I saw Dan Patrick was having a debate on his radio show this morning on the greatest athlete ever. I wanted to give my top 5, and hear what everyone out there thinks. This is a really hard top 5 to justify, as you can make a case for way more than 5.
1. Michael Jordan (pictured) - 14X All-Star, 6X NBA champ, 6 Finals MVP, count them - 2 Olympic gold medals, etc.
2. Lance Armstrong - 7 Tour de France wins.
3. Michael Phelps - 1 million olympic gold medals, he's head and shoulders above the rest of the world.
4. Bo Jackson - #'s are skewed bc his career was cut way too short, but I feel he is deserving of this list.
5. Tiger Woods - will own every golf record by this time tomorrow. The Michael Phelps of golf, if you will. Haha! I'm sure that has never been said, UNTIL NOW!
The Pro
10 comments:
Good list.
Bo is a weird name. Hard to act like he was never injured, but even if he wasn't, I don't see him as a top 5 athlete. He's the only football player up there, and he isn't even a top 5 football player all-time. I know he gets bonus points for the baseball career, but still..
What about Carl Lewis? Jim Thorpe? Muhammad Ali? (Replace Bo with him, if you ask me). Let's not forget about guys just because they played before the 80s.
Didn't MJ win a natty at UNC, too?
And I still chuckle when someone considers a golfer an "athlete."
the only 2 "greatest" I mean really greatest at their respective sport are Tiger and MJ - they stand so far above the rest and I saw kareem and russell and west and Wilt- MJ is still the best basketball player of all time - I also saw Niclaus and all the rest play and tiger puts them all to shame - now football and baseball are different there are so may greats it is hard to pick
I can't name even 1 player in football who I would consider more "athletic" than Bo. He was a freak. #'s or no #'s I put Bo in there. MJ did win a title at UNC, I believe it was in 1982. I don't have enough information on Muhammad Ali to put him on this list. I am more familiar with Mike Tyson. I've never seen a boxer that could beat Tyson in his prime (and off the dope). Carl Lewis is a great athlete as well. As I said you can make a case for a ton of guys for this list. These are just my 5. The Pro
Noba, Noba, Noba, Tiger Woods would beat your ass, he is so strong "physically" and "mentally" heck Tiger Woods would beat my ass, he is as strong as a baseball player, and he mentally tougher than anyone I have ever seen, so you are telling me he is not an athlete, well I would have to disagree. You must not play much golf....
The Joe
By the way Lance Armstrong had like a 20% chance to live when he was told he had cancer in his mid twenties....unbelievable story....
The Joe
It's definitely a hard list to make...do you define an athlete in terms of the person as a physical specimen and measurements of performance (i.e., 40 yard dash time?). Do you focus on statistics? Championships? If they were head and shoulders above other athletes of their time?
The easy answer is probably some mix of all these, but deficiencies in one area or another are what can throw someone off the list.
Joe, that's why Tiger doesnt make the cut for me. He's in shape, but just go look at a picture of the guy. Go look at pictures of other golfers. That's not what I think of when I think of athletes. You'd have to put Dale Earnhardt on the list if you want to put extra weight on things like mental toughness. Those guys wouldn't even break a sweat if it wasn't for it being hot out on a golf course. Please. He is the greatest golfer ever, but one of the 5 best greatest athletes ever? I can't bring myself to say that.
Here would be my list:
1. Jordan - championships, stats, leadership, clutch play, and his D was under-appreciated...he's got it all
2. Lance - I watched some "Science of Lance Armstrong" thing on Discovery one time, and the guy literally is a freak of nature. He has higher lung capacity and all kinds of shit than the avg human. And I tend to put a lot of value on athletes that play endurance sports like cycling.
3. Ali - guy beat everyone of his day, is probably one of the best sports personalities of his day, and it's hard to find another sport that takes as much stamina, power, quickness, and toughness than boxing - beats hockey, football, GOLF, or whatever else you wanna throw at it. He really was "THE GREATEST."
4. Alex Rodriguez - I hate to say it, cuz I'm not the biggest fan, but at the end of his career, he should be statistically the best baseball player ever. And he steals bases. He just needs to win a World Series, but I'm convinced he will.
5. Michael Phelps - greatest Olympian ever at what is scientifically the most physically taxing activity a human can engage in (swimming is one of the few exercises that works every muscle group in the entire body). If he gets his dozen+ medals, I might have to move him to #2 or #3 on this list in the next week.
Mike, your my boy, but Tiger is not a top 5 athlete. He plays golf. You want to give the guy who dominates pro bowling a top 5 athlete card. No. Yes Tiger is strong and is in shape, but I bet there is a million other people just as strong and in shape.
1. Phelps - did you see the amount of food he eats and still stays sub 10% body fat.
2. Lance Armstrong - lung capacity is ridiculous.
3. Olympic gymnast - probably should be #1 with the stuff the do. Watch the rings!
4. Ali - could anybody beat him up in his prime.
5. Royce Gracie - little guy could beat down people twice his size.
Ok my list:
Michael Nelson-badass
Ronnie Robinson-badass
Deion Sanders-kind of fast
Dave Justice-clutch
John Smoltz- can play all sports
The Joe
how could I have forgotten deion - just the right amount of cocky and talent - one of my favorites from the past!!
What about Hampton?
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