ESPN.com's 20 Greatest Athletes of Past 20 Years: Two With U-M Ties
In honor of its 20th anniversary ESPN.com ranked the 20 greatest athletes of the last 20 years:
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Anniversary-Top20Athletes/20th-ann…
One Wolverine (Tom Brady) and one former Michigan student (Michael Phelps) made the list.
Make that 3 out of the 20 with Michigan ties. Brady, Phelps, and Jeter.
Lol somehow Brett Favre snaked his way onto the list.
I'd put Favre up there for the games started streak
Funny how they left off Cal Ripken then. He's at least on par with Jeter.
But then, this is ESPN.
the time period for this list was the last 20 yrs. I think Ripkin's prime of his career was mostly before that. Not sure, I'd have to go back and take a look...otherwise, I agree with you 100%
Yeah, you are correct. In 1995 he was 34 years old and only played 4 more seasons of 140+ games.
Dude was a fucking god in Green Bay.
And? He's a ways behind Brady and Manning. Hell, Rodgers has already had an equal if not superior career to Favre other than longevity and plays in the same city! They do realize other players play football besides QBs right?
It's just such an ESPNy list. Of course Jeter is on there despite at no point in the last 20 years being the best player in baseball.
ETA: I'm bummed nobody has run with the snaked part of it. Think Favre with Jets. Heh.
Barry was better than Emmitt Smith, and he played much less. And if I was building a team I'd much rather have Bo Jackson (provided he played the whole season) than Emmitt Smith.
That's like saying Cy Young is the greatest pitcher because he pitched 30 seasons or whatever.
Favre hung on too long. He was great in the 90s and early 2000s. After that he began to decline. He's not in the same sphere as Brady or Manning in my book...much more careless with the ball.
This is stupid that we're arguing about this at all...it's basically "Are the Rolling Stones or the Who better?" or whatever. I just find it so ESPN (read: lame) that this list is basically all the people they fall over themselves to cover every waking minute, rather than the list of the actual best 20 athletes. Also see LeBron at 2. And Jeter being on here at all when A-Rod and even Nomar were better players than him for most of his career.
You say it is stupid to argue about subjective things but your opening statement is that Barry Sanders was a better running back than Emmitt Smith. They had different styles and had different teams built around them. Doesn't make one better than the other. Just different.
the other didn't
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You can't put the best footballer since... God knows who that far back. I'd also put ronaldo on this list... Even if he's a douche. He's one little Argentinean away from being the best soccer player in the world for 7 years running.
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Can we please stop claiming any sort of tie to Michael Phelps? The dude literally just swam in the pool and douchily hung out in Ann Arbor for a few years because his coach was here. If he enrolled in a class or two, swell.
Phelps has a Michigan tatt!
The people I know from Michigan claim anything and everything even remotely close to Michigan. People from Michigan are relentless self promoters - not of themselves but of the state, and if so inclined the university.
I used to call it "Michigan tourettes" until the PC police told me that wasn't cool anymore. I am going to keep it in my quiver for when PC implodes on itself and being un-PC is back in vogue.
People from Michigan are relentless self promoters - not of themselves but of the state, and if so inclined the university.
And this never, ever happens in any other state.
that Michigan people do it
Dude, have you ever met someone from Texas? Or heck, Ohio?
Ignorant statement sorry. People everywhere are relentless self-promoters.
He went to Stanford. The Stanford Football Coach (I forget his name) is now at Michigan through some kind of voodoo magic. Boom! Michigan can claim Tiger.
He did take classes at Michigan, but didn't pursue a degree. Plus he was a "volunteer coach" on the swim team. Lastly, I was at Rick's once when he bought a round for everyone there, if that doesn't scream Michigan tie, then I don't know what does!
Michael Phelps couldn't swim here because he was already considered a professional athlete because of his endorsement deal with Speedo. He chose to attend and coach here while training for the Olympics. He could have gone to any other university he wanted, he is from Maryland, he wanted to be at Michigan. IMO he was far from a douche, he was always cool when I ran into him at the bar, and was really cool about giving me a pinch of chew if I needed one. There were many other athletes at UM that were "too cool" to chat with anyone, Phelps was very down to earth to me.
with the Top 10, little confused about Farve and Mia Hamm, slightly outraged by Lance Armstrong(how exactly are they definining "greatness" on this list, now if the list was for the Top 20 racketeering-organized crime leading athletes I could get on Board).
OT, and not to thread jack, but has anybody watched "Kobe Bryant's Muse" on Showtime. If you cannot stand Kobe, you will not like it. But I like him, and found this movie completely mesmerizing. Contains some really good old footage of him playing for Lower Merion too. If you are a Kobe fan check it out.
I haven't got the channel, any ideas how to view it?
know of any other method of viewing, but I suck "technology"(yes, that is still the way I describe it broadly). I am sure there are myriad of other ways to see it, stream it, yadayada. My skills are limited to on TV, on netflix, or at family video, and I know it is not at netflix or family video. I think it is a Showtime original.
I heard Roger Federer was once flipping channels while waiting for a rain delay to end and stopped for a couple of minutes on a Michigan football game. Count it - Michigan tie!!!!
Michigan tie? Was it the Dhani Jones version?
Bitches
relax.
It's just clickbait and filler for Sportcenter during the slow season.
Calling this a list of "Best Athletes" kind of seems like a misnomer to me. This list seems more based on winning than being a good athlete.
I think there are some greater athletes that were left off in favor of overall sports stars. Maybe I'm splitting hairs but that wasn't the list I was expecting.
If you're gonna talk about pure athleticism, then Manning and Brady are never gonna be part of the conversation.
"Athletes" is the umbrella term for "sports people who play sports". The "greatest" athletes are the ones who contributed the most to their sport. So yes, the list is based on their accomplishments rather than their athletic ability.
...no white people? Perhaps a list of the top 20 gritiest people to play sports would be more suitable. :)
s/
I agree that he was special, but 1989 was 26 years ago. Most of his baseball career was before 1995. These lists are made because they create so many gripes and complaints, but they also give you an opportunity to remember their careers. Deion had an amazing career. If you get a chance to watch his episode of "A Football Life" on NFL Network you should.
A list of the top 20 in the last 20 years has to be so hard to do. There's so many great names who aren't on there! It'd be nice to see a list of 50 or so.