Anyone remember the Superstars competitions that used to be on TV back in the 70's. Some of these great athletes looked pretty lame when asked to perform outside their comfort zones. But to give a qualified answer to the original question, I would say the best athlete I ever SAW competing in person was Randy Smith. Once MVP of the NBA All Star game, played hoops, soccer, baseball and ran track in college.
Who would you consider to be the best athlete of all time ?
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I do remember that and I was gonna say Brian Budd, Canadian soccer player who I think won at least twice but he was kinda obscure. I do believe that of all pro athletes that soccer players probably are the best all round.
Speed, endurance, toughness, agility, flexibility eye/foot or eye/head co-ordination (no eye/hand of course). Never ever see an overweight soccer player.
My Babe Ruth post was rather tongue-in-cheek. Maybe Richard Petty of NASCAR.
Question about Jim Brown for you. He was before my time but I am assuming you watched a lot of his games. Always been curious about how well he performed as a receiver out of the backfield. I could probably look up stats but would rather hear it from someone who watched him play. Also how good was Jim Brown @ blitz-pro? Can you shed some insight and maybe educate those of us who didn't see him play. Would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
My only issue with Prime with regards to his football career was that his idea of run-support was cheering on the linebackers.
Eddy Merckx cycling, 5 Tour de France wins. Lance Armstrong the second greatest criminal in the the sports world next to OJ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx
It's tough to pick just one:
1) Jim Thorpe
2) Daley Thompson
3) Michael Jordan
4) Barry Sanders
5) Brian Budd
1) Jim Thorpe
2) Daley Thompson
3) Michael Jordan
4) Barry Sanders
5) Brian Budd
Historically Jim Thorpe comes up a lot because next to his peers he dominated in nearly every sport he played, including football and lacrosse, plus Olympic medals that he probably should not have had stripped. Jim Brown is in the same kind of boat. Improvements in sports training, professionalization of some of the sports etc, bring everyone closer together so Brown is not as superior to his peers as Thorpe was, but still is widely considered to be really great.
Muhammad Ali got the nod in whatever 20th century poll SI or someone ran. He certainly dominated his sport and also his society like no other. If you leave out politics he goes in a bucket with Pele, Maradona, Gretzky, Jordan etc.
Babe Ruth would have gone to Hall as a LHP even if he had stopped playing in the field regularly, so he remains my number 1 baseball player, although I stand by Hank Aaron for all around play.
Muhammad Ali got the nod in whatever 20th century poll SI or someone ran. He certainly dominated his sport and also his society like no other. If you leave out politics he goes in a bucket with Pele, Maradona, Gretzky, Jordan etc.
Babe Ruth would have gone to Hall as a LHP even if he had stopped playing in the field regularly, so he remains my number 1 baseball player, although I stand by Hank Aaron for all around play.
Ok let me rethink this one for a second... In all honesty (even though I do not watch this sport) I would rank Ironman Triathlon competitors as the greatest athletes. The event starts at 7am with a 2.4 mile swim in rough waters then it's a 112 mile bike race ending with a 26 mile marathon. You have a certain amount of time to complete each leg of the race.
Both Mark Allen and Dave Scott have won the Ironman Hawaii 6 times (joint men's records).
Craig Alexander won the Ironman Championship in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and is the currant Hawaii course record holder at 8hr:03min:56sec.
Remember most of the sports mentioned earlier have rest periods, 1st quarter, 2nd, 3rd, half time, time out's etc.etc.. You get exhausted you come off the field/court rest up and another player gets sent in to take your place. Boxing has 1min in between rds rest breaks. Ironman competitors go hard for the full 8hrs with no breaks or rest periods. They transition from one event to another without rest.
Both Mark Allen and Dave Scott have won the Ironman Hawaii 6 times (joint men's records).
Craig Alexander won the Ironman Championship in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and is the currant Hawaii course record holder at 8hr:03min:56sec.
Remember most of the sports mentioned earlier have rest periods, 1st quarter, 2nd, 3rd, half time, time out's etc.etc.. You get exhausted you come off the field/court rest up and another player gets sent in to take your place. Boxing has 1min in between rds rest breaks. Ironman competitors go hard for the full 8hrs with no breaks or rest periods. They transition from one event to another without rest.
Totally disagree. They are strictly endurance athletes.
Strength, eye/hand co-ordination, absorbing punishing blows, reflexes, quickness/sprinting speed,....none of these come into play. Amazing endurance in several disciplines, sure, but not all round athletes.
Ahhh Grasshopper, to be so young. You must remember that in those days there was so much less passing than there is now, that the questions you ask, though significant now, are pretty much irrelevant to players of that era. It was such a run dominated era that I'd be surprised if they threw to him more than twice a game. Even I did not see Jim Brown play, but I am sure he was as good in those areas as any of the other running backs of his time.
