Who is the best sportsman or sportswoman of all time?

[Colt45]

i've just had a thought - for the next fun list, what is the world's greatest sport?

As much as I love the NFL, sports like downhill skiing and others,

I'd have to say hockey.

[DrunkenMonkey]

Jim Thorpe

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe#_

[khomeinist]

OJ Simpson

[Colt45]

WRONG! The greatest sport is clearly....sex.

endurance, power, strength, flexibility, focus, eye on the prize...

I wasn't going to go there......

I'm a platinum medalist.....

[Jason55555]

WRONG! The greatest sport is clearly....sex.

endurance, power, strength, flexibility, focus, eye on the prize...

x2 but that bring up the a new question whos the best sex'er of all time throwing my vote to Wilt Chamberlain lol

[khomeinist]

Hmm. Very few boxing experts would pick Tyson. Very curious. Pure boxers (Ali was a prime example) used to give Tyson a lot of problems. Many of Tyson's opponents were chosen to make him look good. Ali and it ain't even close.

Sugar Ray Robinsin is generally considered the greatest boxer of all time by the way. Watch the tape. That combination of speed, accuracy, power, and grit is quite rare.

[khomeinist]

Yes, Sugar Ray and even Pacquiau (sp?) are better than Ali ever was. That being said, due to Ali's heaveyweight category, he is more famous, hence people believe him to truly be the greatest.

I think that while Ali beat Foreman, Tyson was a completely different animal in his prime. I pick Tyson over Ali, just due to sheer determination, power, speed (yes, speed), etc...don't forget, Ali is at an immediate disadvantage because he trained and boxed in the 60's and 70's while Tyson had modern tech and methods helping him out (training, fitness, computer research, etc...).

Ali does not scare anybody. Tyson is STILL terrifying.

Interesting take I guess. You would definitely be in the minority amongst boxing experts. Ali was very talented. To even suggest otherwise is just revisionist nonsense. Very few boxers are or were as intelligent as Ali. Do you have to be 'scary' to be the greatest boxer? I don't even know what that means. Tyson privy to computer assistance in training? ha. I think not..... Tyson was a warmed over Joe Frazier. Ali did fine against Frazier. Ali wins 2/3 in much the same way. Tyson couldn't even beat Lennox Lewis for Chrissake...

The comedy of these discussions is that nobody has to prove anything. Any claim can be made. These convos are best in person with plenty of adult beverages on hand to aid the blather. We can shout each other down, slap each other on the back, and then proceed to talk about other nonsense topics such as how much Colombian prostitutes should get paid by federal agents. haha.....

[perfectform]

Surprised not to see Babe Ruth mentioned. What he did relative to his era was mind-bogglingly dominant.

P.S. The hardest thing in sports to do is hit a round ball with a round bat.

PSS. Greatest athlete of all time is Bo Jackson.

[Ken Gargett]

For example I don't like cricket and find it rather mediocre. Added to that I think Shane Warne is an absolute prick of the first order.

poor old warnie has rubbed a few people up the wrong way but i can just about guarantee that if you met the bloke, you'd walk away thinking what a great bloke, how could i have thought otherwise. he is the most amazingly charming bloke. and i have heard that from so many people. you think he is a loutish yobbo, and he does carry on like that at times, but he is not like that when you meet him. and i have heard the same thing from so many people.

english mate bid on him for a net session for his son. warnie turned up an hour late, *** hanging out. my mate was so pissed he was about to walk away and tell him what he thought but for his son, he stayed. now he can't speak more highly of the bloke. warnie charmed him and his son, spent an extra hour or two with the son to make up for it and was just brilliant. another mate who worked with him quite closely was scared stiff one night as his wife, who detested warnie (but had not actually met him), was due to sit next to him at a dinner. he said that by the end of the night, it was all he could do to stop her dragging warnie under the table.

liz hurley doesn't strike me as a genius but warnie has got to have something to get her.

and he could bowl.

[Ken Gargett]

Interesting take I guess. You would definitely be in the minority amongst boxing experts. Ali was very talented. To even suggest otherwise is just revisionist nonsense. Very few boxers are or were as intelligent as Ali. Do you have to be 'scary' to be the greatest boxer? I don't even know what that means. Tyson privy to computer assistance in training? ha. I think not..... Tyson was a warmed over Joe Frazier. Ali did fine against Frazier. Ali wins 2/3 in much the same way. Tyson couldn't even beat Lennox Lewis for Chrissake...

The comedy of these discussions is that nobody has to prove anything. Any claim can be made. These convos are best in person with plenty of adult beverages on hand to aid the blather. We can shout each other down, slap each other on the back, and then proceed to talk about other nonsense topics such as how much Colombian prostitutes should get paid by federal agents. haha.....

contacted those two mates who are boxing writers.

the pom - Ali far too quick and smart. Tyson could get lucky but Ali wins eight out of 10 times.

the aussie - Ooooh, a question that has been discussed countless times. Probably Ali, but Tyson was EXTREMELY fast and had very good movement. The only weakness was that he was predictable in his attack.

the one thing i don't agree with here is the suggestion that joe frazier wasn't a great boxer. ali didn't 'do fine' against him. he had the narrowest imaginable win with two out of three. and as i mentioned elsewhere, that third fight, which i think made them both boxing immortals, was so close that at the end of the 14th, frazier begged his team not to throw in the towel while ali begged his to actually throw it in. neither bench listened and ali got up but it was as close as a result could be. it could so easily have gone the other way and then who would we be talking about (though the ease with which foreman disposed of frazier might confuse that).

