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Best Athlete of all Time?

stevestojan
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Who is the best athlete of all time?  

114 members have voted

  1. 1. Who is the best athlete of all time?

    • Michael Jordan
      22
    • Tiger Woods
      0
    • Jim Thorpe
      24
    • Bo Jackson
      15
    • Lance Armstrong
      23
    • Wayne Gretzky
      3
    • Pele
      3
    • Muhammad Ali
      5
    • Babe Ruth
      3
    • Wilt Chamerlain
      1
    • Jerry Rice
      0
    • Jim Brown
      5
    • OTHER (explain)
      10

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stevestojan Hall of Famer

stevestojan

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Oh look another poll where the folks with 5 minute memories will vote for the guy they have recently heard of.

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I was wondering if Lance would get a ton of votes due to that.

 

Much like when the Discovery channel held the poll for "Greatest American" in a multi-week vote, and Ronald Regan won! He beat out G. Washington, Abe Lincoln, and MLK Jr.

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Bill from NYC Hall of Famer

Bill from NYC

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It's kind of a two-pronged question. You're asking who is the greatest athlete of all-time, and some people are using players like Bo Jackson as an example. But the list you presented were who were the best players of all time. The best athletes would likely include decatheletes or Jesse Owens and those kinds of guys. You can't, IMO, give more credence to Bo Jackson because of his size and strength and speed for this reason.

 

The best player, therefore, IMO, is Ruth. He was an incredible pitcher, as most know. His lifetime on the biggest stage, the World Series, is 3-0, with an 0.87 ERA, including I think 19 straight scoreless innings. He also, remarkably, the 9th best all-time in batting average. Just two mere points behind Ted Williams, .342 to .344, which is incredible. He not only changed the game, he literally changed the world.

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I agree 100%.

Runner-up: Jordan.

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plenzmd1 Hall of Famer

plenzmd1

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My best would have to include Jackie Robinson. I doubt any other player could have played as well as he did under the unbelievable presuure he faced 24/7. Just unbelievable.

 

Next would be Ruth, it was just plain silly how far above he the rest of the league he was. I think he hit more home runs the season he hit 60 than2/3 of the other teams had the entire year.

 

Finally, BO knows. Was at the game in Batltimore where he climbs the wall. Power , speed, smarts, had it all.

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smokinandjokin Veteran

smokinandjokin

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I would have to go with Bo Jackson, with Jordan second. Props to Lance, but I'm just not into cycling. Nobody in the USA cares about any other bike race but the Tour de France, and we probably won't care about it if some Euro wins it for the next five years. If Lance was French, he wouldn't be on this list.

 

I thought Barry Bonds couldve at least made the list. For all his records, the 230 walks last year is simply amazing. Pitchers wouldn't go near him.

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R. Rich All Pro

R. Rich

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William Felton Russell, anyone??  2 NCAA championships, an Olympic Gold Medal and 11 NBA Championships, including 1 as the first african american coach ever to win a championship.

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While Big Russ is the first person I'd put on my all-time starting 5 (along w/ Magic, Jordan, Bird, and Dr. J), I wouldn't mention him w/ the 10 athletes I stated earlier. Chamberlain was the only basketball player I put down, just because he was an incredible athlete as well as a great basketball player. Russ was a legendary basketball player and the greatest winner of all time (11 titles in 13 seasons; not ever Jordan can top that!), he isn't as great an athlete as Wilt.

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RuntheDamnBall All Pro

RuntheDamnBall

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I think there is still some confusion in this debate as to whether it's about best players or biggest sports figures vs. who is really the best athlete. And I think if any of us had had the pleasure of seeing Jim Thorpe with the kind of media exposure we have now there would probably be no contest -- he was the original model for the Bo Jackson type or the decathlete.

 

And I agree with the prior poster who mentioned the obvious bias towards American athletes here (which is natural, of course, given the forum). What about some of these amazing marathon runners from Africa? What would we think of their accomplishments if they were instead American? Don't get me wrong, Tiger Woods is a great athlete and his golfing accomplishments will probably be unparalleled by the time he's done, but at the end of the day he still walks around a nicely landscaped lawn, hits balls and takes breaks. That's nowhere near the same league as a marathoner, or an all-arounder like a decathlete.

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gantrules Veteran

gantrules

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Where is Deion Sanders?

 

Here's a guy who logged 641 professsional MLB games and 172 pro football games. He's a shoe in for the hall of fame for football. Two SB rings, ranked second in SB's twice in MLB, was in the top 10 in triples three times.

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RuntheDamnBall All Pro

RuntheDamnBall

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Where is Deion Sanders?

 

Here's a guy who logged 641 professsional MLB games and 172 pro football games. He's a shoe in for the hall of fame for football. Two SB rings, ranked second in SB's twice in MLB, was in the top 10 in triples three times.

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I think you're looking for the "Biggest Sports Douchebag of all Time" poll.

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gantrules Veteran

gantrules

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I think you're looking for the "Biggest Sports Douchebag of all Time" poll.

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just b/c he's a showboater doesn't mean he's not one of the most gifted athletes of all time.

 

IMO, he is the best.

 

Lance Armstrong was posed the question of whether or not he was good at other sports and, I'm paraphrasing here, he said he sucked at every other sport he's ever tried. While he's on my top 5 list, he's not one because he hasn't played mutiple professional sports.

 

1. Deion

2. Bo, close second b/c of injury

3. Jordan

4. Lance

5. Gretzky

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