I imagine that even untrained, he could squat a rediculous amount.
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Jerry Rice was an elite player, but not an elite athlete. He never was considered fast or very strong. But he was more like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Moss had more ability, Rice was the better player. [/quote]
Fair enough, I should’ve read the OP better
Vasily Alexeev. First person to put 500 pounds over his head. Holds 80 world records and 81 Soviet records.
Tommy Kono. Bill Kazmier. Pyros Dimas.
In terms of a “pure” athlete the names that come to my mind are
Darrell Green
Allen Iverson
Lebron James
Wilt Chamberlain
Jackie Robinson
Dave Winfield
Ken Griffey Jr.
Deion Sanders
Michael Jordan
Bo Jackson
Jim Brown
Herschel Walker
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Jerry Rice was an elite player, but not an elite athlete. He never was considered fast or very strong. But he was more like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Moss had more ability, Rice was the better player. [/quote]
If pure athleticism is the only criteria then the whole list should be the top 10 male gymnasts in the world. Shit, the 100th ranked gymnast in the world is still a better athlete then the next best athlete in another sport.
Walter Payton.
Billy Sims, as long as his knees held up.
Babe Ruth? That guy was a fat piece of sloppy shit. Statistics and great at baseball, yes, athlete, no.
Not in order
- Bo Jackson (Three sport D-! athlete, two sport pro)
- Tony Gonzalez (multi-sport D-I athlete)
- Carl Crawford (Offered major scholarships in football, baseball, basketball, high school All American in each, drafted out of HS for baseball)
- Carl Lewis (Drafted by Cowboys and olympic champ)
- Lance Armstrong (7 TDF and now setting records in 1/2 ironmans at 41)
- Jim Thorp (Nuff said)
- Julius Peppers (two sport athlete and UNC-Chapel Hill)
- Dieon Sanders (two sport professional)
- George St. Pierre (bad ass)
- Lebron James (could play in the NFL right now)
Wow, only two mentions of Neon Deion so far. Crazy.
I’d also throw LT (the original,) Ray Lewis, and Barry Sanders in the mix to the many names mentioned so far. All with proper qualifications.
Someday, mark my words, we’ll be saying the same thing about Patrick Willis. Freak of nature.
Bill Toomey
Mykola Avilov
Bruce Jenner
Daley Thompson
Guido Kratschmer
Jürgen Hingsen
Dan O’Brien
Tomás Dvo
Roman sebrle
Ashton Eaton
There is your ten best.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Jerry Rice was an elite player, but not an elite athlete. He never was considered fast or very strong. But he was more like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Moss had more ability, Rice was the better player. [/quote]
If pure athleticism is the only criteria then the whole list should be the top 10 male gymnasts in the world. Shit, the 100th ranked gymnast in the world is still a better athlete then the next best athlete in another sport.[/quote]
That’s ridiculous. Those dudes don’t have anywhere near the speed, leaping ability, power or agility to qualify. Strength and the ability to use trampolines - while impressive - aren’t enough.
[quote]SSC wrote:
Wow, only two mentions of Neon Deion so far. Crazy.
I’d also throw LT (the original,) Ray Lewis, and Barry Sanders in the mix to the many names mentioned so far. All with proper qualifications.
Someday, mark my words, we’ll be saying the same thing about Patrick Willis. Freak of nature.[/quote]
I meant to throw him in my first post. Sanders was a freak, no question.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Jerry Rice was an elite player, but not an elite athlete. He never was considered fast or very strong. But he was more like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Moss had more ability, Rice was the better player. [/quote]
If pure athleticism is the only criteria then the whole list should be the top 10 male gymnasts in the world. Shit, the 100th ranked gymnast in the world is still a better athlete then the next best athlete in another sport.[/quote]
That’s ridiculous. Those dudes don’t have anywhere near the speed, leaping ability, power or agility to qualify. Strength and the ability to use trampolines - while impressive - aren’t enough.[/quote]
Are you kidding me? Are you aware of the upper-body strength required to perform on the rings or the pummel horse? Power and agility is something that gymnasts have in spades. And the leaping ability is off the charts, trampoline or not.
How about Dan Henderson, Olympic medal winner, only man to hold two belts in pride at the same time and is a top contender in the ufc at 42!
WTF where’s JERRY “the king” LAWLER
[quote]NorCal916 wrote:
This is my list. These are athletes (not the best player, we are talking freaks of nature) that stand above in ANY sport in ANY era.
- Michael Jordan
- Bo Jackson
- Jim Thorpe
- Babe Ruth
- Pele
- Randy Moss
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Wayne Gretsky
- Nadia Comaneci
- Edwin Moses
Honorable mentions: Barry Sanders, Michael Phelps, Maradonna, Roger Federer, Ronaldo
Where am I wrong??[/quote]
I think you missed one of the GIANTS on the world stage of sports in Muhammad Ali. I’m not even going to bother to ask what most of the T-Nation members think about excluding Arnold Schwarzenegger.
You gotta be kidding about Randy Moss. Jerry Rice, Cris Carter & even Steve Largent belongs on NFL list before you ever consider Randy. Happy lifting.
Jerry Lawler the Greatest Athlete of All Time
I mean, Jerry IS The King!
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Jerry Rice was an elite player, but not an elite athlete. He never was considered fast or very strong. But he was more like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Moss had more ability, Rice was the better player. [/quote]
If pure athleticism is the only criteria then the whole list should be the top 10 male gymnasts in the world. Shit, the 100th ranked gymnast in the world is still a better athlete then the next best athlete in another sport.[/quote]
That’s ridiculous. Those dudes don’t have anywhere near the speed, leaping ability, power or agility to qualify. Strength and the ability to use trampolines - while impressive - aren’t enough.[/quote]
Are you kidding me? Are you aware of the upper-body strength required to perform on the rings or the pummel horse? Power and agility is something that gymnasts have in spades. And the leaping ability is off the charts, trampoline or not.[/quote]
You’re confusing flexibility with agility. I already said they’re strong, but they have no other observable quality that would qualify 'em for this list. Being able to do a standing back flip requires very little leaping ability. How you can try and argue this is baffling.
Sachin Tendulkar. Go on look him up. Will go down as the greatest his sport has ever produced.