the next time i see someone nominate a freaken horse for best athlete im gonna puke.
look people a horse is not an athlete! nor is dale earnhardt’s car, or greg lemond’s bicycle!
Look people a horse is not an athlete! nor is dale earnhardt’s car, or greg lemond’s bicycle!
A horse is a living being. The others are not. Horses are athletes. If you ever ride one you will learn this really fast.
Zeb–> Ali isn’t even CLOSE to the best boxer in history. Hell, he’s argueably not even the best heavyweight. He’s got balls, and he had skill, but still. Boxers better than Ali. Hmm, how about SUGAR RAY ROBINSON. That is inargueable. Then you’ve got men like Emile Griffith and a slew of other fighters that you could argue for, Marvin Hagler, Willie Pep, ect.
Heavyweights better than Ali. I would argue Foreman. Yes, I know Ali beat Foreman, but look at how Foreman DESTROYED Frazier and Norton, both men who have W’s on Ali. Then you could take the oldest heavyweight champ at 46, his total record and his level of competition.
One could argue that Marciano is better than Ali due to his record, although contrary to posting he isn’t the ONLY champion to retire undefeated, merely the only heavyweight to retire undefeated. I certainly wouldn’t rank Marciano higher than Ali though due to the fact that he only had a few defenses on his title, and his level of competition.
Sonny–Pele, okay, great let’s start putting Nascar drivers and chess players on the list too along with other “atheletes”. Okay, okay, I’m only part way pulling your leg here, sure Pele probably does belong on there, but soccer IS a retarded sport. If soccer was a real sport they’d play it on ice and call it hockey. Oh wait. I think they did that already.
mikeyali
I think secretariat was a joke but anyways, Driving a race car for 500 miles may not be what some consider to be all that challenging it is certainly as tough as playing baseball. Not to mention it is usually well over 100 degrees inside the car and they are wearing full fire protective suits a helmet and gloves. When they get out of the car they are dripping with sweat and the mental focus it takes is far beyond that of many sports. What does a baseball player have to focus for 2 seconds at a time at most, then they get a nice break, then another 2 whole seconds of focus.
I’m not a huge racing junkie by any means but it is certainly as dangerous as any other sport, as mentally challenging and as physically challenging as many sports. Why do some not consider it a sport just out of curiosity?
“If soccer was a real sport they’d play it on ice and call it hockey.”
you’re my new best friend
i don’t consider nascar a sport because its driving a car. yes it has some degree of difficulty/danger, takes focus, and gets hot in the car.
with that said i’m inventing a sport where we play video games in a sauna for 3 hours and the loser gets shot in the head
Lumburjak is right on. The list only includes athletes who excelled at more than one sport. Or, like Jordan, who were SO good at one sport and better than 90% of the population in another. I’m no baseball, or Yankee fan. BUT, Winfield was drafted into the NFL without ever playing!! And he was drafted by two NBA teams. That’s an athlete.
I really never considered race car drivers athletes, that being said, it is a sport and it is dangerous and demanding on the drivers. I usually classify them as sportsmen just my opinion.
and P-dog a thoroughbred IS an athlete, they train just like a human athlete trains,some even use:) they are 1300lbs of pure muscle and power.
You really can’t argue NASCAR as a big athletic sport. It’s based entirely on controlling a machine. And not even a person powered machine like cycling. There’s definitely a high degree of danger involved, but you don’t see much in the way of athleticism especially if you look past the endurance factor.
I think what they are really looking at is overall athleteic prowess not just how great they were in their respective sports.I mean take Babe Ruth he was a hell of a baseball player and homerun hitter,but he also pretty darn chunky.The reason Jim Brown is #1 is not only is he considered by many sportswriters as the greatest running back of all time but he probably could have played professional basketball and baseball as well.
Bo Jackson…end of story or in this case the end of the thread.
JA
Bob Hayes should’ve made the list. Went to the Olympics in track and played WR for the Dallas Cowboys and won a SuperBowl. Sadly, he died last year, but is probably one of the most underrated athletes ever.
Lance Armstrong should’ve been on there, and you could’ve split a space between Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis. Two of the greatest track competitors of all-time.
I thought Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe should’ve been included.
I have no problem with Dave Winfield being on the list. The guy could’ve played three sports professionally.
I think NASCAR driving is very difficult, and only a select few can do it. But I see it more as a skill than an athletic activity.
I’m sure lots of guys on this forum can lift more, run faster, etc., than some NASCAR drivers.
Next we’re going to hear that Justin Timberlake is the best athlete of all time because he can dance our asses off.
Arnold or Ronnie
Jim Thorpe by a large margin. He didn’t just dominate one sport, ala Michael Jordan, he dominated several different sports. Track and field, football, baseball. Had basketball been established as a sport earlier, I’m sure Thorpe would have excelled in that also.
Dustin
Michael Jordan hands down!!
Dan Gable can be argued as the top coach of all time, but IMHO he is not in the Top 10 of all time athletes.
Alexander Kerelin (sp?)the Russian Greco Roman wrestling would be a better choice. John Smith would be also.
hulk hogan no question about it.
Mikeyali,
I never stated Ali was the best! My statement was: “Ali was considered to be one of the best in many peoples opinion.”
you guys that are bitching about there being no foreigners on there are smoking something. Go to the real page 2 website and look at the 64 person mens bracket for best athlete in the world. THere are ton of people in there that are from soccer, rowing, track and field…etc.