I completely understand that the league has gone completely vertical in the last 5-6 years . Even 15 or 10 years ago the NFL was still considered a running league even though backs were a lot more involved in the pass game then then the backs in Jim Brown's era were. And I know that it was even more of a running league back in Jim Brown's day but I just didn't know to what extent they were asked to catch the ball or pick up a blitz. And even if backs werent required to catch the ball out of the backfield back then I don't know how much or how little they were asked to pick up a blitzing linebacker or safety. I am assuming that off play-action fakes the backs may have been responsible for some blocking duties if they werent running pass-patterns.
I imagine the blocking responsibilities were more significant than catching. Seeing as Brown was a huge part of the offense, if there were fakes to the running backs, Brown would almost always be the one they would fake to. Would that not decrease the amount that he would be able to block?
Certainly the back may carry the fake out which would take him out of pass-pro but but sometimes the play-fake is just to buy the QB that extra 1/2 second and the back wont carry out the fake but will just stay into block.
If the back doesnt carry out the fake and stays into block a LB may green dog. But when looking at a back's ability to pass-protect I dont just look at the physical ability of being able to block but the mental component as well. Its just as much a mental thing as it is physical as evidenced by the fact that rookie and young backs typically find pass-protction the most challenging part of the transition from college to pros.
In any event - . I wasnt trying to denigrate the choice of Jim Brown. It was just a curiosity I had regarding Jim Brown's skill-set and was curious to hear from people who witnessed him play and saw a lot of his games. Stats are one thing but nothing can replace the good old eye-ball test. He was before my time. So I appreciate the information and input you provided. Thanks.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills
Bo Jackson had he not been hurt or just concentrated on one sport would have to be up there. Jonah Lomu too. Could have made millions in the NFL.
Brian Budd I think they had to ban from that show as nobody knew who he was and he kicked everyones ass. Fun commentator too when he was on the score. R.I.P. Budgie.
Bo Jackson had he not been hurt or just concentrated on one sport would have to be up there. Jonah Lomu too. Could have made millions in the NFL.
Brian Budd I think they had to ban from that show as nobody knew who he was and he kicked everyones ass. Fun commentator too when he was on the score. R.I.P. Budgie.
perhaps...............
any idea why I was surprised there was no mention of Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan ???
In my eyes.....any of the athletes mentioned could be argued as the best athlete of all time and the reason for that is they all have this in common. They all had the will, the drive, the heart, the determination, the strength to go on when 99.999 % of the world would give up. This is what separates them from the rest of us.
The athletes mentioned and some who were not, simply had the passion and desire to be the best at their sport. Their passion and desire to be the best was not driven by the almighty dollar. It was driven by their LOVE for their sport and in my opinion this is why any one of them could be argued as the greatest athlete of all time.
it is kinda difficult to put in to words but I think you guys get the idea. If you look in to any of those athletes eyes you will see what I am talking about. Its a fire that burns deep within. Words can't explain what I am trying to describe but these men and believe it or not ..women.... have it deep down inside of them. Perhaps they were born with it, perhaps they developed it over time, who knows ?!?!? The one thing I do know is that they have it.
I personally have met Michael Jordan among other great athletes and I have seen that fire for myself.
AGree with most of what you say. The only thing I would argue is that I dont think this drive, heart, determination, strength to go on is necessarily unique to those elite athletes. I think its quite possible that lesser athletes possess those same attributes to the very same levels but maybe they cannot reach the elite levels b/c they come up short in other areas such as size, athleticism, talent, etc.
We always hear how Jordan was such a great competitor and everything and I dont doubt that for one bit but I think its quite possible that there may have been even journeyman basketball players who had equal desire, drive, heart as Jordan but just didnt have the talent and thats why they were journeyman and not superstars. But those players arent always gonna get the credit for having the drive/heart etc because those players just arent gonna get talked about or praised as much as the elite athletes. But maybe some of those journeyman players dont even make it to the league without that incredible drive, determination, heart etc. In otherwords what I am saying is I dont think that GREAT determination, drive, heart etc is something that is exclusive or unique to those with immense talent/skill/athleticism and the elite athletes.
These types of things like fire, heart, determination arent always easily quantifiable attributes either so its somewhat subjective. And I think sometimes these qualities are easier to see in certain athletes than others. But just because it may be more difficult to see in some athletes doesnt necessarily mean they arent there. For example - a guy playing offensive tackle may not get the glory and its hard to really see the fire in their eyes because lets be honest - we dont see their eyes as much as we may see the eyes of a QB or a WR but just because its harder to see doesnt mean it isnt there.
