Greatest Sports Person Of All Time

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It's funny how Americans just see Footbal, Baseball and Basketball as sports.... :))) no offense here, I was in the US 4 years in college.... I like the US..... but I think the top 5 athletes of all time don't come from those 3 sports....

1. Pele
2. Ali
3. Jordan ( basketball.... I know:wink: )
4. Schumacher
5. Carl Lewis

6... maybe n° 1 in a few years : Federer
 
Yahweh_OMG said:
It's funny how Americans just see Footbal, Baseball and Basketball as sports.... :))) no offense here, I was in the US 4 years in college.... I like the US..... but I think the top 5 athletes of all time don't come from those 3 sports....

1. Pele
2. Ali
3. Jordan ( basketball.... I know:wink: )
4. Schumacher
5. Carl Lewis

6... maybe n° 1 in a few years : Federer

i find it funny how you consider a man who sits in a car for a living to be a "sportsman," but ya don't hear me bitchin'.

if we're talking just pure athlete, my vote is for jim thorpe. but when we talk sportsman, i think of someone who dominated their sport and is known across the world, even in places that don't follow the sport closely. thus, ali 1, pele 2, jordan a distant 3rd.
 
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intedomine said:


Basketball might be played globally, but the only league in the world people give a toss about is the NBA.

Hockey is global, but no one (unfortunately, because I like hockey) gives a rats about it.

Cricket is certainly not as huge a commercial sport, but a market of 1.1 billions is a market not to be sneezed at.

tell the eastern europeans that the only basketball they care about is the NBA. i do remember you coming into the basketball thread when the greeks beat the US and whoopin' it up. you seemed to care, then.

intedomine said:
Holy crap, are we talking about Ice Hockey???

That's not even real hockey!

Nothing against Wayne Gretzky (his stats seem impressive) or ice hockey as a sport, but surely in our quest to find the greatest sportsperson of all time we have to consider some of the elite superstars of other sports such as tchoukball, underwater rugby and sitting volleyball for example.

Eddie Keher was a superstar in the Gaelic game of Hurling...maybe he is the greatest sportsperson of all time?


Can anyone provide a link to a comparions of Gretzky's stats with other elite Ice Hockey players in history? I wanna see how his stats compare.

i suppose by "real hockey" you're speaking of field hockey, which is a sport played by women in skirts in north america. :shrug:

ice hockey isn't even that big in the US (so considernig it's not a huge sport in the United States and Gretzky is Canadians, you can like the sport now, right?).

field hockey has been an olympic sport for exactly 4 more olympiads than ice hockey. wooooooo.

as for wayne gretzky and his dominance of the sport... here are the only stats you need.

All Time NHL Point Leaders (points = goals & assists combined)
Player - Total Games Played - Total Points
1. Wayne Gretzky - 1487 games played - 2857 points
2. Mark Messier - 1756 games played - 1887 points
3. Gordie Howe - 1767 games played - 1850 points

gretzky has 1,000+ more points in 300 fewer games than #2 on the list.

if you need more, i present this.

2005-2006 Season 100 Point Scorers (nation of birth)
1. Joe Thorton - 125 points (canada)
2. Jaromir Jagar - 123 points (czechoslovakia)
3. Alexander Ovechkin - 106 points (ussr)
4. Dany Heatley - 104 points (west germany)
5. Daniel Alfredsson - 103 points (sweden)
6. Sidney Crosby - 102 points (canada)
7. Eric Staal - 100 points (canada)

gretzky scored over 100 points in a season 14 times. he scored more points than last year's point leader (in a season where scoring was considered to be up) 13 times in his career. he scored over 200 points in a single season 4 times. no other player in the history of the NHL has scored 200 points in a season besides gretzky.

i hope that proves to you that
a) he dominated his sport like no other player in the history of the sport
b) the sport is most certainly an international one.
 
Headache, I think you presented your facts well. Hockey is one of the most difficult sports to play. Not only do you have to be able to skate well, you have to be in good shape and, most importantly, tough. Oh yes, you also have to know how to play. When I was a little shit growing up on Long Island, the Islanders were winning Stanley Cups, but the player that most people cared about was The Great One. The Isles had great teams in the early 80's, but Gretzky was the Ultimate player. No disrespect to the town of Edmonton, but he put Edmonton on the map. He was a great leader, a great teammate and a great ambassador for the game of hockey.
 
MrPryck2U said:
Headache, I think you presented your facts well. Hockey is one of the most difficult sports to play. Not only do you have to be able to skate well, you have to be in good shape and, most importantly, tough. Oh yes, you also have to know how to play. When I was a little shit growing up on Long Island, the Islanders were winning Stanley Cups, but the player that most people cared about was The Great One. The Isles had great teams in the early 80's, but Gretzky was the Ultimate player. No disrespect to the town of Edmonton, but he put Edmonton on the map. He was a great leader, a great teammate and a great ambassador for the game of hockey.


