascar makes me laugh..everyone chugging around at 4mph in old austin allegro's left over from 1980 :twisted::)..

they might as well have 'monkey tennis' on the list :neutral:
 
Greatest ATHLETE of all time, meaning most athletic would be lebron james he is just a freak of nature and i truly believe he could be a stud in football as well as the best basketball player on the planet

Greatest Player in their respective sport of all time is Wayne Gretzky. fun fact for wayne he could have never scored a goal in his entire career and would still have the most points of all time by roughly 100 points. He also has the most goals of all time.
 
PSNELKE said:
Yeah, plus it also shows that you Americans don't have a clue about Formula1.
Michael Schumacher ain't even the F1 GOAT for the most of us Germans, who followed the sport for decades itensively.
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Yes he is, not only for Germans but for most of the world, there is no way to DENY who is the Greatest, He is the one who won more, that's the end.

Nobody else comes even close.

The best are the ones who win more, no excuses whatsoever, either you win or you don't. :twisted:
 
tistrapukcipeht said:
LOL at this poll, hahahaha.

A poll that has Dale Earnhardt as the best driver ( Nascar LOL, Please give me a break!) is a completely worthless, it's a joke.

Since when Nascar with all those fat old guys is the top tear of auto racing??

The greatest driver of all time is Michael Schumacher, He hold the records for almost everything in F1, at least the most important records, in the hardest and more competitive auto racing, the one that most drivers dream to have a chance to seat in those cars and drive it, if Michael Schumacher, isn't on the poll, the poll is worthless, but that's ok, We Americans only value what is important here.
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PSNELKE said:
Yeah, plus it also shows that you Americans don't have a clue about Formula1.
Michael Schumacher ain't even the F1 GOAT for the most of us Germans, who followed the sport for decades itensively.
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PSNELKE, I think tistrapukcipe's post above shows that he's clueless about NASCAR as well to make a across-the-board incorrect generalization about NASCAR drivers ("fat & old" - duh!) who, like F1 drivers, need to be physically fit to better compete. Further, I wouldn't be surprised if his "we Americans" (in bold) was a sarcastic swipe from someone outside the US. Anyway, race teams in each category of racing be it F1, NASCAR, etc. are small corporations into and of themselves and driver physical fitness nowadays is a required investment in and of itself.

As far as NASCAR goes, like with F1 even their pit crews (many of whom are former football players, weightlighters and wrestlers) also have trainers assigned to them. Their tasks (the gas men, tire changers and carriers) require them to be strong, fast and very focused performing their duties while cars are coming into the pits at speeds of 88.5 km (55 mph). And as far as "F1" in the U.S. goes, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a training center for pit crews similar to that for professional athletes.

on-topic: I'll vote for Fed if nothing else then to help his numbers. That said, we all know 'bout Bo:

68032-1Bk.jpg



:cool:
 
Also I'm showing my national bias here (as are ESPN, just a bit!) but motorbike racer Mick Doohan is pretty special too. 5 world championships in a row. Came back after almost needing his leg amputated. Was pretty much untouchable until a career ending injury forced him to retire.

As for the greatest sporting teams, the St George Dragons rugby league team from Sydney won what effectively the national premiership for 11 straight years from 1955-1966. No other football team of any code in any country has won their national competition for so many consecutive years.

Same thing for Ferrari who had something like 54 consecutive podium finishes around the 2002 season when Michael Schumacher was racing for them.
 
Sumo said:
Have you watched Bo's 30 for 30?
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yes, i didn't have to watch it though.. i lived the Bo era... i obsessed over the guy!


But he was a lot of potential... very little of that full potential realized.


he's probably one of the biggest "what if" athletes of all time
 
How can Tiger Woods be on the list and not Jack Nicklaus who is clearly greater than Woods. How can Eddie Merckx and Eric Heiden not be on the list. How can Carl Lewis be on it and not Usian Bolt. Quite the joke all around, not even worth voting on.
 
NadalAgassi said:
Pele is better than both.
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pele is inferior to messi..messi is only 25yrs old and is 4 times world player of the year,

pele scored half his goals in friendlies against village and army teams..and goals scored in training matches dont count either, and the military bribed the refs to help pele score to enhance national mood...

and pele played in a mickey mouse league. :)
 
think the ESPN list is a bit flawed. it over-represents Americans and athletes in typical American sports while ignoring sports which are bigger globally but less relevant this side of the Atlantic.

Just learned about Jahangir Khan's otherworldly winning streak the other day (on the Esther Vergeer thread no less) and I'm dumbfounded as to why it's not widely discussed.

wrote a piece on it just today

http://indecentxposure.com/grind/a5d5166ce9834516e552cd20636ddbc718dcf65e/
 
It's good to see Federer represent for tennis. However there's a lot of American athletes on the ESPN list and since Federer is Swiss, I don't fancy his chance of winning.
 
NadalAgassi said:
How can Tiger Woods be on the list and not Jack Nicklaus who is clearly greater than Woods. How can Eddie Merckx and Eric Heiden not be on the list. How can Carl Lewis be on it and not Usian Bolt. Quite the joke all around, not even worth voting on.
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I'm surprised Golf players are even included in this list. It is about athletes after all, isn't it?
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
True. He's would even rate as the greatest athlete of his own sport's history.
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All ESPN doing is having one player to represent his sport, and Federer is the right player to represent tennis because he's the best. Who ever win the greatest athlete of all time is subjective, and I'm pretty sure American athlete(eg M. Jordan) has a greater chance of winning than non-American athletes.
 
Dedans Penthouse said:
Best tennis player, yes.

Best tennis athlete? I'd put Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Ille Nastase ahead of Fed.
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In terms of sheer athletic ability Nadal easily beats Federer. He is physically much stronger, easily faster, has more endurance. I am sure in a decathalon he would crush Federer.
 
Everyone knows that Nadal is the most athletic player in tennis history, yet Federer is mentioned instead as the representative of tennis. I'm sure if you lined all of those people up, who had never heard of or watching them before, NO ONE would pick Federer, and more people would pick Nadal if he were chosen. :-P
 
Lovely_Bone said:
I REALLY don't know how more people aren't going for Anderson Silva. He is the only athlete I've seen who just make the other PRO athletes he goes against look like silly amateurs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-kSi6dNzj8

It give me goosebumps just to watch him.
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the best athlete ever is a Cage fighter? Is that even a Sport? this Sport is about 5 years old and basically a real Version of pro Wrestling.

also I googled greatest MMA fighter and no post said anderson silva (the named some russian dude). so how can a guy that is not even considered the goat in his own Sport which is only about a decade old be the greatest athlete ever?
 
dominikk1985 said:
the best athlete ever is a Cage fighter? Is that even a Sport? this Sport is about 5 years old and basically a real Version of pro Wrestling.

also I googled greatest MMA fighter and no post said anderson silva (the named some russian dude). so how can a guy that is not even considered the goat in his own Sport which is only about a decade old be the greatest athlete ever?
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The Russian guy(Fedor Emilianenko) is in a different weight class (heavy weight) while anderson silva is in middle weight class..

IF I had to pick one person from MMA.. it would be Fedor.. He is the nastiest ******* on the face of this earth..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jdA-SaSJOM

His energy is relentless..
 
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