OT - Greatest Athletes of All Time
August 15th, 2016 at 7:05 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 8:17 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
Best ever...Mr. Perfect!!!
August 16th, 2016 at 7:23 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^
I think the problem with using this criteria is that many athletes end up choosing just one sport to focus on - while there are some (like Jasckson) who manage to figure out a way to do both, by the time they hit college, the multi-sport athlete is rare
August 15th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
For this reason, Ashton Eaton, world record holder in the decathlon, is the greatest athlete of all time. Here are his event results from his WR performance at the world championships last year:
- 100m: 10.23 (fastest ever for a decathlete at the world championships)
- long jump: 7.88m
- shot put: 14.52m
- high jump: 2.01m
- 400m: 45.00 (fastest ever for a decathlete in any competition)
- 110m hurdles: 13.69
- discus: 43.43m
- pole vault: 5.20m
- javelin: 63.63m
- 1500m: 4:17.52
That is insane. Those performances would have put him among the leaders of the individual event finals of the 100, 110 hurdles, 400 pole vault, javelin, discus, and long jump at the most recent NCAA championships. He would have won the 400 and placed second in the 100.
QED.
August 15th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^
If you take his personal bests in each event - he tacks on almost 500 points to his decathlon score. No doubt a tremendous track athlete.
I think the decathlon is a good event in this debate because it combines a mix of events requiring strength, speed, agility, cardio (to a lesser degree - though you can argue that the level of fitness required to complete 10 events over two days itself is a key component of the event).
One problem with using decathlon is that other sports do not have an equivalent event. Triathlon might come close - but the focus is more on cardiovascular endurance than say strength or agility. Would be interesting to see if other sports could come up with an "equivalent". Maybe combine swimming/diving into a competition.
August 15th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^
I strongly agree. The moniker "Greatest athlete in the world" has been associated with the decathlon for quite awhile, and rightly so. I understand there are wonderful athletes in more popular sports (Bo, Lebron, Pele, etc.) but having strength, speed & coordination be the hallmarks of an athlete, the decathlon measures this better than any singular sport. So aside from Bo, who was incredible, no one else IMO can really be in discussion than someone who has demonstrated dominance in such a multi-facited, multi-disciplined sport
August 15th, 2016 at 7:10 AM ^
A great athlete can dominate at mulitple sports not just the top of theirs!
August 15th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^
what other sports did Ali, Jordan, Pele, or Gretsky dominate?
Sometimes you just have to be the GOAT in your own sport.
Putting some arbitrary standard of multi-sport success as criteria doesnt make any sense.
Whether Barry Sanders could swim or whether Michael Phelps can hit a fastball are irrelevant.
August 15th, 2016 at 7:12 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 8:08 AM ^
It might have been nearly a decade ago now, but I think there is some footage of him at least trying to catch some passes from Eli Manning for the hell of it - I don't remember it being a formal tryout though. There were a lot of articles written around that time speculating about how he would fare as an NFL receiver, what his combine stats would look like, etc...but I don't think it ever got much beyond that. There is a story out there about how Ted Ginn claims to have beaten Bolt in a race once though.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:00 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
And the idea that a guy like Ginn could beat Bolt in a 40 yard race isn't so far-fetched since Bolt is a notoriously slow starter.
August 15th, 2016 at 4:04 PM ^
He actually has the fastest 40 m split in history so I would say that it is far fetched and really naive.
August 15th, 2016 at 6:25 PM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 4:13 PM ^
Ted Ginn was talking about the time a relay he was in his team beat Usain Bolts. Bolt also was running the 4th leg and Ginn ran the 2nd.
August 15th, 2016 at 8:49 AM ^
However, he still received a participation trophy.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:00 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 9:15 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^
Did you catch Jahvid Best running one lane off of Bolt and losing in the heats?
August 15th, 2016 at 7:26 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 7:35 AM ^
If animals are eligible can we nominate this border collie?
August 15th, 2016 at 7:53 AM ^
thought the same thing but then I developed a random fascination with horse racing after reading Sea Biscuit. (I do that some times, other random obsessions range from Mt. Everest to the Challenger Disaster, it really could be anything). Race horses are in some ways the most natural form of athlete. They are bred and trained from birth to compete. They develop a real and sometimes highly aggresive competitive streak. They are in fact so competetive that they have to be seperated from rival horses during training and races. They are acutely aware when they when or lose, and many times ignore directives from Jockeys and develop their own stradegy in the middle of races.