[brazoseagle]

Roy Hobbs, 100% no question about it!

[cigarros]

I voted for Pele. He is legendary football artist of all time!

[DrunkenMonkey]

The idea that there is a bias AGAINST more recent athletes is silly. The bias is against those who played before TV.

For example: Jim Thorpe was a dominant player in pro football. He also played pro baseball AND pro basketball. Oh yeah, and won Olympic gold medals in both pentathlon and decathlon. The only thing Bo Jackson has on him is TV commercials.

[tucomapache]

Roger Staubach..

Heisman winner at Navy...

2 superbowls...

Won with class lost with diginity

Great representative of his sport

not a doper, womanizer and never did stupid crap to embarrass his team, sport or family.

great team leader

[DrunkenMonkey]

What's worse, being a womanizer or playing for the Cowboys?

Roger Staubach..

Heisman winner at Navy...

2 superbowls...

Won with class lost with diginity

Great representative of his sport

not a doper, womanizer and never did stupid crap to embarrass his team, sport or family.

great team leader

[coblos]

x2 but that bring up the a new question whos the best sex'er of all time throwing my vote to Wilt Chamberlain lol

[CaptainQuintero]

I suppose a valid argument, although possibly not the most factual way of deciding it would have to mainly consider:

-How famous is the sport

-How famous is the best player of that sport

Like Ken and others have said, the sub-continent is a huge factor. China also, although I haven't the foggiest what China's national sport is, traditionally or nowadays.

If we're going by sheer World popularity due to point 1 then American Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball etc just don't have the appeal.

I'm tinking rough numbers purely off the top of my head the big players have to be:

Football

South America- 500 million?

Europe- 700 million?

Africa- 600 million?

Asia- 500 million?

2.4 billion

Cricket

Commonwealth - 2.1 billion

Any one else able to chip in with big sports eg in China?

I know fishing has a huge global following but is there such a thing as a fishing superstar?

Unless there are any other big number sports you probably have to pick someone who is a combination of all these all these boxes:

-Has to have a huge level of fame in football due to skill and fans of Cricket are aware of his/her status in Football

or

-Has to have a huge level of fame in Cricket due to skill and fans of Football are aware of his/her status in Cricket

------------------------

So the World's greatest doesn't actually have to be THE best player of their chosen sport, just good enough to be world famous via playing that sport.

People who can fall into those catagories?

Pele

The Don

Tendulkar

Beckham

Lara

As much as it pains me to say it, due to the insane dual appeal with both sets of fans plus world wide recognition.....Beckham is starting to fill all the spots for me. As long as we are not talking about the most skillfull sportsperson of all time.

[Ken Gargett]

What's worse, being a womanizer or playing for the Cowboys?

there is something worse than the cowboys?

[Ken Gargett]

poor old warnie

and with his usual impecable timing, there is a picture of warnie on the front page at some footy game with both his ex-wife and liz H.

[coblos]

Any one else able to chip in with big sports eg in China?

Yao Ming made Basketball very popular in China. Quite a few NBA players joined Chinese pro teams during the lockout. I'd expect over the next decade or so you will see more and more Chinese players making it to the NBA.

From Wikipedia - "Some experts estimate as many as 300 million of China's 1.3 billion population now play basketball"

[CaptainQuintero]

Yao Ming made Basketball very popular in China. Quite a few NBA players joined Chinese pro teams during the lockout. I'd expect over the next decade or so you will see more and more Chinese players making it to the NBA.

From Wikipedia - "Some experts estimate as many as 300 million of China's 1.3 billion population now play basketball"

I was thinking about that a few weeks ago. If Brazil has 300 million people and creates a top super world class soccer player every five years or so, China probably has a full starting 11 of Peles right now!

[Ken Gargett]

i would have thought basketball was quite widespread. fishing is supposedly the most popular, as in numbers, "sport" but as much as i love fishing, not sure i'd cal it a sport.

the brazil china argument is the same as we have often said re rugby - if the states took it up seriously, they'd be close to unbeatable. but it is obviously far more complex than that. and i wonder how many of that allged 300 mill in china re playing seriously or just for a bit of fun.

[CaptainQuintero]

China has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world. There is evidence that a form of association football was played in China around 1000 AD.[361] Today, some of the most popular sports in the country include martial arts, basketball, football, table tennis, badminton, swimming and snooker. Board games such as go (weiqi), xiangqi, and more recently chess, are also played at a professional level.

-wiki

It's probably fair to say that as China gets richer they will move away from the old soviet style of developing sports success and towards the western style of part-time/social/casual/entertainment development of sporting stars. I don't know if people perform better because they enjoy doing what they do, or because they have a gun to their head.

It will be interesting to see in say ten years or so how world sports will have changed due to the sheer number of top class performers coming out of China.

[DrunkenMonkey]

Don't forget he (Thorpe) was also a great lacross player!

True that. This thread should be titled, "who is the most popular sportsman during the time when we've been watching sports on TV". Because if we're trying to name the best athlete ever, I don't think anyone comes close to Thorpe.

[Yoruba Hacker]

Jahangir Khan.

Interested in how "The Don's" records compare to Jerry Rice's in terms of dominance.

No bigger fan of Carl Lewis in the world, but you have to give props to Bubka. Any talk about all around athletic ability without including the vault forfeits credibility. Give Carl the leg up due to combined olympic and world championships success, but really slightly.

But how can anyone argue outside of Pele/Maradonna, period? The best players of the sport played everywhere in the world? It's the whole gene pool.