Also, Gretzky's number 99 is retired in the entire NHL, not just places he played. The guy was a god.
 
Andre Agassi should be mentioned in this discussion. Yes, he doesn't have as many slams as Sampras, and Federer will surpass him soon as well, but there aren't many tennis players in the history of the sport that were as consistantly loved all around the world as Agassi was.

When he lost his last match, the New York crowd, which is notorius for either loving you or hating you, gave him an 8+ minute standing ovation.

The guy is one of the greatest and most influential tennis players to ever pick up a racquet.
 
Agassi, Sampras and Federer all fall well in line historically in popularity behind Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Navritalova, Graf and probably Everett.

These guys have skills, but outside of Agassi, no personality to raise them to superstar status above just the fans of the sport.
And Agassi's talent as good as it was is far inferior to the 3 men mentioned above, and his wife may be able to beat him in straight sets.
 
I thought I'd reply to this post in terms of NBA basketball...the top 10 players ever at each position:

Center

1. Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain
2. Bill Russell
3. Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
5. Shaquille "The Diesel" O'Neal
6. David "The Admiral" Robinson
7. Patrick Ewing
8. Bob McAdoo
9. George Mikan
10. Willis Reed

Power Forward

1. Karl "The Mailman" Malone
2. Tim Duncan
3. Kevin McHale
4. "Sir" Charles Barkley
5. Elvin Hayes
6. Bob Petit
7. Jerry Lucas
8. Kevin Garnett
9. Shawn "The Reignman" Kemp(his play from 93-97 pre-crackhead days really was THAT good)
10. Dennis "The Worm" Rodman

Small Forward

1. Larry "Legend" Bird
2. Julius "Dr.J" Erving
3. Scottie Pippen
4. Elgin Baylor
5. John Havlicek
6. Dominique "Human Highlight Film" Wilkins
7. Rick Barry
8. Alex English
9. Billy Cunningham
10. Dolph Schayes

Shooting Guard

1. Michael "Air" Jordan
2. Jerry "Mr. Clutch" West
3. George "The Iceman" Gervin
4. Clyde "The Glide" Drexler
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Allen "The Answer" Iverson
7. "Pistol" Pete Maravich
8. Reggie Miller
9. Earl "The Pearl" Monroe
10. David Thompson

Point Guard

1. Earvin "Magic" Johnson
2. Oscar "The Big O" Robertson
3. John Stockton
4. Bob Cousy
5. Isiah "Zeke" Thomas
6. Jason Kidd
7. Gary "The Glove" Payton
8. Steve Nash
9. Walt "Clyde" Frazier
10. Nate "Tiny" Archibald
 
Hewson said:
Agassi, Sampras and Federer all fall well in line historically in popularity behind Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Navritalova, Graf and probably Everett.

These guys have skills, but outside of Agassi, no personality to raise them to superstar status above just the fans of the sport.
And Agassi's talent as good as it was is far inferior to the 3 men mentioned above, and his wife may be able to beat him in straight sets.

Agassi was the greatest returner of service in the history of the sport period - so said by McEnroe himself.

Agassi and Connors are tied with 8 grand slam titles, while McEnroe has 7. Of the guys you mentioned, only Sampras, Borg, and Federer have more slams than Agassi.

And Agassi has more personality than Sampras, Borg, and Federer combined. That is a fact. Agassi is probably still the most loved tennis player in the world. Regardless of who has more slams.
 
Scottie Pippen at #3 for the 3 position over the likes of Elgin Baylor and Hondo earns a :eyebrow: , Bulls fan maybe?
Shouldn't Bill Cartwright be #3 center and Luc Longley #7?:wink:
 
Hewson said:
Scottie Pippen at #3 for the 3 position over the likes of Elgin Baylor and Hondo earns a :eyebrow: , Bulls fan maybe?
Shouldn't Bill Cartwright be #3 center and Luc Longley #7?:wink:

Cartwright and Longley were roleplayers.

Pippen is a Top 50 player all time, and is regarded as one of the best, if not THE best, perimiter defender of all time.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:


tell the eastern europeans that the only basketball they care about is the NBA. i do remember you coming into the basketball thread when the greeks beat the US and whoopin' it up. you seemed to care, then.



i suppose by "real hockey" you're speaking of field hockey, which is a sport played by women in skirts in north america. :shrug:

ice hockey isn't even that big in the US (so considernig it's not a huge sport in the United States and Gretzky is Canadians, you can like the sport now, right?).


i hope that proves to you that
a) he dominated his sport like no other player in the history of the sport
b) the sport is most certainly an international one.

Thanks for the stats. They are indeed "Bradmanesque" and Gretzky does indeed appear to deserve to be recognised in the same league as Bradman. Maybe he is in fact greater than Bradman? Ice Hockey might in fact be a more difficult sport to excel at than cricket. Who knows?

