No. 1 - Babe Ruth (anyone who hits sixty homeruns in the 20's, has to be up here. The fact that the second closest only hit 30, or the fact that he easily could be have been one of the best pitchers only further proves his prowess) No. 2 - Muhammed Ali (why? he was and is prettier then anyone else) No. 3 - Jordan (six time champion and the best scorer and of the best defenders the game has ever known No. 4 - Wayne Gretzky (not that I have been an NHL fan but I know my sports center highlights. Winning multiple stanley cups and and being the all time leader in goals scored and assist does not hurt either. No. 5 - I expect everyone to argue with me on this one, but my vote would go for Steffi Graf. (20 grand slams, over a hundred titles, being ranked no 1 for about three staright years. And if you ever watched he play between 93 and 96 you would know. She beat the oldies like Navatilova, middle of the pack like Seles, and then the younger generation like Hingis)
This is in no order, mainly because if all of the following could have their choice they all would probably opt to stand together in no particular order, and of course, they all appreciate each others talents .... M. Ali, Babe Didrikson, W.Gretzky, Jessie Owens, Jim Thorpe
Strictly on an ATHELETIC Basis and how dominant they were in their respected fields 1. Jim Thorpe 2. Wilt Chamberlain 3. Bo Jackson (This guy excelled in both sports, If not for a tragic hip injury, Bo would easily of been up on that Espn list) 4. Wayne Gretzky 5. Jesse Owens 6. Carl Lewis 7. Ali 8. Jerry Rice (I know some of you may think Im crazy, but if you look at it in terms of who dominated more, look at Jerrys stats, which I cant forsee anyone touching them, as compared to Jordans, which aren't anything to get excited about. And I hate the 49ers) 9. Bill Russell 10 Michael Jordan Good call on Steffi Graf though. Did she even make Espn's list? A definate top 15 in my list Based more along the lines of Achievement
Let me say first my list would look somewhat like Brahma's. Somewhat. As far as the all time overacheiver(lack of athleticism) award, I would have to give that to Larry Bird.
I had a friend from Belize ask about international soccer players and I told him that they would never do very well on an United States list. Mango
Dang you are right Mango. Pele has been all but ignored on all these milennium list crude factory things. I used to have a poster of him on my walls in College. Dang. He was absolutely remarkable.
nah keith olberman had him at around 30 on his list, the show sucked though, it each athlete got around 2min. of time.
Reading the lists, I pretty much agree with most of you, as its obvious this subject could be debated to death and there never will be a definitive list. But I just wanted to shed some light on a guy named Gretzky. "The Great One" was no where near the top of his sport in terms of physical dominance; he was not the fastest skater, he was small and scrawny, and his figure was not very imposing. But the guy knew the game so well and was so damn intelligent that it is said he was 20 seconds ahead of everyone else. And even moreso, Gretzky had an incomparable passion for the game that only the greats have for their game. By the end of his 20-year NHL career, the scrawny boy from small-town Canada redefined the game, expanded it to once unreachable locations, and made the league's record book his personal autiobiography through demolishing old records and holding practically almost every offensive record in the book (61 in all) I don't know if he should be on top, 'cause I know the others have some great stories, but I'm just glad to see y'all give this humble great his due. Azim da Dream
The ESPN list is full of ****. If you notice it says the greates North American Athletes. Therefore the exclusions of Hakeem the Dream and Steffi Graf. Thus also no soccer or cricket players.(Me being from Asia, you cant imagine how popular cricket is in Africa, Australia, Europe and Asia)The espn list sucks because it included Martina Navrotilova even though she is from Sweden (?). I once heard a interview on 610 from someone from Espn. and he basically admitted that due to pressure more women had to be included.
1. Jim Thorpe 2. George Best 3. Michael Jordan 4. Bo Jackson 5. Babe Ruth M. Ali is getting a lot of respect because of his illness. He was a draft dodging, arrogant PRI.K when he was fighting. History has softened its stand on him. NOT ME BABY !!! DaDakota "Pragmatism LIVES !!" [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited January 02, 2000).]
DaDakota, If you don't like Ali for his arrogance, then I'm assuming you don't like Barkley for the same reason. Like Charles, Muhammed Ali bought character and some reality to his sport, and definately made the boxing world more entertaining with his mouth alone. Sure he was cocky and arrogant, but in his sport and that era, you had to be. As for his refusal to fight in Vietnam, you have to understand the situation in the U.S at that time. Blacks were treated like dirt, and from his perspective, he was standing up for his rights, as well as his people's. So if you think the above are enough to take away from Ali's mastery and utter dominance in the ring, and prevent him from bein among the greatest athletes of all time, then we could do likewise with the Great Bambino and talk about his immoral life off the field. Azim da Dream
Max Schmeling Boris Becker Steffi Graf Franz "der Kaiser" Beckenbauer Michael Schumacher Graf was way better than Navratilova.
1. Ali 2. Chamberlain 3. Mays 4. Lewis 5. Aaron ------------------ Moses begat Sampson, Sampson begat Hakeem, And Hakeem led us to the promised land
I dont think Graf was better than navritolova. Graf had her career easy with facing not that many good players. WHen Monica Seles got hurt then that was when graf just had it easy. I really think Monica Seles was a better player than Graf. Monica might not be great right now but before she got hurt, monica would always kill graf, monica was unstoppable.
No one...And I mean no one has come close to what Graf has done in her sport in the same amount of time. In her prime, she could probably of beaten many of the top ten male players of her day, oftenly. Seles was a fine player, but doesn't come close to holding Steffi's sports bra (no offense to the women reading along today) Martina was consistent through the years, but not as dominating as Steffi was.
Azim, Ali was a great fighter, no doubt, but not a top 5 athlete of the 20th century. Nope...top 20...ok, but not top 5. By the way for PURE athlete, NO WOMAN CAN MAKE THIS LIST. If we are talking about the 50 greatest athletes, it should be MEN only. TOP 50 ATHLETES, means the best ATHLETES this century..PERIOD. Now if we are talking about dominance of one's sport. Then you need to include women. However, men and women do not compete against each other because men are built to be stronger, faster, etc... Perhaps not smarter though... DaDakota [This message has been edited by DaDakota (edited January 02, 2000).]
