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spidey · Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:

Hmmmm...top athletes eh...

Tennis- Bjorn Borg (sentimental favorite)

Hockey- Ken Dryden (goalie)

Basketball- Wilt Chamberlain

Baseball- Smokin' Joe DiMaggio...(sorry if I spelled his name wrong)

Boxing- Mohammed Ali

S

4nic8r · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 68

Basketball: Jordan

Hockey: Gretzky

Baseball: Ted Williams

NFL: Jim Brown

Football: Pele

Golf: Tiger Woods

I'd actually like to give Bo Jackson a sympathy vote because he excelled at a few sports... if only he had a good pair of knees, he might have done a lot more...

extoere · Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 543

Jim Brown was a revolutionary football player who forever changed the way defense was played.

Michael Jordan was unique.

Gretsky, a formidably gifted natural.

Pele could do ... anything!

Ali was one of the best boxers of our time, and thanks to media culture, he's been elevated to undeserved status.

Joe Montana was the greatest quarterback.

Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio in baseball, consumate in every way.

But The Greatest Of All?

Bo Jackson.
It's very doubtful that we'll see the likes again of a man who could, in the same play, crush an All-NFL linebacker and outrun an All-NFL Safety; who, in the same year, would be selected to the All-Star Teams of both baseball and football ---- and score in both games!

Only a freak injury prevented his acclimation into both baseball and football Halls of Fame.

cheers,
ex

China Dim Drone · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 25

Boy Wonder · Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 453 Location: Clacton on sea

Muhammed Ali-Boxing

Said Aouita-Athletics(Middle Distance Running)

Pele-Football

Steve Redgrave-Rowing

Don Bradman-Cricket

benno · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 501 Location: Fake Mongolia

extoere · Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 543

Benno: "rumble in the jungle" and "thrilla in Manila" --- both great fights.
Yeah, Ali was great. Teofilo Stevenson was also a great one, whose true measure we'll never know. But of those I saw, Foreman was far and away the best for his time. Unfortunately, he allowed celebrity to ruin his short career by destroying his focus and the discipline required to maintain his conditioning. Ali was indeed one of the great fighters. But yes, the media culture elevated him to far greater status. So many who are devoted to the idea of Ali's "fight" against "racism" and his partly self-inflicted legal problems aren't aware of the actual findings of the court which reversed his conviction, attributing it to substantive grounds, rather than the narrow technicality on which it was actually based by history's most radically liberal court. Ali allowed himself to be used by Elijah Muhammed, and willingly defied the law. Period. Howard Cossell was very instrumental in the creation of his legend, as he was in the elevation of Don Shula, a second tier coach, into a legend.

cheers,
ex

benno · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 501 Location: Fake Mongolia

yes thats all right if we were talking about some ordinary average joe
but we are not
Ali was a great personality, who talked a good fight as well as won manyfights
he did beat foreman, who in your opinion was better,
you are correct foreman was very good,
he had probably one of the hardest punches in boxing history, so thats why "rope a dope" is all the more amazing
i do not know exactly what you are trying to say about his politics, but to me he was a great fighter and a great man
Very Happy

Gowump · Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 70 Location: Poland

How about

Lester Piggot

George Best

Gordie Howe

Payne Stewart (RIP)

George Chuvalo

Larry Parnell · Joined: 06 Jun 2004 Posts: 172

Haile Gebreselassie
Steve Redgrave
Ali
Robin Friday
and someone else who's really good at what they do.

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku
Gerry Lopez
Goerge Greenough
Larry Bertlemann
Terry Fitzgerald

given2fly · Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 5:07 pm Post subject:

Sadken · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 341

Lee Steele of Leyton Orient is currently the top scorer in Div 4/Div 3/League 2. Whilst many of you will pour scorn on the idea, I will take some convincing before I am to believe that he is not the greatest sportsman, nay, man of all time.

extoere · Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 543

JosephP: Duke Kahanamoku is indeed a discerning, quite perceptive choice! Superb athlete. Even into his 70s, he was elegantly handsome, tall, erect, unbelievably conditioned. Used to see him nearly every day in the International Marketplace in Honolulu where he was a living legend.

Benno: Ali both fought and talked a great fight, I agree. He recognized both the gullibility and culpability of a press eager for daily opiate and he fed them. Great man? By no measure. Great boxer, sure. The best? Lots of fans would disagree. He's deserving of the appellate "great." I said nothing about his politics. But the largest contributing factor to his legend is the myth that he was unduly prosecuted and prevailed. The opposite is true. He was duly prosecuted and convicted, and the resulting court reversal based on the thinnest technicality (a wiretap on a totally different person involved in a conversation in which his name was mentioned), has fed the myth that he was a champion of "social justice." A conversation on his politics would be very different .... and very surprising to some. When Ali beat Foreman, it was a near superhuman conditioning feat that allowed him to withstand Foreman's blows. Foreman, of course, had not been nearly as smart nor as dedicated in his training regimen, and the humidity quickly took its toll in a way he never anticipated. He deserved to lose and Ali by any standard won a fight he deserved to win. That aside, had Foreman not gone into a deep depression and allowed himself to deteriorate so badly, I think he could have clearly shown his superiority in a subsequent fight. But it's pretty well moot now. Foreman did acquit himself pretty well for a fat old guy some years later. And of course, we remember Ali's sad demise. Boxing has few heroes. Can't think of any offhand. Including Ali.

benno · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 501 Location: Fake Mongolia

sorry but i still think Ali was a great man, not only a great boxer
yes maybe the conditions in Africa didnt suit foreman, but its not like Ali didnt beat other great boxers too
he championed the rights of the black and muslim man, he was prejudiced against and faught against this , and he was intelligent and witty. now i dont know why you have a personal thing about him, did you not like his political opinions (a very noble thing to be against the war in vietnam) or do you not like black men who are big and bold
ordinary people the world over loved him, it is quite hard to bull shi t everybody in the entire world, america maybe, but the whole world, not likely
ali is the greatest