I was whooping up the USA's failure at last year's basketball World Champs because from all reports, they sent another weakened team to the tournament. To me that smacks of arrogance and if there is gonna be a world cup of some kind, the best team possible should always take part, no matter what the sport. The US should be sending "Dreamteams" to the tournament, like they did for the Barcelona Olympics in '92.

* "ice hockey isn't even that big in the US (so considernig it's not a huge sport in the United States and Gretzky is Canadians, you can like the sport now, right?)." *

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I never said i disliked ice hockey. I just said it wasn't real (or the original form of) hockey....and it isn't. Doesn't make the sport any less of a sport. I might even prefer it to field hockey

That said, despite the popularity that Ice Hockey and basketball might have in Eastern Europe, I seriously doubt whether the appeal of those sports even comes close to soccer in those countries.

...and cricket still remains more internationally popular than ice hockey and basketball. One word: India
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
it means exactly what it says.

and noooo... you didn't say anything bad about ice hockey. you compared it to "sitting volleyball" and "underwater rugby," but those were compliments!

Sitting Volleyball is fun.

All i meant is that the greatest individual sportsperson could in fact be someone who is dominant in one of these more obscure sports. It doesn't have to be a footballer, or a baseballer or a track and field athlete or whatever.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
i find it funny how you consider a man who sits in a car for a living to be a "sportsman," but ya don't hear me bitchin'.

If you could get paid that much to just "sit in a car" wouldn't we all be doing it? You have to be in great physical condition to put up with the intense stresses and strains of driving at those speeds over long distances. A fine example being Michael Shumacher who throughout his career took his physical fitness just as seriously as perfecting his ability on the track. Not to mention the high level of concentration required to perform at that level and the risks involved. Why shouldn't they be classed alongside any other sportsman?
 
There's only one Martina and it's not Hingis. She is the best womens tennis player. Agassi isn't even the best mens player. McEnroe, Conners and Sampras were better than him.
 
Count Marzipan said:


If you could get paid that much to just "sit in a car" wouldn't we all be doing it? You have to be in great physical condition to put up with the intense stresses and strains of driving at those speeds over long distances. A fine example being Michael Shumacher who throughout his career took his physical fitness just as seriously as perfecting his ability on the track. Not to mention the high level of concentration required to perform at that level and the risks involved. Why shouldn't they be classed alongside any other sportsman?

i fully understand that race car driving takes a large amount of endurance and concentration and reflexes.

so does batteling the van wyck at rush hour.

perhaps secretariat is the greatest sportsman of all time. who was more dominant?
 
Greatest Sportsperson of all time???? Impossible question to answer but good luck to the original poster in his task!

True Sport is about heart! The level is a little irrelevent. That guy that took god knows how long to complete the 50m freestyle swim in the olympics is a great sportsman. The boxer that rises from the canvas with a broken jaw is a great sportsman. The current UK under 12's squash champion is a girl who lost her legs to meningitis aged 2. The honest batsman who walks when he nicks it to a slip fielder. The footballer that stops a game rather than scores because an opposition player is injured. The players player of the year 1990 King Edward VI school Lichfield - Rugby. Paul Hunter - 3 times Masters Champion who played snooker whilst trying in vain to battle cancer - RIP. MattGadsby who died playing football for Hinckley Town FC. That cyclist fella thatovercame cancer to win the tour de france 7 times. The jockey that overcame cancer to win the National. Michael Watson for completing the London Marathon.

My favourite professional sporting celebrities however are:-

Sir Steve Redgrave - 5 times Olympic champion.
Englands RFU WC winning Squad 2003.
Sir Bobby Moore
Pele
Darryl Green and John Riggins
Phil Taylor (13times world champion or some crazy figure like that)
Stirling Moss
Borg
Gary Shaw (for natural talent)
Shane Warne
Michael Johnson
Daley Thompson
Ali
Duran


I think the only true icons the majority of people will have knowledge of and will mention in their personal top 10 are Ali and Pele.
 
Michael Jordan, Alexander Karelin, Roger Federer, Pele, Romario, Diego Maradona, Ayrton Senna, Valentino Rossi, Tommy Makinnen, Sergei Bubka
 
When I'm looking for the Greatest Sports Person of All Time I'm looking more at people who have mastered different sports at a top level. On that criteria, it's impossible for me to go past Jeff Wilson.

Arguably the last cricket/rugby double international - but also the youngest of all time at 19. In rugby rated among critics as one of, if not the best wing-three-quarter ever to play the game. Had the international try scoring record for a while, and was a decent goal kicker to boot.

When it came to cricket unlike most double internationals he didn't just bat or bowl, he was an all-rounder - with more than decent First Class stats. According many players/coaches he was the cleanest hitter of a cricket ball they had ever seen - including Chris Cairns.

Add into that, he held national secondary school sprint records and represented Otago in Basketball - he would have to be the greatest All Round sportsman I have seen/heard/read about ever.

Of course Christian Cullen is another option who not only holds the aforementioned try scoring record - but won most high profile Australiasian trotting races as a horse in 1999-2002.
 
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