I know it is a subject of jest "controversy" but I very much believe them to be athletes.
August 15th, 2016 at 8:30 AM ^
I recommend reading Eclipse by Nicholas Clee. Fascinating story and a lot of information regarding the history of the thoroughbred.
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August 15th, 2016 at 9:30 AM ^
do. Thanks for the recommendation.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:26 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^
The monkey has mad skillz, even though they may be X-Games level rather than mainstream.
August 15th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^
(yes, I just find excuses to post this gif whenever possible)
August 15th, 2016 at 8:26 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 9:06 AM ^
not trying to be rude just to do it, but this is a very ignorant post. Let me know when professional golfers start riding carts, and is your measure of athletic greatness whether an all time great in one sport could also be so in another? Seriously?
Tiger Woods was the best golfer ever to live(Jack included) and changed the way entire generations of golfers played and approached the game. He had shots that nobody who has ever played the game had, and was the most physically dominant and imposing figure to ever play the game.
On the other hand, if your primary argument is that golf "is not a sport," than your post is ever worse than I originally thought and does not warrant a response.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^
He finished 4 majors short of that mark. I will give credit to Tiger because he is the reason the game is in such good shape today. This new generation of players is so good because they wanted to be Tiger Woods.
Having said that, in my opinion Tiger dominated a very weak field. Go ahead and look at the people Tiger beat, and better yet look at the Ryder Cup teams during the late 90s and early 2000s, it's pathetic.
Tiger's 2007 PGA championship he was able to hold off Woody Austin, 2006 PGA he beat Shaun Micheel, 2006 Open Championship Chris DiMarco, 2008 US Open Rocco Mediate, 2005 Masters Chris DiMarco. Those 4 guys combined have 14 wins and 1 major, not exactly murder's row. Jack did his damage against guys like Tom Watson, Gary Player, and Arnold Palmer. Tiger was not better than Jack.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^
am not going to tell you that Tiger played against as good of a field as Jack did, but he did not play against a field as weak as you believe he did. The difference was that Tiger came along and made the older generation of player obsolete, and was so good he made absolute first class players appear pedestrian. Phil was of age and near his prime, Els was performing at the top of his game during Tiger's reign. Many golfers of Tiger's time ended being also rans, but that was because of Tiger Woods, not independent of him. Other players who are among the greatest of all time (Faldo, Norman) saw what Tiger Wood could do and basically hung up their clubs.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^
Go ahead and search Dr. Anthony Galea, Tiger just happened to be on his client list. It's no surprise to me that Tiger's body broke down like it did.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:46 AM ^
not going to argue that point either way as it is all conjecture, but I can tell you that steroids would not do a whole lot for you in golf. In fact, Tiger's bulk up had a notable negative impact on his golf game. He hit the ball as far as he ever did when he was a string bean 21 year old using a steel on steel Titlest driver at August in 97.
August 15th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^
I don't think steroids made him hit the ball any farther. What I do think steroids do is make you physically feel better on an everyday basis. You're able to continue training, practicing, have more energy on the course. It would absolutely be an advantage if by the 17th hole on the last day you physically feel better than everyone else in the field.
I give him credit for making this change to his body because he saw it as an advantage, but I also think he's a cheat.
August 15th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 8:59 AM ^
August 15th, 2016 at 9:25 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
and I did even BETTER on the back 9....
August 15th, 2016 at 8:21 AM ^
You got the wrong Babe on your list.
August 15th, 2016 at 8:58 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
Gold could be made a sport if you put the players on a tight clock and made them run from shot to shot, same way you turn target shooting (game of skill) into a sport by adding cross country skiing (biathlon).
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August 15th, 2016 at 11:31 AM ^
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August 15th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
Ah, the old "is it a sport or not" debate, defined by parameters that are:
- developed entirely by the individual declaring whether or not X is a sport
- designed specifically so as to include or exclude X, due to the fact that the declarer feels that X is/is not a sport
August 15th, 2016 at 7:25 AM ^
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